Join us in celebrating the 25th Annual Women in Construction Week
(March 5-11) with a blog series highlighting the value and ingenuity women bring to our member businesses. We’ll also feature careers and opportunities available to women interested in a rewarding, full-time job and being a part of the precast, prestressed concrete industry’s bright future.
My name is Renee Fabbri, and I began my career in manufacturing 16 years ago. Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to work in various roles. I found my way to the precast industry in 2022 as a Continuous Improvement Manager. Outside of work, my time is dedicated to making new memories with my incredible son, spending time with family and friends, and serving my community by holding a seat on our local Board of Education.
PCI-MA: How do you describe your job to people?
Renee: In my current role, I am tasked with identifying, analyzing, and improving our existing business processes to elevate the quality of product, provide a positive customer experience, and create transparency within our business functions. I do this by defining problems, analyzing and measuring opportunities through research, and data collection. I empower our team members to make our systems more effective and efficient by promoting problem-solving methods to eliminate non-value-added work, and continuously improving in a sustainable manner.
PCI-MA: How did your career journey lead you to your company?
Renee: I wanted to find a place to put down roots and call home. It was important for me to seek employment with a company that values the quality of its products, employees, and the surrounding community. For many years, I read about the success and community reputation of Northeast Precast. I knew I wanted to be a part of its growth and success.
PCI-MA: What is one of the greatest challenges you’ve faced and how have you overcome it?
Renee: The resistance to change is a root cause of failures to continuous improvement efforts. Complacency can be the antagonist of process improvement. I have to assure team members that I am not tasked with uncovering wrongdoing, only to collaborate to make things more efficient.
PCI-MA: What do you enjoy most about your job?
Renee: I get the opportunity to learn about many functions within the business, work in cross-functional teams and enjoy learning about what other departments do. I get to learn what the inputs and outputs are for each function of the operating system, from conception to erection.
PCI-MA: Do you have a mentor or role model? If so, how does this person support you in your personal and professional growth?
Renee: I’ve had several mentors throughout my career, all of whom taught me valuable lessons that I continue to carry with me to this day. My greatest mentors have afforded me the autonomy to find my way, while still being a sound resource when I needed advice.
PCI-MA: What advice would you give a young woman entering the construction industry?
Renee: It doesn’t matter what industry you find yourself in; if you are a critical thinker, a great communicator, passionate, dependable, and agile, the sky is the limit. Do not be afraid to take risks and make mistakes.
About Northeast Precast
Northeast Precast is a state-of-the-art precast concrete manufacturer located in Vineland, New Jersey that offers commercial products and residential foundation wall systems. In 2001 John Ruga started selling Superior Walls® in New Jersey and started precast manufacturing in 2004. Starting as only a Superior Walls franchise, the company diversified and became known as Northeast Precast, a leader in custom precast products. Today Northeast Precast continues to expand to meet the demands of the residential, commercial building, highway infrastructure and heavy marine construction markets.
