Debra Alley earned her associate degree in medical office management and was certified to be a licensed vocational nurse and certified nursing assistant. "Even though I am no longer in the medical field, I feel that this schooling prepared me to be organized as well as to handle people with care in all aspects of my career," she said.
While attending college, she worked as an office administrator at custom injection molder AMA Plastics Inc. in Riverside, Calif., which was purchased by Westfall Technik Inc. in April 2018.
"I enjoyed the people interaction, and as I learned more about the plastics industry, I found I really liked learning and understanding the turnkey approach to getting to the end device," said Alley, who is now the vice president of customer experience for Las Vegas-based molding and tooling firm Westfall Technik.
Alley oversees customer service at all Westfall molding sites, onboards new customers, re-boards existing customers, manages organic growth opportunities, and supports operational staff and the commercial team.
"I am a collaborative leader in that I engage our associates in unearthing gaps and developing customer-centric solutions," Alley said.
"I am working on being more proactive in ideating with our team to bring fresh, innovative solutions to our customers," Alley said about the mold she's breaking. "I'm also working on strengthening my communication skills — internally and externally. Communication is so important in all areas of our company."
Alley is involved with Women in Manufacturing, Women of Westfall and the International Women's Association.
"Every role I've been fortunate to have over my 26-year career has been instrumental in some manner. I consider my current position with Westfall as my 'career highlight' to date. Specifically, my role in WOW: Women of Westfall. I love that I have the flexibility to encourage and lead other women in the manufacturing setting and vice versa," she said.
Her current challenge is market demand. During the height of the pandemic, she saw certain product lines "peak." Now that things are going back to pre-2020 levels, Alley said, the question is, "How do we help our customers bridge the gap for their customers? Our goal at Westfall is to bring customers value in everything we do."
Alley added: "[The pandemic] forced me to look for new ways to serve our customers and help them to meet their unprecedented demands, expedites and requests. It taught me to be more intentional with my peers, employees and customers by checking in more."
