Eaton Steel Bar

Success with The Center

Eaton Steel Bar: Strengthening the Company’s Workforce With Custom Training


We look to MMTC for our training needs, knowing their experts will equip our staff with the skills needed to reach our goals. We are so thankful for MMTC’s guidance.
-- Carmen Patterson, Corporate Training Manager

Located in Oak Park, Mich. and founded in 1953, Eaton Steel Bar Corporation (www.eatonsteel.com) has more than 300 employees. Eaton Steel operates as an integrated supplier of bar quality steel, offering more than 500 hot-rolled and cold-drawn grades of product. They have three plant facilities with more than 500,000 square feet of production and warehouse floor space with the capacity to warehouse 100,000 tons of inventory and ship 300,000 tons annually.


Challenge

Eaton Steel’s leadership team understands and values the importance of upskilling their employees. To keep their company at the forefront of a rapidly changing industry, investing in skill development and encouraging the professional growth of their employees was crucial for continued company success and retention.


Solution

Eaton Steel knew training would benefit the company, but they needed guidance to get started. Eaton Steel reached out to Michigan Manufacturing Technology Center (MMTC) for their expertise and assistance in creating a plan of action. The foundation of Eaton Steel’s business is to always deliver the highest quality of hot rolled and cold drawn bars. With that in mind, a training proposal was created that included Core Tools, Mistake-Proofing, ISO 9001:2015, Blueprint Reading, Lean Applications Workforce Training, Manufacturing Skills Development, and ISO 14001:2015. These courses would upskill their staff to ensure procedures and standards were always met. It also satisfied a customer’s request for ISO 17025:2017.

But Eaton Steel didn’t stop there. They also enrolled their staff in Supervisor Skills 1.0 and Supervisor Skills 2.0 training with the goal of creating strong leaders and cultivating a culture of trust and success.


Results

  • Cost Savings: $200,000
  • Jobs Created: 5
  • Jobs Retained: 25
  • Retained Sales: $4,000,000