Remember where this came from?

Rick L.

Notes from Rick Less and things I remember about working with Chuck Breuer at Rockwell Collins:

1.      It s good that we only remember the good stuff or we would probably not survive, and…

2.      It’s good that there is plenty of good stuff, so, some of the details I remember…..

3.      When Chuck was an AE responsible for Connectors (a waaay long time ago).  I was a new guy and I specifically recall how amazing it was, seeing all the people that wanted some of Chuck’s time and expertise.  There was always a line at his desk (this was before email) and he still managed to get everything done.

4.      I left Cedar Rapids and worked in a Rockwell Collins manufacturing facility in Salt Lake City for almost 10 years.  Shortly after it was announced that the Salt Lake facility would be closing, an old friend shows up, Chuck Breuer who was assigned the task of planning the move of Receiving Inspection from Salt Lake back to Coralville.  It was like a restart to a prior connection and made the upcoming transition tolerable.  Those of us in Salt Lake had invested a lot in our facility and it was difficult to see it come to an end.  Because I knew Chuck and his background, it did make the whole process something we could look back on with some knowledge it would all be in good hands.

5.      As it turned out for me, I had ended up having the good fortune of working closely with Chuck for many years to come, both in Receiving Inspection and later in Supply Chain Quality.  We survived many things that at the time seemed overwhelming.

a.       A strike – most memorable was taking the Collins truck to go pick up Incoming Receipts each day at the UPS parking lot and driving back to the Coralville facility thru the picket line gauntlet.

b.      A Y2K transition (Year 2000, if you don’t remember the acronym)

c.       Chuck became pretty experienced at moving Receiving Inspections;  I know that he had a lot to do with moving the process from Mason City to Coralville.  I mentioned the move from Salt Lake City to Coralville.  A reunion of Government and Commercial Avionics included moving the process from Cedar Rapids and combine it with what was already going on in Coralville.  Chuck moved all of them.  It should be of note that since he retired, there has not been a single mention of moving any Receiving Inspections!

d.      Converting from MAN-MAN to PIOS

e.       Converting from PIOS to SAP

f.       Ghazi !!

6.      Chuck had the best example of good attitude for doing things:

a.       Stop analyzing and just do it – I try to follow that example to this day

b.      Have some fun along the way – I am pretty sure it was Chuck that would use someone else’s phone to call and leave a voice message that consisted of a good strong “burb!”

More than a couple years have gone by without us getting together for a game of golf or a beer.  Hope we can change that and do both in 2013.

Steve Y.

My Friend Chuck Breuer                                                                                                               

When your daughter Jennifer contacted me and others about some memories of our time with you, Chuck, I immediately started searching my memory banks for some funny, interesting incident that I could include in the book.  Alas, either my memory has failed me again, or more likely, there just were not any times we had together that would provide a “funny” story to tell.  But I feel there are things that I probably left unsaid when you retired from Rockwell that are important to me, and I hope are important to you, too.

I reflected back on the time I got to know you when I initially came to the Coralville facility as a new (very inexperienced) leader in Manufacturing, and later when I got to know you even better when I took the job as a leader in the Quality organization.  I want to recall for you things that you probably remember about me, but I want to relate to you how important your time, your advice, and your insights were to help me become a better person at Rockwell Collins.

I knew you from our old neighborhood.  I always loved the setting of your home near the Iowa River in River Heights.  I lived up on the top of the hill, where there were lots of cars and traffic, and I had a big yellow Labrador, Finn, that liked to walk to the ponds and to the river occasionally.  Exercise for that dog was required – he had so much energy – that we found ourselves on your street a lot!

When I first came to Coralville, Ron Schleder hired me to run the Process Center as the “Business Advisor”, and I really didn’t know what I was getting into.  I had never worked in any of our factories, and didn’t really know what to expect.  And then, there was the Navigator Team dynamic – the group of facility leaders in Coralville, and that is the group where we inter-acted the most. 

I remember performance challenges and how we worked as a team of leaders for solutions.  This is when I learned the value of the Quality organization by the decisions and actions you and Rick Less and Jamie Bruce helped with, and this is when you started to take the time to sit down with me one-on-one to explain to me what our customers and suppliers wanted and expected, and did it in a way that I could relate to it and understand it.  You may not have thought what you did for me was anything out of the ordinary realm of doing your job, but it meant a lot to me that you took the time to get to know me and help me learn.

Later when I began a leadership role in Quality, working in Cedar Rapids, I had less day-to-day responsibilities, and more “big picture” things to learn.  Once again, I was quite inexperienced in that role.  And again, when I visited the Coralville facility, I would usually stop in and chat with you and Jamie Bruce about my job, our issues and get your advice.  I always appreciated your insights about our Quality leadership.  Once again, this was a challenging area for me, working in a new area with a new-to-me leader.  You always brought me a very professional view about our leader, what he supported and more importantly, what he did not support.  We laughed often about our challenges and that is probably the extent of what we should say about that.

Chuck, I also admire how you have been a father to your kids.  My own kids are early in their college careers now, and the things you shared with me about your family and how you raised your kids meant a lot to me.  As a parent with young children it was always reassuring to me to talk to you and realize that young kids could and would grow up to be great adults.  It helped me to understand how important it was for me and Jami to cherish all the times we had with our children, regardless of the current challenge.  You reminded me they do grow up quickly, and every day is a gift.  We now realize how important that advice was.  You are a great Dad!

Chuck, I always felt that your door was open to me, and your advice has helped me a lot over many years we have worked together.  You are my good friend.  I miss your “pep-talks”!  All my best to you and yours…

Steve

Rick H.

I have many good memories about working for Chuck.

I recall QUITYOURBELLYACKING and if you always do what you did and you know the rest of it.

But there was the time when Chuck assigned me to task that was taking a little more time than expected and he made the comment "Are you going make a career out of this project." I almost fell down laughing.

Another special memory for me was when Rockwell Collins, Inc. received a component that had its bonding wire inverted. There were several parts sent in on that delivery and of course the part was ESD sensitive. I picked up a piece and paraded it in front of Chuck waiting for his objection that I could have shorted out the part due to static discharge, which he soon schooled me on proper ESD handling. I explained the vendor stated on their paper work that the material was mis-wired and laughed, but as fate would have it the program wavered the material and I had to scrap that part.

Best wishes to you Chuck,

Rick

Barb P.

My favorite Chuck memory.....MRB CV was on the deck. Chucks's office was within 10 feet of the SCQA. I was the SCQA for Air Transport and we were working in Manman. This was during the transition and CV people were unfamiliar with Manman.

Chuck walked out of his office and over to me desk. Chuck said "Barb". I looked around and said 60. He said I did not ask you anything how do you know what to answer. I said what is your question. He replied how many characters are in the description field on a Manman reject. Once again I answered 60. He replied how did you do that? I answered "I read your mind" Chuck shook his head and returned to his office. About 40 minutes later Chuck return and said "Barb". I turned around and said yes. He said nothing. I asked what can I help you with and he replied "Just answer". I replied "I can not answer you are not thinking." Chuck shook his head and returned to his office.

Joyce K.

When Chuck hired me, I was the second choice, the first choice couldn't get enough money. He brought it up once, but I will always be grateful to the guy who started my career and supported me all the way. Even when I didn't report directly to him, he kept up with what I was doing and progressing. Good or bad, he is responsible for me going to college to obtain an Associates degree from Kirkwood. He must have known I wouldn't have stopped there, because I will have my bachelor's degree in May 2014.

　

When we worked for Dick Venteicher, Chuck drove me and my husband to a party at Dick's house. It was a group gathering and Dick kept saying it wasn't for Halloween. When we arrived, everything was decked out in Halloween decorations. We laughed because Dick kept saying how it wasn't a Halloween party the whole week before. 

When Chuck was driving to the party, my husband told him I mixed up my lefts and rights; so do the opposite of what I say. We went about a block and I told Chuck to turn right (left was the only option). Chuck told my husband that is was a good thing to know about me. He teased for a long time on my directions. 'Til this day, I still stop and think of which way to turn, when giving directions, and remember that drive.

I miss having him around, I look up to him, no matter how far away he is.

When I have trouble with a connector marking, grommet orientation or size; I think of him and how he could tell me everything I wanted to know about the part, without looking it up.

Awesome guy.

Joyce

Dot S.

I wish I could think of something specific.. I have tried to remember some specifics and am blank (some of that is simply age I guess). I called him Chuckie a lot. He has a good (warped) sense of humor which I am sure you are aware of.

There was an inspector that was forever causing us to shake our heads in disbelief. She spoke of sleeping with/having sex with a ghost... She accused me of sabotaging her inspection lots so she would get in trouble. All suppliers were guilty until proven innocent (and she was determined to find something wrong with every lot or so it seemed). One of the times the area moved people around, while moving her file cabinet it was discovered she had many (I mean MANY) different parts in there. She said "doesn't every inspector have extra parts" or some such comment. I believe it was a mixture of parts she forgot to put with the rest when sending them to stock, or samples that she didn't return to the rest of the lot...She used to think we would send parts on from MRB when we shouldn't... Just sort of different bird ... Jan L.... If you mention a few of those things, he would be able to come up with the name I am sure.

I almost forgot about her...

Merry Christmas!

Dot

Gary D.

I think the best story I have is related to regulatory audits in the Receiving-MRB areas.

I was a Lead in the Receiving-MRB area reporting to Chuck. We had gone through several audits with no problems. Then one day a new auditor shows up that didn’t understand the receiving and MRB processes. It was a very challenging time trying to communicate the processes to the auditor. To add to the challenge, the auditor and Chuck’s personalities were not compatible. After a few heated conversations between Chuck and the auditor, Chuck asked me to help out with the audit. After several conversations with the auditor we were finally starting to understand each other more clearly. Things finally got communicated and we survived that audit.

When the next audit came up, Chuck had planned to be on vacation that day which shocked me because now I’m working with the auditor alone. Then it started to be a pattern that every time auditors were coming in Chuck would plan to be on vacation and I’d have to handle the audits. It got to be funny because every time Chuck took a vacation day everyone in the area thought the auditors were coming. It actually turned out to be a very good skill builder for me. Maybe that was Chuck’s sly way of helping me improve my skills……not!

Gary

Warren T.

I thoroughly enjoyed working with your dad for several years but not sure I have any stories worth sharing. What I do know is - I'm currently working with the MRB group in CV, many of whom also worked for Chuck. Even though he's been gone from this position for many years, his name still comes up all the time in conversation (in a good way) and brings a smile to everyone's face. - A nice diversion from a hectic day. I'm sure Kevin S. will provide some good stories.

I always enjoyed checking out the boat pictures in Chuck's office when I'd stop in and see him. He and your mom are in Port Byron - right? I happened to think about him last week when I was in the QC's with my family and we drove up along the river on the Iowa side through LeCaire and Princeton.

Have a great Holiday and tell your dad Hi from all of us.

Warren

Dave E.

Your dad is the soul of the earth. What a classy guy.

Kevin S.

1) I remember a time when I believe Chuck was on vacation and he left a picture of his truck boat & trailer on the wall (he was so proud) and I took it home and scanned it and replaced it with a new picture showing a different sized boat the size of a Jet Ski on the trailer.

2) I received an e-mail from Chuck one time stating a terrible storm had passed through Cedar Rapids on Pawnee Dr. (my place) and caused severe damage and he had attached a picture. The picture showed a lawn chair tipped over on the deck.

3) If I remember correctly Chuck's nick name could have been two-fer because he would go to the vending machines and look for items that did not fall down from the previous purchase and then he would try and get two for the price of one and usually succeeded.

　

　

Kevin

Dave S.

When I think of your dad, I think good thoughts, including the Sox, being a test technician, talks about Jan L., and working with him through the strike. 

I'm also entering my 25th year with Collins, still working in the same role (Application Engineering) as when I left MRB around 2000. I have two grandkids now that I absolutely adore and life is still good at home with my wife Cris in Tiffin, Iowa.

I wish him well and I hope he perseveres. Happy Holidays and all that good jazz! =)

Dave

Merry Christmas, Dad

I guess as we get older we get harder and harder to buy for.  Beth and I thought a lot about what to get you for Christmas this year, and we know what you like the best about the holidays is remembering past Christmases and people too. 

I know you spend a lot of time thinking about how to make certain events special, or that certain touch that has to be there at the holiday so it can be an official "Christmas". 

Beth and I had the opportunity to talk to a few people that you worked with through your career, because we wanted them to tell you how you were special to them...

I hope you enjoy this.  We love you....