Evansville area businesses among best places to work in manufacturing
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Three southwestern Indiana businesses rank among the state’s top ten “Best Places to Work in Manufacturing,” according to an Indiana Chamber of Commerce survey.
Evansville-based CrossPoint Polymer Technologies, Poseyville-based Nix Companies and Jasper-based Kimball Electronics were ranked 3rd, 4th and 7th, respectively.
The chamber announced the rankings for 2023 in December. Employer reports and comprehensive employee surveys determined which businesses were chosen.
CrossPoint Polymer Technologies and Nix Industrial also made the list the previous year, but 2023 marks the first year Kimball Electronics has won the honor.
Here’s a look at those companies and the culture they have worked to create.
CrossPoint Polymer Technologies
CrossPoint Polymer Technologies makes plastic pellets, primarily from recycled resins.
“We have polymer chemists on staff, nice R&D capabilities,” said company president Ben Schmidt. “We do lots of custom colors.”
The company was incorporated in 2010 and began production in 2011 in Evansville. Schmidt and his original partners, including brother-in-law Ben Kunkel, started in the old Whirlpool building off U.S. 41. The business now is located at 2301 St. Joseph Industrial Park Dr.
Schmidt takes pride in being what he calls a second-chance employer.
“We’ve had several people recovering from drug addiction in prison. We’ve had people who have never had family members ever graduate from college,” he said. “We’ve been able to help them buy a new home, get a degree, really advance far in the company.”
The culture at CrossPoint Polymer Technologies is focused on community impact, Schmidt said, noting that he routinely discusses causes in need of support with his employees.
“We want to make a bunch of money and give a bunch of money away,” he said. “Our employees will come and say, ‘Hey, this organization is doing these things. Can we get involved?’ It’s nice to have a common and understood purpose.”
The company is expanding at its current location with plans to add another 180,000 square feet to its existing 100,000-square-foot building. Schmidt is also considering a company acquisition and global expansion.
“We have a fair amount of Japanese and German customers. So we’re exploring some ideas about partnerships, potentially expanding into Asia and Europe,” he said.
Nix Companies
Nix Industrial’s current holdings include “custom manufacturing, industrial maintenance, structural fabrication, commercial vehicle repair and body shop, commercial and industrial real-estate, marketing and related services.
The fifth-generation, family-owned and -operated business started in 1902 as a blacksmith shop in Poseyville. The company has grown through acquisitions of a steel facility in Rockport and machine shops in Princeton and Cincinnati. It also has created new lines of business.
“We started our own coating facility where we do painting and powder coating and sandblasting for our own products that we’re building, and also for other manufacturers in the area. And we’ve also started a field services division,” said Lindsey Nix, director of public relations and training.
Nix said the business is intentional about its mission, vision statement and core values, which are discussed weekly company-wide.
“It’s something that you really feel when you walk into our facilities. Everyone’s genuinely happy to be there. They love spending time with each other,” she said. “They’re eating lunch together and spending time with each other outside of work on the weekends.”
Nix wrote a post on LinkedIn about the importance of actively shaping company culture.
“Culture and the way you treat your employees, that all has to be a top priority every single day,” Nix said. “There are lots of great places to work in southwest Indiana. “In this intense labor market that we’re in right now, we have to be on our A game.”
Nix Companies recently rebranded its Nix Metals and Nix Coatings businesses and their subsidiary brands to the name Nix Industrial, and is in the process of launching a new concept called the Progressive Fabricators Alliance.
“We’ll help other small fabrication shops, machine shops, paint shops, do what we’ve done in their shops,” said Nix. “We can help them create pathways to have a great place to work so they can attract and hire great and new talent. Help them with strategic planning and those kinds of things to grow their businesses through acquisitions and starting new business ventures.”
Kimball Electronics
Kimball Electronics provides engineering, design and manufacturing solutions for automotive, industrial and medical customers. These services include contract electronics manufacturing, diversified contract manufacturing and automation.
The business began in Jasper in 1961 with electronic organ production. The company became Kimball International in 1974 following the acquisition of a furniture business. In 1983, organ operations were phased out, while electronic assembly was retained and expanded. In 2014, Kimball Electronics branched off and became a separate entity.
“We have organs out there to this day as well as things in the automotive market and medical market that are really critical to safety products,” said Mary Leah Siegel, senior director of brand marketing.
Jason Davis, general manager, said the company’s workforce is the key to its success.
“We build things that 100% can’t fail. And our secret sauce is our people,” he said. “When you’re building products that are that important, you’ve got to take care of your people because you need an excellent team. You can’t afford to have an issue go wrong.”
Sue Habig, human resources manager at Kimball Electronics, said the business has added more than 250 positions in the last few years despite the pandemic and a tight labor market.
“It has been a challenge for us, but it’s one that we have been able to meet with the reputation of our company,” she said. “People choose to work at Kimball Electronics because of the rewards and the opportunities that we have, but they end up staying because of the people in the organization and our culture.”
The company offers a variety of shifts and schedules to help employees achieve work-life balance.
“Other than 12 hours between 06:00 p.m. Saturday night and 06:00 a.m. Sunday morning, this facility is running. And we are under 25% in our twelve-month rolling turnover,” said Habig. “It creates [opportunity for] anybody that wants to come to work at Kimball Electronics,” Davis added.