ABLE Machine Tool Sales Announces Personnel Appointments

ABLE Machine Tool Sales, a Northeast region distributor for top brand machine tools, has announced several personnel appointments.

Christopher Lockery, General Manager

Christopher Lockery has been appointed General Manager. Lockery has been with ABLE Machine Tool Sales for 13 years, working his way up from the parts department to service and then manager and now General Manager. With this appointment, he is responsible for order entry, shipping and schedules, coordinating with builders and suppliers on special options. He also handles ABLE's Information Technology systems, software and related training for the company-wide network of computers, laptops, iPads and cell phones. Additionally, he is involved with service, parts and accounting, as well as meeting strategic objectives, including reacting quickly to customer and employee needs.

"Basically, I solve logistical and other problems," said Lockery. "I make sure employees and customers have what they need to do their jobs. Customers want the items they ordered delivered on time, whether they ordered a million-dollar machine or a 20-dollar part. Our communication, internal process and delivery systems have to run smoothly."

"Christopher is the second generation of the Lockery family to take a decision-making role at ABLE Machine Tool Sales," said Alan Lockery, company President, majority owner and one of the original founders. "He has been with the company for a long time, learning from the ground up, interfacing with about everyone, and helping to organize certain processes. I am very proud to work with him and have him move up to General Manager."

Mark Perreault, VP Sales

ABLE Machine Tool Sales has appointed Mark Perreault to a senior management position of Vice President of Sales.

As VP of Sales, Perreault has the responsibility of strategizing, building and guiding all aspects of ABLE's sales department. This includes collaborating with ABLE's senior managers and department heads to provide customers with seamless, first-class support and added value from first consultation to final delivery. He will oversee business analytics related to sales and will help channel development.

"Mark has extensive technical knowledge, good people skills, fully understands of our customers' manufacturing operations and has integrity. He sees the big picture," said Lockery. "Mark will represent ABLE Machine Tools Sales within and beyond the sales department by participating in trade shows, workshops, sales seminars and various events on behalf of ABLE, our OEMs and customers. We expect Mark to keep up with industry trends, collect qualified leads, and help his sales team and our company stay informed and successful."

"Selling requires good listening skills," said Perreault. "Machine tool purchases are often made by customer groups, including general, operating, purchasing and quality control managers. I encourage my sales team to listen and then look for applications and solutions. I listen to input from members of my sales team and value their experience and contribution. Listening brings out the concerns and the best ideas. It inspires people to participate and feel satisfied with decisions. The goal for my sales team is to support customer satisfaction and help ABLE continuously improve and grow. I have a lot of respect for the professionals I work with on all sides of the process."

Perreault has over 30 years of experience selling technical products and CNC machines. He is a graduate of Springfield Community Technical College, where he studied the implementation of design and manufacturing solutions and later became educated and experienced in application engineering. He has been involved in regional, national and international machine tool sales.

Ralph Lazzara, Sales Manager

Ralph Lazzara has joined ABLE as Sales Manager. His task is to maintain customer relationships, build new relationships, increase sales and partner with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). Lazzara has over 24 years of machine tool sales and management experience covering large territories, managing teams of salespersons and working for OEMs and distributors, and has built a substantial customer relationship system (CRM) to coherently serve geographically and functionally dispersed customers. He works with all cross-functional teams and departments to achieve business-to-business objectives.

"Customers today have lots of buying options for machine tools," said Lazzara. "ABLE Machine Tool Sales has a great product line, helps customers choose the right tools to fit their needs and goals, and has industry-wide respect. I joined ABLE to lead an already successful sales team, update the CRM, and help grow the company. I am where I want to be, where I can make a difference."

Lazzara will lead, train and empower his sales team to give their best. He will also schedule and keep ABLE Machine Tool Sales' Mobile Metrology center on the road demonstrating technology, training customers and occasionally participating in school-to-work educational programs. He reports to Perreault.

"Ralph comes to ABLE with a lot of experience," said Perreault. "He understands people and what motivates them. He gets to know his sales team's strengths and weaknesses and looks for ways to overcome the weaknesses. He coaches, mentors and shares openly with his team. He will improve ABLE's CRM to manage sales opportunities, create more visibility, support his team, develop a prospect pipeline and create a reliable forecasting tool."

Lazzara is also a Certified Registered Central Service Technician (CRCST) #3. Certification requires the applicant to demonstrate technical experience, knowledge and skills through completion of hands-on work and successfully passing a written examination. He has a bachelor's degree from Charter Oak State College where he majored in organizational leadership and graduated with honors.

"A good sales team helps design systems and workstations that support the customer's operations and assembly lines," said Lazzara. "With the right machine tools, our customers and their customers can count on well manufactured, consistent parts. We are all part of the same team. Our customers' success is our success."

Georgia Sappleton, VP Human Resources

ABLE Machine Tool Sales has appointed Georgia Sappleton to the newly created senior management position of Vice President (VP) of Human Resources. A seasoned administrator with over 20 years of education and experience, her responsibilities include making sure the company stays strong and profitable by recruiting skilled individuals, matching them to the right jobs and developing programs to retain valuable older employees nearing retirement age. She will help every ABLE employee tap into their full potential by seeing that both new and existing employees have the training and support they need to continually grow and feel satisfied. This includes overseeing employee benefits and supporting both a healthy environment and safe work practices.

"Success comes from leading employees more than managing them," said Sappleton. "When you communicate with employees, try to understand what is important to them, offer them training so they feel comfortable with what is expected of them, and support their career goals, they feel inspired, valued and empowered to make decisions. Prepared employees naturally do a good job, motivate their coworkers and subordinates, and stay on the job longer. Employees are our backbone and our future."

Sappleton will recruit new talent from high schools, colleges, job fairs, industry resources and job boards as needed. She will develop staffing plans, maintain staffing levels and help with onboarding of new employees. She will oversee and keep records of employee job training programs, skills development and safety training. She will manage compensation, benefits, personnel issues and will work closely on company policies and practices with ABLE's senior managers. Sappleton will also see that ABLE stays up to date on human resource trends and ever-changing labor laws, and remains in compliance with OSHA safety standards.

"We have read the statistics that up to 61% of workers in our industry will be eligible to retire within the next 10 years," said Lockery. "That is a lot of brain power to lose or win. We plan to be proactive. Georgia has been an asset to ABLE for eight years as an organized and focused manager. She will work to recruit younger talent and develop methods and plans to maintain and recruit experienced older employees who will be part of our future and grow with us. As VP of HR, Georgia will be creative and help take ABLE gracefully into the future."

Sappleton holds a master's degree in business administration from Albertus Magnus College and has a bachelor's degree in business administration from Bay Path College. She belongs to the Employers Association of the NorthEast (EANE).

For more information contact:

ABLE Machine Tool Sales

253 Silver Street

Agawan, MA 01001

800-423-4959

sales@ablemts.com

www.ablemts.com