FACTORY TURNS INTO A FAMILY AFFAIR.Byline: BRENT HOPKINS Staff Writer SUN VALLEY -- At the age of 17, Noemi L. Prado took a job sanding wood in a mill. She didn't like the work, but she never stopped working. Newly arrived from Mexico, Prado had a young son, a daughter on the way and a seemingly boundless work ethic work ethic n. A set of values based on the moral virtues of hard work and diligence. work ethic Noun a belief in the moral value of work . Though the vibration from the sander hurt her hands, she kept showing up each day at Southwest Mill and Lumber lumber, term for timber that has been cut into boards for use as a building material. The major steps in producing lumber involve logging (the felling and preparation of timber for shipment to sawmills), sawing the logs into boards, grading the boards according to . She learned to set up moulders, made knives to cut wood, developed new patterns for the picture frames that would eventually show up at Aaron Brothers and Target. She made supervisor, then general manager, then vice president. She hired her relatives, came up with new designs, watched the company grow and contract. And recently, after 27 years on the job, Prado bought the company. ``I don't have a career besides this,'' she said. ``I have employees who've been here 20 years. Their children work here. ... This is my life.'' The previous owners had elected to sell and couldn't find anyone who'd keep the business whole. When they turned to an auctioneer AUCTIONEER, contracts, commerce. A person authorized by law to sell the goods of others at public sale. 2. He is the agent of both parties, the seller and the buyer. 2 Taunt. 38, 209 4 Greenl. R. 1; Chit. Contr. 208. 3. to sell it off piecemeal piecemeal patchy, e.g. necrosis of the liver in which groups of hepatocytes are separated by small groups of inflammatory cells and fine, fibrous septa following extension of the inflammatory process beyond the limiting plate. , Prado stopped being just an average employee. In what she now calls ``a moment of desperation,'' she arranged an $825,000 loan, lined up a new site to relocate the facilities and kept 48 people employed. She's now president of the newly renamed Southwest Moulding and though she looks polished and poised in a suit, nails freshly manicured, she clearly feels more at home amid the noise and sawdust sawdust used as litter for chickens and bedding for horses. Sawdust made from treated timber may cause pentachlorophenol and other wood preservative poisoning. Fungi growing in sawdust litter in poultry houses may cause poisoning in the birds. of her factory. This was her college, the place she learned to cut a piece of Appalachian poplar Poplar, city, England Poplar, former metropolitan borough, SE England. See Tower Hamlets. poplar, in botany poplar: see willow. , how to price it to compete with China, how to keep a worker coming back year after year. As she labored away, Prado never took a vacation, saving her money to buy property. When it came time to take out the loan, financed by the Valley Economic Development Center, that property became collateral to keep Southwest afloat. ``She just bought the business, but I can already see she's going to be a real role model,'' said Roberto Barragan, president of the Van Nuys-based VEDC VEDC Valley Economic Development Center (Los Angeles, CA, USA) . ``In my first meeting with her, she got tears in her eyes about saving the company. I decided right there that whatever it took, I was going to make sure she kept it open.'' This wasn't just a job for Prado; it sustained her entire family. Her son, Jose J. Martinez, serves as vice president and secretary. Her daughter, Vanessa Martinez, directs human resources The fancy word for "people." The human resources department within an organization, years ago known as the "personnel department," manages the administrative aspects of the employees. . All in all, Southwest employs 15 of Prado's relatives, including her ex-husband, who she describes as ``very good at his job.'' She did, however, once lay off an uncle who proved to be too stubborn. ``I've learned a lot from her,'' her son said. ``There's ups and downs ups and downs pl.n. Alternating periods of good and bad fortune or spirits. ups and downs Noun, pl alternating periods of good and bad luck or high and low spirits , but she's a good boss. And at the end of it all, she's still my mother. I'd like to learn to help her more so maybe she can finally take a vacation.'' For years, a vacation seemed like a ridiculous luxury to Prado as she worked and saved her money. Now, as her son suggests she take just a little time off, she nods and considers it briefly before continuing on through the mill. To her left, she sees a cousin, not far away, a niece, a sister and a godchild god·child n. A person for whom another serves as sponsor at baptism. godchild Noun pl -children a person who is sponsored by godparents at baptism Noun 1. . ``I couldn't believe all these jobs were going to disappear,'' she said. ``It was like you came into the room and turned off the lights. Somehow, I got them turned back on ... and I'm going to survive.'' And she's off, striding through the workshop, the sound of saws and machines echoing all around. brent.hopkins(at)dailynews.com 818-713-3738 CAPTION(S): photo Photo: (color) Southwest Moulding owner Noemi L. Prado, center, and her children, Jose and Vanessa Martinez, stand with Southwest's employees at its factory in Sun Valley. Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer |
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