Hagen Harker introduces two of our project managers and the critical roles they play in helping projects succeed.
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Mid-States Team Member is State Champion in High School Triple Jump
Cam Combs, a concrete laborer at Mid-States Concrete Industries, was recently named Wisconsin State Champion in the Triple Jump.
Cam Combs, a member of the production team at Mid-States Concrete Industries, recently took first place in the state of Wisconsin for the Triple Jump and second place in the state for the Long Jump.
“It was pretty cool,” Combs said. “I came in and I was confident I was going to win, so it was cool getting up on that podium with everyone.
In order to even compete at the State Championship, Combs had to place in the top four at Regionals and Sectionals. For Triple Jump, Combs placed first at Regionals and first at Sectionals, before taking first at State. For Long Jump, Combs placed fourth at Regionals and second at Sectionals, before taking second at State.
Combs, who will be a senior at Beloit Turner High School in the fall, started with track and field as an eighth grader. He then joined the high school team as a freshman. Unfortunately, because of COVID, his season was cancelled during his sophomore year. And although his junior year was done via remote learning, he was still able to have a full season. In addition to the Triple Jump and Long Jump, Combs also competes in the 100-metre dash and the 200-metre dash.
Training in the off season focuses mostly on weightlifting. During the season, he focuses on sprinting and the first two jumps of the triple jump, as the long jump is hard on the knees. Combs’ best time in the 100-metre dash is 11.1-seconds, and for the 200-metre dash, it’s 22.2-seconds. Combs currently holds the school record for the Long Jump at 22-feet 6-inches.
In addition to dominating in track and field, Combs was also on the Varsity Football Team and the Varsity Basketball Team. In fact, he took first team all-conference for defensive back. He also finished his junior year with a 4.0, while also working 20-hours/week at Mid-States during the school year. For the summer, he is working full-time. Basically, his days were work, school, and practice.
“I think practice is pretty fun,” Combs said, when asked what he does for fun. He added that his friends are also part of the track and field team.
While there’s no denying Combs works hard, he also credits Coach Nolan Otremba, and his parents Jaron and Carey Combs, with helping him succeed.
Combs has already set his sights on some big goals for his upcoming senior year. He wants to win first place in the state for both Triple Jump and Long Jump; set the school and state records for the Triple Jump; and go to state and place for the 100-metre and 200-metre events. He already holds the school record in Long Jump. Combs plans to continue his track career beyond high school and is already exploring colleges.
Human Resources Intern Helps With Digital Transition
Mallory Combs will be a freshman at the University of Wisconsin – Platteville in the fall. She plans to study psychology and criminal justice.
With the goal of moving to paperless records as much as possible, the Human Resources Team knew they had a huge project on their hands.
Enter Mallory Combs, a recent graduate of Beloit Turner High School who plans to attend the University of Wisconsin – Platteville in the fall.
“We’re trying to move lots of manual paper systems into Paycom (our Human Resources management system), so we’re having Mallory help us with that,” said Director of Human Resources Hannah Martensen.
The need for a more streamlined records process was something Martensen recognized almost as soon as she started in the role in March 2020. Phase one of the project involved Combs combining all documents into one file per team member, whereas previously records related to team members may have been in three or four different locations.
The next step was to work with all the active files and sort them by category – like payroll/taxes, medical/benefits, and signed policies.
“Every category has different permissions, which is why what Mallory is doing is so important,” Martensen said.
After everything has been appropriately sorted by category, the next step is to upload the documents into Paycom, which will make it much easier to quickly locate files in the future.
Combs has really enjoyed working with Martensen, recognizing her as someone she can really learn from.
“She was willing to teach me the extra steps,” Combs said. “She knew I was interested in law, so she was teaching me the legal why, not just ‘here, do this.’”
Combs began her internship in June and will wrap it up in August. In addition to the work she is doing for Mid-States, Combs has also been working full-time at the Beloit Club at the same time. Martensen plans to make sure Combs has a great resume written before she heads off to college, too.
This isn’t the first time Combs has worked at Mid-States. Prior to her Human Resources internship, she spent a couple weeks filling in as a receptionist to cover a vacation and a few years ago she had a marketing internship with Mid-States. Combs keeps returning to Mid-States for the people.
“It’s a really good community,” she said. “The people really care about each other.”
Precast Chalk Talk: Episode 25
In this episode of Precast Chalk Talk, Hagen Harker talks with team members about how their day-to-day impacts the most important parts of Mid-States - our team members and our customers.
UW - Whitewater Interns Tackle Projects for Safety Team
This summer, Mid-States Concrete Industries welcomed two students from the University of Wisconsin – Whitewater to serve as Safety Interns.
Ryan Santas will be a senior at University of Wisconsin – Whitewater in the fall, majoring in Occupational Safety and Health. Tyler Orr is a senior at University of Wisconsin – Whitewater, majoring in Occupational Safety and Health with a construction emphasis. He is slated to graduate in August after he completes his capstone internship with Mid-States.
The interns have been working closely with our safety team, which includes Mike Wolff, Vice President of Safety and Quality; Tracy Miller, Safety Manager; and Jeff Morris, Safety and Continuous Improvement Auditor, on various safety projects.
At the start of each student’s internship in May, they each pitched some ideas for projects they thought Mid-States would benefit from and that they would like to work on. Both Santas and Orr came up with their ideas during a site tour of the Mid-States Concrete facilities.
This is the first time Mid-States has had safety interns. The idea came about as Wolff was working to get his graduate degree and a professor of his suggested that since Mid-States is in both the construction and manufacturing fields, it would offer a unique experience to students pursuing safety. Plus, Wolff saw the benefits of having some extra help with updating Job Safety Analyses and Standard Work Instructions.
“With safety, it’s never-ending really,” Wolff said. “It’s ever-changing. There’s always something new.”
One of the two main projects Santas is working on includes a Swing/Fall project, which examines fall protection in the field during hollow core erection. He is diving into the details of fall restraint systems to help Mid-States eliminate any hazard of a fall and revising our Fall Protection Plan. He is working with the Safety Team, as well as the Project Management Team and Field Service Team on this project and has been able to visit several job sites for his research.
“Being out in the field and working with everyone in the field interested me,” he said.
Santas is also working on revising the Mid-States Job Safety Analyses and Standard Work Instructions, as well as filling in some gaps of missing SWIs for some of our erection processes. He will also be responsible for training the team on all updates and revisions, as well as conducting field audits.
One of Orr’s main focuses is on fall rescue, particularly researching and suggesting the best products available for purchase for our Field Team to use to conduct fall rescues. He has had previous experience in fall rescue at other jobs/internships, but this is the first time he has gotten to actually select equipment. He will also be responsible for updating the fall protection plan to incorporate rescue, as well as train the team on the updates and audit it in the field.
Additionally, Orr will focus on back injuries within our production team. His goal is to look back at our OSHA logs, safety alerts, and near misses over the past four years to see if there are similarities between the injuries and look for cause to see what changes we can make to increase back safety for our team.
“I feel like back injuries are always big in construction environments,” Orr said.
In addition to their two main projects each, the safety interns will also conduct two stop audits/week, conduct one field audit/week, conduct plant inspections, participate in the insurance safety audits, perform accident investigations, attend daily operations meetings, participate in an OSHA consultation audit, achieve their OSHA 30 hour certification, help with new hire training, and assist with Safety Days.
If time allows, other projects the intern team would like to focus on include investigating equipment hitting other equipment; reviewing and revising lock out tagout energy control procedures; investigate slip/trip hazards; revise the Plant Safety Audit Process; and so much more.
Both are enjoying the experience they are gaining with Mid-States and hope to apply it to future careers. Orr would like to hold a construction safety position, similar to that of our Safety Team, and Santas plans to go into the insurance industry to work with businesses to increase their understanding of the importance of safety.
“Both also really want to help people,” Wolff said.
Both Orr and Santas will present out to the Mid-States Leadership Team at the completion of their projects.