We have a variety of customers we serve and that's one of the things that makes Bridgeview such an interesting place to work. We have customers that are multi-billion dollar international corporations and we also have customers that are small companies made up of a handful of dedicated people, working hard to try to bring a life-changing product to market. All of our customers are important to us and we treat them all with the same interest and respect that helps to support them and their goals.
We recently partnered with a company that has a very similar employment philosophy to our own. They believe that one of the keys to success is treating their team members well and creating an environment where their team feels valued and heard. This kind of work environment creates a strong team with less turn over and more loyalty to the company. We believe in lifting up American manufacturing, especially the workers, and we love when we can find other companies that believe in our same mission. Below: Richard, Peter, Ashlee, and Seth all pitch in to get the work done. Without our team, Bridgeview would be nothing. We lift up our own team, just like we lift up the teams who work for the customers we serve.
0 Comments
It's always exciting to be able to add on to our team. We have such a strong team that we are very picky with who we hire. The right candidate has to be driven, open to learning, and fit in with our existing team. We're currently hiring for two positions: Inventory Specialist and Engineering Technician.
The Inventory Specialist is responsible for a variety of tasks all oriented towards making sure the production assemblers have what they need to build products. This includes tasks such as wire and cable cutting, maintaining the loose bin inventory, organizing back room, and communicating with other teams within the company. The Engineering Technician's responsibilities include the interpretation of customer documentation, manufacturer specifications, governing workmanship standards, assembly of new products and documenting the assembly process including any equipment and testing setups and any quality requirements, generally in the form of a work instruction document. This also includes a comprehensive understanding of production tasks such as soldering, crimping, connectorization, cutting and stripping wires, applying heat shrink tubing, reading, understanding and following documentation, verification of product quality and communication with other teams within the company. Our Inventory Specialist position is 20 hours a week and would be great for a student. Our Engineering Technician position is a full-time position and does require at least one year of manufacturing experience. If you would like to apply for either position, please send your resume to [email protected]. Below: Ashlee (left) is our current Inventory Specialist. We are seeking someone to work alongside Ashlee to make sure our Production Department has what they need to complete their builds. Collin (right) recently left Bridgeview to continue pursuing his mechanical engineering degree. Our new Engineering Specialist will take over Collin's duties of supporting our production team and helping customers. For the past few weeks we've been discussing the various areas of wellness during our Monday meetings. This last Monday we discussed intellectual wellness. This is basically finding ways to use your brain to learn and stay curious about the world around you.
We have always encouraged our team to bring in projects they may be working on at home so that they can work on them during breaks and after work. We've had people bring in RC planes, miniature working gas engines, video games, and even their project cars. We value learning and anything we can do to encourage a curious mind benefits us as well. We want to employ team members who want to know how things work, who want to learn new skills, and who are willing to ask questions. Below: A team member brought in this mini-Lego build (left) and the team spent a few Friday afternoons after lunch building it together. Another team members brought in his guitar multi-effects processor (right) to work on. We have another work anniversary in June. Seth has been with us for 2 years and, frankly, we couldn't imagine Bridgeview without him. Seth started out as a production worker but his talent for quality assurance made itself very apparent early on. We promoted him to our inspection department and he has been rocking and rolling ever since.
Seth is our resident computer nerd. He is fluent in C++ and gives us IT support whenever we need it. He is funny, laid back, and very dedicated to learning his work. Seth will be our first team member that will be IPC certified this year and we couldn't be prouder of him. We appreciate all you do, Seth! Below: Seth is holding up his 2 year anniversary sign (left). Seth also spends lots of time studying the IPC manual, learning workmanship standards (right). One of our major goals here at Bridgeview is to get ISO 9001 certified. We have been working on this process for over a year now and we hope to be certified very soon. Following processes is a way of life for us; it's part of our company culture. Kevin says that ISO boils down to, "You do what you say and you say what you do." We want our customers to feel confident that we are actually doing what we say we do.
As part of preparation for ISO 9001 certification, we have a written Quality Management System (QMS) that we follow. This QMS allows us to know where in the process a certain assembly is and gives our team written instructions to follow so that we follow the same steps every single time. This cohesiveness in our flow lessens mistakes and enables our team to feel confident that they are succeeding. Below: Richard (left) checks his paperwork to record the time he spent on the assembly he's working on. Ashlee (right) makes sure all the paperwork is present before issuing an assembly to a production worker. June is full of different celebrations for us. We have 2 birthdays in June, Christina and Ben, and 2 work anniversaries, Haley and Seth. We absolutely love celebrating our team so we take every opportunity to lift up our team members and let them know how appreciated they are.
Birthdays are a big deal here. We have a potluck at lunch, a birthday crown, a special cake, a team-signed birthday card, presents, and our traditional off-key, loud rendition of the Happy Birthday song. Seriously, you can hear us out in the parking lot. We've had team members over the years tell us how much it means to them that we care enough to celebrate them. Our team members mean a lot to us (we wouldn't have Bridgeview without them!) so it's only natural we'd want to have some fun on their special day. Happy birthday, Ben and Christina! Below: Ben (left) celebrates his birthday with a chocolate Pop-Tart cake. Christina and Haley (right) on Christina's birthday. Happy 2nd work anniversary to Haley!
Haley is such a valuable part of our team. Not only does she keep everyone entertained with cat memes and stories about her 18-lb orange tabby, but she is also a team player, willing to jump in and help anyone when needed. From sweeping the shop to crimping thousands of crimps, Haley just wants to see Bridgeview succeed. We appreciate you, Haley! Below: Haley (left) is so proud (and slightly embarrassed) to be celebrating her 2nd work anniversary. Haley's famous cat (right) is a ball of orange fluff. We are very proud of our testing department. Over the years we have gathered many testers for checking the various assemblies we make. Our team puts assemblies through electrical as well as mechanical testing, including pull testing.
We are surprised by the number of manufacturers that don't know what pull testing is. According to the IPC manual, "Axial (longitudinal) force is applied to evaluate the mechanical integrity of the crimped connection." (IPC/WHMA-A-620E 19.7.2) Since we build to IPC standards, we perform pull testing at the beginning of every crimp job. Testing means we are confident that the assemblies we send to our customers not only work but are built to industry standards. Below: Seth demonstrates how to pull tester works. It's always a happy day when new equipment shows up. We all gather around the freight truck, waiting for the forklift to deposit our new equipment into our shop. We ooh and aah over unwrapping it and it usually takes a few of us to lift it off the pallet and place it in it's new home. We turn it on and try it out, a million questions flying. It's a fun time, when future possibilities become reality, and the benefits of the new machine are greatly appreciated.
We got a new crimping machine today. It's red and beautiful and will improve our speeds exponentially. We already have machines to help us crimp but every new machine means more machines available for work. Out team is excited to be able to go faster and get jobs to customers sooner. The more we do to lift up and support our customers, the more we are contributing to their success. Below: Meet Clifford, our latest crimping machine. |
AuthorsChristina and Kevin Hayward Archives
July 2024
Categories |