Skip to content

Aug 24, 2023

People First, Pt. 9: Meet the 2022 Warehousing Employee of the Year, Mitch Houston

People First, Mitch Houston, Warehousing Employee of the Year Recipient

We’re nearing the end of our People First series recognizing TA Service’s award-winning employees. In our last post, we introduced you to our Results Core Values Award winner, Carrie Merrigan-Johnson. Today, we’re spotlighting our first Warehousing Employee of the Year, Mitch Houston.

Employee recognition is a high priority at TA Services. One way we choose to recognize our employees is with our newly launched Employee of the Year awards to recognize the members of the TA team who consistently go the extra mile. We honor two Employees of the Year each year — one for brokerage/office employees and one for warehousing employees. The winners of these awards are chosen from our pool of Employee of the Month winners (24 candidates in total; 12 for each category). 

We are excited to announce that Mitch Houston, Continuous Improvement Engineer (CIE), is our 2022 Warehousing Employee of the Year. As a CIE, Mitch is responsible for helping make TA Services’ warehousing operations the best that they can be. He is quick-witted, hands-on, and detail-oriented, with excellent communication and teamwork skills. Mitch is always willing to go the extra mile for our customers and employees. Over the years, he has implemented various solutions that have resulted in more efficient operations and cost savings for our customers.  

We sat down with Mitch to learn about his role and the work he’s done to achieve the incredible honor of Warehousing Employee of the Year

Q: Tell us about your role at TA Services. 
A: I’m a continuous improvement engineer on our warehousing team. In my role, I’m responsible for all improvement activities for each of our warehouses — making processes more efficient, implementing cost savings initiatives, and overseeing standardization across the warehouse locations.

Q: How did you get into this role of process improvement? 
A: I started my professional career in retail distribution with a large Fortune 500 company. I was on the operations side, supervising the floor and handling day-to-day operations. During my time at that company, I was briefly exposed to Lean Six Sigma, the process improvement methodology we use at TA Services. I fell in love with the improvement aspect of it and the engineering mindset. When an opportunity at TA came along to do continuous improvement full-time, I jumped at the chance.

Q: Can you explain Lean Six Sigma for people who may not be familiar? 
A: It’s a step-by-step approach to looking at where waste or inefficiency comes into a process and identifying where you can remove that waste. Without getting too technical, it’s about finding ways to do things faster and better.

Q: What are some process improvement initiatives you’ve implemented? 
A: An important initiative is slotting and heat mapping. We pick a lot of parts in the warehouse to send to our customers — meaning we have to get individual pieces of certain boxes and kit them all together so we can send one big bulk container to the customers. With slotting and heat mapping, we identify the best way to organize items, so the common or highly used parts are closest to you.

Think about how you unload your dishwasher, specifically your silverware. You can make multiple trips to unload your silverware and walk it over to the designated drawer, or you can take the silverware basket out of the dishwasher and put it on the counter next to the drawer so you’re only making one trip. It’s all about working more efficiently to save time and energy.

Q: A lot of what you do centers around software and technology. Can you give us some examples of the software you use in your role? 
A: We use several different tools daily, like our warehouse management systems, but one of our best tools is AutoCAD®. We use it to do all our warehouse layouts. We can map out hypothetical changes to see the potential results of moving even just one item.

Q: How did it feel to be recognized as the Warehousing Employee of the Year? 
A: I was really surprised. I’m not used to being in the spotlight, so this was a shock. I’m used to being in the background; I do the theoretical work and have a team of people doing the practical work. I just set everyone else up for success.

I give all the credit for my success to the mentors I’ve had along the way who have helped me get to where I am and taught me everything I know.

Q: Speaking of mentors, how have your mentors shaped the way you lead others around you? 
A: I’ve always had someone there to help me through challenges or bounce ideas off of, and it’s important for me to be that for others. I prioritize being the type of person that others can turn to when in need. That attitude has shaped my management style. I never want to yell at someone telling them everything they’ve done wrong; I want to be someone who can help others learn and grow.

Mitch Houston, Continuous Improvement Engineer for TA Services

Q: As part of your award for being an Employee of the Year winner, you went to the Super Bowl. Tell us about that experience. 
A: That was a surreal phone call. My managers called me up and asked what I was doing that weekend. I had planned to make some food and watch the game at home with friends, but we quickly changed those plans when I was presented with the opportunity to attend in person. I got to bring my wife with me, and it was a whirlwind. We flew out the morning of the game and had the best time. We had amazing seats — better than I’ve had for any other game. We travel a lot, but I never thought in a million years that I would ever go to the Super Bowl. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Please join us in congratulating Mitch on being our Warehousing Employee of the Year. Check back next week to meet our final award-winning TA Services employee. 

Ready to join a team that values you? Check out our career opportunities!