Quality Products Fabrication & Shipping Manager Greg Donaldson Becomes Compass Precision Employee of the Month
Sometimes it can take laid off workers months or even years to find another job equivalent to the one just lost. For Quality Products Fabrication & Shipping Manager Greg Donaldson, it took a few hours.
Now more than 18 years since his extremely quick transition to Quality Products & Machine, LLC, Compass Precision has named Greg the company’s Employee of the Month for March.
His selection marks the one-year anniversary of the Compass Precision Employee of the Month program. Greg is the seventh Quality Products recipient (out of 13). Of the other six previous honorees, two each have been from Gray Manufacturing Technologies, LLC, Tri-Tec Industries, LLC and Advanced Machining & Tooling, LLC.
In Nov. 2002, Greg lost his job when Fabtech went out of business. On his last day of work, his wife, Angie, told him of a manufacturing company just a mile and a half from their house in Charlotte — Quality Products. Greg dropped off his resume that day (a Friday) and immediately received a call back. Quality hired him within hours, and Greg started work the following Monday.
Amazingly, despite being laid off, he did not miss a single day of work.
“I didn’t even know Quality Products existed, honestly.” said Greg. “So my wife was the one who found it.
“It just worked out.”
Unknowingly, it helped that Greg’s former supervisor from Fabtech was working at Quality Products at the time. That was “his in,” but Greg’s contributions to the Compass Precision operating company over nearly two decades make him an obvious choice for employee of the month.
Greg started as a fabricator and did some welding in his first three years at Quality. Then in 2005, he received a promotion to a managerial role. He’s remained and excelled in that position for the last 15 years.
As fabrication manager, he directly oversees all the welding, cutting, bending and assembling of metal parts on the factory floor. Greg is also a purchaser, so he constantly buys materials on-and-off all day long.
Starting in 2018, he began managing the shipping and engineering departments as well. His favorite part about working at Quality Products has only grown through his expanded role.
“Seeing how everything gets done and out the door, and the satisfaction of every piece of the puzzle in place and seeing the final product going out the door — that’s satisfying to me,” he said.
In particular, Greg finds enjoyment working on products for the U.S. military. Although he didn’t serve, his father, grandfather and uncle all spent time in the U.S. Air Force. His grandfather was a glider pilot in WWII.
Other than the great leader of the fabrications department, Greg is known at Quality for the bright-colors shirts he wears. His interests in different bright purples, blues, fuchsia, and sublime green stems from his love for Mopar muscle cars.
Greg says he enjoys doing a lot of different things in his freetime, but his favorite stress reliever is drag racing. He owns a Plum Crazy purple Dodge Charger and has raced in the Mopars at the Rock event in Rockingham Dragway each of the last five years.
Born and raised in Charlotte, NC, Greg attended Central Piedmont Community College. Greg and Angie will celebrate their 24th wedding anniversary in May. The couple have two children, Heather and Austin. His son, Austin, worked at Quality Products on a part-time basis in high school and became a full-time employee in 2016.