PDCA TRAILBLAZER
Christian Cunningham
From equipment design and assembly to chief operation officer and soaring
By Pollyanna Cunningham, ICE® – International Construction Equipment, Inc.
Many of you have worked your way through the ranks in
the deep foundation business. That is just the way it
used to work. You start by driving pile and worked your
way into bigger and more complicated and successful (and stressful!)
roles. This was no different for Christian Cunningham. He
has been associated with ICE® since he was a small child, watching
his dad and dad’s business partners grow this idea of a company
into an international success.
It was October 11, 1995 that Cunningham took the plunge
and became an official ICE® working team member. Much different
than from today in family companies, he took his college education
and put it to great use by working on the assembly floor and traveling
with the sales team to job sites. He gathered information on
the integral workings of all ICE® equipment, troubleshooting and
customer suggestions and then directly applied them to process,
procedure and equipment improvements – making wasted time
and energy a thing of the past. He quickly learned that first-hand
experience coupled with his education is worth its weight in gold to
improving the company product, communications and structure.
He was then tasked with branch interactions. In his normal
style, he did not just become a liaison to corporate. Cunningham
left North Carolina and began moving around the U.S., stopping
Cunningham left North Carolina
and began moving around the U.S.,
stopping in branches for years
at a time to help restructure and
improve service to customers.
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