Facing labor shortage, Zeeland company starts shuttle service to truck in talent | Crain's Detroit Business:
"Primera Plastics Inc. has had trouble finding qualified workers to fill gaps in its staff.
"West Michigan is growing so fast, the talent is not keeping up with it," said President and CEO Noel Cuellar.
The injection molder, producing primarily automotive and furniture parts, had turned to internal training to build the skill level among its staff of about 130 but still had trouble filling both skilled and entry-level positions.
"We have positions open right now, but we're using temp agencies to fill those because we can't find permanent employees," said Steve Berkenpas, Primera's CFO.
Cuellar, who has involved his company in community outreach in the past, thought of a solution that had his staff momentarily confounded.
"We bought a bus," he said.
The "bus" is a part of the company's new program, Primera Pathways, which targets local, unemployed high school graduates who lack reliable transportation.
Primera plans to hire three to five per shift for full-time, entry-level positions and will offer the new employees transportation to and from work for one year in the company's recently purchased 15-passenger shuttle.
"We will pick you up, we will bring you to work, and we will train you," Cuellar said.
The company-funded program, which launched last month, is intended to benefit the community while filling Primera's own needs for workers. "
"This isn’t the first time Obama has called for reinforcement of the “open Internet,” but his push for the specific utility classification comes at a key time when the FCC is proposing rule changes that would allow Internet providers to offer “fast lanes” to companies who would want to pay for speedy delivery of their products.
