RESCO will celebrate its 85th year in business this year. Our company started back in 1932 as a parts supplier to radio and, a few years later, TV repairmen. By the 1960s RESCO had transformed itself into a distributor of electronic components to manufacturers. More recently we have become a contract manufacturer of electronic assemblies and value-added reseller of bar code equipment. Although the focus of our business has certainly changed over the last eight and a half decades (and will necessarily continue to change), one thing has been a constant…the hard work and dedication of our team.
RESCO’s Core Values and Purpose
A few years back we undertook an effort to define the values shared by the RESCO staff.
Below is the result of this effort; a list of what we have come to call our Core Values. Now this is not to say that each individual who is part of the RESCO team has other values that guide and motivate them; certainly all do. Rather, this list are the values that all of us here at RESCO share.
RESCO’s Core Values
- Customers First: We always put the needs of our customers first.
- Integrity and Honesty: We will act with integrity and honesty in our dealings with
customers, suppliers, and co-workers. - Ownership and Accountability: We take ownership of results and are accountable to one another.
- Respect: We treat our customers, suppliers, and co-workers with respect.
- Growth: We embrace learning, change, and continual improvement.
- Teamwork: We always place the success of our team above individual achievement.
At the same time that we were working to define our Core Values we also worked to articulate the shared purpose (or reason) that motivates this group to do what they do. The Core Purpose of RESCO Electronics is shown below. Like our Core Values, the Core Purpose is not likely the only reason that our staff does what it does…but it is a purpose that we all share.
Core Purpose
Commitment to customers, company, and one another.
Measuring Performance
At this point you may be wondering why a blog on acknowledging the excellent work of RESCO team members begins with a section on core values and core purpose. The reason is simple. Here at RESCO we hire, reward, promote (and yes fire) staff based on how well they live our core values and purpose. These are more than words on a sign (or in a blog). Our core values and core purpose are the fundamental yardstick against which our individual performance is measured. So any acknowledgement, public or private, of a team member’s contribution begins with a look at how well they demonstrate these values and purpose in their daily work.
Annual Employee Awards
For the last nine years we have acknowledged three of our team members who we believe have best demonstrated our core values and purpose throughout each year. We do so by presenting them with one of three awards. These awards are listed below. Although each award focuses on a particular aspect of contribution, make no mistake that all are consistent with and support our values and purpose.
- Fred Wunder Customer Advocate of the Year
Awarded to the associate that consistently keeps our customers’ needs and requirements first in mind. This individual must also be successful at guiding our organization towards the successful fulfillment of these needs and requirements in a manner that also supports achieving our own Company goals.
- Most Productive Team Member of the Year
Awarded to the associate that has consistently delivered the highest level of productivity in the organization. For the purposes of this award, productivity includes accuracy and complexity of work as well as throughput.
- Change Agent of the Year
Awarded to the associate that has consistently embraced and supported change within the organization and is always seeking ways to improve workflow and quality. This associate must also be a strong advocate of our lean initiatives.
RESCO’s 2016 Award Recipients
I am proud to share with you the 2016 Employee Award recipients.
Peggy Dobrochowski (pictured on the right) received the Fred Wunder Customer Advocate of the Year Award. Peggy is floor supervisor of RESCO’s Baltimore production operation. She has been with the Company for 19 years and, appropriately enough, spent many of those years working with 
Fred Wunder, in whose memory this award is given. I am sure that if Fred were still with us, he would be first to admit the many occasions that Peggy helped him (and RESCO) look like a hero to our customers.
Denise Keller (pictured in the middle) earned the Most Productive Team Member of the Year Award. Denise joined RESCO in 2014 and is currently part of the Baltimore production team. Denise came to RESCO with a wealth of experience in lean manufacturing and has quickly become a leader in our lean efforts.
Robert “RJ” Maxwell (pictured on the left) received the Change Agent of the Year Award. RJ has been at RESCO for 5 years and now holds the position of Client Relationship Manager. While not on the road meeting with and helping to support the needs of our customers, RJ leads something we call the Morale Committee. The Morale Committee is a group drawn from each department of RESCO that meets each month to talk of ways that we can improve RESCO from an employee’s point of view. As you might imagine this group has been a leader of positive change within our organization.
Wrapping Up
So there you have it, a quick summary of our Core Values, Core Purpose, and Annual Employee Awards. Although this blog only mentioned our three formal awards and their 2016 recipients, the truth is that the RESCO team of more than 120 are all integral to meeting our customers’ needs and perpetuating our company’s success. Who knows what RESCO’s focus and business model will look like in the decades to come but I am sure that the hard work and dedication of our team will continue to be at the center.
About the Author
David Copenhaver is President of RESCO Electronics, a Baltimore based manufacturer electronic assemblies and value added reseller of auto ID equipment to original equipment manufacturers. Before joining RESCO in 2003, David was the Senior Vice President of Operations and member of the Board of Directors for US Office Products, a publicly traded distributor of office products that is now part of Staples. Beginning in 1989, David co-owned and managed The Smith-Wilson Co., an Orlando based distributor of office products that was sold to US Office Products in 1996.
David has a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and a Masters in Business Administration both from the University of Virginia. He is married and lives in Arlington, Virginia with his wife and three sons.