Tag Archives: sheridan

Rep. Susan Brooks Focuses on ‘Connecting Careers and Classrooms’

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We at Ready Indiana applaud Congresswoman Susan Brooks for a successful first run of the “Connecting Careers and Classrooms” event series in April. We certainly learned a lot, and it was great to see so many educators and industry leaders gathered to share information.

“Connecting Careers and Classrooms” is a series of workshops convened in Indiana’s 5th District that bridge the gap between industry and educators and fuels the future for our students. The first event focused on agriculture and was held at Beck’s Superior Hybrids in Atlanta, Ind. The next event is expected in the fall, and future sectors of focus will include the life sciences, technology and manufacturing.

Employers such as Red Gold, Beck’s Hybrids and JBS United spoke about their workforce needs, and the running themes through each presentation were the importance of soft skills and the desire for more students to see agriculture as a viable career path.

“I feed pigs. What a sexy profession that is!” Dr. Joel Spencer of JBS United joked at the event. “But what more noble profession is there than feeding the world? People always eat so there will always be jobs.”

“Our work is stable, secure and recession-proof, and that is hard to find,” John Carlson of Red Gold said.

Learn more about the “Connecting Careers and Classrooms” events.

Bicycle Built for Two… or 93, at Sheridan Company

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As it’s becoming more and more necessary for organizations to institute wellness initiatives and encourage employees to lead healthier and more productive lives, I’ve written a number of stories on the topic. And throughout the research and interviews for those stories, I’ve heard of a number of unique wellness programs.

But, I’ve never seen one like this: EMC Precision of Sheridan is celebrating a cost-saving achievement by giving each of its 93 employees a bicycle on June 1. Employees will be recognized with a company-sponsored cook-out that afternoon. (The company’s headquarters in Elyria, Ohio will have a similar celebration with bicycles for those employees as well.)

Each quarter, EMC Precision sets a theme and cost-saving goal. The first quarter of 2012 was “Eliminate Waste,” with a goal of employees submitting $150,000 worth of approved cost savings. The company exceeded that goal by double and now saves $300,000.

The precision machining company has a theme for each quarter and most recently the themes have focused on lean manufacturing. The second quarter theme takes it a step further and ties together being lean with being healthy, so the bicycles will come in quite handy. Each employee was also given a pedometer to track steps each day and every employee who reaches 10,000 steps a day will be entered into a drawing to give away 20 iPads.

EMC’s Travis Watson explains that the themes inspire the company as a whole – something that is often a challenge as the company grows.

“It sets the tone for the quarter and gives all the employees a central focus. We have a common bond of a goal that we’re trying to achieve,” he says.

For the previous quarter, Watson notes that employees submitted a wide range of ideas for cost-cutting: buying cheaper materials to make parts run faster, cutting down on outside operation costs, saving money on paper and more. He called the results “unbelievable.”

The company has partnered with Bicycle Garage Indy to secure the bicycles. Watson adds that if any employee does not wish to participate and receive a bicycle, those bicycles will be donated to a local charity that partners with Bicycle Garage Indy.