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Additional manufacturing space would not mean much without the talented people to occupy it, and Janicki has hired 300 new employees to staff its expanded facility. John explains how the company approaches recruitment in what remains a challenging labor market.“ We hire at all levels and prioritize cultural fit, wanting to find people who genuinely want to work with us. As a non-union shop, our approach is that everyone pitches in regardless of their role. For instance, engineers regularly work side by side with technicians on the factory floor, which results in better designs and a deeper understanding of how things actually get built.
“ This approach is something the British engineering education system understands well. In the UK, it is a requirement for engineers to spend time on the factory floor as part of their degree. The difference it makes is remarkable, as those engineers typically graduate with a real understanding of how things go together, the tolerance issues you encounter and all the other problems a factory throws at you. Meanwhile, in the US, an engineer can graduate with a perfect grade point average but will not know a single thing about working in a factory. It is a gap we work around by hiring people from entry level and training them ourselves. We have reached a point where we can also attract experienced professionals who don’ t want to work for a large company due to the high amount of bureaucracy it often involves, which is something we strive to limit at Janicki,” John elaborates.
With the right people now in place, John’ s attention turns to what comes next, and his vision for the future is closely tied to the success of its programs and customers.“ Looking ahead, much of our future expansion will depend on the success of the programs we are currently involved with. Take a VTOL start-up, for example. If that company and its products become successful, their volumes
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