At Breiner, we credit our ability to make high-quality manufactured parts to our skilled and dedicated employees who work to meet those expectations each day. Today, Breiner Innovative is proud to highlight our Handling and Purchasing Sales Manager, Jake Lucas, who has worked in the company alongside his brother Joe for 20 years. Here, we sit down with Jake to learn about his work experience with the company.
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Briefly describe your background.
I’ve been working at Breiner Innovative for 20 years, where I started as a sales representative. Since then, I’ve gone into purchasing, operations, and back to sales. My current role is Sales Manager and Head of Purchasing. During this time, I’ve been married to my wife, Sabrina, since 2004. I am a proud father to my 13-year-old son Drew and 11-year-old daughter Cali.
What is your role at Breiner, and how does it help customers achieve their goals?
I’ve recently been promoted to Breiner’s Head of Purchasing and Sales Manager. I serve as the liaison between our company and the client, where I investigate their problem or need to find a solution. Whether that’s by expediting the order or figuring out a different manufacturing strategy. I do all that I can to advocate for the customer’s side and ensure all parts are received on time and meet their specifications as closely as possible.
Tell us about a time when you helped a customer solve a challenging problem.
At Breiner, our strategy to resolve issues is all about communication and gaining perspective. By learning what they want and listening to their needs, I gain insight into what manufacturing strategies to take and make the delivery of their products painless and efficient. We’re all about doing exactly what the customer wants. In cases like these where we run out of options, only as a last resort do we step in and give recommendations in material handling and cutting to help clients out.
What do you wish more people knew about Breiner’s services?
Just that people ought to know how personal Breiner Innovative is. The bottom line is that we’re not afraid to ask questions, open discussion, and work alongside the client to find out exactly what they need. At Breiner, our team members are willing to serve and give a personal touch to each manufactured part we deliver, which isn’t something customers can expect from most other companies.
How would you describe the employees and company culture at Breiner?
I’d say our company culture is family-oriented, but unlike other companies we really show and develop this close bond. If anything happens to one of our employees, they can find a full support system available to back them up and care about them on a personal level.
At the same time, everyone at Breiner is respectful of one another, holding each other up to our Core Values. No matter what department you service, everyone is expected to deliver the kind of quality results and standards to customers we’d expect for ourselves.
How does it feel to be part of the family business?
Having worked at Breiner for 20 years, it’s interesting to see the difference in our company compared to others. While I’ve worked in a couple similar places to Breiner, our business’ culture is distinct in that we sincerely treat each other as family. New employees immediately pick up on this bond, getting a strong sense of who we are and feel welcome from the moment they start working.
What do you like to do outside of work?
I often work outside the house with my family. When I’m not tending to our chickens and cows, my wife and I can be found supporting our son in soccer and travel baseball or my daughter in ballet and horse riding. Since we’re an outdoors-oriented family, we’ll also visit state parks and hike the trails together.
We’d like to thank Jake and everyone else on the Breiner sales team for all their hard work! At Breiner Innovative, we strive to meet customer expectations and help them succeed each day with our expert cutting and handling services. Contact us today to learn more!
