170 The day I started to work for Proveedora Azucarera, I traveled to Ingenio San Cristobal to meet Mr. Tom Bowen, at that time chief service engineer for Western States. I stayed with him for two weeks trying to learn as much as I could from him. In the following years, I met with him several times. Five years later, I went to Hawaii and I wanted to visit some of the sugar mills there. I presented myself to the manager of a sugar mill, and he did not want me to visit the mill. I gave him my business card, and told him that if he ever visited Mexico, I would be glad to show him around. He saw my card and noticed the name of Western States Machine Company on it. He asked me if I was familiar with the centrifugals, and that Mr. Tom Bowen was providing service on-site at that moment. He asked me if I knew him. I told him I did. He walked with me, taking me directly to the centrifugals. When Tom gave me a hug, the face of that man immediately changed. He invited me to lunch, and called his friends in the other sugar mills to set up appointments for me. CHAPTER 13 In the late seventy’s, a newspaper plant was built in Mexico. Proveedora Azucarera sold the depithers to separate the long and short fibers from the cane sugar bagasse. Western States built those machines. We had challenges commissioning the machines. One very sunny day, I was visiting the plant which was about 110°F and Mr. Bob Jones (President and CEO of Western States at the time) was using a hand grinder to grind off some metal plate that was stopping the travel of one of the conveyors. That’s the only time in my career that I had ever seen a President and CEO of a company working – hands-on to fix a problem. Manuel Sulvarán Pérez top right: Jim Neal, Ken Tobergte (WSMC), and Manuel Sulvarán Pérez (Proveedora Azucarera) 170