Building better help: Xten partners with college to train new class of employees

“Our customers are demanding more engineering help, more project management assistance and more communication regarding deliveries and inventories,” Xten’s CEO and co-founder, Matt Davidson, told PlasticsToday.

Currently, Xten is experiencing the largest and fastest expansion in its 70-year history, with sales growing from $4.4 million in 2002 to $19 million in 2011. The 2012 acquisition of Paramount Plastics (the Lockport, IL facility) added another $15 million in revenue, along with the challenges of operating two separate facilities that produce broadly different types of products. An additional $20 million annually in new business is transitioning to the company during the first quarter of 2013.

Full-time operations require full-time skilled employees
This explosive growth pushed Xten to implement a 24/7 production schedule to keep up with demand. Xten’s shop floor supervisory capacity was stretched to the limit, putting all team members under unusual strain and challenging Xten’s ability to maintain its Lean manufacturing practices.

“It’s just very difficult to hire good people to fill key technical and leadership positions. Moving from three, 8-hour shifts, 24/5 to four 12-hour shifts 24/7 requires additional experienced shift managers, process technicians, maintenance professionals and toolmakers,” Davidson said. “We outgrew our informal networks in the first few months of searching to fill the technical positions we needed to fill, and had to proceed with numerous search firms. We finally found the people we needed, but it took us over six months to do so and required us to delay 24/7 implementation for more than two months.”

The solution for Xten was to go to a local resource, Gateway Technical College, for assistance in developing a program that would suit Xten’s needs. Working in partnership, Xten and Gateway developed the curriculum for training supervisory personnel in leadership, both basic for prospective managers and advanced for incumbents; set-up/start-up technicians, product development using SolidWorks Plastics design software, and comprehensive Lean principles for reducing waste and enhancing shop floor efficiency. Additionally, Xten applied for a Wisconsin-state grant to help defray the costs, which was granted.

Gateway’s expanded and remodeled Integrated Manufacturing and Engineering Technology Center (IMET) will open on February 12. It will feature a Quality and Measurement Lab, sponsored by Xten. Gauging/inspection training will be conducted in the lab, and during the hands-on sessions, students will learn to read and interpret prints, perform shop math calculations, gain an understanding of geometric dimensions and tolerancing (GD&T), and correctly use different analog and digital measuring instruments.

Beginning in March of this year, 85 employees from Xten’s Kenosha plant will begin training across a wide range of subjects, demonstrating Xten’s commitment to helping develop more effective job-focused training.

In addition to sponsoring the Xten Industries Quality Lab, the company has funded the Xten Industries Scholarship for Manufacturing Excellence, which helps defray tuition expenses for qualified students whose academic pursuits are focused on production knowledge and skills. The inaugural award was presented on January 8 to Carlos Barrera, an Army veteran, enrolled in Gateway’s Electrical Engineering Technology program.

“We are also partnering with University of Wisconsin Parkside to develop Engineering and Project Management talent,” Davidson said. “Going forward, we are committed to growing our own talent internally, so we are creating training, intern and apprentice programs.”