Teamwork brings Saliture Award home at Simmons
By David Perry -- Furniture Today, March 7, 2005
Janesville, Wis. — The Tony award has come home here to the bedding plant that launched it.
The sprawling Simmons facility in Janesville recently won the Tony Saliture Award for Operational Excellence.
The award recognizes bedding veteran Tony Saliture, who brought Simmons to Janesville in 1980. He retired as general manager of the plant here in 1997, but still comes in several days a week to lend a hand.
Saliture and hundreds of other Simmons employees were in Las Vegas recently for the Simmons Leadership Conference, where the company recognizes its top performers. There, Saliture learned the Janesville plant, one of the biggest bedding plants in the world, had won the award named in his honor.
The Janesville plant had won the company's old Quality Assurance Award for seven straight years, but had never won the award since its scope was broadened and it was named for Saliture in 2001. The Simmons Phoenix plant won in 2001 and again in 2002. The Simmons Charlotte (N.C.) plant took the honors in 2003.
Not surprisingly, Saliture, 77, is delighted to see the award come home to Janesville.
"The Janesville plant has always set the bar, and having this award come to Janesville is wonderful," he said. "But what is most important to me is that it's a complete team effort. No one group of people — manufacturing, sales reps, administration — can win it by themselves. They have to work together as a team."
The Saliture Award is one of the most prestigious awards a Simmons plant can receive. It recognizes safety, quality, productivity, cost management and customer service.
"It's more of an honor to win this award than the Quality Assurance Award," Saliture said, "because there is a lot more involved."
Chuck Waldhart, who succeeded Saliture as operations manager at the Janesville plant, said the award will be displayed prominently. "I am going to put it in the lobby, probably in a glass case," he said.
The award features a crystal eagle on a lighted base, a design Saliture helped select. He also selected the words on the base: "People are our most valuable asset and we continually recognize and appreciate their contribution."
"It's all about the people," Saliture said. "That's been my philosophy throughout my whole life."
One of those special people is Waldhart, whom Saliture hired in 1982. Waldhart worked in all the departments at Janesville before taking over operation of the plant in 1998. "Over the years, he's made more Simmons bosses look good," Saliture said, "and if there was ever anyone I would want in my foxhole, it's Chuck Waldhart."
Saliture tried to retire in 1997, but couldn't turn down a request from Bob Hellyer, now president of Simmons. Hellyer, who got his start at Simmons in Janesville, "called me and asked if I would work with Chuck," Saliture recalled. "I've been back here ever since. I've really enjoyed it."
Hellyer said it is fitting the Tony Saliture award is back in Janesville. "I think Tony's legacy is that he's always said that if you build a good quality product day in and day out and deliver it when you say you're going to, then you've got job security," Hellyer said.
