Manufacturing Day celebrates the people and processes of modern-day manufacturing.
As a diversified manufacturing company, we want to say thank you to our employees. We are so grateful for your hard work and dedication! You are the backbone of our company and the reason for our success.
If you are interested in joining our team, we have many manufacturing jobs available across the United States. Check us out: Find Your Career at Leggett & Platt
Since 1883, our goal has been simple—help people lead more comfortable lives. We pioneered sleep technology when we introduced the bedspring 140 years ago. Now, we’re so much more.
Comprised of 15 business units, approximately 20,000 employees, and 135 facilities in 18 countries, we conceive, design, and produce a diverse array of products that can be found in most homes, offices, and vehicles.
As a global company, we are focused on building a diverse and innovative organization that reflects the customers we serve and the communities in which we operate, as well as honors the voices of our employees around the world.
During the next few weeks, we look forward to sharing more about our global mindset.
During Hispanic Heritage Month, we’re inviting L&P employees to share about their everyday Leggett life and their heritage.
Meet Miguel Manriquez! Miguel is a Roll Packer and has been with L&P for five years.
“I am a proud Hispanic who works hard for his family. I enjoy working with my coworkers and upper management. L&P is like a second family to me,” said Miguel.
“At work, I do my daily exercises after clocking in. Then, I inspect the roll pack machine I will be working on throughout the night. Once everything is correct, I start rolling. When it’s time to go home, I clean my roll pack machine, organize the carts in my area if needed, and scan my production tags.”
Before and after work, Miguel prioritizes his family.
“I spend time with my family before work. After work, I take my kids to school and then rest.”
During Hispanic Heritage Month, we’re inviting L&P employees to share about their everyday Leggett life and their heritage.
We’d like to introduce you to Maria Medina Alberto! Maria is currently an 0FC Operator and has been with L&P for 20 years.
“I pray before work. When I arrive at work, I communicate with the prior shift’s team to get an understanding of how the machines are doing and discuss anything I need to take care of. Throughout the day, I help where needed but mainly perform my role, which is feeding strands of foam into a machine. Before it’s time to leave, I work with my team to clean the area and leave it in good condition for the next shift.”
When asked what she enjoys most about work, Maria shared that she enjoys learning new things every day. When she’s not at work, she loves to spend time with her granddaughter.
“My granddaughter is my strength and motivation. After work, I spend time with her, and I feel like a child playing with her at the park.”
When sharing about her heritage, Maria said, “I am so proud to be Hispanic, and I feel blessed to be living in this country, even if it is not my country of origin. I love my first language, Spanish, and I feel proud to speak it.”
At L&P, our Information Technology (IT) professionals often work behind the scenes, enhancing our business systems and processes and providing around-the-clock support to keep us connected.
To celebrate our IT professionals, we’ve been introducing you to some of our amazing colleagues in IT. Today, we’d like you to meet April Ryberg and Dustin Sommer!
April has been with us for 20 years and values the connections she has made across L&P.
What do you enjoy most about your role?
“I enjoy the relationships that I have made with my IT and business colleagues. I also enjoy improving IT and business processes and advancing our technologies.”
What inspired you to start a career in IT?
“When I was very young, I received a Timex Sinclair 1000 (a computer) that someone gave to my dad in the early 1980s. I was fascinated with writing BASIC (Beginners’ All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) language programs. I would use my allowance to buy Compute! magazine and would copy the programs into the computer. Initially, I had no external tape drive to save anything, so I would enter the programs again and again, testing my own changes. My passion for development started there, leading me to high school courses and ultimately degrees in computer science from Kansas State University and Pittsburg State University in Kansas.”
Dustin has been with us for 22 years and is a part of the Information Security team.
What do you enjoy most about your role?
“I enjoy working with and helping people. Generally, the IT field consists of solving problems, and we are called to provide technology solutions to meet business objectives. It is satisfying when I solve an issue or help a person with a new idea or solution. That’s the reward of being an IT professional.”
What inspired you to start a career in IT?
“Like many others, I wasn’t sure what field I wanted to pursue when I started college. I liked math and felt that IT might be a field that would hang around for many years. So, I took my first computer class, and the rest is history. I’ve been blessed to have many opportunities along this journey and still have plenty of learning to do.
I’ve also been adjunct teaching since 2018 at Missouri Southern State University to prepare future IT professionals. This field is vast with opportunities, and I enjoy seeing the next generation start their journeys in IT.”
During Hispanic Heritage Month, we’re inviting L&P employees to share about their everyday Leggett life and their heritage.
We’d like you to meet Andres Hernandez! Andres is a Crater Operator and has been with L&P for 21 years.
“I enjoy my job because it is very fast-paced and it makes my nights of 10 or 12 hours go by quickly,” said Andres.
“The first thing I do after clocking in is my daily exercises. Then, I inspect my machine and area. After that, I am ready to start crating units all night. When it’s time to go home, my partner and I start scanning our production tags and cleaning for the other shift so they can work in a clean and safe environment.”
When he’s not at work, Andres focuses on family and resting:
“Before work, I spend my time with my family, and after work, I go home and rest. During the weekends, I take my family out or have a get-together at my house so I can have everyone there because my family is very important to me.”
When sharing about his heritage, Andres said, “I am very proud of my Hispanic heritage! I am a hard worker, a survivor, and all I want is to give my family and myself what my parents couldn’t give me. All we want is the American Dream!”
At L&P, our Information Technology (IT) professionals often work behind the scenes, enhancing our business systems and processes and providing around-the-clock support to keep us connected.
IT Professionals Day is September 19, and we want you to meet some of our amazing colleagues in IT!
Darren has been with L&P for four and a half years, and his team manages all the physical IT-related needs of the branches. They primarily support our ECS (Elite Comfort Solutions) branches and assist others as needed.
What do you enjoy most about your role?
“Sharing knowledge and working with my colleagues to resolve problems brings me joy. I also like socializing with our end users, because over time, you create relationships with them. Offering peace of mind to an end user by resolving their IT issues is a driving force.”
What inspired you to start a career in IT?
“In the late 1990s, I discovered a computer game called QUAKE and therein found a community of friends, many of whom were in IT. I learned to build my first computer, and through conversations with my QUAKE brethren, I realized that I found the career I wanted to pursue.”
Mario has been with us for 19 years and enjoys working with our teams across the globe.
What do you enjoy most about your role?
“I’m fortunate to have the opportunity to work with L&P partners and team members around the world. I enjoy helping them by supporting their businesses with IT tools.”
What inspired you to start a career in IT?
“When I was in primary school, my father bought me a Commodore 64 (a computer), which influenced me the most in choosing IT. I started with fun things like gaming, and after a few months, I began programing in BASIC (Beginners’ All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) language programs. Finally, I went to university for IT and started a career.”
At L&P, our Information Technology (IT) professionals often work behind the scenes, enhancing our business systems and processes and providing around-the-clock support to keep us connected.
IT Professionals Day is September 19, and we want you to meet some of our amazing colleagues in IT!
Jason has been with us for 23 years and enjoys working with the many dedicated and talented people at L&P.
What do you enjoy most about your role?
“While I enjoy the technical aspects and challenges of security architecture, what truly sets Leggett apart is its culture and willingness to continuously improve. My role serves as a catalyst to bring many people together to create a secure environment for the company to grow while enabling business processes to function.”
What inspired you to start a career in IT?
“At nine years old, I fell in love with DOS 3.2 (an operating system). Ted, my mentor and friend, took my DOS manual and put a line through all the commands that were deemed too dangerous to run, so naturally, I ran a few of them and formatted a few system disks as a result. Making mistakes and learning from them have taught me many valuable lessons and inspired me to continue to expand my IT knowledge.
In high school, I had opportunities to work with high-end Silicon Graphics Indy and Octane machines and run a Bulletin Board System (BBS) at home. At this point, IT was in my blood. I applied for my first job at McDonald’s and was turned down (guess I wasn’t qualified), so I applied at RadioShack and they hired me! The rest is a technical blur, as I’ve worked on thousands of machines and networks.”
Julie has been with us for 17 years and is currently Tier 2 Support, which is where IT-related issues go if support beyond what our Service Desk can provide is needed.
What do you enjoy most about your role?
“Working with a wide variety of people from all over the world is the best part of my job! I get to form long-lasting friendships with the kind of people that you know would always be there to pick you up when you fall (right after they stop laughing at you). These relationships are so important to my job because they help me discover that a problem is forming before it gets too large.
The people in the branches and in sales really help make money for L&P, so keeping those people running is how I contribute.”
What inspired you to start a career in IT?
“I was working at a large tech company, and during the morning production meetings, it became very obvious to me how much impact IT support, whether good or bad, can have on the day-to-day ability of a company to earn money. Also, I was told that I have the face for phone support. That probably was not the compliment I took it to be.”
September 16 is Mexico’s Independence Day!
On September 16, 1810, Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, a Catholic priest, rang the church bell in Dolores, Mexico, and gave a passionate speech that called for independence from Spain. This event became known as the Grito de Dolores (Cry of Dolores)—the start of Mexico’s 11-year war for independence.
Each year on the night of September 15, it is tradition for Mexico’s president to kick off Independence Day celebrations by ringing the same bell Hidalgo did in 1810 and giving a speech from the National Palace in Mexico City. Independence Day is also celebrated with food, fireworks, parades, and music.
¡A todos los que están celebrando, L&P les desea unas felices fiestas!
To all who are celebrating, L&P wishes you a happy holiday!
Mendoza, Jordan. “Mexican Independence Day: How September 16 Signifies a ‘moment of Hope’ for Mexico.” USA TODAY, Gannett Satellite Information Network, LLC., 15 Sept. 2021, www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2021/09/15/everything-know-september-16-mexican-independence-day/8348264002. Accessed 8 Aug. 2023.
Spocchia, Gino. “Mexican Independence Day 2022: The History of the Day and How Is It Celebrated?” Yahoo Sports, 15 Sept. 2022, sports.yahoo.com/mexican-independence-day-2022-history-171742660.html. Accessed 8 Aug. 2023.
From September 15 through October 15, the United States celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month—a time dedicated to celebrating the cultures, heritages, and contributions of Americans with roots in Spanish-speaking countries.
Honoring Hispanic heritage was first introduced in 1968 as a weeklong event. In 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed a law that expanded the celebration to a month. Unlike other Heritage Months that start at the beginning of the month, Hispanic Heritage Month starts on September 15 to commemorate the day that many Latin American countries celebrate their independence from Spain.
We’re grateful to all of our employees who honor Hispanic Heritage Month and enrich our workplaces. To celebrate, we invited a few of our employees to share about their everyday Leggett life and their Hispanic heritage. During the next few weeks, we will spotlight them on our social media platforms.
Interested in learning more about Hispanic heritage? We found a few resources that we would like to share:
History.com Editors. “Hispanic Heritage Month.” HISTORY, A&E Television Networks, 11 Sept. 2020, www.history.com/topics/hispanic-history/hispanic-heritage-month. Accessed 8 Aug. 2023.