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Precision & Inclusion: The Viewrail Pit Crew Story · Inchstones with Sarah | Autism Advocacy & Caregiver Stories

• 0:00
  Speaker A: Sure.
• 0:01
  Speaker B: Here on the Inchtones podcast, jumping in with two wonderful gentlemen, both new friends, one new as of five seconds ago. But I believe that those who come on here lead with a very high degree of vulnerability in sharing how life can evolve in the most beautiful of ways, even when it feels painful at first. I have with me Len Morris, CEO and founder of viewrail and the manager, Bob, coordinator of a set of employees called the pit crew. Gentlemen, thank you so much for being here. And without further going into all the details of your wonderful company, can you tell me about your pit crew launch?
• 0:43
  Speaker C: Bob and Pit crew is a team of individuals that are adults who have some form of disability and that's diagnosis they're given. We, we see them as adults with incredible abilities and they do great work that all of our customers greatly value. In any manufacturing company we really have these challenges of looking at quality, quality, quality and like I never go to what comes out of pit grow worry about quality because like they're the most quality passionate group of individuals we have anywhere in our, in our company and the rest of the world labels them as people with disabilities. All I see is quality ability.
• 1:32
  Speaker B: That's quality ability. And again I see that from being the mother. Their ability to understand quality over quantity is like innate.
• 1:46
  Speaker C: Yes, absolutely. We experience it every day.
• 1:48
  Speaker B: What does that look like on a day to day basis from managing that team, Bob, is it seven people? Is it 100 individuals? Do they each have separate jobs? Do they work as a team? What does that look like? Yeah, guess your background as a football coach plays really well into this role.
• 2:07
  Speaker A: You nailed it. We are currently seven people. Started out three years ago with four and basically at that time they made boxes for the shipping department and I came on board two years ago and about a year ago we are up to five guys and we were doing 20 some different products and processes. I joke with people telling them that we are the some assembly required. You know you always get those kits to put those things together on Christmas eve, make every kit under the sun for all the different products. Currently in the last year we've grown to probably close to 40 different products and processes and we now have seven guys that range from 22 years old to 63 years old to a young man with down syndrome, to an over the road truck driver who had stroke years ago and had a heart attack recently. So it's, it's a varied group. It's amazing as Len said, how quality conscious they are and they, they do a great job Each, each one because of different things. We have individual products and processes that they will work on. But then we have team things that they come together on. As I came on, everything was set up very visual. It's, it is, it's, it is ran extremely well laid out. When they have a process, they have a pictograph that is labeled and marked that they can run through and find every single part. Just boom, boom, down the list and over on the wall and the products, everything is labeled and marked. So it's very visual for them. And it's.
• 4:01
  Speaker B: Well, that's, you know, visual is confidence. I really believe visual expectations. I don't care if you are in a C suite at a company or working in the pit crew or a child like mine that's just attending school. I believe the visual schedule, visual instructions, equal confidence. And I believe as leaders, whether you're a parent leading your children or your role, Bob, in leading those young men and women, you're. You're giving them confidence in providing that for them. I, I'm able to see when I step back really as a mother and I really look at my children for who they're becoming, I see that quality aspect that they enjoy and they feel really confident in. I see their desire for repetition in a positive way in terms of a pattern matching ability, in terms of a systematic, a systematic flow to things. But also I think what all those things add up to, and it seems to what you're alluding to, Bob, is not only is it confidence in that, but it creates purpose. And that's one of the big veins of my own mothering leadership, is to grow my children into having purpose. Because whether it's putting these kits together in 40 different variety ways for Viewrail's customers, it's just. This is an evolution of that from a, from a growth and development standpoint.
• 5:28
  Speaker C: Yeah. And Sarah, I think it's important to note, like we had to go on a journey as a company to get really good, to unlock the. And we struggled for a long time to get there. When, when we started down the journey of saying we want to have a more diverse workforce, we. We tried to incorporate people into jobs that looked like the jobs that everyone else was doing in the plant. And we failed. We failed really bad. Supervisors were not prepared. The line speeds or the work speeds jobs just, just didn't match up. And I think so one of the other things that we've really learned is the length of the, of the work day. It's, it's a great struggle with. For people that are neurodiverse. Yeah. And so we, we had to adjust as well as like the other requirements on the, on their life of. For the most part, our teams depended upon transportation. Well, you know, you have to start at 5am because that's the work day. Like, we're just like stressing the whole system beyond what. When we adjusted and decided, why don't we create a system that works from the beginning rather than trying to shove a bunch of people into an already existing system, we were finally able to find success. And there's been a bub's leadership and recognition that's been a tremendous part of that success.
• 6:53
  Speaker B: You know, it sounds, I heard a great analogy this week and it, it plays into what you experienced, which was if you are a coach or a leader or CEO of a company and you line up your employees that are a new set, a new subset of your employees and you say, all right, I'm standing right here in the front door. We're going to go in and start New Member Education 2.0 or 1.0. All right, do a backflip and I'll see you inside. Everyone's like, I can't, I can't do a backflip. Well, no, no, no, just do a backflip and you know, we'll see inside. And your pit crew be like, well, I mean, I can't do a back rope, but I, I can do a forward roll. Can we start with the forward roll? That analogy, when I heard it this week, really gives power to the journey of purpose that if you can start. It seems like what you guys did is you learned through practice or through trial and error that you can start and begin again and realize that you learned along the way. Talk to me about bringing someone like Bob on board and what and how did you recruit? Was this through community? Was this through word of mouth? Was this through your church? So how does that recruitment look? And you know, does it look different than your typical recruiting?
• 8:04
  Speaker C: It's very different. A typical recruiting but you, you listed like church, community and agency. It's like been a blend of, of all of those and it's pretty. Now that we have this rolling is self supporting and hard part. We did partner with a local agency and who it's called ADAC Adults with.
• 8:25
  Speaker A: The association of Disabilities of Elkhart County. There you go.
• 8:29
  Speaker B: There you go.
• 8:30
  Speaker C: They've been, they've been very helpful in giving us support and coaching and that's been a tremendous resource because their needs from an HR standpoint, that pit crew has, that other groups don't have in our Group, in our group. And, and the agency has been able to be a great support that, walking us through some of those HR requirements, payroll requirements, you know, here, here's an earnings cap because like in order for, to get governmental support, like, we have to structure earnings in a certain way. And those are just all learnings that we had to embrace as a company.
• 9:08
  Speaker B: What would be those unmeasurable, impactful things that the pit crew provides to viewrail as a whole?
• 9:16
  Speaker C: The very measurable. Measurable is I will end up every now and then getting a call from a customer and it's not a pleasant call of like, they're very frustrated, something went wrong. Like, I remember one of them, like the train that was carrying their product derailed. I'd explain to the customer, I'm really sorry that the train derailed.
• 9:40
  Speaker B: And like, I don't own csx. Okay. I don't, I don't know.
• 9:43
  Speaker C: But for whatever reason, you know, I had to field that call. And that was, that was a tough day. And so the, the measurable, immeasurable is I took a journey through pit crew and like all of those problems just disappear because nobody's having a bad day in pit crew. Like everybody, every day is, is having a good day. Sarah, that's just, it's just, it's the most heartwarming place that can go on the company.
• 10:12
  Speaker B: I think it is to be said and not to, not to laud and applaud, but when you're handed a life with children that will grow into being employees such as those on your pit crew, there is a lot of, well, I wouldn't choose this. This is not. No one wakes up out in Manhattan and goes, you know what? I want two kids with non speaking autism. And what I believe that it's given me and it's given you is that it infects and becomes a luxury of life to be around individuals that are always where their feet are. They're so firmly planted in the present moment. And I think in the world we live in these days, that's very hard to find in typical individuals. I. Unless you experience it, you cannot understand the value of their presence, the value of them desiring to be where they are. The desire for them to know that they're providing something to a greater good outside of just themselves. And I think with children and young adults on the spectrum or with any other neurological disorder, sometimes their presence can get lost because they're pushed to the outskirts. So thank you for giving them power of your presence and the power of their own.
• 11:31
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 11:31
  Speaker C: I think one of the learnings that we had to learn is how we measure. Measuring time and productivity. And we had to learn that time moves at a different speed within pit crew. And there's a phrase, slow is smooth and smooth is fast. And we don't move. We don't ever appear to be moving really fast in pit crew. Really, man, do we move. We are smooth. And at the end of the day, the volume of work that is accomplished because, like, we have to be economic plan has to be economically viable as well. Customers have to be willing to pay for the work that is done. And I can tell you, when we create systems around the abilities rather than disabilities, we have been able to create something that is smooth. It ends up being very fast.
• 12:21
  Speaker B: That provides a lot of physical, moral, mental satisfaction to neurodiverse individuals. So I think that is another input to their own purpose and satisfaction.
• 12:31
  Speaker C: Definitely agree.
• 12:33
  Speaker B: Bob, talk to me about maybe some of the struggles that you have that come up and you have to rewire your own thinking. As someone who was a football coach, probably you weren't always leading individuals like this.
• 12:48
  Speaker A: Well, actually. Actually, I have a really close friend who taught with me for 30 years that was the head of our special ed department at the high school, taught the EH class, which was emotionally handicapped kids. My wife ended up teaching in that for, like 15 years.
• 13:08
  Speaker B: So you're around it?
• 13:09
  Speaker A: I was. And Sherry, she came out to our house after I had started this position, and I said, sure. It feels like, you know, I mean, I'm dealing with getting disabilities and different stuff. And I would bounce things off of her. She said, mom, you were always a special ed teacher. We always. We always filled your classes with kids that just needed love and support to understand they're important too. So I think that's the biggest thing, you know, just caring about people. And I think, honestly, I feel like that's what I bring to the table. I care about, love, people, kids. I've got two former students that are, you know, so I've known both of them were adopted out of the country and came when they were six months old. And I met the one when he was six months old. So, I mean, we got a great connection. We have to make changes, adaptations daily.
• 14:03
  Speaker C: You know, we.
• 14:04
  Speaker A: We change hourly schedules around. I've got two guys that work in a. Different than what was originally set up because of all their. The medical appointments and needs that they have. They've shifted their schedule, and it was one of their ideas. They came to me and said, hey, Bob, what if. And I'm like, sounds like a plan. We'll do that. We'll switch it for you. So you know, you can, you can make those things happen. And you still have, you know, you still get to come to work. And that was his biggest thing. He was off, hadn't worked for two years because two years prior to that the story and he just shared this with me. In a six month period, he had three different types of cancer. And just physically just of course pour him down. And to be able to come into work to get that sense of I'm valuable that I'm. Yeah, it's. It's just great to see is excite. I mean they are excited to come to work every day. Our, our original member of the pit crew, Spencer, his family moved to Arizona. So it was a very emotional time when he left. I'm sure guys had trouble dealing with it.
• 15:08
  Speaker B: Yep.
• 15:09
  Speaker A: But one of the nice things that the company does is we have a monthly State of the Union address. Where could we do something? And as a young down syndrome man, him and his mom did it together. And to listen to his mom talk about what a difference it made in his life, an unbelievable blessing. And there are so many, you know, there are challenges along the products are long lasting, but people are eternal.
• 15:43
  Speaker B: Y'all are in the stair business, but you're in the people business too.
• 15:46
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 15:46
  Speaker B: When you look into the eyes of a child that is seen as on the fringe of society and when you look into their eyes and see joy, it is a thin veil of heaven. I firmly believe it. It is a thin veil of heaven. And the relationships that just because of they are being who they are then get to change the lives of people like us. You know, Bob, you getting to share that, that is a luxury as an emotion that people wish they could purchase. I really believe that. I think that when people speak to how impactful the lives of neurodiverse and special needs individuals are and you hear someone discuss it and how powerful it is, people wish they could purchase it and you can't. Can't purchase it. I want to thank you guys so much for your time. I hope that other companies can model off of all the pivoting that you've done not only to grow your company, but to grow it in a way that allows for all your employees to realize who they are, what their potential is and to be celebrated for that. So thank you guys so much. I really appreciate your time and to Viewrail's future success. Please keep us updated on your pit crew. I'd love to get little exposes on each of them because I'm certain that who they are is changing not only within the pit crew, but all the employees of URL. So thank you.
• 17:17
  Speaker C: Thank you, Sarah. Appreciate it. Keep up the great work.
• 17:20
  Speaker B: Awesome. Awesome. All right, until next time on the Inch Jones podcast.