Volume 1 | Issue 1

INSIDE
Notes from Neil p1
The Sales Corner p2
HR News p3
Window to the Warehouse p4
Eye on Indiana p5
IT Updates p6
Everything EH&S p7

The monthly internal newsletter of

 pg1 Notes
Notes from
from Neil
Neil
By: Neil Peters-Michaud

Focus S
ometimes in the day-to-day rush to per- $300,000 in new processing equipment in Madison and
form our jobs, it’s difficult to see the big Indiana to improve efficiencies and worker comfort in
picture of where we’ve been and where disassembly, baling and compaction of materials, and
we’re going. I hope this newsletter helps inventory management.
to better communicate the initiatives, achievements
and goals of Cascade and our people so you can ap- These improvements are a direct result of employ-
There are now 80 employees preciate how we all contribute to an impressive or- ees’ input to make Cascade better for our customers
between two facilities ganization. and our work flow. I encourage you to continue to make
suggestions to help our systems perform better.
First of all, let’s look at where we’ve
We achieved ISO 14001 Certifi- been. Just one short year ago, we IIcontinue
continuetoto be
be Our progress in 2006 follows the
broke ground on our new facility in ambitious plan we set in late 2005. We
cation and became an IAER impressed
impressed with
with the
the
Madison. Last September, there were set out to double our volumes and our
Certified Electronics Recycler. efforts of our staff
efforts of our staff
41 employees and we processed an av- revenues from 2005, and we are on
Only 3 other e-scrap companies erage of 451,000 pounds of equip- and
andamamconfident
confident course to beat that goal. We planned
in the US have earned both ment in a month. Today, there are 80 to open a new location out of state in
distinctions that
thattogether
togetherwewewill
will
of us at two facilities and we handle the summer, and we are . . . somewhat
an average of 878,000 pounds per make
make ourour mark
mark asas aa there with our temporary training facil-
month. . national
nationalleader
leaderinin ity and 6 employees in Plainfield.
We’ve doubled our amount of responsible IT asset
responsible IT asset
equipment processed within Cascade has established very specific
We’ve also invested substantially in retirement
retirement services
services goals for growth over the next two
the last year
quality processes and technology. years. It calls for continuing to double
Cascade Asset Management, LLC Though we started the initiative 5 years ago, this our size each year so that by the end of 2008 we will be
Semi-Annual Equipment Receipt Weights
Thousands
spring we achieved ISO 14001 Certification and be- processing 4.7 million pounds of electronics in a month’s
of pounds
6,000 Total Received through Jun, '06 came an IAER Certified Electronics Recycler. Only 3 time. This ambitious plan can only be achieved by con-
22,975,827 lbs. 2006 thru
Jun: other e-scrap companies in the US have earned both tinuing to improve our operations and to seek out new
5,000
2005 total:
6,394,505 lbs.
distinctions. Better yet, these programs have im- markets for our services.
4,000 2004 total:
proved our ability to manage our business systems
4,487,271 lbs.
2003 total: for quality, employee health & safety, and environ-
3,000 3,143,898 lbs.
2002 total:
1,500,062 lbs.
mental performance. Kevin Myrant and Joe
2,000
2001 total:
Netzer also implemented significant
1,328,280
2000 total:
754,425 lbs.
improvements in our database
1,000
1999 total:
103,538 lbs.
system to better control our
- processing of inventory to
Jan - Jun1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Jul - Dec customer standards. Finally,
This graph shows the accumulative weight of
we’ve invested more than
all equpiment recieved into our facilities over
the past 7 years.
 pg2
Focus
Roxanne and Jerry will be in Wis-
consin Dells for the WAPP confer-
ence to learn more about gain-
ing Government business.
Consorta Conference is SOLD
OUT. This will be an exciting time
to get the word out about Cas-
cade!
Neil will be presenting at the PDS
Technology conference at the
end of the month (September)
The
The Sales
Sales Corner
Corner
By: Roxanne Wenzel Trade show Mania!
S
eptember is Trade Show Mania Month for the sales department at Cascade. During just this
one month, we’ll be representing our company at five different events located here in
Wisconsin and across the United States.
We start exhibiting about half way through the month with the Wisconsin Association of Purchasing Profes-
sionals (WAPP) held in Wisconsin Dells. We’ll be able to spread the word about the V.A.L.U.E. contract with
purchasers who may not yet be aware of the great discounts and services we offer. The exhibit floor is open on
the first day for attendees to meet us. The second day of the show is designed to educate the vendors on how
to sell to the government. Jerry and Roxanne will be attending the seminars and hopefully bringing back lots
of information to help us gain inroads into gov-
ernment accounts.
Craig and Roxanne will be in Chicago during
the next week exhibiting at the Consorta con-
2006
06
6
ference. This show is held for members of the
Consorta group purchasing organization and
will be attended by staff from hospitals and other TECHNOLOGY
OG
GY
GY
health organizations throughout the Midwest. ENCEE
CONFERENCE
We’re scheduled to have our booth open the first
day of the show and will follow up with attend-
ees and other vendors who are potential cus-
tomers on the second day. The show is sold out
with a waiting list to get in so it should be excit-
ing!
IITAM
AM
&
At the same time, Neil and Jerry will be in Or- INFORMATION
FORMA
FORMAT
ORM TECHNOLOGY
lando at the Gartner IT Asset Management Con- ASSET
AS MANAGMENT
ference. This show targets high level asset man-
agers from Fortune 500 companies and Govern-
ment agencies throughout the United States. It is an excellent venue and we’re expecting great results. We
have invited some prospects to attend the show and look forward to the event furthering our relationships.
We wrap up the month with the Wisconsin Bankers Association Technology Conference in Appleton and the
PDS Technology Conference in Madison. Neil will be presenting on data security at both shows which will add
another element of depth to our participation. We’ve been working on positioning ourselves in the market-
place as a knowledgeable company and Neil’s speaking engagements will help support that stance.
The real work begins when we’re back from the shows and the dust begins to settle. We will need to dili-
gently follow up on all the leads we’re able to obtain and start working with as many companies as we can
while our meetings are still fresh in their minds. We’ll be calling, sending emails, sending letters, and then
starting the process all over again! We’ll keep you posted in upcoming newsletters with our success in turning
trade show contacts into customers.
 pg3 HR News
HR News
By: Jennifer Peters

Focus
Duc Tuong promoted to IT
Technician
-Congratulations!
Brendan Deneen, New employee
as of August 7th - Congratulations!
Implemented Workplace Literacy
Class
W
ow! It has been a month of promotions at Cascade. Three employ
ees have moved into different positions within Cascade. First,
Duc Tuong will be our new IT Technician. Duc has worked at Cascade
since February 2001 and has done a tremendous job in Refurbishing. Duc has an
Associate Degree from MATC in the Network Specialist Program. Replacing Duc
in Refurbishing will be David Heuer. David has worked as a Disassembly
Technician on 3rd shift since June 2006. He brings with him over 6 years of
experience troubleshooting and repairing computers and other electron-
ics. Finally, Jim Dunham is our new Logistics Coordinator. Jim has been
working in Inventory on 2nd shift since July 2005. He has many years of ex-
perience working in logistics at Alpha Omega Distributors. We are very ex-
cited to have such talented employees move into roles that match their
strengths to Cascade’s growing needs. We greatly value the commitment
and loyalty of all of our employee’s and want to congratulate Duc, David, and
Jim on their new positions. In addition, thank you to all of the capable and
hard working people who submitted letters of interest for these positions.
We appreciate your interest in growth and advancement with Cascade.

New Hires Workplace Literacy Class

Welcome to Brendan Deneen who started on Au-
gust 7th on 3rd shift as a Disassembly Technician.
Brendan worked for Cascade last winter as a tem-
porary employee on the Sears Project in our old
building on Seiferth Road taking apart cash regis-
ters—A LOT of cash registers!! He displayed a great
work ethic and we are happy to have him on now
as a full time employee.
Cascade will be offering a Workplace Literacy class
for those employees with limited English profi-
ciency. The class is taught by the Madison Area
Literacy Council and will be customized to meet
our specific needs. It will focus on practical work-
place skills such as communicating with supervi-
sors and colleagues, job safety, understanding
policies, and using the telephone. The class is not
language specific, so anyone can enroll, it does not
matter if your primary language is Hmong, Viet-
namese, Taiwanese, or Spanish. More information
will be posted once the class is scheduled—if you
have questions or are interested in enrolling please
see Jenni Peters.
 pg4 Window to
Window to the
the Warehouse
Warehouse
By: Bill Jacobs

Focus
Moved inventory to a more se-
cluded area
Created space for new Receiving
Department
New Inventory process with pods
A
s the Warehouse Coordinator, I have been going over and revising a lot of recent
changes that should help us improve our productivity and security. One major change
is that we have decided to move inventory to a more secluded area. This will in-
crease our security level and limit the amount of traffic throughout the inventory area. Not
only will the new inventory area be secluded, but it will also be totally blocked off from
visitors and other Cascade employee’s other than the
inventory staff. I believe the move of inventory will be
much more productive. Less traffic means less distrac-
tions, less distractions gives us more time to focus, un-
interrupted!
My goal is to have the inventory focus solely on in-
ventory instead of also receiving, which is a huge dis-
traction! Sometimes when Cascade has a lot of incom-
ing equipment it is very hard for the inventory staff
to focus on their job. As an example, the inventory is
at times too busy receiving to do any inventory.
Which brings me to my next major change in the
warehouse.
With the inventory area moving, we have a lot
of much needed space for a new receiving de-
partment. The receiving personnel will be re-
sponsible for all incoming and outgoing resale
equipment. The inventory equipment that
comes in will be weighed, entered in the
database, and tagged with a job num-
ber by receiving personnel. After this
process is complete the receiving
staff will then place the labeled
job in a pod. Using pods will help identify what equipment recently came in and what equip-
ment needs to be dispersed to the inventory staff next. After the equipment is placed in a
pod, the receiving personnel will then update a dry erase board. This dry erase board will be
mapped out the same way the pods are on the floor. Upon placing equipment in the pod
the receiving staff will write the job number on the dry erase board corresponding to the
pod location. We are also making a designated area just for drivers in the receiving depart-
ment. This will help keep our inventory area secure and the drivers safe. This area will be
taped on the floor and also have a barrier, making it difficult for drivers to cross or walk out of
the taped area. We are continually trying to improve both our processes and security while
keeping all employees in the warehouse safe.
 pg5
Focus
October 2006 - Set to Occupy
Hired five individuals to follow
Bob Koller - A Madison Wiscon-
sin hire in 2001, now Facility
Manager in Indianapolis
Plan to create strong ties within
the community
Eye on Indiana
Eye on Indiana
By: James Windisch
C
ascade is currently set to occupy its new
Plainfield, IN processing facility in early
October 2006. This space will be used as a full
service processing center servicing new and existing
clients all over Indianapolis, Indiana, and the United
States. Bob Koller has been promoted to Operations
Manager for the Indianapolis site. Bob has been with
Cascade for almost five years and we are excited about
his enthusiasm to make this new warehouse a success.
He brings a high level of competency, trust, and work
ethic, among many other things to the table. In addi-
tion to Bob, we have brought on five more staff mem-
bers to help with this growth. This diverse group comes
from a wide variety of industries and they are very ex-
cited about the opportunity to grow with Cascade.
Over the next several months Cascade will be focus-
ing on developing new and current relationships with
customers, vendors, and partners in the Indianapolis
area. We plan on cultivating strong ties within the
community to help bring success not only to our
operations but to local business and organiza-
tions. On top of our local focus for the area, Cas-
cade plans on capitalizing on this unique loca-
tion for our national customers. Since India-
napolis is know by many as the “Crossroads of America” because of the
multiple interstates and highways that intersect in the city, Cascade in-
tends to bring greater value to customers because of the cost savings on logistics
and our ability to expedite the processing of equipment at two sites.
Cascade anticipates creating a successful model of its operations in all aspects in Indiana and
plans to capitalize on the area’s robust economy and need for our industry leading services.
 pg6 IT Updates
IT Updates
Focus
Duc Tuong joins IS department
Tuesday, September 5th major
updates will be made to
Cascade’s database
New Account Setup Wizard
By: Joe Netzer & Kevin Myrant
T
he IS Department is happy to be expanding and Duc Tuong has been hired as the new Informa
tion Systems Technician. Duc has an Associates Degree in Networking from MATC and has been
working as a Refurbishing Technician for the past 5 years. During those five years Duc has been a
resource for all sorts of technical and hardware related issues and I have heard people say “If Duc can’t fix it, it
can’t be fixed”. Congratulations to Duc!
In other news, there will be some big changes
to the database starting on Tuesday September
5th. First of all, there are a few new layouts to get
used to. Second, the new system will be more flex-
ible with service levels, making it easier for inven-
tory to process jobs accurately. From now on, you
will see a red dot next to any batch that needs as-
set information, and in each batch you can see
exactly what kind of asset information the cus-
tomer expects.
In addition, when pressing the Inventory Com-
pleted button, you will now see a summary screen
which tries to check the job for any errors. From
here you can decide whether to go back and fix
any changes or if everything looks ok, finish com-
pleting the job.
Setting up customers should also be easier with
the New Customer Account Setup Wizard which
will walk you through the steps needed to create
a new contact record. You can still create contacts the old way, but the new way should help reduce errors.
Finally, multiple accounts (with different service levels) can be setup for the same customer. This means that
complex jobs such as Veolia can be consolidated under the same contact record.
Of course, with all these changes, some things are bound to go wrong. We will do our best to keep this to a
minimum, but any feedback for things that are not working correctly would be greatly appreciated! Also, any
new suggestions for improvements to the database are always welcome. Just let one of us know and we’ll see
what we can do.
 pg7
Focus
September’s safety training will
cover how to identiy and handle
potentially hazardous materials
New Forklift program is in the
development phase
Safety Kudos
Everything
Everything EH&S
EH&S
By: Sarah Blaser
W
elcome to Behavior Based Safety! Cascade’s new management system is off to a great
start, thanks to everyone who gave input on our workplace hazards, priorities and goals!
To recap, behavior based safety focuses on reducing and eliminating the number of unsafe be-
haviors and dangerous actions rather than just measuring injury rates. The results from our meetings showed
that forklift safety and hazardous materials handling are the two most urgent concerns in the warehouse. The
previous year, cuts/lacerations and back injuries were the top concerns. I’m glad I got input from everyone, and
I think the suggestions given will really help make the warehouses safer.
In response to all the suggestions, September’s safety training will cover how to identify and handle poten-
tially hazardous materials. The training will include the nasty things that sometimes show up on our dock
unannounced and the more common hazards like toner and bulbs. If you have suggestions regarding how to
spot these hazards, prevent them from coming in, or handle them when they get here, please let me know by
next Tuesday. Norris has put together a picture guide of the common “bad guys” for the training.
A new forklift program is in the development phase! Training materials should arrive in the next few weeks
for us to preview. If you drive the forklift and want to give input on some of these, please let me know.
In environmental news, Cascade has made a donation to the Aldo Leopold Foundation. The Aldo Leopold
Foundation is located in Monona and specializes in connecting children and their families to the outdoors. The
center has 94 acres for hiking, programs, summer nature camp and more. Info will be placed in the breakroom.
Cascade also received a complementary membership and two passes (individual or family) valued at up to
$175 for the upcoming event “Pipers in the Prairie & Festival Fire”. I will award these to the first three people who
bring me a useful and new safety or environmental suggestion, or a fact about Aldo Leopold that I didn’t know.
I must be able to verify this with a reputable source.
Kudos!
This month’s safety kudos go out to the following (in no particular order):
All the staff who gave input at the safety management system meetings, Norris for the picture guide of “things
not to eat, drink, smell, or bathe in”, Dan for illustrating ways to injure oneself using a rolling rack without
brakes, Derek for knowing the answers to every safety quiz question ever and Stephen for knowing the most
bizarre trivia questions I can find.
Thanks for being safe!!!