Lynchburg Business

Leader of the Month: Bob Ingram

Issue: May 2010 by Lynchburg Business in Inside The Magazine, Leader of the Month

Name: Bob Ingram

Job Title: Director of Manufacturing and Acting Works Manager at Griffin Pipe in Lynchburg, VA

1. How did you come to work at Griffin Pipe and how long have you been working there?

My first position in the pipe business was in the mid ‘70s with U.S. Pipe and Foundry in Birmingham, Alabama. I worked with them nearly 14 years before I was offered the Works Manager’s position in Florence, New Jersey with Griffin Pipe. I moved there, in that position, in 1989. In 1992, I was asked to be the Works Manager for Griffin Pipe here in Lynchburg. I accepted that transfer and moved to Lynchburg, where the plant had employees and a larger product line than the Florence plant.

In 2005, I was promoted to Director of Manufacturing for Griffin Pipe over the company’s three plants. Since 2009, I have concentrated my time as the Acting Works Manager at Lynchburg due to the economic climate in our business and a modernization project that we are completing here.

2. What does your daily role as Director of Manufacturing and Acting Works Manager entail?

My daily activities are not the same every day. I am in an administrative role, but I also have contact with employees on the shop floor daily. I have many meetings with plant personnel that may deal with safety, staff issues, HR issues, continuous improvement, maintenance, engineering, production, customer satisfaction, shipping, environmental and accounting. There are also video conferences and telephone conference calls with other plants and with our company headquarters to offer support or to report on our progress. I also walk through the plant on a daily basis to see firsthand how our plant is operating.

3. What has your time at Griffin Pipe taught you, not only as a professional, but about life in Lynchburg as a whole?

Lynchburg is a great place to live. When I first moved here, I had no intentions of staying here when I finally decide to retire. Now, after living here 18 years, I would not think of moving away from this beautiful area. Lynchburg has proven to be a great place to raise a family. I have worked with and met many other great people who have become very good friends.

From a professional standpoint, I have had the pleasure of working with the City Council and other city departments. As a manufacturing company, I will say that the City [of Lynchburg] has been great to work with. No matter what my issues have been, the City has tried to help in every way that they could. The same has been true with most of the Virginia State agencies too. Virginia is a great place to do business.

4. What one thing do you love most about your job?

I love working with all the people in our company. We have built a great team at this plant who work very hard to be the best in our industry. Whether hourly (United Steelworkers Union) or salaried, these people work together as a team to be successful—and they are. I feel that our relationship with Union and Management is excellent, which contributes to the success of our plant.

5. What is the most challenging thing about your job?

The most challenging part is to stay ahead of the curve. Manufacturing in our country has been a tremendous challenge in the last five years. Our business has seen the boom times and has seen the lean times. Managing during the lean times has definitely been a challenge. In the last two years, our company has gone from three manufacturing plants to two manufacturing plants. Our pipe manufacturing industry has lost three pipe plants in the last two years. We will be a stronger company when our markets recover, but going through these tough times has not been easy.

6. Your future career goals are: To complete my professional career in a few years and retire with the satisfaction that I have enjoyed the career choices that I have made.

7. Tell us something unusual about yourself.

I love to travel and see our country as well as see other parts of the world. After graduating from college in 1968 as a young Civil Engineer, I worked in jobs where I traveled and actually moved frequently. I moved 13 times the first 6 ½ years of my professional career. Being mobile has helped my career by the experiences and the expertise that I gained traveling and being with so many different people. I have lived in seven different states (and some more than once) and lived in Vietnam for a year. I have traveled for vacations or for work to seven additional countries and will travel to Rome and Athens in May. When I retire, I do plan on traveling to other places on my bucket list.

8. What professional experiences are you most proud of?

I am proud that I served my country as a platoon leader in Vietnam. At 23 years old, I grew up quickly and learned many lessons in leadership that could not have been learned from reading or from sitting in a classroom.

I am proud that I was privileged to be the Works Manager at all three of Griffin Pipe’s Plants. I got to work with fellow employees in Florence, New Jersey, Council Bluffs, Iowa and here in Lynchburg, Virginia.

I am also proud that we are going through a renovation at this time at the Lynchburg Plant. It had been one of my goals to make pipe in 20 foot lengths (we currently only make pipe in 18 foot lengths) in Lynchburg. We are now in the middle of a $35 million project as we are purchasing new casting machines that will make pipe in 20-foot lengths.  We are purchasing new finishing equipment that should make this one of the most modern and efficient pipe plants in the world. This facility has been in Lynchburg since 1882, and this project should secure the future of this plant for many more years.

9. Do you have any career advice for other business leaders?

Always be a good listener. There are many “experts” whom I have met in my career and some didn’t have a high school education. But I learned from all of them. I was not too proud to ask for advice and I listened to what they had to say. Always value the people with whom you work. When others know that you value them, they are not just fellow employees, they are your friends. Treat everyone with dignity and respect. It doesn’t cost anything, but pays big dividends.

10. Share one of your best memories of your time working in Lynchburg.

One of the best memories just happened in April of this year. When I moved to Lynchburg, I didn’t play golf. After starting work here, I decided to take up the game at age 48, as many fellow employees seemed to enjoy the game so much. I now love the game and on Good Friday, we celebrated the 43rd Annual Greater Griffin Open Golf Tournament at Winton Country Club (in Amherst County). In our annual tournament, employees, retirees and vendors get together for a round of golf. This annual event is a great time to share with a great group of people to carry on this tradition (three retirees have played in all 43 tournaments).