Two Strategic Facilities, One Common Goal.
Our two manufacturing facilities in Dickson, Tennessee, and Brampton, Ontario are the engines that drive the business. These two strategically located plants operate in harmony to produce the industry’s highest quality zinc oxide products for customers worldwide.
Zochem’s senior management team holds themselves accountable to meet corporate goals including maintaining a zero-injury culture. Alongside plant leadership is a team of manufacturing experts who apply lean thinking, identifying everyday opportunities to improve processes and cut waste.
The company believes that it is important for our stakeholders to understand Zochem’s governance and manufacturing strategies. We respect and highly value the needs of our customers to maintain our value proposition of offering industry-leading products and services to all end-users while maintaining a zero injury culture.
Jimmy Kight, Dickson Plant Manager
Jimmy is a manufacturing professional with over 25 years of experience within the zinc oxide industry. As a leader, Jimmy has worked from the ground up with exceptional respect and understanding of the production floor and maintenance requirements to maintain a safe, quality-driven continuous process.
In 2013, Jimmy was integral in the greenfield construction of the Zochem Dickson, Tennessee facility where he guided start-up production operations in 2014. Looking back on that challenge, Jimmy said, “It was a long and detailed team effort to get the plant up and running seven years ago. But it was fun then, and we’re still having fun now.” Jimmy continued, “I take pride in this facility and the great people within it.”
Along the way, Jimmy has also been a valuable technical resource to our customer base in material flow and application support. Whether it be tires/rubber, oil/gas, agriculture, or any of our other vast applications, Jimmy has a found a way to apply his process knowledge to exceed the customer’s requirements.
In his free time, Jimmy enjoys 4-wheeling, home improvements, and spending quality time with his wife, children, and most importantly, his grandchildren.
Shahram Mehdian, Brampton Plant Manager
Shahram joined Zochem in 2017 where he has applied his skillset in production, maintenance, and project management. His focus is to consider employee health and safety along with maintaining Zochem’s continued leadership in pharmaceutical applications. Shahram’s background in the automotive sector has provided him with a global view of risk management, ensuring secondary and tertiary consequences are considered with every process decision.
When asked what comes to mind when he thinks about Zochem, Shahram explained “We are built off the fundamentals of great teamwork and collaboration. From our Unifor (union) staff to the office personnel, a common strategy and focus is on health and safety and customer satisfaction.”
In a complicated, continuous process where engineering and maintenance are critical to the safety and environmental compliance of the facility, Shahram prides himself on being a leader who makes decisions, for which he can educate others on the “why” and “how” we maintain a zero-injury culture.
In his spare time, Shahram enjoys international travels and takes a special interest in understanding key bits of the history of the countries that he visits. He enjoys playing tennis, watching the “fun” in the stock market, and spending quality time with his wife and kids.
Jill Davis, Brampton Plant Manager
Jill joined Zochem over 20 years ago, bringing expertise in scheduling, packaging, warehousing (local and global), which culminate into her zest for the day-to-day problem solving with the Zochem Brampton Team.
Jill’s professionalism strengthens the team around her, knowing they have support and a helping hand when needed. Whether it’s opening new accounts, or expediting orders, Jill is there to ensure that the customer’s needs are always met.
When it comes to customer specifications and their requirements, Jill can often be considered as an “encyclopedia of zinc oxide users.” What they need, why they need it, and what they are sensitive about are all within the files of Jill’s office. During company events or surveys, Jill is acknowledged as an employee you can count on – this comes directly from her peers, the plant manager, and corporate staff alike.
In her spare time, Jill enjoys gardening, hiking, reading, and entertaining family and friends. You can often find Jill at the Royal Botanical Gardens Summer Music Nights.
Chauncey Reed, Dickson Production Manager
Chauncey has been a member of the Zochem Dickson team since the plant’s inception as a start-up facility working along Jimmy Kight to get product produced to meet every customer’s discerning specifications. He maintains a reliable approach for both internal and external customers, which all starts with Chauncey ALWAYS answering his phone.
With almost 30 years of zinc oxide and chemical manufacturing experience, Chauncey provides the balance between employee and furnace in our state-of-the-art facility in Dickson, Tennessee. Safety protocols within the facility and best practices in health and wellness outside the facility are intertwined responsibilities that Chauncey takes on as a responsible Production Manager.
Originally from Memphis, Chauncey relocated to Central Tennessee to take on the start-up initiative and move the needle on operations excellence in the zinc oxide industry. His cool, calm, and collected approach to manufacturing provides our entire team with confidence that the production process is in control.
Chauncey enjoys the simple pleasures of life. He looks out for beautiful weather to get on the golf course with a cold beverage. He especially enjoys a good football game, preferably one that includes his Dallas Cowboys! For Chauncey, a great day can always be had with the most important people by his side – his loving wife and daughter.
We look forward to you visiting our facilities in the future and meeting our operational staff where you can learn more about them, our process, and the rest of the great Zochem team.