2021 Year In Review

Looking back at 2021 is best put into words by a well-known riddle. What’s worse than finding a worm in your apple? Finding half a worm in your apple. What’s worse than a year of a pandemic? The second year of a pandemic!

With a year full of labor shortages and supply chain problems, everyone around the world has felt the effects of covid in one way or another, but with every new year comes new opportunities!

So what went well this year? We have accomplished so much this year and we’ve gained excellent new additions to our team. We have developed and adapted to the current economic climate by trying new techniques to bring in job seekers and we’ve found the best method is to invest more in our people. We have had our challenges, but this year we gained new orders, new business and returning customers. We hope to continue this increasing trend with success in the new year.

This year has been one of the most challenging years in manufacturing and all industries due to long lead times and labor shortages. We’ve experienced this firsthand at our facility and due to the shortage we now have three shifts running our robots at all times.We have also invested in another die casting automation cell for our casting department and an ERP system to help streamline our processes.

The manufacturing industry has been changing rapidly and we saw the need to go digital on our factory floor. Since the beginning of the year we have been integrating an ERP system into our facility to streamline our deliveries and processes on the factory floor. It has been a long, but rewarding experience and in the end when we’ve fine-tuned it to our facility then it will be a game changer!

We are still integrating our new ERP system, but with this new system we see many new opportunities for on-time delivery, supply alerts, and the increased visibility from shop floor to top floor. We hope to see a shift in the labor shortage to meet our customers existing and ever changing needs, but until then we will continue to invest in automation to provide the best quality service.