Prime Components finds the solution to a difficult trend.
In September of 2016, Prime Components was bracing for a big change. After a decade of hard work and careful planning, this small 8 employee machine shop, now located in Sauk City Wisconsin, was about to relocate. Prime Components would transition from a cramped 5,000 sq. ft. “Strip Mall” space into a newly built, 12,000 sq. ft. building. “Finally, we would have a facility that would reflect the professionalism and quality that our company strives for daily” reflected Todd Milanowski, President of Prime Components. “All we needed was to execute the move to our new facility and business would return to normal.” But three years later, Prime Components is still facing big changes that are now the new “normal”.
Prime Components General Manager John Rosch recalls “We designed this facility with our employees in mind. Clean, comfortable and a convenient location. We had no idea that employee turnover would become our greatest challenge”. In the United States in 2018, one in four employees switched employers. In Prime Components highly competitive region, the numbers are even higher. “In three years we had a 90% turnover in shop floor employees.” Rosch explains. “We thought that good management, a great work environment and competitive pay would guarantee a strong employee base.” However, Prime Components is being swept up in a national skilled labor crisis that includes an aging and retiring work force and changing millennial attitudes toward traditional occupations like CNC machining.
So, how does a small CNC machine shop manage an uncontrollable environment? “We were very fortunate” Rosch explains, “We already had implemented the solution years before.” In 2012, Prime Components had implemented Production Pro, a cloud based software system that captures everything needed to set up and run CNC machined components. “Each time we lost an employee we were amazed at how quickly we could get a replacement up to speed. Everything….. Set-ups, programs, tooling, feeds and speeds, it was all at their fingertips on day one of employment with Production Pro. The best part is that new employees are able to navigate and use Production Pro with very little training.”
As Milanowski puts it is ‘We aren’t held hostage by employees anymore. Nobody can walk out the door and take all of our knowledge about a job and our ability to serve our customers. We know we can’t control who retires or decides to move on in their career, but we have the tool in Production Pro to manage these transitions.”