With a new Mission Statement, we felt that we also needed a new Vision Statement. What is a Vision Statement and how does it differ from a Mission Statement? A Mission Statement describes your "why" and sets boundaries around what your company is and what it isn't. A Vision Statement is what the world would be like if you accomplish your mission. 

Our Mission Statement is, "Bridgeview Manufacturing, LLC produces custom wire harnesses and cable assemblies, and provides engineering support to promote the success of small American manufacturing." So what would the world look like if we were to accomplish our mission?

We envision an America where manufacturing is booming again. Where every single state would have hundreds, if not thousands, of manufacturing companies producing the items we consume.  Where workers have good jobs, are treated with dignity, and are proud of the work they do supplying their neighbors with quality goods.  Where companies succeed and give back to the community, strengthening the very places their workers live, play, and worship. So how does Bridgeview fit in?

By providing our customers with high quality wire harnesses and cables assemblies, and supporting them with our engineering expertise, we can be a part of the resurgence of American manufacturing. That is our vision.

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Some of our team members: (left) at our annual retreat, (right) teamwork!

Following this article about Meta employees getting fired for abuse of benefits (https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/17/tech/meta-employees-fired-meal-credits-layoffs/index.html), we discussed employee benefits at our team meeting today.

Yes, benefits are important and things like health care, retirement contributions, and even meal allowances are important for the moral of employees and to fairly compensate them for their work. But what about the personal benefits a person receives by working for a company and being immersed in that company's culture all day? If a person works for a company with a toxic work culture, they carry that toxicity with them and, unfortunately, sometimes that spills over into their personal lives, affecting those around them. If a person works for a company with a respectful and encouraging culture, they carry that positivity with them and, hopefully, it will allow them to not only succeed at work but to also succeed in their personal endeavors.

When we asked our team what benefits they received by working at Bridgeview, some people said they learned flexibility, patience, and confidence. They learned how to collaborate, how to communicate clearly, and how to celebrate achievements. Some people said they never had a boss that didn't yell so working for Bridgeview taught them that a boss can be a kind servant and not a scary dictator. Some people said they never knew they were capable of doing the work they do (like assembling complicated wire harnesses) but they feel pride at how much they have learned and how well they do their work. A grateful attitude allows us to open our minds to the many blessings we have and all the benefits we receive by being in the work environment we're in.

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Peter and Kevin (left) and Richard (right) work hard to build various wire harness assemblies. They take pride in their work and welcome opportunities to learn.

We've got a lot of personality here at Bridgeview. 

While all of our team members have different personalities that makes for a fun work environment, our company itself also has a personality. We believe it's that personality that sets us apart from other manufacturers. If you visit as many websites as our sales and marketing department does, you start to notice two kinds of companies being presented through their respective websites. One kind of company uses "corporatese", corporate jargon that says an awful lot without really saying anything at all. The personality of these companies seem boring. They're a dime a dozen. The other kind of company we come across has fun pictures of their people hard at work, interesting blurbs about the history of the company, language that lets you know exactly what they make, and, most important of all, you can understand their "why". These companies don't fit into one kind of personality; some are artistic, some are resourceful, some are noble, and some are helpful.  

In trying to describe who we are, we thought about our personality as a whole. How would we describe Bridgeview as a personality? Words like capable, cooperative, organized, and loyal came to mind. Also faithful, generous, industrious, and optimistic came up. Overall, we're a happy bunch who simply want to be of service. We get excited when small American manufacturers entrust us with their projects and the desire to see them succeed motivates us to work hard. We're not your typical corporation that simply wants to squeeze as many pennies out of their customers as possible. We want everyone to win, including our own team.

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Ben and Seth (left) and Richard and Peter (right) are a few of the crazy characters that work for Bridgeview. 

Every team has a set of skills and abilities that, when used collectively, make the team a powerful one. Individually, we can do a lot; people are capable of a great many things. But if you were to ask very successful people how they did it, inevitably they would admit to having a talented team around them who pooled their skills and abilities to accomplish the main goal.

We have a diverse group of people here at Bridgeview but one thing we all have in common is a drive to succeed. We're all willing and ready to learn new skills, admit our mistakes, work long hours, and keep trying until we get it right. We are skilled in crimping, soldering, assembling, and packaging. We've been teaching our production team how to decipher engineering drawings (no matter how strange some of them seem to be), and not one person on our team has ever uttered the phrase, "That's not my job," when asked to do something like sweep the shop or jump in to cover an absent team member.

One of the things that makes Bridgeview so special is our team. We tell them, "You ARE Bridgeview," because without them we wouldn't have the capability to support the number of customers we do. We treat our team like family and they give of their skills and abilities freely, just wanting to see Bridgeview succeed. 

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Ben (left) has become really proficient at soldering, a skill he really wanted to develop when he first started working for Bridgeview.  Peter (right) is working on circuit boards, something he never attempted before working at Bridgeview. Now, he's an old pro.

This week at our team meeting we discussed what makes a great mission statement. We took at look at mission statements from famous companies and discussed whether the mission statements communicated the "why" of the company.

We compared the mission statement of Toyota ("To attract and attain customers with high-valued products and services and the most satisfying ownership experience in America") to that of Ferrari ("To make unique sports cars that represent the finest Italian design and craftmanship, both on the track and on the road"). Which mission statement is specific and which one is more broad? Which one mentions their products? Which one is geared towards consumers and which one is geared towards share holders? There was no right or wrong answer, just perceptions.

We all appreciated the to-the-point mission statement of Walmart ("We save people money so they can live better") and we were all a little lost after reading DuPont's mission statement ("To create shareholder and societal value while reducing the environmental footprint along the value chains in which we operate").

A mission statement should be clear and should communicate to everyone the "why" of the company. What's the point of the company? Why does it exists? What does it want to accomplish? What is its mission?

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Left: Peter gives a thumbs up to signal he's done with his assemblies and they're ready for shipping. Right: Richard likes to display customer stickers on his vice.  

Our country is going through a hard time right now. Depending on who you ask, you will get various answers about the state of our economy, but all it takes is a trip to the grocery store or gas station for a person to see that prices have increased. It's not for us to explain why, we simply have to ride it out and hope that we have enough of a safety net to weather the storm.

This week at our weekly staff meeting, we discussed a helpful article about recession-proofing your business that had some useful tips. The article can be found at:​ https://www.ansarada.com/recession/business-survival In the article, the author suggests common sense strategies to help a business survive economic uncertainty. Ideas like nurturing your existing customer base, reducing unnecessary spending, and supporting current employees allows small business owners a way to feel like they can be proactive and prepare their businesses for a downturn in the economy.

We're rooting for all of our customers and we're doing our best to take care of our people. We have to hope and pray for the best.

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Seth (left) does a pull test for one of our operators. Even during hard times, you still have to produce a quality product. Richard and Ashlee (right) look up specs for a new crimp they're using. Learning everything we can about our industry helps us to stay sharp and competitive.
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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?

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Ashlee (left) and Seth (right) love to add fun questions and drawings to our encouragement cards.

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!

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Ben (left) is getting processes down to make sure when he trains future operators they can build our assemblies quickly and accurately. Kevin and Seth (right) are testing assemblies to make sure they're perfect when they leave the shop.

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!


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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.


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