business

A funky beat worthy of Prince escaped from E.J. Ajax's metal-stamping plant last Monday as three apprentices transformed steel slabs for industrial uses.

Denise "Neciy" Wilson pounded holes in locker-latches on a two-story press while Mong Vang shaped flat steel into fire extinguisher boxes. A third apprentice banged out parts for a giant heating system.

Despite the deafening clatter, some visitors to the Fridley plant began to dance, and the dancing fit the celebratory mood. After all, the employees, company founders and officials from the state, Hennepin Technical College (HTC) and the office of U.S. Sen. Al Franken were at the factory that day to celebrate the graduation of the three apprentices and the survival of the once-threatened manufacturer.

While Ajax and other manufacturers, as a group, have let go thousands of workers over the past few years, Ajax also invested $50,000 in tuition and training programs that improved the skills of its remaining workers, despite enduring a 33 percent plunge in company revenue over the past 19 months.

After 480 hours of night classes, Wilson, Vang and apprentice Chris Allen received diplomas signifying they'd crossed over from apprentice to "journeyman" -- one of the highest skill designations in the metalworking industry. They followed 21 co-workers who previously took the same path. The curriculum was approved by the state Department of Labor and Industry and carried out by Hennepin Technical College and the managers at Ajax.

"You are now at the top of the food chain," co-owner Erick Ajax teased Wilson as he introduced her to HTC's training director, Joe Fredkove, HTC President Cecillia Cervantes and Steve Sviggum, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry.

Wilson turned apple red and dabbed her eyes as an emissary read a letter from Franken congratulating her. Vang bounded up to the podium to shake hands and pose for pictures.

"I love to learn everything," said Wilson, who came to Ajax five years ago as a temp knowing little about metalwork. Today, she makes about $17 an hour.

The apprenticeship program "makes us unique," said Vang, whose parents migrated to Minnesota decades ago after spending time in a Laotian refugee camp.

Ajax, who was there with his parents and uncle, who headed the company for decades, looked on with pride. The buoyant mood belied a year of pain.

"Yes, 2009 was a tough year in the manufacturing sector," Ajax said. The 65-year-old family firm laid off 20 of about 54 workers and slashed salaries 15 to 20 percent. Still, it invested in its remaining workers.

Fredkove sees no contradiction between a company making layoffs and investing in employee education. "If you look at any of those people inside Ajax, you see they have maintained their jobs because they have maintained their stackable credentials. And that is through job training, industry training and apprenticeships. It's all tied [together].

Dedicated training efforts by manufacturers are showing up in force at technical colleges across the state. Manufacturers such as the hydraulics and electrical firm Eaton Corp., lawn equipment maker Toro Co., South St. Paul Steel Supply Co. and others create customized in-house training programs with the help of MnSCU instructors or usher workers into Dunwoody Institute, Hennepin Technical College and other trade schools that teach manufacturing skills.

"Even though manufacturing employment has dropped dramatically over the last five years the percent of technical and manufacturing education actually increased," said Mary Rothchild, director of business and industry relations at Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU). "Over the last four years, enrollment in manufacturing programs grew by over 44 percent." At the same time, the number of sector jobs dropped by 51,200 in the state, she said.

According to the National Association of Manufacturers, U.S. manufacturers have learned to compete with low-cost producers abroad by investing in highly specialized tools, dies and robotic machines that make specialized parts with tight tolerances. As a result, plant managers need highly skilled workers to operate them.

Bob Kill, CEO of Enterprise Minnesota, which works with small manufacturers around the state, said other factories are catching on that continued training, even in rocky times, is a necessity.

A recent Minnesota Enterprise survey of 500 manufacturers found that those firms successfully emerging from the recession have "figured out a balance between the number of workers they had to cut and how they would continue to invest in the workforce," Kill said. "There is no question. I think there is more [employee] skill upgrading going on in plants than most manufacturers like to talk about.

"Erick [Ajax] has a really good relationship with the technical colleges and that is unique. To keep investing like he did really [deserves] a pat on the back," Kill said.

"The program between Hennepin Technical College and Ajax & Sons is a fairly unique program," Rothchild agreed. "Most of our apprenticeship programs are done in the construction trades."

The investment appears to be paying off.

"The good news is that while we lost money in January and February, we finished 2009 in the black, without any damage to our balance sheet. And we have begun to recall some of our laid-off workers," Ajax said. "We are cautiously optimistic that our business will continue to grow."

Dee DePass • 612-673-7725