This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Password:

Xten is fortunate to have within our work force many solid performers who are heavily committed to our continual performance improvement program.  They recognize that a primary way of advancing their careers is to make contributions to these efforts.

But, as we learned through a variety of employee forums, some employees felt they could do even more if their command of English were better.  We agreed with their insight, and also felt being more at home speaking English would be beneficial in their lives both in and beyond the workplace.   So management accepted the obligation to provide English language training to any employee who wanted to participate.

As with all we do at Xten, we wanted to do things in a better way.  We were pretty sure that traditional grammar-intensive classes would not be appropriate for the kind of learning environment a factory floor could provide.  As so often seems to happen, just when it was needed, we got a recommendation from a fellow CEO also investigating language training to talk with Ms. Dixie VanRemmen.

Dixie is a retired Spanish teacher from a local school district, Racine (WI) Unified, who is a seasoned practioneer of the Total Physical Response Storytelling (TPRS) language training method, which is in use across the world and in top US schools.  Unlike approaches that highly value the study of grammar, TPRS helps students learn a foreign language through a mixture of reading and story telling.

Dixie holds a 1 ½-hour class once a week for each of our three shifts, welcoming any employee who wishes to attend.

“Attendees feel that improving their English will help in all areas of their lives, not just at Xten,” said Dixie.  “We’ve had adults bring their children because the classes are as much fun as educational; and I’ve been told of English-speaking children helping their parents do the homework assignments.”

The class time is less than 5% of an employee’s total work week hours.  I’m convinced we get that back many times over in the greater efficiency, fewer errors and improved camaraderie that a common language fosters.

Not as easy to quantify, but no less critical, is the good that comes from a company supporting its employees in ways that impact their every-day lives.  Enhancing employee prosperity is a key component of the Xten philosophy, so helping a portion of our people grow more comfortable in the culture surrounding them is a great way to accomplish part of our corporate mission.

I’m talking about a youth movement.  Why the Raiders?  Because I’m a Raiders’ fan, which comes in handy for a guy who lives in the Chicago metro area but whose company is located in Wisconsin.  I get to avoid the Bears-Packers rivalry.

But I digress, sports teams are always heralded when they have a large cadre of good “younger” players.  Youth is seen as possessing skill, enthusiasm, sound bodies, willingness to make a strong effort and – maybe most important of all – time to learn the game and get even better.

If you were to walk around Xten, one thing would most certainly strike you: there are a lot of young people working here.  In fact, with the possible exception of our resident tool maker, my partner and I are the oldest people in the place.

We’re building our work force much the way the best sports teams do: acquire good young players and teach them how to win at the professional game.

We establish a high bar regarding the knowledge and skills required to be hired in the first place.  Then we hold out as much responsibility as people are willing to assume, and provide coaching that lets each make the most of his/her personal resources.  If you’re good, and you work hard and smart, you’ll make the first team at Xten.

What we can’t coach, but work hard to hire, are the intangibles; strong work ethic, integrity, enthusiasm, reliability and taking satisfaction from being part of a team.  Those the employee must bring on his/her own.  Xten capitalizes on those traits by providing an environment in which they are valued and rewarded.

This philosophy received validation a few weeks ago when we hired a young lady, right out of school with her Finance MBA, to be a production planner.  You would have thought something like banking would have had more appeal to her than manufacturing, and she did interview with several financial institutions before selecting Xten.

Why? We asked the same thing.  She said in a large bank she would have been one of many people, doing what hundreds, maybe thousands, had done before her as she strived to move up through the ranks.  At Xten, she would be working directly with people who got the job done every single day.  She would be expected to make decisions – ones that directly impact how well Xten serves its customers – so they would have to be right.  There would be new challenges every day, providing constant learning and continual opportunity to make a difference.  And even with all of that, she’d still get paid.

It’s reassuring that bright, well-educated, competent young people see a future in American manufacturing.  The game isn’t going to get any easier, and we’re going to need that youthful team to play to win

Of course, we did a little primping…although we keep our place clean visitors or not…and were pleased with the positive responses from all our guests.

The number and diversity of the visitors got me wondering what had prompted them to want to see inside our operations.  We’re not new to the community.  Our facility has been in operation for over a decade, and we’ve won enough awards in the last couple of years that these folks certainly know who we are.

Maybe they were all just in need of some good news for a change about business conditions in our area.  That has been hard to find of late.

Well, they came to the right place. There’s plenty of good news at Xten.

We’ve been adding new customers and new projects from existing ones on a fairly regular basis, and all indications point to that continuing.  Representatives of a major car company are trolling the aisles completing their due diligence.  Another prospect we’ve been talking to for over 5 years seems ready to make a change. We are making space on the factory floor for new equipment and we’ve begun hiring a few new people.

In some ways, you could say this is what a business is supposed to look like…but hasn’t in our industry for several years now.

The change wasn’t accidental.  Like many of our competitors, we were forced to draw in our horns a couple of years ago, but thankfully we didn’t  go into hibernation… to beat an analogy to death.  We kept focused on the need to grow, even when growth seemed the last possibility.

We were convinced growth would result if we focused on doing more of what brought customers the greatest value.  Some solid analysis revealed that the more services we provided the lower we drove the customer’s net cost.  Lower net cost, not just lower piece price, thus became our message, one we’ve moved to brand through our Multifacturing™ positioning.

Yes, we still have a valuable group of “parts-only” customers.  But we figure that’s because we haven’t done a good enough job of convincing them of the additional gains they’ll realize by entrusting us with more production and distribution responsibility.  But we’re working on it, and if recent history is any indication, we should have some more good news to report soon.

Sincerely,
Matthew Davidson

Xten Industries, a growing leader in the plastic injection molding and contract manufacturing industries, is being featured in a four part series about sustainability in Modern Plastics Worldwide magazine.

Modern Plastics Worldwide magazine is distributed to over 50,000 subscribers in 137 countries. According to Modern Plastics Worldwide the magazine reaches 25,000+ professionals in plastics-intensive end markets such as packaging, medical devices, appliances, and manufacturing. The magazine has the largest monthly circulation in the plastics industry and has been in circulation in 1925.

The four part series focuses on Xten’s efforts balance sustainability and profitability. The first article centers on Xten’s endeavors to lower the company’s electrical consumption and partnerships with state programs.

Modern Plastics Worldwide magazine – online article

PDF of Modern Plastics article about suitability, profitability

“Since taking ownership of Xten Industries in 1999, Matt Davidson has grown the company into an award-winning, world-class manufacturer. Under his leadership, Xten relocated to Kenosha County in 1992 and has been an outstanding corporate citizen and employer,” stated KABA’s President, Todd Battle. “Matt and Xten have been consistent and generous supporters of the Kenosha community and its economic development and we look forward to the insight and experience Matt will bring to the board.”

“KABA has been a key factor in Xten’s growth and the greater Kenosha area”, said Davidson, “I am glad that I will have the opportunity to help pay them back.”

IL State Senator Congratulations

Most of the time, companies simply “update” their website to accommodate modest changes in operations or personnel or to brag about a new customer or similar occurrences.

But as you’ve no doubt noticed, our new website is a far cry from an “update”.  That’s because we felt it important to ensure every visitor clearly understood what distinguishes Xten’s service from that of companies that provide only plastic injection molding.

We spent some time looking for a single term that could convey a wide range of services all focused on one end result:i.e., getting the customer’s product into the marketplace with the highest possible ROI.

We chose on “Multifacturing” because it infers there is much more involved with “going to market” than just building the plastic parts…and it was important that visitors would realize that Xten could be relied on to deliver all that’s required.

So the content of our website had to be changed to explain what Multifacturing is and the many ways it benefits Xten’s customers.

That message  couldn’t be delivered by simply adding a few pages to our existent website.  There was enough new to say, and we felt it all was important enough, that an entirely new design, along with necessary extra pages, was required.

When it was all said and done, we had ourselves an entirely new website.

Obviously, the purpose of the site is to intrigue you to learn more about Multifacturing and to contact Xten to learn how we can benefit your company.  We also hope you’ll find that interesting and valuable general information about Xten and the people who work here.

I hope there will be a time in the near future when we’ll be able to put Multifacturing to work for you.

Sincerely,
Matthew Davidson

The annual award is presented by the Wisconsin Entrepreneurs’ Network (WEN). It acknowledges growth-oriented companies where financial potential, strategic concepts and effective management have been established. Winners also have strong track records of attracting  talented workers, providing access to peer learning and developing solid vendor relationships. Winners are selected by judges from the banking, economic  development, entrepreneurial and angel investment communities.

Companies making it to the Wisconsin Companies to Watch list are firms having 6 to 99 full-time employees and  generating $750,000 to $50 million in annual revenue. During 2006-2008, these  types of enterprises provided more than 36 percent of the jobs created by  companies headquartered in the state.

These companies are poised for future  growth and will help drive investment and job creation in Wisconsin,” said  Department of Commerce Secretary, Paul Jadin. Like Xten Industries, they form  the backbone of Wisconsin’s economy. They are known for their exceptional  entrepreneurial leadership, creative use of innovation and the development of sustainable competitive advantage, he added.

“We feel this award is testimony to the success we’ve realized expanding our business beyond traditional injection  molding to a more complete business support organization,” stated Xten CEO, Matthew Davidson. “Xten’s mission is to find ways of delivering greater and  greater value to an expanding number of customers,” added Vice President William  Renick.

Xten Industries Inc. was selected as the 2011 Business of the Year. The award honors a firm that has been in business for at least five years and has more than 30 employees. Xten’s recognition as Business of the Year is only the latest in a series of awards, including being named three times to the Future 50 list of fastest-growing companies, awarded by the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce (MMAC) and the Council of Small Business Executives (COSBE). Earlier this year, Xten was one of four KABA members selected as a Wisconsin Company to Watch by the Wisconsin Entrepreneur Network and the Wisconsin Department of Commerce. From 2009 to 2011, Xten added 30 employees at its 78,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Kenosha. In that same span, the company’s revenue has climbed by $4.5 million, partly stemming from the development of new products for use in medical waste disposal and appliances.

Xten produces plastic parts, assembled components and sub-assemblies and either integrates them into customer products or drop-ships finished products to end-user locations. Currently the company is producing products ranging from 30-gallon medical waste containers to tiny gears and optical lenses small enough to fit on a fingernail.

The selection of Xten was based on factors that included history of growth (sales and employment), innovation (introduction of new products and services), community engagement and overall economic impact on the community.

For the third time, Xten Industries has been named a Future 50 Company by the Council of Small Business Executive (COSBE) of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce (MMAC).

In appraising the company of its selection, the Council took notice of the exceptional challenge to being named posed by the current economic conditions.

“We are pleased to have been selected for the 2011 award, and take particular gratification in it being our third time,” said Matthew Davidson, Xten CEO. “It’s heartening to know that our business model and operating methods have kept us on an above-average growth path,” he added.

This is the COSBE’s 24th annual Future 50 Awards. The organization began the program as a way of highlighting local businesses with successful growth performances. A full-length feature article on each recipient will appear in Biz Times Milwaukee over the coming months.

Awards will be presented to all recipients on September 15th, 2001. “Our Future 50 winners provide a good window into what’s on the economic horizon,” said Tim Sheehy, MMAC president.

“Companies with exportable products and services will continue to drive job and income growth for the region.”

 Congratulations from Mayor Bosman of Kenosha
Congratulations from Associated Bank