Yesterday, Kelley and I made out our way out to Downer’s Grove for some hands-on, factory-floor-touring, belt-splicing training at the Flexco plant and headquarters. Besides learning about mechanical conveyer belt fasteners and installation tools of every shape and size, we got to see and learn more about mining culture, and more importantly, our client’s culture. Like the fact that at 20 + years of working at Flexco, our trainer extraordinaire, Virgil Hagie, is practically a newbie compared to some of the others who’ve been there 30 or 40 years. After hearing about the company’s successes over the years, and the subsequent employee perks, and meeting all the great people there, it wasn’t hard to see why people stick around so long!  And after 100 years in business, Flexco has taken almost all manufacturing processes in house, all the way down to the nuts and bolts—allowing them to control quality of every product that rolls off the factory floor.  After splicing a few belts ourselves (translation: inserting fasteners into a belt piece with an air-pressurized driver in order to join to belts together), Kelley and I were ready to go down into the mines and do it for real. Well, maybe not, but we don’t look half bad in safety glasses, right?