One of the things we like to do every now and then is send cards of encouragement to our customers. Each week at our team meeting, we pick one customer to focus on. We discuss their history, their products, the people we know, and the plans they have for growth. We then pass around a greeting card and sign it (and sometimes add fun drawings) as a way to lift up their team. We have received such great feedback from our customers saying that the card gets displayed in their lunchrooms and make people feel like we're rooting for them.

Not only are we passionate about doing our best work and producing great assemblies, but we also love knowing that we are helping American manufacturers succeed. Empowering small American companies makes us feel like we're making a difference and, after all, don't we all want to feel like our work makes a difference?

We're getting ready to expand! No, we didn't eat too much at the local all-you-can eat seafood buffet (although it is delicious). We're getting ready to scale up Bridgeview and enter the next chapter of our business.

One of the ways we're getting ready for expansion is prepping the team and making sure the foundation is solid before we build on top of it. That means all our processes are in place, our team is trained up, our tools are ready, and materials are sourced. Our company runs smoothly now but if it didn't, and we tried to scale up in chaos, the chaos itself would simply grow.

We have team members becoming IPC certified. We have team members being cross-trained on machines and various hand tools. We are reaching out to different vendors to establish relationships with them and get the best prices for our customers. We're going to be revamping our website soon and updating our mission statement to better reflect our company culture.

All these things need to happen before expansion so that when growth does come, we're ready. Let's build something together!

Below:
Ben is getting processes down to make sure when he trains future operators they can build our assemblies quickly and accurately.

We have two anniversaries this week: Peter and Ashlee! Both have been with us for a year and they both bring so much to the team that we couldn't imagine Bridgeview without them. 

Peter splits his time between production and engineering. helping to build assemblies and write instructions for our production team. He is studying to become a commercial pilot and just passed his first exam on his way to getting his private pilot license. Peter loves Dad jokes and fist bumps and volunteers as an assistant basketball coach in his limited spare time.

Ashlee is our go-to person in our Inventory department. Her organizational skills and love of order keeps our inventory area tidy and manageable. She is almost finished with school, working on a degree in Manufacturing Technology. We hope to bring her on full-time when she graduates next year. Ashlee loves animals and has a horse that stands 17 1/2 hands tall!

Happy anniversary, Peter and Ashlee!


Below:
Peter and Christina (left) smile for the camera Ashlee (right) holds up her anniversary certificate.

Ever wonder how an assembly makes it's way through the manufacturing process? When a new team member joins our company, one of the first things we do is train them on the journey an assembly makes, from customer purchase order to a completed assembly shipped to its final destination.

We start with inputting the purchase order into our database, making sure all the information is correct. We generate a work order and the work order gets handed off to our kitting team. The kit gets assembled and any wire or cable the assembly needs gets cut. The completed kit then gets sent to production. A production worker will begin assembly and, depending on the size of the assembly, will get help from other production team members. Our inspector checks the assemblies at designated stopping points throughout the assembly process to make sure our workmanship standards are adhered to. Once the assembly is complete, it is handed in to our quality assurance department for overall inspection and testing. After giving the assembly the stamp of approval, it gets packaged, put into a shipping box, and leaves that very same day.

Once a year we do a company-wide training to refresh everyone on the various processes associated with an assembly's journey through our shop. It's fun to see the different teams peek into areas of the shop they generally don't work in and see work they normally aren't involved in. We cheer each other on as we follow a mock assembly through the shop, from kitting to shipping. Seeing how the processes all fit together helps everyone recognize how important their work is and how teamwork is essential in getting that work done.


Below:
The teams are working together to understand the various processes in building an assembly.

We're wishing Richard a Happy 1st Anniversary with Bridgeview! We are so happy he has been with us for a year. It seems like this year has zoomed by but Richard has kept us entertained with stories of rock concerts and his love of anything Godzilla. Richard used to work in manufacturing in his youth and had very happy memories of working at a shop in Salt Lake City. As he got older, he went into management and worked for several corporations before deciding that he missed being out on the shop floor. He brings his manufacturing know-how to our company but also his management experience has helped give our leadership team invaluable advice.

​We are so grateful for you, Richard!

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.

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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.

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.