On January 26^th London/Oxford EMC Member Company Keiper Automotive hosted a very special SIG Session.

EMC in conjunction with the London Region Manufacturing Council invited local manufacturing companies to Keiper for a SIG Session....to help.

On March 31^st Keiper will wind down production as the Plant closes. At its peak Keiper employed 600 people producing seat frames for Chryslers and Mercedes. Keiper London employees were often sent to Kieper faculties around the world to help them attain the quality standards of the London facility.

Keiper is well known in the London/Oxford Consortium for having a very well trained and highly functioning team. They have opened up their doors to fellow EMC Member many times for SIG sessions. They have also invited many in to their facility to best practice share and benchmark individually.

The goal of this SIG session was to bring the London/Oxford Manufacturing Community together to see if they could offset some of the remaining 120 job losses at Keiper due to the Plant closing. Business for many London/Oxford Manufacturing companies has improved and it was hoped that some would be looking to grow their workforces. Keipers remaining workforce provides a well trained highly motivated talent pool.

On January 26^th, 36 local manufacturing came out to Keiper to hear what skills sets the remaining Keiper folks had. In total Forty Five London/Oxford Manufacturing Companies responded that they would be interested in learning about what types of skills the Keiper employees had.

Keiper Plant Manager Bob Cook and his Team highlighted the training those in the facility have received. Everyone in attendance was provided with a comprehensive skills matrix breakdown for the remaining Talent Pool.

In the face of this plant closing absenteeism is at a record low, OSHA recordables are at a record low as well as scrap dollars and reject rates. This is very impressive and a testimate to the quality of the Keiper Team.

As a result of this event so far Keiper has had 80 potential job opportunities for its remaining workforce from the local Manufacturing community......with hopefully more to follow.

That is truly outstanding!

Keiper is incredibly thankful for the support of the London/Oxford Manufacturing Community. 

If you would be interested in getting a Keiper "Peer-2-Peer Talent Transition Presentation" which details remaining employee's skills sets please let me know. Keiper will work with you to ensure a smooth transition for any of their folks. If there are opportunities for employees that need to be filled before March 31^st Keiper HR will work towards accommodating.

Jason Bates, EMC London/Oxford     jbates@emccanada.org