Taking Leadership to New Heights to Increase Employee Morale
The Center’s training has made a great impact on our employee morale and retention. Our culture has always been positive, and this training helped our supervisors focus their leadership styles to meet the needs of our team members.
-- Joe Du Breuil, Human Resources
Lapeer Plating & Plastics (www.lpp-inc.com), established in 2010, specializes in designing, manufacturing and delivering interior and exterior trims, ornamentation, emblems, grills and more for the automotive industry. They provide design, engineering, injection molding, electroplating, painting and assembly to deliver high-quality products to their customers. Lapeer Plating & Plastics (LP+P) is located in Lapeer, Mich., with 250 employees.
Challenge
Over the past two years, the manufacturing industry has felt the strains that labor shortages and employee retention issues have put on businesses across the nation. Although LP+P has continued to grow during this time, they have struggled to meet customer expectations due to labor constraints, which has resulted in increased overtime. The management team is aware of the cost to replace and fill positions as well as the cost of overtime.
Solution
To address overtime and employee turnover challenges, LP+P contacted the Michigan Manufacturing Technology Center (The Center) to provide Lean Manufacturing and Supervisor Skills training. These trainings were selected to provide LP+P’s manufacturing leaders with the tools and resources to support their teams and drive improved productivity and employee retention. First, the supervisors received Lean training to establish a solid foundation to increase productivity in their departments. Next, each leader participated in Supervisor Skills training. This equipped them with essential leadership techniques and the tools to begin implementing Lean manufacturing principles and improve morale.
After training was complete, the leadership team applied the lessons learned into practice. By incorporating their new skills, they saw a noticeable improvement in employee engagement and morale. The improvement allowed the team to implement Lean improvements, which has resulted in job creation, retention and lower employee turnover.
Results
- • Jobs Retained: 20
- • Jobs Created: 4
- • Reduced employee turnover 25%