See what area businesses who use Central Area Michigan Works! are saying.....
H&H Plumbing and Heating, Inc.- Greenville, MI
H&H Plumbing & Heating Inc. has been in Greenville serving the community since 1958. It is a family business locally owned and operated by Mike and Marilyn Kamps. H&H provides 24 hour on call service not only to the Greenville area, but to the entire Western Michigan community and beyond. Their mission is to provide efficient, competent and quality plumbing, heating and air conditioning services at a fair value. Their team of experienced professionals is always available and armed with the latest technology offers services ranging from fixing a leaky faucet to designing and building complete systems that meet current codes and industry standards.
Over the years H&H has taken advantage of a variety of services offered by Michigan Works! to employers. In the past Marilyn Kamps requested that Michigan Works! screen and refer qualified applicants to fill an office opening. Most recently, Marilyn searched the Michigan Talent Bank to find a suitable candidate to fill a position in their accounting department. Through an On The Job training program, Michigan Works! was able to assist a dislocated worker in obtaining new employment and also reimbursed H&H half of the new employee’s wages while she trained in her new position. Marilyn stated, "Michigan Works! has been very helpful with training assistance and potential screening of applicants. Using local resources and the help of OJT thru Michigan Works! is an asset to any employer."
In December of 2010, H&H took on a new venture, Classic Car Garage. Housed in the same building as H&H, Classic Car Garage focuses on restoration, repairs and upgrades of classic cars. The shop hosts a Thursday night cruise in from May through September and free car shows in July and September.
Family Home Health Care, April 2012
Jason Lacina from Family Home Health Care contacted the Business Solutions Manager to request assistance in finding qualified Home Health Aides, Direct Care Workers, Certified Nursing Assistants, Licensed Practical Nurses, and Registered Nurses for his home health business. He had been using the Michigan Talent Bank to search resumes but had become extremely frustrated in getting the right locations and getting people to respond to his calls for interviews. He had even scheduled interviews in Saginaw where no one showed up to the interviews. The Business Solutions Manager scheduled a meeting with Mr. Lacina, an Employment Specialist and the Office Specialist from the Isabella Michigan Works!. It was determined that we could offer Mr. Lacina many services that could help him in finding qualified employees. He was especially interested in resume search assistance.
The Office Specialist was able to do several resume searches for Mr. Lacina and his clients in Owosso, Chesaning, Ithaca, Marion, Mecosta, Blanchard, Freeland, Midland, Vassar, Caro, Millington, Frankenmuth, Reese as well as Mount Pleasant. Mr. Lacina has been very pleased with the resume searches we have provided to him and has even referred the manager of the Cencare to us for resume searches. He says that it has saved him an enormous amount of time locating qualified candidates that are willing to work. He has been able to hire more than 20 people with Michigan Works! assistance.
Professional Contract Managmenet, Inc. (PCMI) - Portland, MI
Central Area Michigan Works! Consortium (CAMWC) was called by Jen Wangler of Ionia County Economic Alliance to visit with the human resource management team of PCMI in March of 2012. Recent changes were going to require hiring new individuals for their management team.
PCMI has been contracting educational employees since 1995. As one of the largest educational contracting companies in Michigan, PCMI can do it all under one management team, by utilizing the automated calling system and attendance tracking through their proprietary Willsub system. Although they have posted jobs on the Michigan Talent Bank before, they were pleased with the additional services Ionia County Michigan Works! could provide - accepting applications, pre-screening, setting up interviews, and possible On-the-Job training funds.
Stephanie Peters, V.P. of Operations and H.R. Manager states “We have used the Michigan Talent Bank on several occasions to find employees - and not just those at the entry level. We have been extremely pleased with the quality of management level prospects as well, and look forward to working with Michigan Works! at this new level of engagement.”
The final step in providing business services to PCMI was connecting them with Montcalm Community College (MCC) regarding training for their workforce. If training needs are determined, CAMWC incumbent worker training funding may also come into play.
Home Grown Industries (HGI, Inc.) - Elwell, MI
In business since 1990 as greenhouse and non-certified organic grower, Home Grown Industries entered the food processing market in 1995. In 2009, federal regulations required certification, available through the Better Process Control School at Michigan State University. Home Grown Industries discovered that they needed to acquire the certification by March 31, 2011. Since winter months are financially lean in this industry, HGI needed financial assistance in order to be able to afford this training…or face closure.
Central Area Michigan Works! Consortium (CAMWC) became involved on February 25, 2011 and moved quickly to line up Incumbent Worker training funding for the 2 employees to take the training March 7-9 at MSU. While required per F.D.A..regulation, it is a one-time training/certification. Since they were able to complete the coursework before the March 31st deadline to continue their food processing business, HGI has been able to continue production and sales of their products.
Jon Seat, owner of Home Grown Industries states, “We really appreciate the funding and encouragement we received from Central Area Michigan Works Consortium! They listened to our problems, and got right to work to make sure we could get the training we needed. I can say with certainty that, without the training dollars received from CAMWC, our business would have been substantially diminished. The training has allowed us to continue, and grow, the food processing end of our business."
COST: $720.00 of Incumbent Worker training $$
ABILITY TO RETAIN ONE BUSINESS AND 2 JOBS: Priceless!
AIRCRAFT PRECISION PRODUCTS - Ithaca:
APPI hosted a five-day training for our engineers using Siemens Unigraphics CAD/CAM software, for the purpose of making them aware of advanced features in a new release which could be used to improve shop floor productivity. This training was partly subsidized with Incumbent Worker dollars.
As the result of some advanced machining techniques we were able to employ because of the Unigraphics training, we were able to greatly improve productivity on several key projects. Further, we successfully leveraged the technology to attract a large order from a new customer, which averted a workforce reduction (layoff), and may facilitate future hiring.
In my opinion, it would have been difficult to provide the comprehensive training required for these results without the Incumbent Worker grant. Thank you for your help with this project!
William Henderson, III
President
MATCOR AUTOMOTIVE (formerly Brown Corp.) - Ionia:
With Central Area Michigan Works!’ persistence and ability to streamline the grant process, we were able to identify and secure the necessary funds and provide training in May of 2010 for some of our skilled trades employees. The employees who went through the training are already making a positive impact on our organization and this has exceeded our expectations! We would not have been able to provide the training without the assistance of Kathy Jo and Michigan Works.
The training grant helped us:
· increase our ability to troubleshoot and fix more equipment internally thus reducing costs
· develop some of our skilled trades employees
· develop other employees through cross-training
· decrease machine downtime
· increase production efficiency
· expand manufacturing capabilities and product offerings
Jeff Knox
Human Resources Manager/EMR
AGA MARVEL (formerly Northland-Marvel Corporation) – Greenville:
Our company has been in Greenville for over 100 years. It began as Ranney Refrigeration in 1892, then Northland Corporation, and was recently purchased by AGA of England. Recently, we built a brand new state of the art facility in Greenville, consolidating its plant in Indiana and moving all operations to Greenville. Our workforce at this facility has been steadily growing, and we have, quite obviously, made a significant investment in this state.
We appreciated the financial assistance from CAMWC, which are necessary to our continuing success in this state. We have been able to increase our employee base in comparison to the same time last year, partially due to the processes learned in the Internal Auditer training.
Carolina Puerta-Estevez
Human Resources Manager
POWELL FABRICATION & MANUFACTURING – St. Louis
Our company has been in St. Louis for close to 50 years. We came into existence through an opportunity to manufacture equipment for research and development by Dow. We received financial assistance through CAMWC for four trainings. As a result, we were able to keep our current workers, and hope to increase our number of employees.
Mardi Hurt
Human Resources Manager