Keith Bailey:"Work as if the company belongs to you and take pride in your work."

Keith Bailey is a service technician with Maybury Material Handling of East Longmeadow, Massachusetts. Bailey is a new Forkliftaction member and has already jumped into our Discussion Forums. We plucked him out of a discussion forum titled "What makes a good road service tech?"
With more than 20 years' experience as a road service technician, Bailey is now also a team leader and trainer and manages the technicians at Maybury's Connecticut satellite office.

Bailey went from the US military in the late 1970s to work for an Allis-Chalmers forklift dealer. He says it was during his second year on the road that he realised he had found his niche. But things slowed down at the business and he left for a position at a Clark dealer.

Within five years, 22 technicians including Bailey, were let go from the New Haven, Connecticut dealership as a result of a slow economy and a union dispute. He then had a brief stint working as a car mechanic.

"I was reading the paper one Sunday morning when I noticed an ad for a resident technician in Connecticut for a Crown dealer in Massachusetts. That is where I have been for almost 20 years," Bailey says.

In his early days with Maybury, there were 20-odd sales and service staff. Now the company's employee numbers have swelled to almost 80, with 20-plus service vans on the road and a complete fabrication shop and installation team.

Bailey says he usually starts the day assisting in making sure all calls get covered, checking current preventative maintenance (PM) lists and talking with other technicians. Then he covers his own calls and/or does preventative maintenance, and takes support calls during the day.

Wednesdays are unique. He has a one-on-one meeting with a technician, going over open calls, missed PMs, inventory issues and van appearance and maintenance issues. Then he has a training session with the technician until lunch. Each Wednesday, Bailey goes through the same routine with a different technician.

Asked what gives him the most joy at work, Bailey simply says it's "the satisfaction of a job well done".

Then there's "that problem truck that you bang your head against the wall on and finally figure it out".

His advice to colleagues is to "work as if the company belongs to you and to take pride in your work".

The father of two teenage daughters says he looks up to his church rector, the Rev Cannon K Dexter Cheney.

"Here is a person who can machine parts for, help maintain and run a steam locomotive on a Saturday and on Sunday deliver an attention-grabbing homily. A well rounded individual with a wealth of knowledge," Bailey says. He explains that Cheney is a gifted machinist who works on the 'Essex Steam Train', a historical train that runs throughout the year in Connecticut, with themed events at Easter and Christmas and dinner train rides in warm weather.

Bailey relaxes by playing the drums or riding his 2002 V star 1100 classic motorcycle.

He says he enjoys the Forkliftaction.com Discussion Forums because materials handling professionals can post, reply or just read in a "no-pressure, no-bias" environment.
"The majority of information is very good. Most people are courteous and eager to offer their knowledge."