Faces of Interface Featuring Mark Weathers
From working at a Fortune 100 company to owning his own machine shop and everything in between, Mark Weathers, VP of Mini and 1923 Wireless Business Products at Interface, has seen it all in manufacturing. His career experiences have provided him with the tools to excel as a leader.
Weathers graduated from Georgia Tech with a mechanical engineering degree and started his career at General Electric (GE) in the appliances side of the business. During his time at GE, he quickly realized his passion for manufacturing. He knew he preferred getting hands-on with the products, so he joined GE’s manufacturing management program where he developed skills managing a production floor.
After 10 years at GE, Weathers joined Aligned Signal, now Honeywell Aerospace, for nine years before owning his own machine shop, Excalibur Precision Machining. Excalibur served the aerospace industry, and it’s during this time that Weathers gained experience running a business, in addition to critical skills in business development. These skills, along with his management training experience at GE and MBA from ASU later in his career, serves him well in his leadership position at Interface.
Mark sold his business, Excalibur, and continued working with the company under its new management before joining Interface as a quality manager in 2015. At this time, CEO Joel Strom had just joined the company to improve processes and bolster innovation. Over the next four years, he has worked with Strom and other Interface leaders to help break departmental barriers on the production floor and speed up the time-to-market for mini load cells as well as specialized and custom products.
By combining the entire supply chain and improving Interface’s interdepartmental communication, the Interface Executive Team expects the company to run far more efficiently and customer satisfaction to improve dramatically with all the focus on continuous improvement. In Weather’s department, lead times for some of Interface’s higher volume products have already been cut in half, or greater.
Weathers attributes his success at Interface to the collaborative environment that Strom created and his own management style. He prefers to lead by setting an example of a positive attitude and the “do what it takes” mindset he wants to see from his staff. This includes taking time to have daily meetings with everyone on the production floor to understand their challenges, and jumping in his truck to deliver materials to other offices and more to ensure we are doing whatever it takes. No matter what, Mark knows he will do anything he can to remove obstacles that cause negativity and finger-pointing and instead focus on results and positive outcomes.
“I liken my management style to Olympic curling, an odd analogy, I know and what I mean by this is I see myself as the two guys out in front of the curling stone, madly sweeping away barriers to the success of our department.” – Mark Weathers, VP Mini and 1923 Wireless Business Products at Interface
Weathers was raised in a military family, and also co-owns a jujitsu facility where he trained in the art for a few years. Those experiences have helped him bond with all types of people, regardless of their background, and recognize that everyone has something to contribute. Along with mountain biking and spending time with his family, Weathers finds pleasure in being extremely hands-on with the renovation of his house. He’s well known around Interface for having spent the last seven years single-handedly working on his home. He finds the same passion as a renovator as he does as a manufacturer, but with less stress!.
