Covia team members work hard to provide high-quality minerals and material solutions for our customers. When you ask Bleve Willoughby what drives Covia’s success, he doesn’t talk first about equipment or output. He talks about people.
As plant manager for Covia’s Elco and Tamms facilities in Illinois, Bleve oversees a team of driven employees who play a major part in Covia’s outstanding service to customers and our commitment to excellence.
A Career Built on Curiosity and Growth
Bleve’s career path took a few turns before he made his way to the minerals industry. After graduating from college, his early career included stints at a nuclear power plant, a vegetable oil facility, and a graphite electrode manufacturer before finding an opportunity in 2014 to become the plant superintendent at the Elco plant.
It didn’t take long for Bleve to progress in his Covia career. He was offered a position as plant manager at Covia’s Troy Grove, Illinois, plant in 2016, where his responsibilities allowed him to learn more about different aspects of the business ranging from safety to finance.
After spending a year in Troy Grove, he headed to southern Illinois to serve as plant manager for both Elco and the nearby Tamms plant. His role requires him to oversee operations for both facilities, handling everything from production to budgets for a pair of sites located roughly five miles apart.
The two plants are located near each other, but they produce different materials. The Elco plant mines a unique deposit of microcrystalline silica and processes it into IMSIL® microcrystalline silica fillers, and the Tamms plant processes nepheline syenite into MINEX® functional filler and MINBLOC® HC High-Clarity Antiblock additive. The dual nature of these plants requires Bleve to manage different customers, safety processes, and other key differences for each plant, a balancing act that he successfully navigates every day.
A Culture of Growth and Assistance
Managing both plants adds some complexity to his job, but Bleve knows he has plenty of support at Covia. Bleve emphasized that leadership training and direct customer interactions were valuable learning experiences that have proven beneficial in his current role. He’s also appreciative of other people who are ready to support him, whether it’s his fellow team members at Elco and Tamms or other individuals throughout Covia.
“There’s always help available for us,” Bleve said. “You don’t feel like you’re trying to run this plant on your own without support. If I need some help, I can call someone, and support will be there.”
Bleve also has a special form of support within the company – his dad. Bleve’s father worked for Covia for 30 years before retiring a few years ago. While the two of them never worked in the same plant together, his father still offers plenty of insight from his years of experience.
“When I got hired at Elco, my dad worked at the McIntyre plant in Georgia,” Bleve explained. “It was nice to have him available for questions, so I would send a message or call him from time to time to see what he’d think or how he did things at his plant.”
Quality People, Quality Results
For Bleve, success at Elco and Tamms always comes back to the 55 individuals there who make it possible. Whether it’s running complex equipment, solving problems for customers, or looking out for one another’s safety, the team takes ownership of their work and their impact.
“The people are the plant,” he said. “The equipment’s there, but it doesn’t run itself, even with some automation. People are what makes us successful.”
The team’s commitment to success is shown in the team’s track record: more than a decade without a lost-time incident, process changes that boosted output by 20%, and a reputation for premium quality products. It also extends beyond the plants, as team members volunteer as local fire chiefs, serve as mentors, and find other ways to strengthen the communities where they live and work.
Outside of work, Bleve stays just as committed to his own team at home – his three kids. Between school sports, trips to the lake, the occasional round of golf, and deer hunting in the winter, family life keeps him grounded and reminds him why the work he and his colleagues do matters.
Together, Bleve and the Elco and Tamms teams embody the best of Covia’s strengths: a culture of accountability, pride in quality, and a shared belief that what they do matters both on site and at home.
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