Young professionals like Tyler Stohr are ready to show what they’ve got.
By Nicole Needles
Being young and new to the material handling industry doesn’t always equal being inexperienced. Tyler Stohr of Conveyer and Caster is just another exemplification of this. He studied supply chain management at Miami University in Ohio and worked with Amazon shortly after graduating for four and a half years. He left in December 2021 to join Conveyer and Caster, the family business, as the technical lead.
Being a young professional, he feels that he and others in his generation bring a fresh perspective to the industry. Instead of accepting the way things have always been done, they ask questions, introduce new technology and push the boundaries.
While Stohr brings new ideas to the table, he is also excited to learn from those who have come before him.
“Some of the biggest mentors and the reason I’m here at Conveyer and Caster are my dad, uncle and grandfather. They built the company from what it was to what it is today and the new facility we’re in now,” he said. “Learning from them has really helped me, and they’re still helping me on building that.”
One of the ways he did this was at the Emerging Leaders Conference. At this conference and at Amazon, they emphasized the importance of specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound goals or SMART goals. This way of formatting goals has been invaluable to Stohr since it helps him keep track of his progress and know for sure when he’s accomplished the goal. He’s put this in tandem with another best practice he’s learned, which is prioritizing his day.
The best leadership advice he’s received came from his former manager at Amazon. She sat the team down and told them that all feedback is good feedback. Stohr says that even if you don’t agree with the feedback, there is a reason that person saw something in you that you maybe didn’t see in yourself. Therefore, all feedback is at least worth looking at as a way to improve, respect the opinion of others and be a team player.
Aside from all of the lessons he’s learned, his favorite part thus far about his career is providing solutions for people.
“The aspect of designing, building and seeing ROIs is something I enjoy,” he said. “To see, has all your hard work come to fruition? I don’t think many people get that in some other industries.”
In addition to that, he’s learning that when you’re in the material world, you’re actually in many different worlds. Supplying and manufacturing lead you to work with many different companies that provide a diverse array of products and services to their customers.
Stohr can only move up from here. In the next five to ten years, he sees himself as a leader at his current company, and he wants to be heavily involved in furthering the company’s technology and expanding its automation division.
“It’s something I’ve got to earn, but I see myself in a leadership position. That is the hope,” Stohr said.
