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May 17, 2023
APPLETON – A to Z Machine – a machinery parts manufacturer in Appleton – recently broke ground for a 30,000-square-foot production facility.
The new building, which is being built by Consolidated Construction, Co., will expand the company’s first-shift capabilities and support its continued growth.
“We see the buildout as a retention initiative,” Amanda Schabo, chief financial officer at A to Z Machine, said. “We have several highly skilled machinists currently on our second shift that, in time, want to transition to first shift. We don’t have the space to add additional machines for them in our current facilities.”
Schabo said the additional manufacturing space will also push A to Z’s total to more than 110,000 square feet – which will allow the company to innovate and improve alongside its customers’ needs.
Construction is expected to be completed by September, with the space being operational by October.
An ESOP
Schabo said the project is the company’s first expansion as an employee-owned entity.
The company’s transition into an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) started in 2017 when the owners of the nearly 20-year-old company began to look toward their exit strategies.
Schabo said an eventual move to an ESOP has been in the plans dating back to the company’s beginning – with original business plans for the company mentioning it.
“There’s been a couple of times down the road where they explored a little bit, but it was never the right time,” she said. “However, the owners definitely wanted to help give back to the people that helped build the business.”
With many at A to Z Machine unfamiliar with how ESOPs work, Schabo said the transition involved a lot of employee education – which included a detailed explanation of what it was.
She said A to Z is one of two machining shops in Wisconsin to go this route, and the only one in the Fox Valley.
//17bec5072710cda5b8dd81b69f4c6e58.cdn.bubble.io/f1684347678750x479497108795115840/richtext_content.webpA to Z Machine broke ground on its 30,000-square-foot expansion earlier this month. Completion is expected by September, with the space being operational by October. Photo Courtesy of A to Z Machine
At first, the biggest challenge for A to Z, Schabo said, was ensuring employees understood nobody had to dip into their own pockets to start buying the company out and nobody’s retirement was going away.
“The only thing that changed… was simple – You come to work, and the money the company makes goes back into the company rather than an owner, and that is what is paying them,” she said.
Schabo said under the ESOP, employees continue to have a 401k and a benefit plan – calling the employee-owned status an added benefit.
She said every year, a valuation of the company is done and shares are released – which means every year employees are getting new shares of the company stock.
In the case of A to Z Machine, Schabo said if the trend of work continues and the younger employees stay on, this could translate up to six or seven figures when an employee retires, and that’s on top of the other retirement accounts.
“Five years ago, the ESOP was kind of like a unicorn – nobody really understood it,” she said. “But now, every year when they’re getting that certificate that shows how many shares they have, and they’re watching the dollar value grow pretty substantially year over year, it means something to our employees.”
What prompted the expansion
As for the expansion, much like the ESOP, Schabo said it has much to do with retention efforts, as well as supporting customer demand.
Currently, she said A to Z Machine is running out of three facilities, all of which lack the space to add larger machines that customers are looking for.
That’s where Consolidated Construction Co. comes in.
Jason Pettitt, vice president of construction at Consolidated Construction, said his team began looking into the budgets and designs for an expansion right around the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“During the height of COVID, we drew up a couple of design options that showed how A to Z can maximize the site, for the initial 30,000 square feet and an additional 25,000 when the time comes,” he said.
Pettitt said future proofing and planning is something Consolidated Construction tries to do for each client – making sure they understand each client’s growth needs while maximizing land use.
He said it’s fairly common to see businesses outgrow their space.
Improving process efficiencies
One of the beauties of A to Z, Schabo said, is that the buildings are in close proximity to one another, which makes getting work done that much easier.
She said the expansion will improve the process even more.
“By moving some of the machines into the expansion, it allows us to grow in those larger machines for customers that are in demand,” she said.
Functionally speaking, Schabo said the space will allow for more production room, which opens up other opportunities.
Being ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations) compliant and ISO (International Organization for Standardization) certified, Schabo said, gives A to Z Machine an advantage – allowing the company to look for customers who require one or both of these certifications and who have larger needs, which they cannot service now.
Essentially, transitioning A to Z Machine into a one-stop for machining needs, she said.
Schabo said the new facility upholds A to Z’s “true north statement” to be the machining industry’s supplier and employer of choice.
“We know to thrive as a business, we must continue to grow,” she said.
//17bec5072710cda5b8dd81b69f4c6e58.cdn.bubble.io/f1684347729231x996821199583590000/richtext_content.webpA to Z Machine – machinery parts manufacturer located in Appleton – recently held a groundbreaking for its 30,000-square-foot production facility expansion. Photo Courtesy of A to Z Machine
The new facility will feature state-of-the-art machinery and automation systems to enhance CNC (computerized numerical control) parts capabilities for clients in a number of industries, including agriculture, military, food processing, oil and more.
Marc Manteufel, leadership team member, manufacturing engineering manager and IT manager at A to Z Machine, said the expansion is “a smart move.”
“This is the best company I’ve worked for,” he said. “The way employees are treated at A to Z is outstanding, and I love to see us staying relevant with technology.”
Randy Smith, A to Z utility department lead, said the expansion also helps inspire the next generation of machinists – especially through the company’s youth apprentices program which gives high school juniors and seniors in the Fox Valley hands-on experience.
“This new building will provide even greater opportunities for youths to explore the world of machining and consider it as a viable career path when they graduate,” he said.
