Page 18 - MetalForming December 2011
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   Pioneer Metalformers
Invest in Workforce Development
Case Study:
Pridgeon & Clay
  Pridgeon & Clay is one of the largest independent, value- added manufacturers and sup- pliers of stamped and fineblanked components in the United States. The firm boasts a global workforce of more than 1000 skilled employees, which its managers quickly credit with providing its full-service approach to design, prototyping, product vali- dation and manufacturing.
Founded in 1948, the family-owned company operates more than 95 stamping presses throughout five worldwide manufacturing facilities. While primarily a Tier One and Tier Two automotive supplier, Pridgeon & Clay also manufactures parts and assemblies for the Class 8 heavy-truck market, and for customers in the agri- cultural, marine, motorcycle, alterna- tive-energy and hardware industries.
Home base for Pridgeon & Clay is a 350,000-sq.-ft. plant in Grand Rapids, MI, home to 650 employees —up from 400 employees just a cou- ple of years ago. The site includes a 37,000-sq.-ft. research-and-develop- ment center and Advanced Engi- neering Center—“a real difference- maker for us,” says company CEO Bob Clay, son of the firm’s founder Donald V. Clay. Clay credits the AE center along with its A2LA certified testing laboratory with “fueling the compa- ny’s growth engines, by developing
new products that anticipate our cus- tomers’ needs and keep us on the van- guard of the metalforming industry.”
R&D, New-Product Development Paving the Road to Recovery
Net sales for the company climbed 40 percent in 2010 compared to a very challenging 2009, while net earnings more than tripled year over year. While 2010 sales still lagged those of 2007-2008, net earnings for 2010 were at an all-time high, 30 per- cent above 2007 net earnings. Con- tributing greatly to the firm’s recent financial success is growth of the AE center, research and development lab and prototype department, all managed by director Mike Kozal. Since 2008, some 80 percent of new- product development completed by Kozal’s group has been launched as production business at the company. “Prior to that time, that percentage was just under 50 percent,” says Kozal. “Also, until 2007, our contri- bution to the company’s revenue total held steady at 11 percent glob- ally. Today, just over 25 percent of total global sales has hit our devel- opment area in one form or another.”
“Looking to the future,” adds Clay, “our commitment to being an auto- motive supplier has us studying power-train trends and conducting research and development into
emerging technologies. For exam- ple, we have several parts on alter- native-energy vehicles, and are heav- ily involved in fuel-cell development. This work, which could double our salesinthenext5to10yr.,isnotme saying ‘let’s get into fuel-cell devel- opment.’ Rather, it’s our people— from our R & D manager on down— offering their ideas, pulling together teams and digging in.”
For the firm’s frontline workers, expansion of Pridgeon & Clay’s prod- uct-development group has provid- ed new opportunities in the area of model making, where six employees manufacture prototypes to give life to the new ideas emanating from the group’s engineers. Five of the six model makers were promoted from within, taking advantage of the firm’s gener- ous (100 percent) educational-reim- bursement policy. As such, their wages have more than doubled, progressing from entry-level (utility) workers to varying levels of model makers. All of the firm’s model makers currently attend Grand Rapids Community College, working to obtain their asso- ciate’s degrees in manufacturing— on Pridgeon & Clay’s dime.
Education and Training Kicked up a Few Notches
“My father was a strong believer in education,” Clay stresses, adding a
Grand Rapids, MI
BY BRAD F. KUVIN
Editor, MetalForming magazine, a publication of the Precision Metalforming Association
MetalForming/December 2011 www.metalformingmagazine.com
















































































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