12-11-2022 Top Workplaces - Flipbook - Page 10
LARGE COMPANIES
Intralox manufactures conveyor belt products and equipment that have revolutionized the automotive, food, consumer goods and industrial industries. PHOTO BY
KIM HAIRSTON
NO.3 Intralox
Intralox, which manufactures conveyor belt
products and equipment that have revolutionized the automotive, food, consumer goods and
industrial industries, boasts a storied history of
innovation.
The Louisiana-based company was founded
by the late James Martial “J.M.” Lapeyre, who
filed a patent for the world’s first automatic
shrimp-peeling machine in the 1940s.
Later, to more efficiently load the crustaceans
into the machinery, he patented a plastic, modular conveyor belt, one of his nearly 200 U.S. and
international patents.
Those conveyors are used in warehouses
around the world, including in the Baltimore
region, where Intralox first established a presence in 2007 with 30 workers. It now employs
more than 500 at a 230,000-square-foot facility
near BWI Marshall Airport, which it opened in
2019, and a 310,000-square-foot facility at Trade-
10 | 2022 | TOPWORKPLACES
point Atlantic in Sparrows Point that opened this
year.
“Another exciting expansion in Baltimore is
not only attributed to the global growth in e-commerce and parcel-handling, but should also be
attributed to the hard work and innovation of our
people,” said Derek Lester, manager of Intralox’s
Logistics & Material Handling business unit. “We
look forward to growing our team in the Baltimore area.”
For more than 30 years, Intralox has offered a
production and profit-sharing incentive program
to align employees with its goals through the
mutual benefits of shared success, said Henry
DeTitta, a human resources manager at the firm.
“Our culture is built around a philosophy that
values ideas, teamwork, effort and self-management, and our employees’ belief that by practicing these together, we will not only be better as a
company, but better individually,” DeTitta said.
The new Tradepoint location features
employee perks such as a state-of-the-art health
and wellness center staffed by health care professionals. There are also fitness opportunities and
challenges for employees: basketball, football,
weightlifting and even cornhole competitions.
Although the pandemic has meant fewer
in-person gatherings, the company has hosted
employee-appreciation activities complete with
catered lunch, karaoke, bingo and other games.
Pre-COVID, there was a family day, which the
company hopes to reinstitute next year.
Bobby Pedigo, an operations manager who’s
spent nearly 15 years with Intralox, appreciates its
overall philosophy, founded on the idea of continuous improvement.
“We do really challenging things here every
day, and we encourage our employees and give
them the tools to focus on getting better every
single day to achieve their goals,” Pedigo said.