DOES WORKFORCE INVESTMENT WORK?
ASK KEITH MANURACTURING...
KEITH® Mfg. Co., headquartered in Madras, Oregon, encompasses five international locations, a global network of dealers and over 250 worldwide patents. The company's WALKING FLOOR® system is a staple in the waste and recycling industries, with its popularity growing worldwide.
KEITH® is faced with all of the challenges of staying competitive in the global market as well as those created by headquartering in a small rural town. To continue to grow, the company needed to become more efficient and implement newer manufacturing techniques. "One of our core competencies is innovation, and training goes hand in hand with innovation," stated to Lindsay Foster-Drago, Value Stream Group Lead, and granddaughter of company's founder. However, KEITH® needed help to cover the costs of a new, comprehensive training program and was having a hard time finding it.
The company turned to the local workforce system for help. It received an Employer Workforce Training Fund matching grant to implement lean manufacturing, leadership and other trainings.
KEITH® reorganized its plant and the way that teams work together in order to continuously improve efficiency and reduce waste in the manufacturing process. The culture of the company has changed as a result of the training program, and morale has improved.
The Employer Workforce Training Fund has allowed KEITH® to continue to compete globally, even with the limited workforce available in its small rural headquarters. True to its philosophy of growing its own and promoting from within, KEITH® has a 1% turnover rate, which Foster-Drago attributes to the training program. "One of our core values is promoting from within and training allows us to do that and the more trained your people are the more competitive you can be in the global market place."
Does Workforce Investment Work? Ask KEITH® Manufacturing Co. what a difference it's made for them.
DOES WORKFORCE INVESTMENT WORK?
