Strom Machinist Earns Recognition
Chris Salinas followed in the footsteps of his younger brother, George, to begin working at Strom Manufacturing. Fittingly, George is now following in his older brother’s footsteps.
Seven months after Compass Precision honored Chris as its employee of the month, George has earned the award for May 2025.
George Salinas is the 62nd employee of the month at Compass since the creation of the program more than five years ago. George is also the fifth Strom employee to receive the honor and first since his brother in Oct. 2024.
”George, his brother Chris, and the rest of the crew here are all guys I inherited when I joined Strom,” explained Keith Wenzel, the new VP & General Manager who started at this Compass operating company in March. “Unlike some places where I have been, the work ethic here is excellent. I am very pleased that we are able to recognize George Salinas as Compass’s outstanding employee this month.”
George began working at Strom in July 2022. At the time, he was job hunting, and the role came recommended to him from Joel Gonzalez and Roldofo Nicolas Baltazar, who are two of the five previous Compass Employee of the Month recipients at Strom.
The shop was very busy when George started, so he immediately hit the ground running as a machinist. Over the last three years, he has gone from entry-level to a machinist who wants to learn programming.
George’s day-to-day tasks include performing setups, running machines and helping in shop floor maintenance. He said he believes he’s learning at a faster pace than even a year ago, which is allowing “more opportunities to present themselves.”
George runs any machine where he’s needed and has also begun contributing in the shipping department.
“I’m an all hands on deck kind of guy,” George said. “I run machines, but I also like to fill in wherever I’m needed.
“I try to be a team player that is willing to help anybody.”
Compass acquired Strom only a couple months after he started, which left the members of the shop floor feeling a little uneasy. But George said the Compass management team did an excellent job of alleviating his concerns.
George loves working for Compass. Of course, it helps that his family and friends (Joel and Roldofo have been close family friends his entire life) are on the Strom shop floor.
“Being able to come into work and have a team with friends, my brother, it’s very easy to communicate. Pretty much everyone, I’m very comfortable speaking with. Everyone here is almost like another family to me,” said George.
“The community from the bosses to the co-workers that I’ve met along the way. Coming to work with a good team is a good thing.”
George came to Strom with no previous machine shop experience. Prior to Strom, he worked inside a meat freezer, packaging high grade Japanese meats. Although he worked into a leadership role with the company, George desired to work somewhere with better leadership.
He expressed that he’s found that at Strom.
George was born and raised in Hillsboro, Oregon. Like his brother, he graduated from Forest Grove High.
George also shares his brother’s love for cars. The Salinas brothers have a couple 1964 Chevy Impalas they are currently working on together to restore.
Chris and George are two of nine siblings in a close family. Chris often hosts the Salinas family in his backyard for weekend barbecues.
George also enjoys playing video games.