Anheuser-Busch plant manager Kevin FInger

Article Last Updated: Saturday, Aug 13, 2005 - 10:27:51 pm PDT

Anheuser-Busch plant manager Kevin FInger has worked for the beermaker for 25 years. During that time he was worked in various positions. Photo by Gary Goldsmith

Plant manager keeps a vigilant eye on the floor at Anheuser-Busch

By Jeff Mitchell
FAIRFIELD - About three times a day, Kevin Finger extracts himself from the corner suite of offices at Anheuser-Busch and goes for a walk.

No, he isn't dashing out to feed a Starbucks habit.

Finger, plant manager at Anheuser-Busch's Fairfield plant, strolls the cavernous 700,000-square-foot facility to see for himself how things are going in the place that makes some 4.4 million barrels of beer each year. (That's something like 136 million gallons of the sudsy stuff.)

He walks the site to make sure his fellow employees see him and, if they chose, interact with him.

"I try to keep the same routine every day," Finger said during a recent interview. "If they want to chat, that's great. If they have a question I try to give them an answer. If I don't know the answer I find out and get back to them."

Finger - during the course of his 25 years with the company - has probably worked every job on the bottling and packaging production floor at one time or another, he said.

"I've found that a major key to being an effective manager is staying visible and listening to ideas," Finger said. "Our employees are the experts in their own areas. I think it's important to respect that knowledge."

A native of Illinois who was raised in Philadelphia and Virginia, the 47-year-old Finger attended William & Mary University in Williamsburg, Va.

Originally, Finger said he signed up as a pre-law school major but ended up graduating with a history degree and not going to law school. It was while he was in school that he joined Anheuser-Busch, working for the company's Williamsburg brewery at the time.

"I was definitely going to be a lawyer, but once I went to work for the company, I became fascinated with the complexity of the production process and on the company's focus on quality," Finger said. "I knew that I wanted to be a part of that."

Finger worked his way up the company ladder - starting initially as a equipment operator in 1980 in Williamsburg. Since then, he's worked in a variety of posts in both Williamsburg and in Fort Collins, Colo. In 2000, he served as an assistant plant manager at the company's brewery facilities in St. Louis and in Newark, NJ.

Over the years, Finger has developed a reputation amongst colleagues as a meticulous and dedicated "go-to" kind of guy. In tapping him to be one to two top leaders at the Fairfield brewery, (Brewmaster Michael Poley is the other top honcho at the site) the company has entrusted him with a heavy burden of responsibility.

"Kevin has worked in many varying positions, demonstrating exceptional performance throughout his career at Anheuser-Busch. He has been involved in our modernization efforts at multiple locations, and is infinitely capable to lead the Fairfield brewery through its modernization," said Mike Harding, Finger's boss and the corporation's vice president of operations.

Poley agreed.

"Kevin is a straight forward and a dedicated partner in taking the Fairfield Brewery into the future," Poley said. "We share the same vision and have the skills to meet the challenges of this transitional change, which makes working together a pleasure."

The modernization effort the two men mention involved a $100 million expansion of the plant's bottling and packaging area during the last few years.

Finger is proud of the Fairfield plant employees who, despite the distraction of the plant expansion and renovation effort, met or exceeded production quotas.

When the weather is good he likes bicycling to work.

The experience gives him the chance to take in what he calls the "rugged beauty" of the Fairfield and northern Solano County area.

The bike commute, in addition to just being good exercise, also reminds Finger of the company's connections to the greater community.

He is proud of the brewery's outreach efforts and local charitable contributions ($1.4 million in the last decade). They have made a fun job even more enjoyable, he added.

Finger particularly likes working with the various organizations that support the service men and women stationed at Travis Air Force Base.

Jon Monson, CEO of MV Transportation Inc. and chairman of the Fairfield-Suisun Chamber of Commerce board of directors, praised Finger's personal connections to the community.

"Kevin has brought vitality into the promotion of the Fairfield-Suisun area as a tourist destination and has been an active supporter of community organizations," Monson said. "His plant provides great jobs to our local citizens and helps our economy shine."

Reach Jeff Mitchell at 427-6977 or jmitchell@dailyrepublic.net.