Sam Sadler has already seen two different sides of the packaging industry. After graduating from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with an engineering degree, Sadler worked for Rockwell Automation. While immersed in the controls side of automation, Sadler was eager to dive into equipment design, which led him to ARPAC. Now, as ARPAC’s assistant product manager and an MBA student at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, Sadler wants to gain a better understanding of strategic analytic marketing, with the hopes of playing a bigger role in ARPAC’s future, and helping the company be on the forefront of cloud-based equipment technology.
OEM: What inspired you to make the jump from controls sales to machine design?
When I got into plants and I saw these big machines, it looked like magic, and I wondered how it all worked. I wanted to get a more holistic view of the industry aside from the brains or controls of the operation and look into the mechanics of it all. I wanted to get more involved in design. I ended up on the application side, ARPAC’s front-end system design, which gives me a chance to interact with customers and assist other departments. I get a little bit of the light sales work, but I also get to do the design work, which is what I really wanted to do coming out of college.
OEM: Do you have any advice for other supervisors who are also managing millennials?
Millennials really value feedback and the opportunity to be involved in a decision. When you look at the millennial workforce, for good or bad, we want it all and we want it now. From that perspective, we want to be involved in the decision making that impacts us as well as the company we work for. When I ask my mentor a question, he never gives me the answer. Instead, he says, “Let’s go write on the chalk board and see if we can work it out.” He knows the answer, but he helps me work through it. I value that, too. It gives us an outlet to come up with the solution ourselves.
OEM: How do you engage millennial employees and garner feedback from them?
We started an internal millennial group at ARPAC called “Voice of Tomorrow” that discusses how the company can make one culture work for all employees. We have different generations of people who grew up in a variety of environments and in vastly different ways, so the group tries to create a culture based on recruiting millennial talent, without alienating the company’s older workforce.
OEM: Beyond prioritizing company culture, what are some industry trends you are eyeing?
We believe cloud-connected machinery is close to gaining really good momentum. Once we start to bring in data from our machines and lines in the field, we can optimize parts delivery and machine designs based on this data, which enables our customers to have the most efficient machinery. There are still some perception issues around the technology that need to be worked out, but cloud-based machinery is coming and it will change the game.
OEM: What is your advice for those new to or entering the packaging industry?
My advice would be—and if I could go back, I would do something similar—try to be hands-on with everything. If you don’t know something, ask questions. We have all been there, and there were questions that I was afraid to ask because I assumed that I already had to know the answer.
