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dent of the United Steel Workers at Brillion and maintenance repair technician, the staff at the iron cast- ing operations are responding posi- tively to the changes taking place. “Relations are a lot better now


than they have been,” he said. “We had some issues when times got slow on how things were handled. But the relationship has gotten a lot better; we are working together to solve problems. I think people are starting to see that some of the changes have paid off.” With so much changing in a


Brillion Iron Works invested $10 million to repair the equipment on its four molding lines. “Right now, the employees are


really improving scrap performance,” said Thomas Burke, vice president, operations. Another part of the contract stipulates that Brillion can add work crews as the market dictates


for capacity reasons. “The contract addressed an over-


complicated classification structure and is now competitive,” Dauch said. “I give the union leadership kudos for working with the company.” According to Rick Konrad, presi-


three-year span—new management, new flow of operations on the plant floor, separating into Plant Peters and Plant Gabler, implementing lean manufacturing—engaging the hourly workforce was critical. “The people need to hear why


these changes need to be made,” Konrad said. “Once they understood, I don’t think the transition was quite so hard. That’s the biggest hurdle. If


30 | MODERN CASTING October 2014


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