“It’s probably been 30 years since we’ve done this much hiring,” said Joe Harris, an inventory supervisor, a 50-year company veteran.
The stream of jobseekers is so strong that Dayton Progress has brought seats from the company cafeteria to its lobby to give the applicants places to sit.
The company makes punches, blanks and metal stamping tools. Business is good at Dayton Progress and other tooling and machining shops because manufacturing the the Midwest is rebounding.
Ohio has added 7,600 manufacturing jobs in the past year, including 3,400 in May, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services reported earlier this month.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago’s Midwest Manufacturing Index, released Monday, showed that regional production in May rose 7.1 percent from May 2010, while the national production rose 4.1 percent.
Also, the region’s machinery production rose 12.1 percent in May from last year, far ahead of the national machinery production increase of 8.1 percent.
“Manufacturing is not dead. It’s coming back,” said Kathy Sinkwitz, a human resources/accounting administrator with Swihart Industries Inc. in Dayton. The machining shop wants to hire five qualified employees this month. Swihart currently has 32 workers.
Dayton Progress is surging even though the recession ravaged two of its major customers — the auto and home construction industries. How did it survive?
“We saw it coming,” said Alan Shaffer, Dayton Progress chairman, president and chief executive. “How much warning you have on a problem is a big factor.”
Shaffer recalled a meeting with employees in August 2006 when he warned them: “We are heading for an economic slowdown.”
The company temporarily stopped matching employee 401(k) investments, froze pay, and cut hours and jobs. The company also let other jobs go unfilled.
Today, 401(k) matches and raises have resumed, and workers are putting in more than 50 hours a week, Shaffer said.
In spring 2008, publicly traded Federal Signal Corp. sold the company to family owned Boston acquisition firm Connell Limited Partnership. The sale freed Dayton Progress to concentrate on its core business and not corporate results, Shaffer said.
That same year, Dayton Progress acquired AIP Inc. of Troy, Mich. This year, the company purchased Lane Punch Corp. in North Carolina and Michigan.
The auto industry, which has enjoyed a resurgence as well, will remain a key customer, Shaffer said. Even in a bad year, 50 million vehicles are made around the world.
“We’re running to the auto industry to find additional things we can do for them,” Shaffer said.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2390 or tgnau@Dayton DailyNews.com.
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