New Gates manager sees bright future

Scott Strycker sees an exciting future for Gates Corporation, and especially for the Iola plant.
“It’s a great company, a growing company,” said Strycker, who assumed the role of plant manager in mid-June.
Strycker replaces Mark Cooper, who left the company to pursue other business interests.
“Mark built a nice team, so this has been an easy transition,” said Strycker, who worked the previous 2½ years as the operations manager at Gates-Iola. “We have a great staff with great employees.”
Strycker joined the Gates-Iola team in early 2012, after working four years as plant manager at Standard Motors in Independence. The Indiana native also worked briefly at Amazon.com, with a “couple other stops.”
“I was excited when this opportunity presented itself” to join Iola, he said. “I’ve been fortunate to work under Mark and Scott Day,” Cooper’s predecessor as plant manager.
Employment and business remain “steady” for Gates Corporation, Strycker said.
The Gates-Iola plant has about 700 employees, not far from the company’s peak employment numbers of a couple years ago.
“We’ve got some new and exciting things coming to Gates-Iola,” he said. “We’re looking forward to continued growth.”