In honor of National Hispanic Heritage Month, we’re sharing the stories of several Latinx employees within our U.S. facilities.
“I’ve worked for L&P for 46 years and it’s the only company I’ve worked for since moving to the U.S. As a forklift driver, it’s my responsibility to ensure that everyone on my team has the materials they need during our shift. They depend on me and this job allows me to support them — as well as my family.”
Juan Garcia
Forklift Driver / Material Handler
Our new LP Comfort Connect™ technology provides a unique platform for delivering smart, customizable products to our customers. However, this innovation would never have been possible without the dedicated work of our Comfort Connect team. They collaborated to find unique solutions, improve processes, and differentiate our company in the marketplace through the development of this technology. Today we shine a light on just one of those team members.
Nate Hobbs began his career at L&P in August of 2018 as the Director of Engineering – Electrical. Since that time, he’s gained responsibility for the Product Development Quality Assurance department as well as internal software tools and systems. He also helps to lead the team in charge of developing L&P’s new Comfort Connect™ technology – proprietary hardware and software which are integrated to support L&P’s newest adjustable bed product, which is reaching the final project stages. In addition to a traditional remote, movements and feature sets of the bed are controlled through the LP Comfort Connect™ app, which was also developed by the team, and integrated with Alexa to enable voice commands.
Nate’s work with the Comfort Connect™ project began after the product had already been conceptualized and prototyped, but his knowledge of systems and engineering as well as his experience in quality assurance was vital to the successful deployment of the product. “Some initial feasibility work was complete and basic software was developed, so my role is to work with the team to bring the product to full maturity and help get it into production,” says Nate.
The project hasn’t come without its challenges, however. “The technology is required to be very robust, so making sure everything works properly every single time so the consumers don’t have any inconveniences is a huge priority. Part of my team’s job on the quality assurance side is to go through the process of system integration and regression testing before the product is released to consumers,” he shares.
In fact, customer experience is the primary focus of Nate’s work. He has worked with the team to develop solutions vital not only to the usability and functionality of the software itself, but he’s even played a part in creating in-house testing capabilities at our production facilities. “The team developed in-house programming stations as well as an end-of-line test station so that we can ensure everything on the adjustable base functions properly before passing the product on to the consumer,” he says.
The Comfort Connect team has a monumental task – to create the industry’s first voice-controlled bed system – and with leaders and team members like Nate, it’s becoming a reality. When the project is complete, LP Comfort Connect™ will be released on a limited-model production basis.
“My favorite part about working on the Comfort Connect project has been making sure all the pieces work together. From the cloud software, control box, test systems – taking all the components and putting them together to create such a unique product has been challenging, but has also given me the opportunity to be part of something that’s never been done in the industry before,” he says.
In honor of National Hispanic Heritage Month, we’re sharing the stories of several Latinx employees within our U.S. facilities.
“I think my job at L&P is important because I’m able to help and connect with different employees every day. I’m able to use my Spanish speaking skills to translate different documents and help employees who struggle with English.
There are many aspects of my culture that make me proud to be Hispanic. I appreciate how close-knit and encouraging Latinos are as a society. We are known for helping one another and contributing to the greater good. I also really enjoy the different foods we are known for including tamales, garnachas, empanadas, and arroz con leche.
I keep close contact with my family around the U.S. and Guatemala. Anytime I see or talk to my family they are very warm and welcoming and make me feel as if we see each other every single day.”
Matthew Lopez
Bilingual HR Assistant
The past year has shown us just how resilient our people really are. We asked several employees what the COVID-19 pandemic taught them.
The past year has shown us just how resilient our people really are. We asked several employees what the COVID-19 pandemic taught them.
The past year has shown us just how resilient our people really are. We asked several employees what the COVID-19 pandemic taught them.
The past year has shown us just how resilient our people really are. We asked several employees what the COVID-19 pandemic taught them.
Our new LP Comfort Connect™ technology provides a unique platform for delivering smart, customizable products to our customers. However, this innovation would never have been possible without the dedicated work of our Comfort Connect team. They collaborated to find unique solutions, improve processes, and differentiate our company in the marketplace through the development of this technology. Today we shine a light on just one of those team members.
Nick Baker began his career at L&P in early 2018, when he was hired as a Software Engineer. Since that time, he has participated in many research and development projects, while specializing in mobile applications.
In 2019, he was asked to join the team for L&P’s new Comfort Connect™ technology – proprietary hardware and software which are integrated to support L&P’s newest adjustable bed product. All movements and feature sets of the bed can be controlled through an app, which Nick played a major hand in developing.
At the forefront of the project, the team was focused solely on development for Android devices. However, Nick recommended a new technology, which allowed them to begin coding for both iOS and Android in a single code base. This shift allowed them to create the app at a much quicker pace, considerably reducing time to market and lowering costs of development and maintenance.
One unique feature of the app is its ability to automatically self-configure when connected to a bed in L&P’s Comfort Connect™ product line. Because the beds can include a variety of features – including articulation, massage, and lighting – this feature makes initial setup for a particular model a more seamless process for the user.
“By observing common interactions with the features on the app, we can customize the technology over time,” says Nick. “This allows us to continually improve the experience of our customers. It also provides valuable feedback for our sales team.”
As new features are added to the product line, they are integrated into the app. Nick’s team has also worked to continually improve the product through user testing.
“It was always my goal to create an solution that can compete with the newer technologies trending today,” shares Nick. “The result feels clean, modern, and easy to navigate. I’m really proud to have been a part of it.”
The LP Comfort Connect app is now available for download in Google Play and App Store.
The past year has shown us just how resilient our people really are. We asked several employees what the COVID-19 pandemic taught them.
The past year has shown us just how resilient our people really are. We asked several employees what the COVID-19 pandemic taught them.
