Post: Sep. 9, 2019
For decades, the Hudson Valley has been the center of manufacturing innovation from small family owned companies to large corporations. With increasing demand and pressure from global competitors, companies big and small are looking for ways to create high quality products in the most efficient ways possible.
In order to understand how rapid, the technological growth has been, HV MFG sat down with Allendale Machinery Systems to discuss the advancements within the manufacturing sector. The McGill Family is comprised of three generations Tom, Marty, and Neil who helped build the company to the success story it is today. Tom was stationed in Japan after WWII as part of the rebuilding process.
After his service, Tom decided to pursue a degree in International Relations at Georgetown University. However, he quickly realized foreign service was not what he wanted to do. Thanks to a few connections in Japan, Tom was able to get a job selling Japanese manufacturing equipment in the US. Tom explains that during the time, many manufacturing companies were not fond of buying foreign made machines. However, the low price and high quality compared to similar American made machines, won over customers. With his success, Tom decided to start his own company in 1981, which is when Allendale Machinery Systems came to life.
During this time, Tom had met Gene Haas who was building machine tools. Tom had advised Gene on the importance of focusing on quality and features, something he learned while working for the Japanese company. Eventually, Allendale Machinery Systems began selling Haas equipment exclusively. The business began to grow within the family as Marty joined the company in 1987 after realizing college was not for him.
Today, Marty serves as Vice President and is responsible for selling Haas machines to various locations. In addition to that, Marty also informs his customers on the capabilities of the new machining equipment on the market today. This allows his customers to decide if they want to purchase a new machine entirely or upgrade an existing one. Lately, Marty and his team have been working with the Council of Industry to provide more educational resources to machinists and encourage young professionals to join the trade.
Providing workforce training has been a critical goal of both Allendale Machinery and Council of Industry. Neil, the third member of the family-owned business and Director of Operations at the company, explained the successful business growth to HV MFG. Neil began working at Allendale Machinery in 2006, after graduating from college. He started making inside sales and learning his customer base; finding out their needs and challenges. Neil took the information he gathered over time and implemented a business strategy focused at delivering customers requests. Those efforts have paid off as Allendale now employs 45 employees working at their headquarters and satellite offices. Allendale Machinery has developed such a successful reputation, that their client base now exceeds 800 active customers.
Allendale Machinery has proved that a successful business is dependent on delivering and exceeding the expectations of your clients. Additionally, Allendale knows that the future of the industry is dependent on educating the next generation about manufacturing and the knowledge needed to run these high-tech machining tools.
Post: Aug. 23, 2019
Cambridge Security Seals is a national leader in specialized seals used for loss prevention and tamper equipment. Located in Pomona New York, this company has built a reputation for product quality and nearly endless options for product customizations; helping match client needs.
Recently, Cambridge Security Seals received a patent by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for a state-of-the-art tote seal design. While that may not sound exciting at first, this new design allows clients to secure their products while allowing shoppers a user-friendly experience. Little changes in the ergonomics of security/tamper seals can make all the difference when shoppers are looking at a product to purchase. In today’s competitive market, everything counts including tamper equipment that most people overlook but have had a great deal of engineering research go into them.
HV MFG sat down with Elisha Tropper, CEO of Cambridge Security Seals to discuss how his company became one of the fastest growing organizations in the region. Elisha came from a family of entrepreneurs that ran a local business in New York City during the 1940’s. After attending college at Yeshiva University, Elisha began working in the family run business within different departments including operations, sales, marketing, and product management. While he enjoyed the knowledge, he gained about running a company, Elisha knew he wanted to start his own path. He enrolled in classes at Columbia University and received an MBA.
With his family’s support, Elisha took over Prestige Label Company, which made pressure sensitive labels. From there, he gained the experience of taking a run-down business and building it back up to a competitive business model. Eventually, Prestige was sold to one of its customers who was better suited to run the organization.
That’s when Cambridge Security Seals came into the picture. After purchasing their current facility in 2011, Elisha embarked on a journey to revolutionize a business just as he did with Prestige. Knowing how crucial tamper evident labels are to the commerce sector, Elisha went full steam ahead with his ambitious business plan. His hard efforts paid off as today, Cambridge Security Seals runs 10 fully-automated production lines on an impressive 24/7 schedule.
Now Cambridge Security Seals is looking to install their generation 3 production lines which will help fulfill demand orders at a more efficient rate. Looking into the Future, Elisha is looking to acquire new customers and constantly improve their product line to keep up with the demands of their clients. Cambridge Security Seals is a proven example of how ambitious plans and a determined attitude are key factors to building a successful company.
Post: May. 1, 2019
The Council of Industry network groups are an excellent resource for information and a great way to talk to other people in your field working in a variety of industries throughout the Hudson Valley. In April the EHS Network met to learn more about combustible dust and the CEO/ Executives Network met for a tour of Arconic Fastening Systems in Kingston. You can see what we have planned for May, June and beyond on our website calendar.
If your manufacturing process involves metal industries, food products, lumber or wood products you are probably aware of how dangerous and explosive dust can be but it is always smart to review the best practices necessary to stay safe and that why the Environment Health and Safety Network met on Friday, April 26th for a presentation on Combustible Dust by Nancy Garry, C.T. Male PC. Garry covered why this is an important topic, what industries need to be aware and what testing can be done. She covered the Dust Explosion Pentagon (conditions necessary for an explosion) and ways to prevent these from forming and hazard assessments that can be conducted. Attendees were also provided with reference tables and a few links to sites that offer further information on the topic.
On April 26 the Executives Network met for a tour of Arconic Fastening Systems in Kingston, NY. Arconic Fastening Systems is the premier designer and manufacturer of aerospace and industrial fasteners, latches, bearings, fluid fittings and installation tools. Their products are used nose to tail on commercial and military aircraft, as well as on jet engines, industrial gas turbines, automobiles, commercial transportation vehicles, wind turbines, solar power systems, and construction and industrial equipment. Arconic has been in business since 1933, and a Council of Industry member since 1967. The company was formerly known as Alcoa Fastening Systems and Huck Manufacturing Company. Their customers include Boeing, Airbus, Peterbilt, Kenworth and many more. We saw a variety of tools in all sizes and the process behind their production.
We take a break from Network meetings in May to focus on our Manufacturing Champions Award Breakfast on May 17th at the Powelton Club in Newburgh but we start back up in June. The Human Resources Network will meet on June 7th for a presentation on Wage & Hour Law from Douglas Gerhardt, Harris Beach PLLC. This presentation will cover the essentials of Wage and Hour issues including recent developments as well as compensable time such as “off the clock”, meals, rest, waiting and on-call time. We will explore some exempt employee issues as well. Attendees will walk away with a solid understanding (or refresher) on the key elements of wage and hour issues and be better prepared to address them in their workplace. We will also have another CEO/ Executives Network Tour, this time of McKesson Corporation Distribution Center in Montgomery. Our EHS Network will be back in the fall with a presentation on confined space and HR will have an I9/ Immigration update in September, watch our calendar and emails for more information on all of these.
Post: Jan. 8, 2019
Hiring competent, high quality candidates for open positions is a challenge for all organizations. In an effort to simplify the process for our members the Council of Industry recently began using the applicant tracking software, iCIMS. iCIMS allows Human Resource professionals to more efficiently manage the recruitment process, and helps lessen some of the challenges associated with filling open positions. Debra Sherman, the Human Resources Director at Fair-Rite Products for the last 19 years, started using the program about 10 months ago and is extremely satisfied with the results.
Prior to using iCIMS Debra was using Excel Spreadsheets to manage her applicants, and filed resumes manually. She noted the difficulty with sorting through paper resumes and trying to remember which candidates possessed the qualifications she was looking for. During her search to find an applicant tracking system that met her needs the Council of Industry introduced her to iCIMS. The ease of use, and ability to simply search for specific skill sets listed on candidates’ resumes, sparked her interest in the software. She posted her first job on the system 10 months ago, which also published the position to Indeed, Monster, LinkedIn, Glassdoor, and several other employment-oriented platforms. Since that date Fair-Rite Products has posted 29 open positions, received over 560 applications, and filled 16 of those positions.
Debra knew that the software was going to be a success when iCIMS helped her fill a position that Fair-Rite had open for over a year. She was struggling to find a qualified candidate to fill an Applications Engineer position, and had little success uploading the job to LinkedIn and other platforms herself. Once she uploaded the job to iCIMS she finally found the right candidate for the position, and filled the job in just a few short months. Debra believes that iCIMS played a big role in finally finding the ideal person for the job.
iCIMS has vast capabilities, and the Council of Industry continues to assist its members in understanding how to fully utilize the software in order to get the best results. Debra described the system as “robust” and likes that it gives her the ability to easily weed out non-qualified candidates. She also commented on the convenience of always knowing the number of candidates who applied for a job, having the ability to sort candidates by their commuting distance, reviewing the number of days it took to fill a position, and quickly emailing applicants through the system’s email templates. Debra believes that the ability to notify rejected candidates when a position has been filled is a common courtesy that was difficult, if not impossible, to do before she had access to the iCIMS automatic email templates. Now she can easily contact all rejected candidates with just a few clicks.
The success that Debra has experienced at Fair-Rite is a prime example of how beneficial the collaborative recruitment initiative can be for our members. Debra stated that, “The Council of Industry’s solution to our applicant tracking needs has been a huge success and has far surpassed my expectations.” Moving forward she hopes to fully eliminate the paper application with the help of the Council of Industry.
If you’re interested in learning more about the Collaborative Recruitment Initiative please contact Johnnieanne Hansen at jhansen@councilofindustry.org or (845) 565- 1355 to discuss your recruitment obstacles and decided if this initiative is right for you. We are always willing to set up a time to speak with you about the capabilities of iCIMS and provide a demonstration of the system.
