09/11/2013 When Your Product is People

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When Your Product is People

Mary Aichlmayr
Written by Mary Aichlmayr
Thu, 2007-11-01 12:00

Aggressive recruiting helps a third-party maintenance provider close the skills gap.

The glass is half empty, say executives from major manufacturing companies throughout the U.S. In a
recent survey, two thirds of 100 senior executives are counting on losing an average of $50 million
annually over the next five years. Bottom lines will bleed, they say, because of a looming shortfall of skilled
labor.

The survey was conducted by Nielsen Research (New York) and commissioned by Advanced Technology
Services Inc. (ATS, Peoria, Ill., www.advancedtech.com), a third party provider of equipment
maintenance, information technology and industrial parts repair services.

The research project was a way for ATS to gather some hard facts about the real-world impact of the well
publicized but nebulous labor crisis. It was also a way for ATS to confirm that its unique methods of
alleviating other companies labor pains were on the right track.

ATS product is people. The company places personnel from its 2,000-technician base in manufacturing
and distribution facilities throughout the U.S., Mexico and the U.K. However, ATS is not a placement
agency. Its a resource for manufacturers and distributors that choose to outsource production
maintenance.

Why outsource maintenance? ATS says its a smart business decision. We can produce a 30%
improvement in asset performance through predictive technologies and transforming maintenance from
reactive to predictive, says Don Johnson, vice president of marketing at ATS.

Though big names like Caterpillar Inc., Eaton, Honeywell, GE, Honda Motor Co., Electrolux, Nissan and
Johnson & Johnson appear on ATS client list, the company came from humble beginnings.

In 1985, 35 employees in the maintenance operation of Caterpillar Inc. (Peoria, Ill.) devised a business
plan to provide other manufacturing companies with production maintenance and IT services. The
venture was eventually spun off from Caterpillar in a leveraged buyout and formally became ATS, an
independent company, by 1996. Today, Caterpillar remains one of ATS biggest customers.

Johnson says ATS has been growing 20% each year, and he gives much of the credit to the companys
unconventional approach to meeting the industrys demand for skilled labor. ATS has been able to attract
about 600 maintenance technicians per year, claims Johnson, through aggressive recruiting and training
programs.

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Linking Workers with Work

ATS newest recruiting endeavor will launch in January. A joint venture with Illinois Central College (East
Peoria, Ill.), the Multi-skilled Technical Career Program will be a 40-week, accredited curriculum that will
teach high school and college students the fundamentals of maintenance and automated manufacturing,
explains Johnson. Hosted at ATS headquarters, the course will provide both mechanical and electrical
training.

Most importantly, the program will offer good students a chance to

work in the field and get on the path to a long term career. If students
succeed in the program, we offer them the chance to work at one of our
sites as an active member of the maintenance team, says Johnson.

Students in the Multi-skilled Technical Career Program earn

occupational certificates for mechanical/electrical maintenance from
Illinois Central College and can apply their credit hours toward a two-
year associate degree.

In addition to offering formal training, ATS executives visit

community colleges, hold open houses and travel to high schools to
help improve the perception of manufacturing and distribution jobs.
Employees at ATS are trained to
The hope is that young people will reconsider what they may have
help extend the life of plant assets
heard about working in plant environments.
through high-tech maintenance
procedures. Todays factories are clean, well lit, automated and nice places to
work, Johnson says. And, the pay is better than in many service
industries. We educate future workers about those opportunities.

ATS also has 15 full-time, dedicated recruiters on staff. The focus is not on bringing in bodies, Johnson
says. Its retention. The recruiters are evaluated on first-year retention of the people they bring in, and
they are in constant contact with the employers at which we place workers.

Interestingly, one of those recruiters is dedicated to bringing in former military personnel. According to
another ATS-commissioned survey, 72% of senior manufacturing executives believe hiring veterans would
reduce training costs and quickly fill the skilled-labor gap. Work ethic, discipline, professionalism and
dedication are just a few of the skills former military personnel would bring, the executives said. More than
25% of ATS current employee base consists of former military workers, and the company has set a goal of
increasing that to 35% or 40%.

Stocking the labor pool with fresh talent is a clear goal at ATS, but the
company still recognizes the value that more experienced workers
bring.

For example, when an organization taps ATS for outsourced

maintenance, the most valuable employees from the clients operation
are kept on board to ensure a blend of tribal knowledge and new
cultural influences, says Johnson. Thats the combination that
revitalizes maintenance operations.

ATS then evaluates the host companys maintenance employees to

determine if they would be a good fit with ATS. We evaluate cultural

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matches, says Johnson. Our culture is continuous improvement,

discipline to the technical part of maintenance and safety. If a
technician has a passion for those aspects, we transition them into
becoming ATS employees.

And, the learning doesnt stop once hiring is done. Its standard
operating procedure for all ATS employees to complete 20 hours of
mandatory training per year.

Plus, all new ATS technicians get their own formalized internal
mobility program. Their skills and preferences are put into a
database, explains Johnson. As opportunities come up, they have the
option to move to another site. This unique talent management
program is a way for ATS to encourage career planning, grow talent
within the organization and, most importantly, retain good workers.
ATS keeps its technicians skills
High-T ech T echnicians up to date by requiring regular
Looking a bit deeper, its easy to see why ATS puts so much effort into training.
recruiting and retention. ATS entire business philosophy hinges on its
ability to find and keep highly skilled technicians. Its employees use
high-tech, predictive maintenance tools, such as thermography, vibration monitoring, oil analysis and
ultrasound measurements. Infrared cameras, portable vibration analyzers and other state-of-the-art
devices help increase productivity and plan the amount of downtime needed to repair machines before
failure happens, according to Vlad Bacalu, product manager at ATS.

For example, ATS technicians conduct oil analyses that help determine the condition of equipment based
on the concentration of wear particles in an oil sample. A high amount of chrome might mean a bearing is
starting to deteriorate, says Bacalu. The bearing can then be replaced prior to equipment failure, and
downtime can be reduced while productivity improves.

Thats the difference between predictive and reactive maintenance. Think of it as preventing a fire before it
starts versus putting it out after damage has been done. Its reliability-centered maintenance, Bacalu
explains. We ensure the right procedures and maintenance strategies are in place before a failure occurs.

ATS also teaches its technicians fundamentals of lean manufacturing

and distribution, including 5S concepts, Six Sigma, continuous
improvement and root-cause analysis. We incorporate visual
indicators to encourage operators to be a part of the production
maintenance system and report potential problems, Bacalu says.

Although companies generally sign one-year, renewable outsourcing

contracts with ATS, its more of a partnership than a contractor-client
relationship, says Bacalu. Our employees participate in daily
production meetings so we can align maintenance practices to
customer needs.

This allows ATS to work collaboratively with clients to extend the life
Thermography is one example of
of plant assets, increase production, avoid capital expenses and
a predictive maintenance
improve the ability to deliver products on time to customers.
technology.

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Thats a big promise that can only be kept with a strong focus on
quality labor. If a company is just looking for a wrench turner, ATS might not be the right solution, says
Johnson.

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