The infamous House Conductor, the one wielding the baton during the early years of the gramophone, was responsible for directing operations inside the studio.
A successful recording depended on his or her hands-on expertise. The house conductor had to be familiar with the entire recording process, but at the same time hold the confidence of their colleagues with a high musical IQ.
Juan Tapia wields that baton inside the warehouse. He’s well versed in every warehouse process, and he’s earned the trust and respect of his colleagues. For Juan, a well-organized warehouse moves seamlessly in rhythmic, standardized, yet impactful fashion.
From scheduling deliveries to customer communication to administrative follow through, Juan Tapia is, for all intents and purposes, the (Ware)house conductor.
“Juan is the go to for a lot of people for a lot of different things. Being able to hold that together, remembering conversations you’ve had with people, and keeping up with a list of administrative processes and documentation, he’s the man in the back. He knows what’s going on,” Director of Operations Keith Lenore said.
Project leader. Delivery scheduler. Administrator. Aftermarket coordinator. There are many continuous parts to this ensemble, but Juan conducts them with the ease of a calm, reflective intermezzo.
What’s Juan’s performance strategy? How does he conduct business on the warehouse floor?
It starts before the sun comes up.
It’s important to note that Juan turns on the house lights every morning.
The logistics supervisor is in the office by 5:45 every morning, with very little exception. He likes this time because, well, it’s the only quiet time of the day for him to work.
“I’ll take care of a lot of emails, some of the phone calls that have been coming through. The night before, I usually have a good idea of the truck schedule, but things can change overnight. So I’ll finalize the truck schedule before people start coming in. And then I’ll go ahead and start getting equipment ready for the drivers (to be delivered that day).”
From there, he’ll get that day’s delivery paperwork uploaded on the iPad. He’ll unbox any equipment for new orders and get it staged inline for the shop. There’s documentation for eAutomate to be processed as well.
“He comes to work a lot earlier than he has to, but that’s just the way he does it,” DFW delivery driver Robert Minnerup said.
Throughout the day, Juan is in the trenches with both customers and colleagues fielding questions, dictating real-time schedule updates, and pushing necessary processes forward.
“The warehouse supervisor is in the middle of everything inside the warehouse, collaborating with shop technicians, the aftermarket department, sales admin,” Keith said. “When people walk in the warehouse, he’s the first person they see.”
Juan can play every instrument in the house.
In other words, when it comes to warehouse roles, Juan’s been there, done that.
13 years ago, Juan was working in the print shop of a company that partnered with Datamax, when layoffs became evident. His boss at the time mentioned his name to Datamax.
Juan was a natural to step in and run the then-Datamax print shop, which helped school districts print items or aide in overflow from print shops, or most any other special request from customers.
As that downsized, he moved into the scanning department, picking up documents to scan for specific internal (and external) processes. Then, he moved to the warehouse into the supplies department. When a driver was hurt and hadn’t come back, Juan started doing deliveries in the afternoons.
“Anything that came up, I was willing to do,” Juan says. “To me, my impressions of Datamax from the beginning were that I had an opportunity to learn different things. There’s always new opportunities to grow.”
Prior to moving to Texas, the Chicago native Juan worked for a freight company as a delivery driver. He also worked in marketing for a company that handled electrical productions for Home Depot and Lowe’s. He says this job, which included setting up display equipment for hardware industry conventions, gave him a lot of the customer skills he owns today.
Conducting Warehouse Business: Juan’s 4 Big House Rules.
Quality
“I take pride in the work quality that I perform and produce, and I expect that from our team as well.”
Availability
“I am a person that will come in early and stay late to get the task at hand completed. That’s where availability comes in. “
Adaptability
“Adaptability plays a big factor I think in our business when it comes to our customers’ special needs or requirements. At the end of the day our team members know I have their back and because of that I know they have mine to get the job done.”
Independence
“I work well as a team member as well as independent. For me, I would never ask one of my co-workers do something I wouldn’t do or know how to do.”
"Having been in this industry for more than 30 years, Juan is among the very best I've seen in his role," Vice President of Marketing Robert Caldwell said. "His commitment deserves the respect and support of all Datamax colleagues, especially when it pertains to the 'house rules' of warehouse/logistics operations and guidelines."
Another day, pre-daylight, and Juan Tapia pulls into the back of the empty Datamax parking lot. Partially because he can effectively plan out his day, and partially because he just wants to escape morning traffic, he’s again the first one in the building. He turns on the lights.
It’s quiet and calm. Juan can, without interruption, double check the delivery schedule, catch up on email and begin unboxing equipment. Before long, co-workers begin arriving, tasks begin multiplying, and the ensemble is ready to perform for its Raving Fans.
With that, he simply wields his baton once again.