WINNEBAGO - It was a long process, but Zierke Built Manufacturing, Inc., has secured International Standard Organization certification, raising its profile in the steel industry and expanding the company's growth potential.
The Zierkes - Greg Zierke, president and CEO, and his son, Kyle Zierke, vice president - accepted the ISO certificate this week from Bob Kill, president and CEO of Enterprise Minnesota. Enterprise Minnesota worked with ZBM throughout the 16-month-long process.
"It doesn't end today because we're certified," Kyle Zierke told a gathering of employees, staff from Enterprise Minnesota and the world of politics, including Sen. Julie Rosen.
"It will help us as a company to grow our standards and quality," he said.
ISO is a quality management system to show that both product and process are up to standards, said Greg Thomas, business growth advisor for Enterprise Minnesota. "Some companies won't work with companies that don't have ISO."
Representatives from Enterprise Minnesota coached ZBM employees through the process, with frequent meetings and lots of feedback on what was going well and what could be improved, Thomas said.
It was a learning experience with "constant changes," said Greg Zierke.
The certification will need to be renewed every year with a special, more intensive evaluation every three years, Thomas said.
"It's an on-going investment for Zierke," he said.
But it's one the bosses are willing to make to grow the business that Greg Zierke started in 1981.
After the presentation, the Zierkes led a small group of visitors on a tour of the plant, where their 33 employees make products like fuel tanks, trailers and mufflers.
ZBM already has customers all over the states and "quite a few in Canada," Kyle Zierke said, but the certification "opens the doors for bigger companies."
"We have 45-50 customers," he said. "That's a vast improvement over three years ago when we had about three clients.
"Our customers ship all over the world: Mideast, Asia, South America, Caribbean, Europe."
He's hoping the ISO certification will further expand ZBM's customer base.
"We're trying to sell ourselves in other industries," Kyle Zierke said.
With more opportunities comes more work, which would allow ZBM to expand their work force - if they can find qualified workers.
"We need quality people who can do the work," Greg Zierke said, adding his employees are putting in overtime right now to keep up.
Enterprise Minnesota asks business owners what they look for when they're researching where to set up a new plant, and people who have the skills to do the work is the top answer, said Kill.
"Stop talking about jobs in manufacturing and start talking about careers in manufacturing," he stressed.
Part of the problem is the public views manufacturing work as dirty and low-paying, and that's an opinion the Zierkes would like to help change: Greg Zierke noted he starts new employees at no lower than $13 an hour, and as for the working conditions, one woman on the tour mentioned how nice the plant smelled.
"We've got people working here now that make more than teachers with four years of college," he said.
