CAREER STORY
William
Johnson,
CZM Foundation Equipment
Building machines,
building the company
By Christine Fournier
William Johnson joined
CZM in October 2012 as
the fifth employee at the
company’s North American factory. He and
two other members of the team built the
first CZM rigs in the U.S., the EK125 model.
“It’s pretty amazing to look back on how
much growth we have achieved over the
last eight years,” said Johnson, who started
at CZM as a floor technician, moved to
shop foreman then product support and
was most recently promoted to service
manager in 2017.
Johnson attributes his early years at
CZM to giving him the foundation to lead
the service team, which now consists of
10 members.
“I was part of building every machine up
to 2016 and that firsthand manufacturing
and operational knowledge has been my
biggest asset as service manager,” said
Johnson. “It allows me to better educate
our technicians and often help customers
in the field troubleshoot an issue.”
Johnson is continually looking for new
ways to lead his team and be at the forefront
of the industry.
Photo courtesy of CZM Foundation Equipment
“For the most part, I take a gentle
approach to management,” he said.
“Experience has taught me to be patient
and listen, first and foremost. I believe
if we hire the right people initially who
are trustworthy and will represent CZM
appropriately, we will all win. I like working
with individuals to help develop their
skill sets and challenge them with new
responsibilities so that we can retain and
promote within as we grow.”
Johnson says that the service team
and technicians are a vital part of future
advancements at CZM.
“Our people are in the field listening
to customers and operators on so many
different types of jobs and applications and
bring feedback to engineers and production
at the factory,” he said. “We get a lot of
feedback about safety in the field, which
is probably what has evolved most since I
started working in this industry. Everyone
is so much more aware of environmental
issues and safety.”
CZM recently completed the
construction of its new North American
headquarters outside of Savannah, Ga.
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