Helen Rafferty

Experienced with managing assembly processes and leading production teams to achieve operational goals. Utilizes effective problem-solving techniques to enhance productivity. Track record of maintaining quality assurance and fostering team collaboration.

To:HR Hiring Director

From:Michael E McCoy

Production Manager A.O Smith 

North American Water Treatment - Retired

Letter of Recommendation for Helen Rafferty 

I am the retired Production Manager for A.O Smith ,North American Water Treatment located in Groveport,Ohio, I served in this position for 5 years prior to my retirement on May 2 ,2025. During my 37 years of service with A.O Smith ,I held multiple supervisor and management posititon. Helen Rafferty was hired in November 2020 as a production line assembly associate on our water softener assembly line. Helen proved to be a hard worker and an even better team player ,Helen quickly learned various jobs on the assembly line and was eventually moved to the end of the line where she was responsible for making sure the units were properly boxed with all the necessary parts, this position is our last quality assurance step.

After a year in the production department , Helen was transferred into our injection molding department, Helen learned to operate all 17 injection molding machines ,in a short period of time. As an operator, they are responsible performing various secondary operations including trimming flash from the plastic parts to preforming ultra sonic and laser welding , operating a reaming drill press. The operators also have to interface with the molding machine and molds,placing inserts inside molds while maintaining a consistent cycle time. Helen always strived to have the highest production numbers while also having a better than a 98% accuracy on quality, her productivity and high quality standards that she always set for herself are still standards that are used to set production goals for other operators.

In 2023, A.O Smith started production of a new product for our largest customer, a large DIY big box store, we needed someone that was self motivated and that could guide a team of 10 associates, Helen was promoted to the Lead Operator and she also was preforming the duties of the material handler. This was a brand new product that was being launched from conception, as with a lot of new products, Helen had to constantly train her associates on new assembly protocols on ever changing engineering criteria and changing parts. We were undera tight timeline that required addition personnel and a lot of overtime, with Helen's leadership, we were able to meet our delivery deadline. Helen put countless hours of overtime without complaining , she always went above and beyond. As our sales grew, we added more responablities, from hold daily Gemba meeting that the other department leads and supervisors attended to helping keep inventory numbers correct. We also added Amazon as a customer for this product line, which proved to be challenging in keeping high customer reviews on quality and on time for delivery. 

Late in 2024, due to a decrease in sales orders across the product lines, we had to shift personnel in other departments and we transferred Helen to our warehouse , where she once again learned and thrived in a new position as a lead shipping coordinator. In this role 

Helen learn additional computer programs, within SAP and the use of the programs that UPS and FedEx uses in order to make sure that all the parts and units were shipped correctly and on time for Amazon.

Again in 2025, we had to shuffle employees around to deal with a sharp reduction in our sales orders, we moved Helen back to the production plant to be a material handler fo multiple departments. In this new role, Helen had to learn how to do inventory transfers using SAP, she also had to learn to drive our articulating forklift, this style of a forklift operates differently than the normal sit down powered lift.

Helen is the type of employee that will do whatever she is asked to do for the company, she will be an excellent addition to any company. Helen is a dedicated and loyal employee that will give her all to her job.

I highly recommend Helen for any position that requires an employee that will give their all to and that will go above and beyond what the job description is. Helen has always gave her all to every task she is given and not succeeding, is not a part of her personality.

Respectfully,

Micheal E.McCoy 

Production Manager-Retired 

A.O Smith Corporation

4343 S. Hamiltion Rd.

Groveport,Ohio 43125