Thanks to votes from our team members and community, Shape was voted the Best Manufacturing Company to Work For in the 2017 Grand Haven Tribune People’s Choice awards. After a month-long nomination process, the top five nominees are presented and move on to the voting stage. There were more than 100 categories for people to vote on. 809 people voted in the Best Manufacturing Company to Work For category and Shape took home the title with 364 votes, 100 more votes than the runner-up. Thank you to all who voted. We appreciate your pride in the Shape Family.

We came. We saw. We benchmarked. On Monday February 6, Doug Peterson, vice president of human resources; Julie Davidson, talent acquisition,, manager; Mike Johnston, vice president of government affairs for the Michigan Manufacturing Association; Mike Roberson, assistant principle at Grand Haven High School, and Jeremy Case, technical education teacher at Grand Haven High School, traveled to Wadsworth High School in Ohio to see a PRIME (Partnership Response In Manufacturing Education) lab and classroom in action. PRIME programing through SME (Society of Manufacturing Engineers) is a national organization that prepares high school students for skilled careers in manufacturing. Typically, local manufacturers consult and provide insights into the training and development requirements for their current and future workforce. This insures the curriculum is designed around the needs of the businesses. This trip marked a very important first step toward the possibility of a PRIME and Grand Haven High School (GHHS) partnership. After hearing from the principal, program director, instructors, students, the corporation that sponsored Wadsworth’s PRIME lab and seeing some demonstrations, the value of this program was apparent to all. Shape plans meet with MMA, PRIME, and GHHS to perform a gap analysis on the current GHHS technical education lab/program and evaluate what it would take to be compliant with the PRIME program. Whether if PRIME is the best path, or not, Shape is dedicated to preparing the future workforce and has committed to developing a partnership with GHHS, placing students in co-op opportunities and potential skilled trade roles.  “I am very excited for what this partnership can do in preparing students for great careers in manufacturing,” said Doug Peterson.

It is not often that Toyota finds a supplier who actively pursues their mentoring. Shape was one of the unique companies who reached out for Toyota’s support nearly 18 months ago. After a few phone conferences and a formal meeting at Shape, Toyota took the plunge to help us continue our lean journey. Through intense training, checkpoints, and support, we have grown. In the spring of 2016 the Shape team presented final reports to numerous executive level leaders from Shape and Toyota. As Toyota left, Shape continued the learning process. Six months later another checkpoint meeting with Toyota brought Melvin Sullivan, general manager, and Terry Horinouchi, vice president, who wanted to see what Shape had done for themselves and understand our continued leadership commitment. In preparation, Peter Tornga, manufacturing engineer, Andy Tanner, manufacturing engineer, and Jeff Salisbury, manufacturing engineer, worked copious hours reviewing their own internal presentations and preparing them for Toyota. Melvin and Terry spent time on the floor with each engineer and a group of Shape leadership asking intuitive questions about our process and journey using the tools Toyota shared with us. After time on the shop floor the leadership teams reconvened to discuss next steps. Daric Morell, director of manufacturing, shared with Toyota elements of our strategic plan, tactical deployment strategies of the tools that Toyota taught us in late 2015, and our commitment to support Toyota moving forward. Part of this commitment is to provide a place where Toyota and BAMA can send team members for their own development. Terry proclaimed, “I am shocked,” Shape team members hung in suspense, “pleasantly shocked at what you have done in the last 6 months to take the tools we provided and continue to share them with your team.” He further went on to thank Shape for their willingness to provide time and resources for development indicating that Shape, “would be a shining light for team member development.” Melvin and Terry bid farewell with numerous open actions for team members from both Shape and Toyota to begin rallying around the energy developed during the meeting and discuss next steps for 2017 and beyond.