Today is manufacturing day and the whole month of october is manufacturing month – a great opportunity to reach a new generation of manufacturers which is just what Karen Norheim aims to do as executive vice president of American Crane & Equipment Corp.
Via Thomas Insights
After some initial reluctance to join the family business years ago, Norheim accepted her father’s offer to work for American Crane and hasn’t looked back since.
When Norheim started at American Crane, she joined a positive company culture already established by her father — a culture in which employees were always put first. The only problem was, the business was still relying on word of mouth to attract new talent.
Norheim knew she could reinvigorate and modernize the culture — and how it was communicated and represented to potential employees — in a way that would allow American Crane to better reach the candidates they sought.
“We needed to reboot this culture and solidify it with actual words, values, [and a] mission statement, and … encompass who we are,” says Norheim. “And that turned into our new mantra, which is ‘Grit matters’ — perseverance, heart, and integrity — and that’s how we choose to work at American Crane, with that mantra in mind. That translates into being passionate about pleasing our customers.”
The “grit matters” campaign enlivened American Crane’s culture, providing the entire team with an outlet to share successes and work through challenges across department lines, allowing for enhanced collaboration among many different teams — from administration to project management to engineering to welding.
To attract the younger generation to the world of manufacturing, Norheim leads facility tours for students of all ages, from elementary school to high school. These efforts are bolstered by regional manufacturing programs, such as the Dream It. Do It. PA initiative, which aims to promote awareness of advanced manufacturing careers among students and their adult family members, as well as educators.