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oach is one of “do-it-ourselves,” and indeed, CMMA Breakfast Meeting

Tour: Ben's Structural Fabrication
Speaker: Traci Tapani; Co-President Wyoming Machine, Inc.

Topic: How employers should be thinking "outside the box" in recruiting.
Many employers are struggling to find workers in a full employment economy. We’ve been hearing a lot about “Thinking Outside the Box” and “Hidden Talent Pools”. Join us as Traci Tapani, Co-President of Wyoming Machine will share’s profiles and success stories of employees who don’t fit traditional stereotypes of manufacturing workers.

Traci Tapani is Co-President of Wyoming Machine, Inc. Traci became an owner of Wyoming Machine in 1994 and has shared the position of President, with her sister Lori, since 1997.
Traci is actively involved in volunteer activities that promote math and science education, technical training, and careers in manufacturing. In 2014 Traci was honored by The Manufacturing Institute with the Women in Manufacturing STEP Award for demonstrating excellence and leadership in Manufacturing and in April 2015 Traci participated in the Upskill America Summit hosted by the White House. Since, then she has made many trips to Washington, D.C. advocating for strong workforce development policy and in May 2018 she testified on this topic before Congress. Minnesota NAWBO (National Association of Women Business Owners) awarded Traci and her sister, Lori, with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Traci currently serves as Board Chair at the Initiative Foundation, serves on the board of the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, and recently completed a 3-year term as an appointee to the Minnesota Governor’s Workforce Development Council.

Tour: Ben's Structural Fabrication

In 1959, Benjamin Schwartz – a skilled blacksmith – opened a small shop in St. Cloud, MN. Originally focusing on tool sharpening for a local company, Ben’s – as it came to be known – quickly received requests from local residents and business owners for ornamental iron projects. This focus on tooling and iron work would lead the company through decades of growth, when in the mid-80’s the company added structural fabrication to its services – a direct result of the growth in and around the St. Cloud area.

Now in its third generation of family leadership, Ben’s Structural Fabrication has grown to over 40 employees and provides a full spectrum of in-house services including estimating, detailing, structural fabrication, OEM plate parts, and environmental services to companies and projects throughout the United States.

Ben’s offers wide-ranging structural fabrication capability to meet the custom requirements of virtually any project. The process starts with their skilled in-house estimators and detailers who have a true “feel-for-steel”. They understand both its limitations and potential. The next step in the process happens at the Waite Park production facility. Ben’s offers broad job-to-job flexibility and the ability to create, produce and deliver components to specification on time and within budget parameters. Their structural steel fabrication shop enables them to build any component of a project, even specialty items such as stairways and railings. The approach at Ben's is "do-it-ourselves," and while outsourcing production is now a common practice in the industry-Ben's continues to estimate, detail, and fabricate in the same way throughout their 50 year history-with their own staff, at their central Minnesota facility.

CMMA April Meeting

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Date and Time

Thursday Apr 25, 2019
7:15 AM - 10:00 AM CDT

7:15 Registration
7:30 Breakfast Meeting
9:00 Tour of Ben's Structural Fabrication

Location

Meeting Location:
Holiday Inn
75 South 37th Avenue
St. Cloud, MN 56301

Tour Location:
Ben's Structural Fabrication
475 Progress Road
Waite Park, MN 56387

Fees/Admission

$20/member*
$30/nonmember
Includes full breakfast. CMMA requests remittance for all reservations not canceled prior to the meeting.
*If a company is a CMMA member, ALL employees are eligible to attend at the member rate. Special needs? Contact Tina at Tina@MidwestManufacturers.com or 800-654-5773

Invite A Guest! CMMA members are encouraged to bring a potential member from another company as a one time FREE guest! Contact Tina-Tina@MidwestManufacturers.com to take advantage of this opportunity.

Thank you to our meeting sponsor:

Website

https://cmmaworks.org

Contact Information

800.654.5773
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