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of late , has been connecting with the local high schools in our county ,” Steve explains . “ Through engaging with the students , we ’ re spreading awareness of the potential opportunities that a career in manufacturing can offer them ; not just in production , but also accounting and design roles , for example , whether they plan to study for a two or four year degree , or want to get straight into work .
“ Similarly , a longstanding , family-owned home center not too far from us recently burned down , so we reached out to offer them temporary jobs during the rebuild , among other resources , such as office and warehouse space . We just want to help out wherever we can . The local tech center runs an engineering course , and we ’ ve been working alongside its students to provide a real-life application project at the forge . They are currently developing us an automated guided vehicle , which will be able to help move materials around the site .
“ Looking ahead ,” Steve concludes , “ we ’ re not just thinking about execution right now . We certainly want to be a leader when it comes to design and innovation on the product side , but we also want to encourage greater creativity in approaching our operations and processes . We ’ re considering which potential investments will provide us with greater capabilities , and which are the more sustainable options . There ’ s been a definite increase in demand for custom products , which we , as a domestic manufacturer , see to be a huge competitive advantage . We can modify practically anything that we do , and still turn it around in a relatively short lead time , which is somewhere that I believe we ’ re really going to stand out in the future .” ■
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