MDI means a new kind of business

December 21, 2005

By Willow Loney

MDI today is not the same MDI it was a few years ago or even a few months ago.

"I think there are some misconceptions out there, but there is a new MDI. It is radically different," said MDI President and CEO Mark de Naray.

Minnesota Diversified Industries is a non-profit manufacturer of extrusion plastics with facilities in Grand Rapids, Hibbing and St. Paul. With a newly expanded building and an expanded product line, MDI has experienced double digit increases in sales and new hires in the triple digits, in Grand Rapids in 2005.

"It has been a bit hectic," said de Naray, whose background is in growth and turnaround companies.

But the company does not intend to slow down the growth any time soon either.

In 2005, 110 new employees were hired in Grand Rapids alone. There are currently 95 openings at the Grand Rapids plant, which runs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Positions include not only line workers but line leads, technical production trainers, a process control engineer, a human resources manager and others.

The growth of the company, whose mission is to "serve people with disabilities and disadvantages through progressive training and job opportunities in a competitive business enterprise," was not necessarily a surprise, but the speed of that growth was, and with that have come challenges. Turnaround and employee retention have been difficult, admitted de Naray.

"I think it is one of those situations that we expected a longer time frame. So, therefore, we thought we would integrate into the local education system and have time to find the talent that we needed. At this time we are in a headlong rush for positions," said de Naray. "It has been a real learning experience, but there are things that we believe we can do to help that situation."

Sometimes there will be a high rate of turnover because the company is working with those who may not have worked in a long period of time. Part of what MDI has been doing lately to combat the turnover issue is trying to match a person’s capabilities with positions the business has to offer.

About half of those who work at MDI have disabilities, another 25 percent are generally disadvantaged, which could be defined as someone who doesn’t have a long employment history, lives in poverty, or has another barrier to employment. The remaining 25 percent of those who work at MDI are neither disabled nor disadvantaged.

"So at least half of those employed at MDI are just regular people on some kind of path," said de Naray. "Even those people with disabilities are not people with severe cognitive disabilities so that they can’t function. All are working a real job on the manufacturing line producing a high quality product."

The product that workers are producing is no longer just the United States Postal Service tote. MDI, which has been in the Grand Rapids Industrial Park since 1994, made its 50 millionth USPS tote in 2004 and the USPS remains its largest contract, however, de Naray insists, "We are a very different company now. We are a growth company."

In 2003 MDI, which was heavily reliant on the USPS, experienced some decline in sales and had to lay off workers at the same time. In 2004, de Naray said that the business stabilized, and in 2005 the company will be up more than 30 percent in sales. With that growth, de Naray said that MDI has not laid off one worker in the last two years.

"In 2006 we hope to be up in excess of 40 percent growth in sales. To have back to back double digits is significant," said de Naray. "You have to have a solid strategic plan."

Part of the long-term strategic plan requires expanding its products. Along with producing USPS totes, the company also manufactures other extruded plastic sheet products in bulk and value-added finished products. At the facility in St. Paul the company provides outsource fulfillment, distribution and packaging for government and corporate customers.

"We are multifaceted," said de Naray.

Although MDI has admittedly had some trouble attracting and retaining workers, for some, working at MDI is the second chance of a lifetime.

Kari Bouchie, 27, who once lived in adult foster care moved in with her grandmother in Trout Lake area near Coleraine in May. She has been working as a tote assembler at MDI since July.

"When I hit the three month mark here, I was so excited," said Bouchie, who before finding a job at MDI had not worked in three years and could not hold a job for longer than three months.

"(MDI is) very flexible in working with people and their disabilities," said Bouchie, who has bi-polar disorder and suffered a mild stroke in 2003.

According to de Naray, MDI offers an extensive training program, pairs people up with a buddy who can help them get acquainted with the workplace and the jobs, and has a way of easing people into assembly-line type work typical of manufacturing.

Along with helping to acquaint workers to their jobs, MDI offers vocational rehabilitation specialists who are there to assist whenever a worker needs a little bit of extra help. Since her father died in September, Bouchie has had a hard time emotionally on some days, but she knows that she can step into her vocational rehab specialist Judy Mattfeld’s office at any time.

As a tote assembler Bouchie, who graduated from the Grace Christian School, works with a partner to fold and clip together EEM trays for the USPS. She and her partner assemble about 60 EEM totes an hour. But Bouchie is striving for something more. Sometimes she welds the totes together. If she can weld 217 totes in one hour she can become a welder and jump from her current $8.25 an hour salary to $9.22 an hour.

The average salary at MDI is around $10, according to de Naray, but salaries can run between $8 to $18 an hour. Plus, the company offers a full benefit package, along with a 401 K plan with a 2 percent company match, paid time off, vacations, holidays and 100 percent tuition reimbursement.

While the benefits are great, the paycheck is the best part of the job, said Bouchie.

"But I also enjoy working with my co-workers," said Bouchie. "They are fun to work with."

Along with making more money, in the future, Bouchie has other goals as well - to attend school for massage therapy.

"I wanted to be able to become a massage therapist by the time I was 40," said Bouchie. "Now I think I may be able to do it before I am 30."

She may not be a massage therapist yet, but Bouchie has been able to earn enough money working at MDI to buy herself a new car. She now drives her burgundy 1997 Olds 88 (10 years younger than her previous car) to the YMCA in the mornings where she swims laps before heading to work. She works the 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. shift Monday through Friday. Sometimes she socializes and volunteers with other MDI employees on weekends or after work.

Bouchie’s vocational rehab specialist said that while Bouchie’s progress is remarkable, she has seen a lot of success already with other employees as well.

Just as Bouchie has started to change her self-image and expand her possibilities so, too, is the company as a whole.

"We will do fine," said de Naray. "We will continue to make incremental progress and we are very optimistic about our possibilities. We are coming out of our shell and that’s a good thing. In general, we think we are on the right path. Our future is bright."

Source: Grand Rapids Herald-Review