Katie Buhman | From CITY job to CITY career

Katie Buhman helps lead one of CITY’s most important operational components, the production staff. As a Team Captain, her role is vital in maintaining the operational flow of uniforms through the sorting system, making sure the rest of the plant can do their job efficiently and on time.

“Our job on the production floor is very important because the customers are depending on us,” Katie said. “The Route Service Representatives are depending on us; Colin [Wetlaufer, CITY’s President] is depending on us and it all starts on the hang line.”

The uniform hang line is where Katie’s CITY story began 12 years ago. Since then, she has worked every part of the production process which led her to a leadership position. She now helps out wherever she can to make sure everything runs smoothly.

“We have to get the customer’s garments, or their mats done and push them out the door so they can go to the work the next day and wear their work clothes,” Katie said. People are relying on us to be on time. It’s a challenging job but also extremely rewarding.”

As a Team Captain, Katie makes it a priority to motivate her fellow team members and encourages them to be the best they can be every day. A typical production shift starts at 5 AM and ends right around 3:30 PM. During their shift, employees handle roughly 15000 pieces of clothing a day.

“I love challenging people, helping them and pushing them,” Katie said. “I want people with a good attitude and a good work ethic. Especially in production, you have to have a willingness to push hard and get the work done. Our customer relies on us so they can go to work the next day and wear clean clothes. Your job here matters to a lot of people.”

Katie prides herself on her own work ethic and that’s what has kept her going for over a decade at CITY. She believes in hard work and thinks everyone has the chance to advance within the company. What started out as a job, blossomed into a career she is proud of and she wants others to know they can achieve their goals at CITY.

“Motivation and communication are the two most important things in a production job,” Katie said. We are all a team here at CITY and we want to make each other better. If it wasn’t for us no one would be able to wear clean uniforms. I am always proud when I see businesses and I can say, we clean their garments.”