Page 28 - MetalForming December 2011

Workforce Development\E.J. Ajax and Sons
MetalForming/December 2011 www.metalformingmagazine.com
drive quality up and costs down. Our associates, many of them recruited from low- income and under-served populations, enjoy a high standard of living and add to the economic vitality of the community.”
Erick Ajax joined his family’s business in 1984 working in sales and human resources and, he shares frankly, that he didn’t like what he saw in terms of how the company went about its business on the shop floor. “It was unsafe,” he recalls, “and unprofes- sional, and I worked with my father (running the company at the time) to fix all that was broken.”
As step one on his jour-
ney to remake the compa-
ny, Ajax immediately set
out to forge a close bond
with the Minnesota Depart-
ment of Labor and Industry (MNDOLI). His goal: to build
a program for professional development, education,
and training, tying closely workforce development
and safety. “Safety is our
highest moral and ethical responsibility,” Ajax says. “That’s why we have partnered with MNOSHA consultation for more than 25 yr.”
During the last 15 years, the com- pany has invested an average of 5.5 percent of payroll on workforce-devel- opment initiatives, key to forging Ajax’s vision of an esprit de corps. Ajax repeatedly refers to his frontline col- leagues as “professional metalform- ers,” and, he adds, “professional met- alformers do not get hurt on the job.”
Career Ladders in Place
The pot of gold at the end of the proverbial training rainbow came in the early 1990s when Ajax collabo- rated with the MNDOLI to develop an 8000-hr. punch-press apprenticeship program, a first for Minnesota. With
a curriculum consistent with the skill standards of the National Institute for Metalworking Skills (NIMS), the program can cost Ajax $20,000 to $30,000 per employee in direct and indirect costs; to date, 61 percent of E.J. Ajax employees have achieved Class A journey worker Level III sta- tus, and many have two or more NIMS Level III certifications.
“We insist that people get on a career ladder, develop their skills and create value for our customers.” Ajax says. “Shame on me if we can’t do a good job providing opportunities for personal advancement and achieve- ment for our trained employees.”
As a result of the commitment Ajax employees make to upgrade their skills, they earn 15 to 20 percent
more than the national average, says Erick Ajax. Average Class A Journey worker wages at the company are $40,000-$50,000/yr. Such a skilled and loyal workforce (the company has had only one employee leave vol- untarily in the last 10 years) pays tremendous benefits as the company strives to optimize productivity, qual- ity and, yes, safety, all to ultimately generate earnings for its customers.
“Our single-most important strat- egy for retaining customers is to help them make more money,” stresses Ajax. “Our commitment to our cus- tomers—along with 100-percent quality and on-time delivery—is an annual cost reduction of 5 percent, achieved by involving customer pur- chasing and engineering. And we
From the Pressroom to the Front Office
Meet Don Wellman, the company’s purchasing manager as well as an estimator and a key account manager—a far cry from when he was hired in 1999 as an entry-level class C punch-press operator, earning $8/hr. Wellman’s rise through the ranks included completing his Class A journey person training in 2004 and promotion to the front office as an esti- mator and key account manager in 2008.
“When we hired Don,” says Erick Ajax, “we got him from a temp agency, which used to be our standard practice for adding shop workers. That process would typically result in a 10-per- cent success rate, and Don was that one in ten that worked out.”
Once Ajax and other managers realized that Wellman was
a “keeper,” they immediately went to him and asked that he
invest his time to continue his education, at the company’s
expense of course. He earned his GED and entered the com-
pany’s apprenticeship program. In 2006, Wellman earned recognition for his dedication when Red Wing Shoe Co. named him one of the top 100 skilled tradespeople in the United States.
“My first couple of years here, I focused on becoming the best press operator I could,” says Wellman, “and quickly came to understand how much this company cares about its employees and their families. Then, once I earned my journey workers card I began to look for other oppor- tunities to learn and grow.”
One such opportunity came when Wellman decided to teach at Hennepin Technical College, at about the same time that the college fired up its M-Powered program.
“I taught the metal stamping technician class,” Wellman says, “which really helped hone my people skills and certainly helps me now as I work with our suppliers (as purchasing manager) as well as with our frontline workers, trying to understand their needs.”
Says Ajax: “Moving Don out of the pressroom was difficult. He was our best press operator. But now he’s able to contribute far more to the success of our customers and to our company.” Wellman, in addition to the technical training he’s received, is another of the several Ajax employees to complete Dale Carnegie training, and also earned his Certified Purchasing Manager certificate.
“The management team here seems to always be looking for the training we need to get us where we want to go,” says Wellman, “rather than just focus on where we are. I really appreciate that.”
Thinking ahead, Wellman vows to strengthen his skills in marketing and sales, and in fact already has a head start as he recently landed a new, big customer for the company. “Don single- handedly negotiated a contract for us to provide fabricated-metal products for the retractable roof of the new Florida Marlins baseball stadium,” says Ajax. “He’s owned that project, and I’m sure that he’ll continue to help build our customer base as he gains more experience and training.”