Benchmarks of Excellence
EMPLOYEES: Treat Them Right, They Keep Us In Business.
Levy employees, from top managers on down, are the focal point of our organization.
We hire, promote, and recognize employees based on their potential and actual value contributions.
We strive to provide all our people with the tools, training, experience, resources, and development opportunities they need to grow and improve personally, and to do their jobs effectively and efficiently.
We encourage employees to continuously improve, to participate in decision-making, and to help set and meet organization goals, both as individuals and as teams. We strive to make sure that employees are motivated to achieve excellence through trust, respect, recognition, and empowerment.
We use objective feedback to improve personal performance, and to recognize those who achieve excellence.
“The owner of the company calls me regularly, and his calls are both from a business sense and a personal sense. He always wants to know how I’m doing and if there’s anything that I need. I can’t imagine any other company in the world where the owner of the company is so personally involved with his employees. It’s a great testament to Levy’s leadership and the culture of the entire company.”
Rich Cox
A Levy Employee since 1975
SYSTEMS: When All Else Fails, Read The Instructions.
Our policy is to use documented, controlled and integrated quality, safety, and environmental management systems to conduct our businesses.
Plans and procedures are prevention-oriented. They aim at identifying risks and providing error-free, pollution-free, and accident-free processes, products, and services. They enable us to comply with quality, safety and environmental standards, and to prevent, detect and remedy defects, accidents, and pollution.
They are flexible, so as to better serve our customers, handle sudden emergencies, and take advantage of opportunities. They help us adhere to laws and regulations, both in letter and spirit. We use them to operate facilities and equipment which are orderly, secure, safe, healthy, and environmentally sound.
Through regular audits and management reviews we continually identify system improvement opportunities.
“In our paving business, we use both
fine and coarse crushed stone and slag to build permeable bituminous surfaces on drainable aggregate bases. This layering system works as a natural filter for the water that would, otherwise, remain on the surface. Natural filtration is a significant advantage of permeable, ‘green’ pavement and is the simplest way to control storm water run-off and its pollutants. This important step in the natural process of water purification is bypassed when rainwater falls on impermeable pavement surfaces.
Consider a parking lot, a shopping center, or a big factory and how these commercialized areas ineffectively handle run-off. We see them while driving around, and we don’t think about them, but they have faster, higher pollutant run-off that goes to settling ponds where algae forms and emits methane. Methane is 23 times more dangerous to our environment than even CO2.
Our technology balances a commercial need with an effective environmental solution and reduces infrastructure project costs, eliminating retention ponds and costly curb and gutter storm drainage systems.”
Bill Jones
A Levy Employee since 1985
CUSTOMERS: Treat Them Well, They Pay the Bills.
We use systems to document and transmit customer requirements, to better understand their needs and anticipate their expectations, and to measure their satisfaction with our performance through regular feedback.
We strive to provide high value-added products and services, which contribute to customer success, and therefore enhance our own growth and profitability. Leaders instill the drive to provide consistently superior service in every employee.
To strengthen customer loyalty, we provide reliable products and services. We make and meet our customer commitments. Our aim is to exceed our customer’s expectations.
Customer complaints are dealt with fairly, promptly, and equitably; complaints are used to improve products and services to the customer. knowing that systems are essential but imperfect, we empower our people to meet the needs of the customer, as well as meeting the needs of the system.
“When one of the largest steel producers in the United States approached us about providing surface conditioning services, we were eager to seize the opportunity.
Looking back on our success, I can honestly say that it was the relationship we established with the steel mill team and the confidence they had in us that secured the contract.
Throughout the project, the customer’s team rolled up their sleeves and worked closely with us to provide critical information necessary for us to engineer the right solution.
Members of the Levy team from various disciplines within the organization were also by our side to take a tough challenge and develop a viable solution for our customers.That kind of support enabled us to make modifications to the equipment, train and stabilize our workforce, and outperform everyone’s expectations.”
Eric Harris
A Levy Employee since 2001
INTEGRITY: Do Unto Others...
Our first business policy might also be called “character”. At Levy, integrity means that we will always treat others the way we would wish to be treated. By “others”, we mean customers, suppliers, and of course, our fellow workers, who are our “internal customers”. We will work hard to gain the same treatment from them, by giving them the best products, services and information we are capable of giving.
Integrity means that we will share our success with others. We encourage and support employees at all levels participating in worthwhile charitable causes.
We will strive to be known as “good neighbors” in the communities where our work takes place.
Above all, integrity means we will firmly adhere to the highest standards of fairness and ethical behavior in all our business relationships.
“From the first day I started work here, my dad – a Levy employee for 35 years – always taught me that we have an obligation to the Levy Company to work hard, do well for the company, and above all, treat our fellow Levy employees with respect and provide them with support whenever they ask.
Over the years, following my father’s wisdom, I have had the opportunity to work with very good people who knew how to get results and could visualize a solution to a problem and quickly communicate and respond to our customers. Some of the most significant support comes from members of upper management, who are always involved and easily accessible. In addition to sharing their experience and providing proven solutions that had worked in similar situations, they also allow and encourage free thinking and provide support for our original thoughts.”
Mike Pollock
A Levy Employee Since 1977
PROCESSES: Do The Right Things The Right Way, The First Time, Every Time.
Proven processes are used in all our systems to transform materials, information and machinery into products and services. We use processes which are effectively controlled, are safe to operate, and which have minimal impact on the environment.
An understanding of our cost structure and continuous process improvement provide the foundation for good business decisions, including business growth.
Customer- and Levy-owned property is properly safeguarded. Information needed to operate is clear, timely, complete and readily accessible. Suppliers are selected, measured and rewarded based on their value contributions.
We use recycling, conservation, benchmarking, preventive maintenance, calibration, and advanced technology to achieve process excellence. Key processes are measured and monitored, using appropriate statistical methods.
Quality, safety and environmental records and data are properly maintained and analyzed to improve process performance.
“Producing products to exact specifications on a consistent basis is imperative to meet customers’ material requirements. At Levy, we achieve process excellence using proven practices that we have perfected over time, including recycling, conservation, benchmarking, preventive maintenance, and other technologically-advanced methods. By measuring and monitoring these key processes and conducting purpose-focused and ongoing training to keep abreast of the most effective quality control measures, we are able to define and refine our operations to ensure that we are performing at optimum production and quality levels.”
Sandy Upleger
A Levy Employee Since 1993
LEADERSHIP: Not a title, but attitude and actions.
Not everyone is a manager, but everyone can be a leader. We each have unique skills, knowledge and expertise. We each face situations and challenges that test us.
Our policy is to develop and put in place leaders in every field who focus on the task at hand and set high expectations. When the going gets tough, they get others involved and motivated, individually and in groups. They encourage innovative and creative thinking.
Managers are organizational leaders. They set high expectations, with a special focus on safety, quality, and environment. Their plans, goals, and actions allow for adequate resources and continual improvement of people, processes, products, services and systems.
They regularly review facts, data, and measurements to monitor progress; and hold people accountable for meeting goals. They communicate clearly and consistently, and are great listeners. And their actions consistently support their words.
“I’ve been fortunate to know both Ed Levy Sr. in his later years of life and the present owners, Ed Levy Jr. and Evan Weiner. One of the reasons the organization is so successful is that there is no bureaucracy at Levy. If you need to make a decision, get in touch with someone, or get an answer to a question, you can talk directly to the owners. They make themselves available to you so that you can do your job to the very best of standards. I never feel like I work ‘for’ the leadership at Levy; I have a real sense of working ‘with’ them to realize my personal potential and the potential successes of this organization.”
Bob Michalik
A Levy Employee Since 1973