There is no question that we are experiencing a historically tight labor market, and it is easy to point the finger at the pandemic that started in March 2020 for today’s hiring challenges. Unemployment skyrocketed, labor force participation plummeted, and the ensuing disruptions to working environments and global supply chains left a permanent imprint on us all. However, I contend there were already longer-term trends at play completely unrelated to the pandemic.

To put it simply, more people are retiring or aging out of the working-age population (ages 16 to 64) than there are young people aging into the workforce. The eventual return of immigration to former levels will surely help, but this alone is unlikely to bridge the gap between labor supply and demand.

Navigating longer-term labor shortages requires making strategic location decisions at every turn. Whether it’s locating a new plant or right-sizing an existing operation, numerous factors can differ from one geographic area to the next. Thoroughly researching and weighing the impact of these differences is critical to securing the desired operating outcomes. The main objective from an HR perspective is to maximize labor attraction while minimizing turnover among the highest quality employees. The site selection process supports this objective by characterizing shifting demographics, quantifying the size of targeted labor pools, identifying which competing operations will be labor takers and which will be labor feeders, evaluating local technical school resources, and comparing labor cost trends, among other factors.

Site selection professionals are available to help with location strategy and due diligence. But what can companies do after the location decision is made to help ensure a successful staffing experience?

After meeting with nearly 100 manufacturing companies, industrial staffing agencies, and workforce development organizations over the last year, their feedback can be boiled down to this: The companies having the most success with labor attraction and retention are investing time and capital to solve for these four considerations: compensation, workplace culture, community partnerships, and background requirements.

Compensation

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, average hourly manufacturing wages increased by 6% over the last 12 months – the highest annual increase since 1982. Austin Consulting’s research indicates entry-level manufacturing wages in most larger markets have increased by 25% to 45% since the pandemic began.

Constant monitoring of local market wage patterns is essential to keeping up with competitors. Local HR leaders need the flexibility to adjust wage offerings in real-time. Do not wait until after turnover becomes unmanageable before making the required compensation adjustments. Be careful not to start blindly increasing wages, though. Too much wage escalation beyond market patterns can cause a ripple effect leading to unnecessary wage wars that negatively impact all players involved. To avoid this risk, participate in local wage surveys and HR networking groups to stay current with activity in your area.

Workplace Culture

A close second after compensation is culture. If there’s one workforce trend coming out of the last few years that’s expected to stick around; it’s the increased leverage gained by employees. It is clear the next generation of manufacturing workers is demanding more than their predecessors. Manufacturing can be a rigid process, but companies that seek input from their workforce and find creative ways to address employees’ needs are leading the charge into the future.

It’s no secret that PTO and flexible schedules allowing for better work-life balance are a top priority. Aligning shift schedules with local school times can make all the difference for workers with families. So can company-sponsored childcare and healthcare services either on-site or nearby. Employee appreciation events, food trucks on Fridays, and allowing headphones while working certain positions are examples of small practices that can add up to big advantages. I recently met with a company that has a golf simulator at their mid-sized assembly plant. The equipment cost about $10,000 to install and has reportedly paid for itself ten times over with the gains in labor attraction and retention. It’s the #1 thing applicants ask about during their first interview!

Community Partnerships

Companies that are not connected to the community are often disconnected from their workforce. Not only is sponsoring local charities and events the right thing to do, being active in the community increases visibility and fosters a family atmosphere leading to a heightened sense of loyalty from employees.

Reaching out to non-profits and church groups can be a great way to tap into refugee and foreign-born labor pools. These organizations provide resettlement housing, legal and documentation services, and help with bridging the language barrier. This type of assistance connects workers eager to enter the labor market. If you’re not sure why this potential labor resource is important, just know this, 1 in 5 U.S. manufacturing workers was born outside the country.

Partnering with local training providers is essential for new and expanding operations and can help companies looking to upskill their existing workforce. Most technical schools can provide customized training for everything from soft skills to advanced robotics. In many cases, these programs are free to the company or are heavily incentivized. Training partnerships don’t just apply to technical programs either. More and more manufacturing companies incentivize their employees to get their GED or pursue higher education through free tuition programs. Establishing a clear path of life-long learning for your workforce is a master key to higher retention while at the same time developing a pipeline for those highly sought-after skilled employees.

Background Requirements

In the recent past, most manufacturers have required a high school diploma or GED for entry-level jobs. Basic math skills, reading comprehension, and safety have been the rationale most often cited. But I’ve noticed a major shift in recent years as companies have looked for ways to expand their applicant pools. In some areas, eliminating the HS/GED requirement can increase applicant response by up to 20%. Replacing minimum education requirements with pre-employment assessments for interest, aptitude, and skills provides employers a more effective approach for screening applicants and placing them in the best positions for mutual success.

Relaxing hiring policies around criminal background checks is a common response to tight labor market conditions. Companies that evaluate each applicant’s criminal history on a case-by-case basis find high-quality employees that would have otherwise been overlooked. Misdemeanors and minor convictions are typically forgiven if applicants can show a recent pattern of clean behavior and a strong work ethic.

In both examples above, the general feedback regarding labor quality has been positive. In most cases, providing job opportunities for this underserved portion of the workforce has led to higher attendance and retention rates as a sign of appreciation for giving them a chance when others wouldn’t.

Mastering the labor market is a never-ending task with no one size fits all solution. Community involvement, listening to your employees, and being flexible and agile in your response will greatly increase your odds of success.

It’s not uncommon for non-construction team members to visit a job site. Many people have a vested interest in the project’s progress, from stakeholders to local politicians. Whether you are a veteran job site visitor or someone who has never set foot on an active construction site, these tips will make your visit safe.  

Wear the proper gear 

Wearing the proper safety gear is a basic requirement to enter a construction site. The Austin Company provides visitors with the necessary gear— also known as Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) including the following:

• Eye protection. Prescription eyewear is automatically impact-resistant, but it’s not typically shatterproof. In addition, glasses provide only limited frontal protection, leaving space on the open sides, top and bottom for small particles to make their way to the eye. Fortunately, safety glasses that go over prescription glasses are available that meet ANSI Z87.1 requirements.  
• Hard hat. Did you know that a hard hat should fit your unique head shape? All hard hat models are designed to be adjusted to the individual’s head. The ideal fit for such headgear will leave a little breathing room between the hard shell and the internal suspension structure so that air can flow freely through the area. Standard features include sliding mechanisms that allow you to adapt the tightness at 1/8-inch intervals. When fine-tuning your fit, find a spot where the hard hat feels secure yet not painfully tight. Skin abrasions are a sign that you are not wearing your hard hat at an appropriate size. Never wear a baseball cap under the hard hat. Beanie hats and stockings may be worn if approved by the manufacturer. Hard hats usually have a five-year shelf life if it has not been dropped, received a sharp blow, or damaged.  Storing a hard hat in direct sunlight or a hot vehicle will shorten the life.  There is a clock pressed into the plastic on the inside of the hard hat that identifies the month and year the hat was manufactured. Make a note of this so you know when it’s time to replace it with a newer model. All hard hats are manufactured to ANSI Z89.1 2009 standards. 
• Safety vest. Brightly colored for a reason, safety vests can warn workers, equipment operators, and drivers that individuals are in the immediate work area. The extra visibility provides valuable time to stop or slow operations until people are out of the hazard zone.  There are three different classes of safety vests, Class 1, 2, and 3.  Class 3 has the most retroreflective striping and is required for workers near traffic or when “no visibility” or dark conditions exist. Class 2 is the most commonly worn on construction sites. Class 1 vests are usually worn in low-impact areas. 

• Proper footwear. Footwear should have heavy-duty soles made of thick material to prevent sharp objects from entering. Wear shoes made of moisture retention material to keep your feet dry and warm with little to no heels and good traction. Depending on the type of project you’re on or the owner’s requirements, a safety toe shoe or boot that meets the ASTM F2413 standard may be required. At a minimum, open-toed shoes are never acceptable on a construction job site. 
• Long sleeves. OSHA, the federal agency that sets on-the-job safety standards, does not have a dress code other than for welders. But long-sleeve shirts are recommended to prevent sunburn. Most private construction companies and unions require a minimum of a four-inch (4”) sleeve depending on the task. Sleeves should fit snugly to prevent snagging and getting stuck in moving machinery.  
• Hearing protection. If you are sensitive to noise, you may consider hearing protection when visiting an active construction site. If hearing protection is required (90 dBA or higher), signage will be posted stating what type of hearing protection is needed for one hour or more in the area. There are many different hearing protection devices, including canal caps, earmuffs, reusable earplugs, and roll-down foam. Remember, hearing loss is not reversible. 

Pay attention 

A job site is an active work zone full of heavy equipment and construction materials. Some common hazards you could encounter on a job site include: 

• Ground hazards — Construction sites are not level parking lots. You will be walking through a lot of dirt, and uneven ground. Be sure to watch for pallets of construction materials or other hazards like extension cords. It’s easy to scrape an ankle or trip over items if you are not paying attention to the ground. The footprint of the project is constantly changing. 
• Look up — Areas around scissor and boom lifts are always barricaded with caution or danger tape.  Yellow caution tape indicates a known hazard. Before entering and watch for equipment moving materials into place. Take care that you are not walking underneath a load or into areas where materials, equipment, or tools could fall. 
• Cones and Tapes — Caution cones and tapes are there for a reason — to keep you from getting hurt. Cones alert visitors and workers to potential danger. For example, cones are used when something is sticking up out of the ground or to provide a barricade to pieces of equipment that are dangerous. Cones are paired with caution or danger tape. Caution tape indicates there is a potential hazard and extra awareness should be used to determine what the hazard is before proceeding. Danger tape should never be crossed under any circumstances.  

Stick with your guide 

When escorted through a job site, don’t roam off on your own. Remember that the project representative is maneuvering you safely through the site. If you have a specific area  

you want to visit (i.e., a warehouse manager who wants to see the loading docks or an engineer wanting to see where equipment is going), arrange that with the construction manager in advance.  
 

Safety orientation and OSHA 

If you are going to be making frequent visits to a job site, you may be asked to attend a site-specific safety orientation. Regardless of your role and your purpose in visiting a job site, compliance with OSHA requirements is necessary. OSHA requirements include rules applying to  

• Falls 
• Stairways and Ladders 
• Scaffolding 
• Electrical 
• Trenching and Excavation 
• Motor Vehicle Safety/Highway Work Zones 

The most successful visit to any job site is when everyone goes home safe to their families. To ensure your visit is a success, arrange it in advance, stay with the guide, be mindful of your surroundings, and always wear the proper safety gear.  

A Retrospective of the First 100 Years of Work Completed by Austin’s California Office 

This is the third in a series of monthly articles chronicling highlights of the first 100 years for The Austin Company’s California office. Last month in the 1930s Austin California entered the field of aviation with the Burbank Airport followed by NBC’s Radio City West in Hollywood. This month we look at the 1940s, touching on Austin’s nationwide projects supporting the WWII war efforts, and follow with, the new era of television. 

The Austin Company Supports the WWII War Efforts and the Birth of Television 

World War II (September 1, 1939, to September 2, 1945) 

Austin spent much of the first half of the 1940s focused on the war effort with its California office supporting projects in the areas of shipbuilding, aircraft assembly, machine tool factories, electronic instruments, and devices, as well as two major penicillin plants, among others.  

In 1939, the outbreak of war in Europe resulted in a large-scale expansion of America’s aviation industries. Just 22 years earlier, during WW1, Austin had built the world’s largest aircraft plant and had pioneered the design of aircraft hangars, wind tunnels, dirigible mooring masts, and airports. This experience, coupled with Austin’s know-how gained by developing the first controlled conditions (air-conditioned) factory, positioned Austin as the nation’s largest builder of military aircraft assembly plants. These particular assembly plants needed the “blackout” protection that a controlled conditions buildings could provide. An impressive list of major aircraft assembly projects was completed between 1939 and 1943 in the Pacific Northwest, Chicago, Fort Worth, Niagara Falls, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, and Wichita, among other locations. 

Television 

As Austin passed the peak of its wartime activity in 1943, the company shifted some of its focus for the change in construction that would eventually come with the end of the war. It was believed that there was a large amount of capital and technology that was waiting to be applied in peacetime. This would result in new products and companies. Austin prepared to be ready for these changes. 

One area of change was television. “Electronic television” was first successfully demonstrated in San Francisco in September of 1927, but it was not until the 1939 World’s Fair in New York (April 30, 1939 – October 27, 1940) – as the war was breaking out in Europe – that the first practical TV sets were sold to the public. Although television sets had been available as early as the late 1930s, the widespread distribution and sale of TV sets did not take off until after the war, and Austin was ready to support the new industry’s development of shows to broadcast. 

Austin was convinced that the end of the war would bring the American consumer increased leisure time, and television would be a major growth industry in the postwar era. (Some business leaders believed that no medium could ever displace the dominance of radio.) Nonetheless, Austin developed a television studio construction program two years before the end of the war. Austin went all-in on its belief that returning GIs would be all too happy to spend time in the coming years in front of the TV set with their families. Austin unveiled its working model of a television network studio in April 1944.

In 1938, Austin completed the design and construction of NBC’s Radio City West in Hollywood. (See the 1930s article published in March.)  After only a few short years, however, television was ready for widespread availability to the public, and Austin was there to convert Radio City West to television.  

Over a series of projects beginning in 1944, Austin implemented the changes necessary for the larger radio studios, including audiences and television cameras (black and white at the time), and state-of-the-art television broadcasting equipment. Changes in technology meant significantly increased lighting, structural upgrades to support the lighting, and added air conditioning to accommodate the increased heat load from the lights, along with larger control rooms than were required for radio. 

Join us next month as we discuss the 1950s when NBC would outgrow the Radio City West facilities in Hollywood. A new site in Burbank would be purchased to become the West Coast home of NBC Television. 

May 17-18, Greensboro, NC

Aviation Week’s A&D Manufacturing Conference, formerly SpeedNews’ Aerospace Manufacturing Conference, brings leading manufacturers and suppliers in the aerospace industry to Greensboro, NC, for a two-day senior-level conference. 

The conference covers manufacturing operations, capabilities and processes, innovation within manufacturing, modern machining technologies, and automation. 

The Austin Company sponsors a welcome reception Monday, May 16^th, from 6 to 8 p.m. Then, on Tuesday, May 17^th, from 1 p.m. to 1:40 p.m. Dan Wiegandt, AIA, LEED AP, and Program Director of Aviation, Aerospace, and Defense with Austin, participates in a panel discussion on Smart Factories. The panel will discuss how improving the performance of factories can help the industry meet the demand to do more with less. 

Also attending this year’s event from Austin is Jim Cathcart, National accounts Director of Aviation, Aerospace, and Defense, and Lynn Huff, Director of Project Planning for Aviation, Aerospace, and Defense.  

To learn more about Austin’s work in this industry – https://theaustin.com/industrial-and-commercial-markets/aviation-aerospace-and-defense-facilities/ 

The Austin Company’s California Office Enters the Field of Aviation

Just five months after the Wright Brothers’ historic Kitty Hawk flight, the Samuel Austin & Son Company was formed. The Company began to envision how it could serve the aviation industry and become a key partner in the future of manned flight.

By 1916, Austin was more than a quarter-century old and had offices established across the country (California in 1921). The Company had built a reputation for innovation and resourcefulness. Widely recognized as the Father of Design-Build, Austin was often called upon when clients wanted single-source responsibility for their large, complex, and logistically challenging projects— a differentiator that continues today.

Ten years after Austin’s first project in the field of aviation with multiple major projects completed across the country for companies like Curtis Aeroplane and Boeing, it was time for the state of California to join the rapidly growing trend of commercial flight.

The Kelly Air Mail Act (1926) and the Air Commerce Act (1927) encouraged private investment in aviation, as did the 1926 establishment of the Daniel Guggenheim Fund for the Promotion of Aeronautics. The growing enthusiasm for aviation prompted the Aeronautics Board of the U.S. Department of Commerce to conduct a survey identifying new airfield locations. The Aeronautics Board reported that Burbank had the most favorable airport location surveyed. In 1929, with the support of the Burbank Chamber of Commerce, United Aircraft and Transportation Company hired The Austin Company to begin construction on Los Angeles’ new airport located in Burbank. Occupying approximately 234 acres of land, the airport boasted more paved landing area than any airfield at the time. An article featured in Airports Magazine the following year (1930), reported on the construction effort, and described the scale of the endeavor in relation to the necessary modifications to the landscape, stating: “Over one hundred large oak trees were removed from the field and from property adjoining the field, by arrangements with the owners, to eliminate every possible hazard.”

The Terminal Building included administrative offices, ticket offices, a baggage room, a telegraph office, and other conveniences. The airfield’s layout was carefully planned, locating public structures like the Terminal Building near the southeast corner of the field, separate from the property’s industrial, support, and private facilities.

Austin was also responsible for constructing Hangar 1 and Hangar 2.

Memorial Day weekend, 1930, marked the opening of the world’s first million-dollar airport. Airplane races and a staged air battle with military bombers and fighter planes entertained the crowds on the ground below. As the author E. Caswell Perry relates in his book entitled Burbank:  An Illustrated History, the opening day event drew large crowds eager to participate in the festivities. He writes of the event, “More than 25,000 automobiles jammed the new airport facilities, and the overflow crowds included many of neighboring Hollywood’s brightest movie stars.” Only Pacific Air Transport (later acquired by United Airlines) operated from the airfield at first. Still, the scale of operations at the new airport expanded quickly, as Perry also describes, writing as follows, “By 1933, when the airport was renamed Union Air Terminal, it had become the primary facility for the greater Los Angeles area, used by all the major airlines of the day.”

The Terminal Building was initially named United Airport. From 1935 until 1940, United Airlines assumed control of the Burbank airfield. Several major airlines began operating from Union Air Terminal during that time, including Pan American, Western Airlines, and Trans-World Airlines. In early 1939, American Airlines also operated out of the Terminal Building. This made the Union Air Terminal the center of all primary airline operations in the Los Angeles area. The decade of the 1930s was a historic one for the Burbank airfield. The field welcomed aviation pioneers like Howard Hughes, Amelia Earhart, Wiley Post, and Charles Lindbergh.

In 1940, the Airport property was sold to a neighboring company, Lockheed Aircraft—a company that Austin serves to this day—which continued to operate the Terminal Building—supporting passenger and airfreight operations—while also utilizing the airfield to manufacture and test new aircraft.

Austin’s California Office Enters the Field of Radio with NBC Radio City West

Radio was one of the few industries to grow during the Depression. It was the mid-1930s and the competing networks of CBS and NBC were building for much-needed space as well as for prestige. 

Experimental radio broadcasting began in 1910. KDKA, a station out of Pittsburgh, PA, broadcasted the 1920 presidential election results on November 2, 1920. This event is considered the beginning of professional broadcasting. Seven years latter stations WJZ and WEAF would merge to create NBC and the race to build bigger and better studios began.  

CBS engaged renowned architect William Lescaze to design its Hollywood studios. Only a block away, on a site at Sunset and Vine, NBC relied on The Austin Company to design, engineer, and build its new studios. When completed in 1938, NBC’s Radio City of the West stood as an American architectural master­piece. Its design was pure, striking and thoroughly functional— a style pioneered through Austin prototype models displayed in early issues of Fortune magazine. 

For its new Hollywood Studio, NBC, and Austin architects and engineers had a clean slate. Former radio broadcasting operations had not been so easy, having utilized existing office building space, often on a second floor, and fitting complex broadcast equipment into a space ill-designed to support it. With this project, the premier of an ideal arrangement would be achieved, with ample space on the ground level. 

 Four auditorium studios, each planned for an audience of 350 guests, were located to give public access from Sunset Boulevard. Radio talent and operating staff were well-screened from the public in their own circulation corridors, even to the extent of private auto drive entrances and parking. Along one end of the five-acre site, on Vine Street, a three-story office wing provided space for executive and administrative functions.  

Sound, the soul of a broadcasting facility, can also be its greatest enemy. Vibration and sound conductivity were addressed in the design, engineering, and construction, including separate foundations for the auditoriums. 

The facility housed a total of eight studios, four of which accommodated studio audiences. Each was supported on a separate sound-isolating foundation and served by an independent air conditioning system to prevent noise from passing through the ductwork. Soundproofing was said to be so complete that a truck could have rumbled down the central corridor without transferring vibrations to adjacent studios. An NBC spokesman called NBC Radio City West “the ideal facility for broadcasting!” 

Austin went on to design and build for all three major networks. And, in the early 1940s, Austin invested its own research and development to develop models for prototype TV studios. The conversion of NBC Radio City West for television being among the first.  

We will talk about this further next month as we look back at the 1940’s. 

Why it is more important than ever to balance the scales between work and life

Remember what it was like to clock in at 8:00 am and clock out at 5:00 pm?  Remember leaving work by turning off your desktop computer (if you even had one), grabbing your briefcase, walking out the door and heading home for a nice dinner with the family, and then sitting down to read the newspaper, watch the news, play with the kids and finally falling into bed for a good night’s sleep? Some of us remember those times, but generation Y and Z employees may not. This was never their reality, and with the invention of laptop computers and cell phones, it is not anyone’s reality any longer.

The phrase work/life balance has taken its place at the forefront of workplace vocabulary and has been a repeated recommendation at many doctors’ and psychologists’ offices. The majority of us, to some degree, have lost the ability to separate our careers from our personal lives.  Employees can be contacted 24/7 by cell phone and through all types of media, blurring the lines of any clear-cut separation between work and personal life. Throw in the recent pandemic where everyone was working from home, and lines are now very blurry when work stops and your personal lives begin.

Separating work from your personal life is more important now than ever for several reasons.

• 51% of workers say they have missed important life events because of work commitments
• 77% of full-time employees have experienced burnout at their current job
• 70% of employees read their emails while watching television at home
• 40% of employees say they use their personal devices for work purposes after business hours
• 83% of employees say their relationships are negatively impacted by burnout from work
• 66% of employees say they often skip at least one meal per day because of work
• Employees who work more than 55 hours per week are at a higher risk of coronary heart disease and stroke
• Employees who work more than 55 hours per week are 1.66 times at higher risk of depression, and 1.74 times at higher risk for anxiety
• Workers who report a poor work/life balance are twice as likely also to report poor health

With statistics like these, it is of utmost importance that employees learn how to balance reading emails at home and going to the gym or some other activity to decompress and relax. When you’re married to your work, fatigue inevitably sets in for whatever reason. This makes you less productive, increases mental stress, and creates health issues that you would otherwise not have. Stress has a negative effect on the human body, yet many just shrug it off. This is a mistake that will not only cause physical breakdowns but costs employees and employers millions of dollars a year in health and mental care costs.

I think you get the point: work/life balance is important. We can all do a better job at striking a balance we stay sharp, healthy, and productive.

A few things that help with this are:

1. Plan, plan, plan. Oh, and one more, plan. Planning (managing) your time is the most effective way to combat the work/life balance issue. Have you run into someone at the store you have not seen in a while, and at the end of the conversation, you both say, “We have to get together for dinner.”  Does it ever happen?  You are 70% more likely to have that dinner if you get out your cell phone and schedule a date right then and there. This is the same for anything. Plan to spend time with your spouse. Plan to spend time with your kids. Plan to spend time at the gym. Put it in your calendar, and the life side of your balance sheet will get better.

 It is worth mentioning the importance of planning to take personal time off (PTO). At Austin, all employees have the good fortune of having paid time off. Make sure you take advantage of this great benefit by planning and scheduling your time off. And remember, you will be more likely to take PTO if it is on the calendar. This also helps managers manage workflow and deadlines more effectively.

2. Learn how to say no.  Again, we humans hate to disappoint anyone and often have a hard time saying no to someone who asks us to do something for or with them.  Once you say yes, you have now positioned yourself to have to take something back should you realize you have overbooked yourself. A suggestion to avoid this from happening is to replace, “Sure, I’ll do that” with a statement like, “Let me check” or “I’m not sure; let me get back to you.” This takes the immediate commitment off the table, giving you time to check how full your plate is and perhaps provide a more appropriate response.

3. Develop healthy habits. A healthy lifestyle helps us avoid the stress that can lead to diminished productivity, avoid physical ailments, and poor sleep. Make sure you are eating well, detaching from work, possibly by taking some PTO, or just not answering those pesky emails at such an ungodly hour.

We appreciate the skills you bring to our company, but we need them while you’re here. Not having a work/life balance will only allow you to provide a fraction of what you have to offer.

Ten thousand employees surveyed by the Becker Friedman Institute for Economics at the University of Chicago said they thought they were just as productive working from home compared to working in the office. In addition, 30% of those respondents told researchers they were more productive and engaged working from home. Calculations show that commuting time was reduced by 62.4 million hours per day, with aggregate time savings of over 9 billion hours starting from the middle of March 2020 to mid-September 2020.

Yet, many companies openly admit, the road to remote collaboration has been a bumpy ride. In this article, we interview Nirav Mehta, Design Project Manager, for how he and his team have successfully navigated collaborating remotely.

Q. Tell us about the early stages of your remote collaboration journey.

A. When we first moved to a work-from-home model, simple communication became a struggle. We were missing the quick response that we used to have when working in the office. I noticed we would send in an email saying, “Hey, can you please clarify the following?” And at times, those requests could sit for hours or days. This slowdown was unacceptable as the delay would impact others’ progress.

We learned new ways of communicating. We changed how we gave instructions, led group meetings, and shared ideas.

Q. It sounds like you added quite a bit of structure to your new way of doing things. Tell us more.

We implemented communication guidelines. We encouraged the team to use Microsoft Outlook to share hyperlinks to project folders and communicate with external contacts. We encouraged using Microsoft Teams’ chat feature for internal communication and collaboration.

We found that utilizing Teams chat allowed us to avoid some of the pitfalls inherent in Outlook, like team members responding to older emails and missing crucial up-to-date information. Microsoft Teams’ chat creates a linear conversation that is easy to scroll through and follow the complete discussion.

Q. I am sure there is an added layer of urgency to communicating highly technical information. Tell us about communicating and the quality control process.

A. An engineer’s quality control process is rooted in tracking and communicating design changes through careful review of electronic drawings. Bluebeam Revu is the perfect tool to leave comments, add action items, and document future changes. This software helps keep the entire team on the same page throughout the design and construction stages. Comments are retained and used to check and ensure that all the necessary clarifications have been incorporated into the latest document set.

Q. What other technology has your team employed to overcome some of the challenges of not being face-to-face?

A. Discussions using 3D models are becoming more commonplace. 3D modeling has allowed our team to communicate in a language other than the written word. Emails and chats rely on writing and reading. Using 3D models allows us to experience the design. I believe this trend will continue beyond the circumstances we find ourselves in now. For example, the work we are doing today to create 3D views of a typical office or restroom can serve as starting points for new projects. Developing prototypes with options that can be explored in small break-out meetings could become the standard for the next design collaboration.

Q. How has the team overcome the challenges of file sharing?

A. We have embraced the cloud. Moving to cloud-based file storage systems and Microsoft Teams has been tremendously helpful for our design teams. Older technologies were not built with remote work in mind. In contrast, cloud-based file systems offer a measure of resiliency and data access comparable to what we had when our users and data were physically on-site. Autodesk’s BIM 360 allows all team members to access the latest drawings and Revit models. Having quick and easy access to these files and working together is essential. We can edit models from anywhere in the world simultaneously with the software’s ‘work sharing’ feature and file-level access management that the cloud makes possible. “I’m out of the file; you can go in now and make your changes” is a thing of the past.

Q. What other innovative workflow processes have you embraced?

A.  By automating repetitive tasks, we have saved hundreds of work hours on each project. Recent updates to the Imaginit Clarity^® system allow us to take the output from these tasks into dozens of competing repositories. If a consultant needs to see drawing files based on our models in a different format, we can automate that task so that each night the latest changes are exported to the file format they require and then uploaded to the cloud service they are making use of. We can confidently review a set of drawings when we know that they are based on the latest model changes.

Our industry has many modeling tools, and we have become adept at applying the best solution for the given task. There are tools appropriate for design presentation, internal model review, clash coordination, and owner walk-throughs. Our IT team and BIM software leaders are excellent training and problem-solving resources when defining and implementing these workflows. All the technology in the world won’t help if you don’t have leaders who excel at training other people.

Q. How has the client experience changed?

A. We are all in the same boat. Many of our clients have faced the same remote work challenges over the past few years. Fortunately, they have embraced virtual meeting technologies allowing us to work efficiently together. Our clients can now be sitting hundreds of miles away while our engineers guide them through a 3D version of their project to conceptualize design solutions.

Q. What do you see as the silver lining to the past couple of years?

A. We are more flexible than ever before. We have realized how quickly where and how we work can change. We rose to the challenge and transformed our processes faster than we could have ever imagined. We took an honest look at what was working and what was not and pivoted where needed. Our team learned how resilient they could be and can better face what comes next because of it. Innovation is one of The Austin Company’s core values. As we look to the future, we must embrace this change. Evaluating and implementing software that can positively impact our productivity, communication, and workflow will always be at the forefront of our design-build process.

A few years ago, we adopted EOS to support our management and leadership. We participated in an exercise to reassess what we had established as our company values, what it means to be an Austinite, and “to bleed Austin blue.”  We discussed dozens of current and past employees, identifying what it was that brought them to mind when thinking of Austin values. We organized those traits into categories, and these became our core values. This process was much more authentic than a few people sitting around and imagining what Austin’s core values should be.

One of the categories that became a value is PASSION. Passion is rooted in purpose. If the work you do has no inherent purpose that can be embraced, then your work becomes drudgery. I have seen passion in many people at Austin, directed in many ways. Passion for developing people. Passion for an industry we serve. Passion for innovating ways to do better and be more efficient. Passion for creating a building.

Passion cannot be measured, but you can sense it in the energy, drive, and attitude of a person. As a manager, you cannot demand passion from someone. However, you can provide an environment that fosters passion. That environment helps employees realize the purpose and impact of their work and therefore, nurtures passion.

For decades, Austin has prided itself on employee retention. Even in the current competitive labor market, our retention rate increased in 2021. As an integrated design-builder, we can expose our employees to a broader range of potential career paths, allowing them to find goals that resonate with them and make their work personally meaningful.

An architect, for example, doesn’t learn their craft to just put lines on paper or to specify materials or fixtures. An architect creates buildings. As a design-builder, the architect is part of the building process and is engaged in the construction—not as a consultant—as part of the team building it.

An engineer we hired several years ago joined us from a major engineering firm where he spent the first two years of his career running load calculations on process projects. Within a few months of joining Austin, he was sent to a job site for meetings with subcontractors. He told me it was the first time he had ever seen something he designed actually being constructed. Moreover, it was the first time he met those who were going to build his design. Up to that point, he questioned his career choice but seeing his work come to life in the field gave him the purpose he was missing. It stoked a passion for his work and drove him to learn more about other design disciplines like preconstruction, and construction.

There are other employees whose passion comes from serving a particular market. When you get to work on the same type of project— an aircraft assembly facility, bakery, meat processing, or pharmaceutical plant— you develop a particular expertise. You know what to look for and what not to do again. You get to know the equipment systems and vendors. Most importantly, they get to know you.

Early in my career, I was tasked with studying the airport construction industry as a potential target for Austin to pursue. I spent about two years with a special focus on that market.  And while we decided it was too fragmented for our business model, I got to know dozens of people who were incredibly passionate about designing and building airports.

There were three things I learned from that study effort.

First, people who have passion relate very well to other people who share that passion.

Second, there were people whose backgrounds and areas of expertise had been honed and developed to serve the specific needs of complex airport infrastructure. That airport infrastructure was their unifying commitment. They made up an engaged community united by a shared mission. There was energy, camaraderie, and a certain joy and pride in their personal identity with that purpose.

Third, getting involved in a specific industry we serve is humbling.  There was always more to learn and this community of passionate people willing and ready to share their expertise. Education and training provide the tools and basic know-how, but it is through exposure to actual work that we develop our expertise and find our passion.

Great artists find inspiration outside their normal environments. Indeed, the word inspiration comes from a Latin word meaning “to breathe into.” Vincent Van Gogh, for example, studied Japanese art and was so moved by it that it changed his compositions. In a sense, education and training provide the paint and canvas to enable us to become the artists of our careers.

Then how does a company or manager inspire the artist to paint a fulfilling career and find their passion?

They find their Why.

Managers must make sure there is fresh air available to provide sources of inspiration that will let the artist shape the work that defines them, that gives them passion. When employees find passion in their work and they become part of a community, they become more than their education and training. They are focused and committed to a special purpose. They find their Why.

Especially in today’s war for talent, companies must focus on providing a wide variety of experiences to their employees or passion will be harder to experience. When employees find passion, however, they find work that is gratifying and rewarding to both the employee and the company.

Consider the work experiences that have inspired and defined you. Be on the lookout for the “fresh air” in your position that may just spark your passion.

“Every man is proud of what he does well; and no man is proud of what he does not do well. With the former, his heart is in his work; and he will do twice as much of it with less fatigue.”

Abraham Lincoln

“And we wouldn’t be able to study Japanese art, it seems to me, without becoming much happier and more cheerful, and it makes us return to nature, despite our education and our work in a world of convention.”

Vincent Van Gogh

“To be successful, the first thing to do is fall in love with your work.” – Sister Mary Lauretta

A retrospective of the first 100 years of work completed by Austin’s California Office.

This is the first in a series of monthly articles that will chronicle highlights of the first 100 years for The Austin Company’s California office. We begin in the 1920s as Austin lays down roots in California. Each month we will take you through another decade, highlighting projects indicative of the times. We will wrap up the series with a publication that includes these monthly features, along with other milestone projects – a chapter for each decade. We look forward to you joining us on this historic journey.

The Austin Company Opens its First Office in California

Records indicate that the first Work Order Number issued for The Austin Company’s new California office was on December 7, 1921, for a $20,500 project in Los Angeles. This equates to approximately $320,000 today (2021).

Four Work Order Numbers were recorded in December 1921. Twenty-two (22) projects were recorded in the year 1922 for a variety of companies, including the names of companies that few would recognize today; however, there were several projects for the Port of Los Angeles.

More than 50 projects were recorded in 1923, including projects for multiple ice cream manufacturers and the emerging industry of the times, petroleum-related companies such as Standard Oil Production Company of California, a company name that would ultimately appear in Austin’s active client list many times in the decades ahead. Also notable were multiple projects for the General Electric Company, as well as a project for The Austin Company’s new Los Angeles Warehouse. 1924 and 1925 records reflect a growing list of projects, including a project for Stauffer Chemical Company, a client who would return to Austin many times, continuing work for General Electric in Oakland, and the New Austin Office Building in Los Angeles.

Hollywood and The Motion Picture Industry

Cecile B. DeMille

1926 brought Austin’s first recorded work in the budding motion picture Industry for Cecile B. DeMille in Culver City, California.

Thomas H. Ince Studio, as it was originally known, was founded in 1918 by Ince, a silent movie actor, director, and producer, on land acquired by real estate developer Harry Culver. Ince had grand ambitions to create his own studio unique from all the others. Following Ince’s early death in 1924, his widow sold the property to Cecil B. DeMille, who renamed the studio to DeMille Studios.

DeMille undertook several large expansions, hiring Austin in 1926 to design, engineer, and construct Stages 2, 3, and 4, producing a few major box office hits, including The King of Kings.

Classics from Hollywood’s Golden Age were filmed at the studio, including Gone with the Wind (1939), and A Star is Born (1937). Orson Wells’ Citizen Kane and Alfred Hitchcock’s Spellbound were filmed at the studio in the 1940s. Over the years, the studio has had several owners and investors, including Howard Hughes in 1950 and Desilu (Lucille Ball and Desi Arnez) in 1956. The studio was also used for television shows such as The Andy Griffith Show, Hogan’s Heroes, Lassie, Batman, The Nanny, Scrubs, Arrested Development, and Cougar Town, among many others. The studio was renamed The Culver Studios in 1970.

Austin returned to the site in 1987 when the studio was purchased by GTG Entertainment a joint venture between Grant Tinker (Chairman and CEO with NBC from 1981 – 1986) who Austin had been working with while he was at NBC, and The Gannett Company. Austin prepared a master plan for the remodel and expansion at the studio, as well as the design of two new sound stages, adjacent to Austin’s original 1926 sound stages.

The studio is operated today by Amazon.

Mack Sennett

MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)

Beginning with the early projects for Cecile B. DeMille and Mack Sennett in 1926 and 1927, Austin went on to design and construct over sixty projects on the MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) studio lot in Culver City, just down the street from Cecile B. DeMille’s studio, including sound stages, support facilities, and offices. The MGM Studio is today known as Sony Pictures. The years 1926 through 1929 included a long list of projects for a wide variety of companies. Many of the names are for companies that few would recognize today, however, there are others that, like Austin, continue in business today and are well recognized, such as H. J. Heinz and Ingersoll Rand, as well as Universal Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM).

Join us for more!

Join us as we continue our retrospective of projects completed by Austin’s California office. Next month we will explore the 1930s. The Great Depression rages through the United States, the aviation industry soars to new heights, and the broadcasting celebrates its golden years.

Cleveland, OH – The Austin Company, a design-builder established more than 140 years ago, has acquired Gala & Associates, Beverly Hills, Michigan. Founded in 1987, Gala provides architectural engineering, design, and project management services for automotive assembly and heavy industrial facilities.

“Gala & Associates is an exceptional business. I have a high regard for Chuni Gala and his leadership team.  The relationships and trust they have earned from the major automotive manufacturers is testament to their values and integrity. Those values align completely with Austin’s,” said Austin’s president and CEO, Mike Pierce. “Gala has a great name, culture, and business model. We are treating this as an acquisition, not a merger.” 

The acquisition of Gala & Associatescompliments The Austin Company’s strategy to expand its design and engineering share of the automotive and heavy industrial facilities market. Austin expands Gala’s capacity by providing additional structure and support through its network of offices, including its parent company Kajima USA.

“With over 35 years of service and the creation of many treasured relationships throughout the industry, our reputation for design and engineering for the automotive industry is unparalleled. We take pride in our hands-on approach to every project and look forward to continuing to serve our clients while incorporating the resources Austin and Kajima provide to expand our market base and build new relationships,” said Chuni Gala, Gala and Associates President.

Austin was founded in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1878. Its headquarters remain in Cleveland, with offices in Atlanta, Georgia; Irvine, California; Kalamazoo, Michigan; San Luis Potosi, Mexico; and London, England. To learn more, visit The Austin Company – https://theaustin.com, Gala & Associates Inc. https://galaandassociates.com/, and Kajima https://kajimausa.com/.

Jan. 25-27, 2022

The International Production & Processing Expo (IPPE) is a collaboration of three shows, the International Feed Expo, the International Meat Expo, and the International Poultry Expo. The event showcases the latest technology, equipment, supplies, and services used in producing and processing eggs, meat and poultry, and those involved in animal food manufacturing. The event is sponsored by the American Feed Industry Association, North American Meat Institute, and U.S. Poultry & Egg Association.  

IPPE is held annually in Atlanta, Georgia, at the Georgia World Congress Center (GWCC), located at 285 Andrew Young International Blvd NW.   

This year’s event will feature more than1,000 exhibitors providing a large variety of educational and interactive exhibits. Attendees include representatives from all over the world, including operation and plant managers, purchasing agents, engineers, and researchers from the world’s top feed, meat processing, packing, and poultry companies.  

IPPE provides Austin with the opportunity to share our depth of knowledge and assist industry leaders in meeting their facility needs. Whether looking to build on a green site, add on to an existing facility, streamline or automate production, we are on-hand to answer your questions.  

Austin will host two social events at the show. Wednesday, January 26^th, from 9 AM to 10:30 AM, join us for a cup of coffee and networking, and then from 2 PM to 5 PM, grab a beer at our social hour. Both events are held in Austin’s booth, #C11662.  

Attending this year’s event from The Austin Company are Ed Wright, Sean Barr, Matt Shank, Brandon Talbert, and Tamara Zupancic.  

Can’t make the show? We welcome the opportunity to come to you. Contact Us.   

Check out these articles by two of Austin’s Subject Matter Experts, Sean Barr and Ed Wright. It’s Never too Early to Prepare for Growth and Shortages Drive the Need for Innovative Solutions and Trusted Partners.  

There is much at stake when considering where to locate a manufacturing facility. The choice of a location locks in years, if not decades, of production capacity. At best, the selected location enables start-up time savings, one-time and ongoing cost savings, and long-term operational advantages relative to other location possibilities. At worst, a location can bring hidden costs, delays, and operational headaches that erode success. Hiring a qualified advisor is a good first step towards making the right location choice and avoiding an inexperienced team’s mistakes. The following is a brief list of some of those missteps, or pitfalls, commonly made by companies as they approach location decisions.

(1) Unnecessary Search Area Constraints. Location searches often begin with the simple question of “Where should we look?” Not having a systematic or defensible process to pick the initial search area can sub-optimize the location selection process from the start. An example of a sub-optimal search area choice includes looking only at trending locations.  While there may be a good reason to consider these locations, one downside could be increased start-up risk due to workforce competition from other companies choosing to locate in the area.  Another example of a sub-optimal search area choice includes defaulting to competitor locations, which assumes the competitor’s location choice at the time they made it would still be a good decision today. Instead, consider a broader and more comprehensive evaluation of a larger area. Generally, it won’t take much more time, and it can and has allowed for the discovery of better-suited locations. A skilled location advisor will be able to design a process that balances time constraints and search area choices appropriately.

(2) Poor Interpretation, or Lack, of Data. With the abundance of readily available location-related data in the U.S., companies might feel confident in self-performing location evaluations. However, if done by an unqualified analyst, that approach can lead to focusing on certain factors at the expense of more relevant ones. An experienced location consultant knows the strengths and limitations of the various available datasets and when and how to incorporate them into the analysis. For example, companies will often emphasize specific statistics such as unemployment when beginning to qualify a local workforce. A qualified analyst would consider unemployment as well, but only as one of the dozens of equally, if not more important, statistics. Consider a situation where one location has a high unemployment rate, and another has a low unemployment rate. It might stand to reason that the high unemployment location might be more attractive because more people are looking for work. However, by that single statistic, nothing is known about the skills of those who are unemployed. Therefore, emphasis should be placed on characterizing the skills present in the employed workforce as a measure of overall community fit with the proposed operation. A qualified location advisor can help companies sift through the data to place the right weight on the appropriate statistics.

(3) Over-Reliance on the Past. An often-used Wayne Gretzky quote is: “Skate to where the puck is going, not where it has been.” An example of skating to where the puck has been is relying only on data analytics. While examining datasets is an integral part of the site selection process, data on its own cannot account for the whole story. Experienced location consultants will also place a high value on primary or real-time data gathering activities such as community visits and employer interviews to help understand where the puck is going. These activities can uncover information that positions two otherwise comparable communities very differently. For example, we recently interviewed employers in one location that painted a picture of a more difficult hiring environment than what the data appeared to indicate. This was partly due to multiple new entrants to the labor market that the data didn’t capture. On the other hand, employers in a similar, competing location generally expressed more favorable experiences. Investments in training and workforce development partly drove this. A qualified location advisor will integrate field observations with data analysis to produce a balanced evaluation.

(4) Misguided Incentives Focus. Incentives can sometimes make or break a location decision among a shortlist of candidate sites. However, incentives generally should not be considered a primary decision factor too early in the location decision process. At all times, incentives must be framed in the appropriate context. Companies are often surprised to learn that the answer to “Where can we get the most incentives?” is often different than “Where is the lowest cost location?” Incentive assessments generally add more value after a shortlist of locations has been identified.  They are especially important after specific properties along with their structural shortcomings have been vetted. To that effect, a successful strategy for some communities can be to position their sites with incentives that address the structural weaknesses of the site early in the process.  A qualified location advisor can help place the true value of incentives in the appropriate context at the relevant points in time.

(5) Minimizing the Importance of Site and Infrastructure Development. Perhaps no greater hidden risk exists in site selection for manufacturing facilities than the development viability of the land and its attendant utility infrastructure. Without a thorough vetting of the development challenges associated with each site, companies may find themselves unable to meet their timeline and cost objectives at best or with an unviable location decision at worst. In one instance where two similar properties were being considered, a construction and development assessment revealed millions of additional dollars and months of extra time for site development in one location, but not at the competing location. Selecting a property quickly and without understanding the requirements of developing the property and corresponding utilities infrastructure can result in significant loss of time and hidden costs that far outweigh the investment in a thorough qualification exercise. A qualified location advisor will thoroughly address the site and infrastructure development process and risks.

(6) Lack of Timeline and Process Flexibility. Companies often face pressure to quickly make a location decision without knowing how long the evaluation process should take.  While each company’s situation is different, a general rule-of-thumb is that it takes at least six months from the time a greenfield location project begins to when the property and incentives have been secured. This timeline can be shortened based on various factors and tradeoffs specific to each situation. In all cases, optimal project planning allows for flexibility and discovery throughout the process. For example, during a recent project, one community proposed a unique utilities infrastructure development solution that saved the company millions of dollars but at the cost of several additional weeks of time for evaluation and approvals. Some companies might need to forego these savings due to timeline pressure. Nevertheless, the companies that approach the site location process with timeline and process flexibility—and in a collaborative, iterative fashion—are the companies that experience optimal results. A qualified location advisor can help companies navigate the discovery process within timeline constraints.

In summary, manufacturing location choices are often more complicated and time-consuming than they initially appear and are fraught with pitfalls. Having the expertise to avoid these missteps leads to success and can pay dividends operationally for years to come.

The Austin Company welcomes The Austin Company of UK back into its organization.

The Austin Company (US) founded The Austin Company (UK) in the 1920s as The Austin Company was developing into an international company. Operations were suspended due to WWII and then resumed in 1948. During the 70s and 80s, Austin UK established a strong reputation and loyal customer base within the manufacturing, life science, biosciences, food, and beverage markets. These sectors became their primary source of business and remain so today. In 2006, The Austin Company sold the UK business to local managers.

“Rejoining The Austin Company (US) is fantastic for our business. It enhances our resources and enriches relationships. Together, we will advance professionally while keeping our identity and culture unique. Partnering with Austin US is strengthening the brand, bringing exciting new opportunities, challenges, and expanding our area of service,” said Prakash Davda, Managing Director of The Austin Company of the UK.

The UK team leadership team includes Adrian Ward – Construction Director, Allan Huke – Commercial Director, Barrie Pond – Financial Controller, George Lowney – Projects Director, Karl Butler – Director of Engineering, Pankaj Raithatha – Deputy Director of Engineering, and Michael Blake – Director of Design.

Mike Pierce, the President and CEO of The Austin Company (US), said, “This is an exciting and historic time for The Austin Company as we reunite to expand our services within the pharmaceutical and food and beverage industry.”

The Austin Company is a member of the Kajima Corporation. To learn more about The Austin UK – http://austin.co.uk/, and Kajima https://kajimausa.com/.

IRVINE, CA – The Austin Company’s Irvine California office announces new roles for three seasoned professionals.

Greg Hong transitions to Senior Design Project Manager. Hong has been with Austin as Chief Architect since April 2020 providing oversight to the architectural efforts on projects for our key clients. “Greg’s architectural design and management experience will be a great asset to our current and future projects,” said Jay Fischer, P.E., Manager of Engineering and Design.

Eric Marx has been promoted to Director of Design and will also assume the interim role of Chief Architect. Marx has been with Austin since July 2006 and has held several positions as Architect, Chief Architect, and most recently Associate Director of Design. “Eric brings a high level of planning, programming, and architectural design expertise to the team. His leadership skills will serve him and our clients well in this new role,” said Fischer.

Nirav Mehta assumes the newly created role of Manager of Design Project Managers to oversee processes, procedures, budgets, and assignments. Mehta has been with Austin since August 2008, holding positions as a Structural Engineer and Design Project Manager. “Nirav has proven himself to be skilled in process, planning, and training, making him the ideal candidate for this new role. We are confident that Nirav’s innovative spirit will continue to benefit our team and clients,” predicted Fischer.

The Austin Company is a great place to grow your career. Check out our job openings here https://theaustin.com/careers/

Automation has made steady progress into many phases of industrial baking, from ingredient handling to packaging to palletizing and warehouse operations. Advances in robotics and digital technology make automation a viable solution for many baking and snack producers, and the ROI can be attractive.

ARE YOU READY?

It is essential to evaluate if your organization is prepared to transition into automation. This step requires a certain level of technical sophistication from both maintenance and operations organizations. Because it can be challenging to transition from manual operations to a highly automated facility It is essential to evaluate your organization’s preparedness.

BABY STEPS

A good place to start the automation journey is in the packaging area.  It is not uncommon for smaller bakers to manually pack finished products into corrugated cases, plastic trays, or baskets. Depending on the line speed, this often involves two to three people. Automation can often reduce the number of people performing these tasks while providing a safer working environment.

For the most part, large bakers were able to begin the automation journey many years ago and are now comfortable with the technology. They also have been able to hire or develop the talent to maintain these systems. However, while large bakers may be more comfortable with automation and robotic technology, no one is fully automated yet.  The vision of a “lights out bakery” is still years away.

TALENT

Transitioning to automation requires hiring and developing solid technical talent. Bakeries must have the ability to operate, clean, and maintain these automated systems. This includes staff who know how to work with programmable controls, computers, and robotic systems and diagnose mechanical problems. It is vital to building an in-house technical team that can speed up today’s ever-changing technology.

FOOTPRINT

On average, automation in the packaging area requires 10 – 15% more space than a manual operation, depending on the application. For example, if you are loading finished products into trays or boxes, the products coming down the conveyor may require three or four people to pick and place the product into the tray or box. This takes a relatively small footprint. However, if you are going to automate this process, you need to lane, align, and feed it into a robotic cell. This requires more space. Some bakeries do not have the footprint to fully automate areas like packaging but can still benefit from other upgrades in technology. For example, bread or roll basket loading can often fit into an existing footprint.

ENERGY

Most automated systems require compressed air and electrical power. While some facilities may experience a slight uptick in energy costs, the cost savings due to reduced labor safety off-sets this occurrence.  Typically, people doing these manual tasks are subjected to repetitive motion, bending, twisting, lifting, and reaching. These constant movements strain workers’ bodies, often leading to injuries to muscles, nerves, ligaments, and tendons.  Automation eliminates these factors and provides a safer work environment for employees.

LABOR REDUCTION

One of the most compelling reasons for implementing automation is the challenge of labor force. For most bakeries, labor costs represent the most significant expense and hardest cost to manage or reduce. Even highly skilled operators can’t match the repeatable accuracy of automation. Some automated systems can also perform multiple operations, eliminating the time required to move materials from one work center to another. 

Today’s labor market is probably one of the most challenging markets bakers have seen in many years.  Hiring and retaining employees has been a significant challenge for most bakers.  Many bakeries are moving to automation due to the inability to retain employees for highly repetitive positions.

PAY-BACK

The return on investment for automation depends on several factors, including each bakery’s financial guidelines for capital investment payback. However, a rule of thumb would be two to three year payback. When calculating your savings from automation, you need to include direct labor savings, improved uptime, quicker changeovers, and reduced workers’ comp costs. 

There is a significant up-front investment required in automation. Ideally, to prepare for a clean installation and startup at the bakery, technical staff should be hired in advance.  This allows them to be a part of the steep learning curve that comes with this new technology. Key maintenance and operations representatives should attend FATs (factory acceptance tests) and participate in installing the equipment.

MAINTAINING TIGHT SPECIFICATIONS

One of the biggest eye-openers when automating is the need to maintain tight specifications on your product. Most products can vary in size throughout the day. Typically, when manually placing the product into a basket, bag, or box, you can squeeze it and get it in there. With automation, there is usually not a lot of room for adjustment. This places pressure on the operators at the front end of the process to ensure the finished product is within specifications.

KEEPING UP WITH THE MARKET

Wherever you are considering automation, it is valuable to keep up to speed with current technology, what other bakers are doing, and the next best steps for your unique product and facility. When considering equipment suppliers, be sure to enter partnerships with companies that can support you through the training and maintenance journey. Make sure you understand all the needs and be able to communicate them clearly to vendors. Clear expectations should be established during the negotiating process.  It is crucial that everyone understands these expectations for line efficiency, throughouts, and changeovers.   

The best-in-class approach is to hire technical folks early in the project to work closely with vendors and benefit from first-hand equipment training. In addition, technical staff can benefit from being a part of the acquisition and installation process.

PHASED APPROACH

A phased approach to automation is usually the best course of action. There is considerable risk associated with drastic changes to operations. Phasing allows you to spread the risk out over time. We recommend a two- or three-phase investment. This prevents staff from being overtaxed while gaining experience with the technology. As comfort levels increase with the additional automation, you can move to the next phase, building on all that has been learned.

Any approach should consider the impact the change will have on your ability to get the product to the market. For example, maintaining product specs, equipment, and training can take time to get right, slowing down production.

While phasing plans vary, typically phases are implemented about a year apart. Timing considerations include any challenges encountered with the first phase, staffing requirements, and equipment lead times.

CRITICAL QUESTIONS

• What products is your bakery running?
• What are the speeds you are running?
• How many changeovers do you have each day?
• What are the specifications of the product?
• What is the bakery’s available footprint?
• Are you comfortable with robotics?
• Should a non-robotic solution for automation be considered?

The early stages of automation planning often lead to more questions than answers. But, partnering with experienced bakery designers, engineers, constructors, and vendors, means you won’t be going it alone. Meeting the challenges of today’s food and snack industry requires out-of-the-box thinking. However, with a well-thought-out, phased approach, the automation game can be won.