Meet Brian Donohue from Folding Guard
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Welcome to the “Material Handling Helpful Tools Series”. This series will blog spotlight many different material handling professionals and provide helpful information for the material handling industry. Our goal is to introduce you to individuals and websites that can improve your success in the industry. Today, we will introduce you to Brian Donohue from Folding Guard Corporation.

1. Tell us a little about yourself? Interests outside of work, family, pets, hobbies, entertainment, special talents…?

I come from a military family. I was born in Germany and lived there primarily until I was 18, so I am fluent in both English and German.  I’ve also spent a considerable amount of time in California, New Mexico, Indiana, and Massachusetts.  

I recently married, and we have two dogs – “The Sophie Doggie”, a boxer, and “Baron von Clenwood”, a pure mutt.

I have been a licensed soccer referee for 17 years, and I’m an avid beginner/intermediate chess player. 

2. Brian, what is your role in the organization?  

At Folding Guard, I manage the western territory dealer sales. This entails everything west of the Mississippi river, and covers all of our product categories: secure storage, machine guarding, residential lockers, storage lockers, and general wire mesh needs. 

3. How did your career path land you in this role? 

After traveling around Europe (again), I ended up in Chicago.  Since Chicago was known for being a manufacturing town, I was looking for something in that field and along came Folding Guard.  This has been my first and only career and I intend to be here for quite some time.

4. What is the most exciting aspect of your job?

At Folding Guard you never work on the same project or job type twice. You’ll see similar projects to what you’ve done in the past, but years can go by without repeating the same project.  It’s exciting to see all of the different projects that are out there. 

5. What makes Folding Guard unique, and sets you apart from the rest of the industry? 

Folding Guard has a set of standardized material that can be ordered with a push of the button in the high-tech society that we live in.  However, on the opposite end, we still offer the one-on-one old-fashioned service that is slowly disappearing. This allows us to custom-tailor the engineered solutions that we’re known for to meet the needs of our clients. 

6. What product do you feel has the biggest impact on the material handling industry, but is often overlooked?

My experience deals with many automated systems/robots/machines, etc.  These technologies are becoming increasingly efficient, but they can also be dangerous. As such, we’re seeing more and more accident-related injuries.  I feel that any safety product, no matter how irrelevant it may seem, that can prevent any lost-time accident, is important.

7. What is one tip, or bit of advice, that you can leave with our readers?

Pallet rack safety is important, and Folding Guard offers an economical pallet rack backing for all standard racks.  We can even custom-design for any special size racks that you may have. 

8. What are the biggest changes you see with your Products in the future?

Our products are beginning to change to keep up with the global economy.   Our machine guarding products are already compliant to both North American and European standards.