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May 17, 2016 02:00 AM

Field Lining Systems says family members make great employees

Catherine Kavanaugh
Staff Writer
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    Field Lining Systems Inc.
    Phillip Ramos at his desk at Field Lining Systems Inc.

    When Phillip Ramos left a company that made rubber liners for the mining industry to launch his own business in 1983, he had a two-prong plan: Stick with what he knew but add plastic products; then build up sales so he would have something to pass on to his children.

    Ramos, the 66-year-old founder of Field Lining Systems Inc., in Avondale, Ariz., succeeded at both goals and then some.

    High density polyethylene liners are the big sellers and 14 relatives, including his daughter, Kristy K. Lagunas, who is president, and his grandson, Joshua Ramos, who is superintendent, work for the company.

    “I think the dedication of a family member far exceeds what a conventional employee would give to a company,” Ramos said in a telephone interview. “At the end of the day, they know they are working for a cause, which is for the family and the good of everyone. It's not just a paycheck. It's the long term.”

    And therein lies one of the big challenges of owning a business where you work with the same people with whom you share holiday meals.

    “You worry about keeping enough work ongoing to support all of the staff,” Ramos, the son of migrant workers, said.

    He has managed that for 33 years, starting out with five employees after taking out a $25,000 loan with his house as collateral. Lagunas joined the team at age 14. She answered phones, put together brochures and got to know the staff. Now she is a co-owner with Joshua Ramos. Field Lining Systems is a certified woman minority-owned business with Lagunas serving as president about 7 years.

    “We had a trust in place prior to her taking over,” Ramos said. “The goal was to transfer the company over to my kids. They were to be the recipients of what I had grown.”

    However, Ramos lost his other child, a son, in 1996 at age 27. But his late son's boy, Joshua Ramos, has stepped into a leadership role and at age 22 is 49 percent owner of the company.

    That doesn't mean the third generation of family owners were born into their positions, Phillip Ramos added.

    “They must perform. There's no nepotism,” he said. “I'm not going to give them a break. If anything, I expect more. I want 110 percent.”

    Ramos pointed to another grandson, Andrew Ramos, who patented a process to put solar panels on geomembranes. The innovation has opened the door to business talks with a manufacturer of solar panels made of thin film.

    With ideas like that being pursued, Phillip Ramos said he has high hopes Field Lining Systems makes it to the fourth generation. The company employs 35 to 70 people depending on the cyclical nature of the mining industry and the kind of projects they are hired to oversee.

    “When copper pricing drops, the companies we work for cut projects but luckily we've diversified ourselves,” Ramos said. “The job dictates the number of people we have.”

    Jessica Jordan

    In 2013, it was all hands on deck as Field Lining Systems installed 27 million square feet of HDPE liner for a solar evaporation pond at a salt mining operation in New Mexico. The ponds hold liquid brought to the surface until the water evaporates, leaving behind crystals of salt and potassium after about 300 days.

    Harvesting salt nuggets is a far cry from the farm fields Ramos tended with his parents, who were U.S. citizens raising their family in Texas and hitting the road every summer.

    “Travel was in our blood,” Ramos said. “We'd go from Ohio for tomatoes to Washington for strawberries or string beans and come back to Texas for cotton and Arizona for potatoes. Those migrations during the summer were our vacation. I liked it as a kid.”

    But he ruled it out as a career option pretty early on.

    “You drive in the fields and see all these people doing back-breaking work. I decided to do something more with my mind than my back,” Ramos said. “I was selling newspapers at age 8. I had that gene to be an entrepreneur. I went to work for a company with a similar business to mine not knowing that it would be my trade.”

    Field Lining Systems sells synthetic rubber products as well as flexible and rigid plastic liners from 12 mils to 2-inches thick made of HDPE, LDPE, PVC, reinforced polypropylene, reinforced polyethylene, polyvinylidene fluoride and homopolymer PVDF. The products can be used for irrigation reservoirs, evaporation ponds, retention ponds, floating covers, chemical storage, holding tanks, hatcheries, landfills, and more. Most customers of Field Lining Systems are involved with mining, power, chemical and wastewater applications.

    Ramos sees the company expanding more into solar applications with government incentives and his tech-savvy descendants.

    “They are driven to learn and excel,” he said. “They grasp knowledge quickly. They finesse proven technologies and make it fit. I'm going to remove myself from the day to day and be more of a mentor and ambassador for the company. I'm proud to have taken this business from cradle to a continuing legacy.”

    Read an overview of family-owned businesses and find links to other profiles.

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