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Blue Diamond Industries: Culture Initiative
With the help of: Kentucky Manufacturing Extension Partnership (KY-MEP)
About
The Challenge
Increased demand over the past two years and decreased workforce availability was challenging their ability to manage operations and meet production expectations. Team leads and supervisors joined the staff on the production floor, working long hours to complete orders. Employee turnover was high, work quality was inconsistent due to rushed on-boarding, and plant-wide culture was impacted. This resulted in employee frustration and low morale.
Advantage Kentucky Alliance Leadership courses have made a great impact here at Blue Diamond. We were able to bring real life scenarios into the classroom and teach our leaders how to navigate those challenges day in and day out. The content of the program helped our supervisors learn to not only manage people but what it takes to be a true leader.
MEP's Role
Blue Diamond contracted with Advantage Kentucky Alliance (AKA), part of the MEP National Network™, to provide a communication and teambuilding program that would have a significant impact on building culture. The program began with a plant-wide culture assessment and progressed into communication and teambuilding to develop a positive culture. The AKA team, working in tandem with Blue Diamond employees, identified growth areas and customized the program to meet their needs.
The results have been dramatic. Leadership now feels more empowered and the increased interactive communication led to decreased labor turnover and motivated production workers. Employee satisfaction and engagement improved as the workforce better understands their team roles and expectations for excellence. Due to engaged employees, production increased to 120% (setting a company record) and increased over 120% the following month (breaking the previous month's record).