Setting the tone: Goff, Hughey leading W’burg Firestone plant into an exciting new era

In March, the Southern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce has been celebrating International Women’s Month by spotlighting several female business leaders in the local community. Among those business leaders was Wendy Goff, who for the past three years has guided the Williamsburg Firestone plant through some of its most difficult challenges, as well as some of its most exciting new ventures.

Goff’s history leading up to becoming a plant manager at Firestone adequately prepared her for the opportunities that she would eventually be presented with here in Williamsburg. When asked to discuss that journey, the Somerset native said, “I have done many different things in the past. I went to work for a company called Bruss North America in Russell Springs as a human resources manager back in 2004. They were a new company in the U.S. at that time, and that was a new location. I maintained that role until 2006, and then transitioned into being an operations manager.”

Goff credits a former boss for helping her to climb the ladder of success at Bruss, which also manufactures components used in the automotive industry.

“It all comes back to having a good support system,” Goff said. “I had a boss who gave me the opportunity. The previous operations manager left, and he knew that I was on the floor all the time, in the middle of everything, so he asked me if I wanted to try operations. I said, ‘Sure.’”

“He was very supportive,” Goff added. “He knew that I had a young family at that time, with two children and a husband who was a truck driver, so he was very understanding and supportive. He really taught me a lot, and also did not punish me when I made a mistake, which I made a lot of mistakes back then.”

Goff remained in her position as operations manager at the Russell Springs Bruss facility until she took over as plant manager a couple of years later. In this role, she said that she became responsible for everything at the plant from engineering to logistics to operations. Then, in 2014, the opportunity presented itself to become a General Manager with the company.

“The current president was moving back to Germany, and the owner asked me if I would be interested in the GM position,” Goff explained. “I took that on, and became responsible for all of the North American and Asian markets, including building business and maintaining good standing with our customers.”

Goff would eventually seek other opportunities for growth, where she went to work as an operations manager for a larger company, Armstrong Flooring, which manufactures residential and commercial flooring products. After only a few months, she was asked to take over a plant in Stillwater, Oklahoma, and then again in Jackson, Mississippi.

After several years away, Ultimately, Goff made the decision to come back home to Kentucky, which is what led to her landing in her current position in Williamsburg. “I began looking, and I found this position at Firestone,” she said. “I applied for it, and it worked out that I had what they were looking for, and they had what I was looking for, so I moved back here. I think they were most interested in me because I had the background in automotive, plus I am from the area, and I know how to work within the culture here.”

Goff came to work at Firestone starting in December of 2019. Since that time she has had to navigate the difficulties related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and has overseen major expansions to the facility that have diversified its offerings while creating hundreds of new jobs for local residents.

“What I was challenged with initially was to come in and change the mentality of manufacturing only for commercial, and shifting more towards the mentality of manufacturing to support the automotive industry,” Goff said. “With the automotive side, they are so much more stringent, and there are so many more requirements quality-wise.”

Speaking about the day-to-day operations at Firestone right now, Goff said, “Our core competencies are in our commercial vehicle air springs. That is really what this company was founded on, and that is what we continue to make for semi-trucks, trailers, and industrial vehicles. We have a really strong base there, but decided at one point to bring on a balance between commercial and automotive. That way, as we see economic changes taking place, we can maintain a good balance no matter which direction we need to go.”

When asked to speak about any constants that she has experienced in her career so far, Goff said, “The commonality that I have seen, no matter where I’ve been, is that people just want to be treated right. They want someone to listen to them, and they want someone to give them an answer, whether they like the answer or not. I think that is where I have been successful. I have been able to talk to people and say, ‘This is the business reason for why we can’t do this, or yes, we should implement that.’”

“It’s really the relationship building that is important.”

Williamsburg native Kanisha Hughey talks duties as HR manager

In all, Firestone’s Williamsburg plant currently employees about 420 core workers, and roughly 110 contracted workers in addition to that. There will be spots for another approximately 250 workers once their newest expansion in complete.

With that much personnel, Human Resources Manager Kanisha Hughey has her work cut out for her, but she says that she appreciates the many opportunities that her position at Firestone presents her with on a daily basis.

“I started here as a contractor,” said Hughey, who is a Williamsburg High School and University of the Cumberlands graduate. “I worked in quality, doing document control coordinating, and then I moved into scheduling. When that happened, they had a human resources generalist who was retiring, so they asked if I wouldn’t care to train with her before she left. I trained in the position, and when it opened up full time I applied. I ended up working in that role for about three years before the HR manager position opened up. I applied for that, and have been the manager for one year as of this month.”

“Our employees are just wonderful,” Hughey said. “We are blessed to have a good team here that has a lot of knowledge in all business functions. Seeing that our workforce can overcome challenges together is definitely the most important thing for me.”

When asked to discuss aspects of her job that people may not think about, Hughey said, “We have to support the business functions in addition to our teammates. We have to think about those cross-functions, and how one thing you do can impact so many different departments. A lot of times, I don’t think that people realize just how linked HR is to the other business functions in the plant. There is a lot that goes on behind the scenes.”

Goff picked up on this point, saying, “All of the different disciplines that we hit here include advertising, accounting, engineering, logistics, purchasing, administrative assisting, production, maintenance, human resources… All of those disciplines are here, and we have females in every single one of those disciplines. I don’t think that the people in our area are aware that we can offer all of those careers here in this plant. It really is a great place to work.”

As for what advice she would offer to students and aspiring businesspeople based on her own personal experiences, Hughey said, “Don’t ever count out an opportunity, and don’t be afraid to think outside of the box with your career.”

Goff added, “It’s okay to not know what you want to do. People are going to ask you what you want to be when you grow up, and it is okay to not know. Put a plan together for how you’re going to support yourself, and what is going to make you happy, and know that the two may not be the same. Try to put that together, though, and keep your options open.”

“Just be open to saying ‘yes’ to an opportunity,” Goff concluded. “It doesn’t matter if you don’t know everything about it, or have experience in it. Just say yes to the opportunity, and then go learn how to do it. If you’re open, and you let God lead you, then there is no limit to where you can go. God will open those doors for you, and will lead you to where you need to be. That is what it comes down to.”