Our Story
It all began with a kitchen table, a tornado,
and an idea.
2004 – Kitchen Table
Surgere started around CEO William Wappler's kitchen table in North Canton, OH. This same kitchen table, which sits on our office space, serves as a reminder of where we started and the values that surround our actions since the beginning.
The pioneers served as packaging consultants for major companies such as Timken, Alcoa, and Whirlpool. Upon seeing the lack of visibility these companies had throughout the supply chain, they searched for software to serve their client's needs and, unfortunately, couldn't find a solution.
2006 – Market Validation
Surgere branched out into the software industry, expanding our team to build customized software to provide visibility and control throughout supply chains. We developed packaging specification management, procurement strategy, and supply chain design expertise.
2016 – Twister
In a Hollywood blockbuster, Twister, a crew of storm chasers are inspired to release a barrage of tiny data sensors into a tornado, collecting the data the team would need to better weather such storms.
William saw how that concept – a multitude of data points coming together to draw a clear picture of an incredibly complex system – could be applied to the tornado that is the automotive manufacturing supply chain. He recognized billions of dollars lost every year to "misplaced" parts, packaging, and finished vehicles, and he knew he had a solution.
2017 – AutoSphere
This is the year the idea of having one connected community of automobile manufactures was brought to life. We attended a meeting with 5 OEMs, 20 suppliers, and three service providers to hash out the standard set of processes that would backbone our first community: AutoSphere.
AutoSphere provides visibility benefits to involved members by strategically capturing all the transactional information between automotive OEMs, suppliers, and logistics providers.
Today...
and Into
the Future
Surgere is an industry pioneer leveraging IoT technology to revolutionize the supply chain. We know the challenges and have engineered innovative secure technology, patented software, and certified hardware to consistently deliver 99.9% data fidelity. We're expanding visibility into the physical supply chain to many of the world's leading industries.
We're constantly innovating and developing for our dream state: a fully visualized and self-actualizing autonomous supply chain.
Many meeting rooms at our world headquarters location tell the story of our journey to where we are today.
Have you noticed we're race fans? These two tracks were critical to our beginnings in motorsports.
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Birmingham
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Mid-Ohio
From Bill's kitchen table inside his house on Peachmont Road to our many different offices throughout our growth journey, we've cherished each stop along the way. Our first office was located on Lauby road, where we started in Suite 120 and grew into Suite 200 before moving to our current world headquarters location.
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Suite 120
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Suite 200
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Lauby
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Peachmont
THROUGH THE
YEARS
& THROUGH THE
OFFICE
Surgere was formed on many things: the passion of discovery, the promise of creating raving fans, the commitment to high-fidelity data, and of course, the tornado named "Dorothy" that inspired our founder and CEO.
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Discovery
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Fidelity
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Dorothy
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Raving Fans
WELCOME TO THE
KITCHEN
TABLE
Our six values stem from our Kitchen Table Culture. Our Kitchen Table culture reflects how our company began: not with a board of directors, but with a few brilliant minds freely flowing at a kitchen table, dreaming of what data can do.
It is also a promise that employees will have a similar experience to when people come together around a table and share a meal: togetherness, inclusion, acceptance, idea sharing, and food, definitely food.
PASSION
Loving what you do. Doing what you love.
SENSE OF URGENCY
Honoring our commitments by delivering quality
on time.
RESPONSIBILITY
Having accountability and owning job tasks in a way that strives to make Surgere successful.
PERSISTENT DISCOVERY
Taking the initiative to search, learn, educate, and innovate.
CONNECT TO CARE
Connecting to our customers, coworkers, and community through good works and going the extra mile for the greater good.
TRUST
Using open, honest, and timely communication with each other and our customers to instill confidence.
Our Culture
We asked our employees, "What does the Surgere Kitchen Table Culture mean to you?" Here's what they said.
"It is the foundation of the company. It helps us have great relationships with our clients outside the standard work relationship."
"It means we reflect the values we place in communication and openness. It is a real token of our roots and a reminder not to forget them. We get to make a real impact every day within a dynamic, fast-growing company that genuinely values the collective voices of its team members."
"The kitchen table culture represents the closeness and openness of Surgere. Everyone can bring their ideas to the table and have them heard without judgment. It is an understanding that we all want the same level of success and will do whatever it takes to achieve it. It is a sense of pride that you are part of something bigger than just a project or a presentation. You are part of a family that cares about its coworkers and customers."
"It means sitting down and working together to resolve issues. Everyone is working towards the same goals and is looking out for each other."
"What the 'Kitchen Table Culture' means to me is that even though you are at work, you can still be yourself. Everyone works in unison to make every client a raving fan."
"Overall, I think our "Kitchen Table Culture" boils down to treating people like family: honoring commitments, doing what you need to do, respecting people, building trust, taking care of each other, building each other up—all things that happen around the kitchen table with our own families."
"A kitchen table is where family meets to share their days with each other. Surgere is a group of people who care about each other outside of the hours of 9-5."
Our Benefits
Competitive benefits packages
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Medical, dental, vision, and 401k
Unlimited time off
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Provides the freedom you require to balance the responsibility of work and home lives
13 paid holidays
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The entire office is closed, so you don't have to worry about missing anything
Flexible work schedule
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Supports our family-first ideals
Volunteer time off
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Connect to care on your own time or through company initiatives
Focus on health
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5k, Get Fit challenges, mental health support
Have a
Seat at
Our Table
Learn more about how we put Connect to Care into action through our philanthropies.
We're a
family-first company.
What does this mean?
When we say we are a family first company, we mean it. Our work structure is set up to enable you to take care of a sick parent, attend dance recitals and baseball games, and have an anniversary lunch with your partner.
We want you to have fulfillment in both your personal and professional life.
Our blended work environment allows employees to work from home as needed. Everyone we hire is capable of working autonomously at home, but we do find that it's more beneficial (and fun!) to be together. In fact, most of our employees prefer to come into the office.
Our in-office environment is supported by our openness of communication, accessibility to departments and leadership, and genuine personal connections – not those forced with ice breakers or awkward holiday parties.
Our goal is to provide the best environment for your professional development as well. At Surgere, this looks like inclusivity, diversity, and enablement for new ideas – when someone at Surgere gets an idea, they're encouraged to use their passion and run with it instead of waiting for a drawn-out change management process.
You have a seat at the table, our Kitchen Table – a place where you can come together with diverse minds and go out and accomplish it.
WILLIAM WAPPLER
CEO
CHARLES DRESSLER
President
DOROTHY MOSER
VP, Finance
LISA RICHMOND
VP, Human Resources
RUSTY COLEMAN
VP, Digital Transformation
JAVIER LOMELI
General Manager, Mexico
THOMAS STRAIN
VP, Technology
ROGER MCINTYRE
VP, Operations
Veterans Supporting Veterans
Surgere is proud to be a National Veteran Business Development Council Certified Veteran Owned Business. In addition, it is our privilege to have several hardworking veterans as team members and employees. Surgere appreciates the sacrifices made by these individuals for our country and is committed to supporting several significant veteran causes in our community with both donated funds and volunteered time.