Today’s about the colleagues who make us Crosman. Get to know one.
Happy Labor Day! While we hope you’re making the most of your day off work, we also hope you remember why we’re enjoying this day off in the first place.
We can thank the working people of the world for Labor Day — specifically the labor activists who pushed for a holiday to recognize the immense contributions workers make to the United States. What better way to celebrate than by recognizing just one of the many amazing workers who make Crosman Crosman.
Meet Line Leader Heidi Schrader.
Heidi has been contributing her skills and good sense to Crosman and Benjamin since she came on board in June 2018. Today, she’s leading the 760 line, and that includes training everyone who’s working on that assembly. When the line gets busy — as it does regularly — that can mean keeping as many as 23 people building, inspecting, and packing up air rifles so you get yours as quickly as possible.
If you’re not familiar with this kind of work, we’re talking about an assembly line in which team members bring the gun together by passing it through multiple stations — there’s a barrel station, a tube station, etc. Keeping everything moving and ensuring product quality is a big job, and Heidi is just the woman to keep it all under control.
You might say it was the job she was meant for.
A handful of years back, Heidi had just finished tackling a full remodel of her house, and found herself looking forward to getting back in the workforce. As she tells it, “One day I told my husband ‘I’m going to get myself a job.’ And he said, 'Make sure it’s one you like.’” So she did. Heidi contacted an agency in search of a position that would suit her well.
They sent her a few jobs Hedi’s way, but none sounded right. Then the position at Crosman came up and she knew: this was it. Both Heidi’s mother- and father-in-law worked at and had retired from Crosman. Her husband had grown up hearing his dad’s stories about running the pellet room and wood shop, and his mother’s stories about working the stock cage. He’d been raised on Crosman and now? He’s married to it.
For Heidi, working at Crosman feels like home. She says while it can be stressful to handle high-demand days, and it can be challenging to maintain the right example for those on her line, she enjoys it. She likes her teammates and appreciates the trust her managers place in her.
While Heidi didn’t come to Crosman with any first-hand experience with air guns, she’s picked up the hobby since then. She’ll break them out in the yard with her husband, friends, and co-workers and has become good shot. She’s got a Benjamin Bulldog .357 plus a few different break barrels: a .22 and a few .177s.
Heidi isn’t Crosman’s longest-standing employee by a long shot, but she’s here for the long haul. “I want to retire from here,” she says. We hope that’s the case, because we’re lucky to have her.
Thanks Heidi, and thanks to all the working people of the world. We wouldn’t be here without you.
