Page 22 - MetalForming December 2011

Workforce Development\Pridgeon & Clay
MetalForming/December 2011 www.metalformingmagazine.com
the employee has a current atten- dance warning on his work record; the employee has more than two current company-rule violations on his record; or the employee is already currently on an open job. Following interviews with candi- dates, once the position is filled the human resources department notifies all applicants of the deci- sion, and also provides feedback to each applicant to help them pre- pare for the next opportunity.
“We have created a career path that begins with an entry-level position,” says Church Krafft, “such as a packer, and through the job- posting process packers can become machine operators. Then, through our APO training program, machine operators can become APO trainees and APOs. The next step is to become a technician. All of this advancement comes via inhouse classroom and on-the-job train- ing. Via our educational reim- bursement program, employees then can progress to become die technicians, team leaders and, ulti- mately, business unit managers.”
VanTimmeren’s path at Pridgeon & Clay began when he dove into the firm’s award-winning APO Certifica- tion Program, a standardized training program available to all existing and new automatic press operators at the company. The goal of creating the program was to develop a way to for- mally train press operators, since the technology on the company’s presses had increased and its business had grown (in 2008) and was unable to keep up with hiring qualified APOs from outside, and part of its busi- ness strategy included standardizing the process used to run its presses and train its employees. It established a team of subject-matter experts and developed 21 courses, each course requiring trainees (and existing oper- ators) to attend one class per week (1.5 to 3 hr. each). The course outline includes classes in setup and opera- tion of straighteners and feeders, press safety, maintenance, quick die
change and sensor technology. Each course includes a classroom test and an on-the-floor audit to demonstrate application of the class- room instruction. All APOs spend 33 hr. in the classroom and 50-plus hr. on the floor in one-on-one training with the firm’s technical trainer. To date, about half of the firm’s 100-plus
APOs have completed the course. The APO training has proved to be a breeding ground for leadership on the plant floor. In addition to its busi- ness unit managers, Pridgeon & Clay has spread the responsibilities for maintaining its production facility to its 21 team leaders out on the shop floor. Of the 21, 15 were promoted
from within.
Adds Church Krafft: “The average
pay increases for promotions via our job-posting process tell an exciting story. Average wages for an initial hire are $9.30/hr. APO trainees earn an average wage increase of 50.5 per- cent, with another 7 percent raise coming following APO certification. Setup technicians earn another 13.3
percent increase on average, and team leaders boost their wages by another 41 percent.”
A Deep Pool of Deep Thinkers
Building leadership from within provides Pridgeon & Clay with a deep pool of deep thinkers who, says com- pany president Bob Clay, look to learn and create opportunities for the company to grow. “I encourage the creativity; the rest is up to them,” he says, and proceeds to describe some of the profitable decisions that have been made to help fuel the com- pany’s growth.
“Those stories are being written right now,” Clay says. “We’ve always been adventurous about investing in new technologies. For example, we were one of the first companies to run coil into big transfer presses, and one of the first to fineblank certain types of automotive exhaust com- ponents. The decisions to develop those types of technology advance- ments come from our creative, curi- ous and driven employees.” MF
Worker Profile
Scott Visser began his career at Pridgeon & Clay in 1988 as a press operator, and became a team leader out on the floor in 1997. In 2005 he began working toward earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Business, through Pridgeon & Clay’s education reimbursement program, while working full time and raising a family. Visser earned his degree in 2010, and was promoted to technical trainer early in 2011.
“Employees are reimbursed after each class,” says Church Krafft, “to minimize their up-front investment. Many colleges also offer tuition deferral. Since 2005, we’ve had 245 employees take advantage of our tuition-reimbursement program.
Visser laid the groundwork for his promotion in 2007 when he prepared several training modules for the company’s 21-module APO training program. “I also taught some of the courses, and really enjoyed that experience,” he recalls. “That experience is what led me to apply for the technical trainer position.”
As technical trainer, Scott Visser’s goal is to train the company’s frontline workers before they’re needed, proac- tively rather than reactively, so that they’re prepared when jobs become open. “I’m look- ing forward to helping Pridgeon & Clay build its workforce for the future,” he says.
Included in his formal education was coursework in
human resources that Visser credits with providing him
the ability to motivate and inspire frontline workers to
be successful. Further, Visser credits the firm’s commit-
ment to lean training to helping him look ahead to anticipate rather than react to chal- lenges on the production floor. “Lean allows us to efficiently run smaller lot sizes and reduce inventory, and has required our frontline workers to learn to conduct changeovers in minutes rather than hours. We all have to stay on our toes and be aware of what’s coming next.”