What if you could get your packaging and assembly needs met expeditiously, get quality work for a competitive price, and provide work opportunities for people with disabilities — all at the same time?
It may seem like an easy question, but the fact is, Windfall Industries is providing just that, and executive director Jeff Johnson is finding it’s not such an easy sell.
Windfall Industries’ mission is to find employment for those enrolled in the Adult Services Program of the Medina County Board of Mental Retardation and Development Disabilities.
Johnson says competition from for-profit contract packagers who perform the same jobs makes it tough for nonprofit agencies like Windfall.
“In these business times, we’re just viewed as an alternative source,” he says. “We don’t see any preferential treatment because of who our employees are. Businesses are bottom line conscious, and if we can’t do jobs at a competitive price, they’ll go somewhere else.”
That — in combination with Windfall’s charge to be a self-sustaining nonprofit separate from the MRDB — makes the agency’s administration more bottom line focused. Johnson and his staff are not employed by Medina County, but by Windfall itself, which reports to a board of directors. Windfall, incorporated in 1963, is a holder of the Department of Labor’s Commensurate Wage Certificate, which empowers it to serve as an employer for workers with disabilities.
All those challenges and realities drive Johnson to worry about where Windfall’s next customer will come from.
“We’re always trying to develop core customers, where it’s not just a one-time job they’re giving us,” Johnson says. “We realize that to be self-sustaining, we have to do whatever it takes to offer quality services, or there will be no opportunity to employ those individuals.”
By taking whatever steps are necessary to produce quality work at competitive prices, Windfall has earned preferred supplier awards Diebold Inc., for one. Still, Johnson frets and aggressively targets packaging and assembly contracts to ensure the nonprofit’s growth.
Some of those contracts include packaging parts and repair kits for automated teller machines manufactured by Diebold, fitting o-ring parts on automobile headlight parts for Par Industries Inc. and assembling more than a million tea-lights a year for A.I. Root Co.
Jobs of this sort are brought into the Windfall workshop — a 10,000-square-foot facility where package and assembly kits are split into steps that can be accomplished by individuals with varying degrees of disability. Windfall’s nondisabled supervisory staff teaches the workers how to accomplish the tasks, and implements assisted or adaptive technology to help them complete the jobs faster or better.
When it comes to cost, Windfall prices a job much like any other packager. Product samples are acquired, then a task analysis and time study are completed to set a direct labor rate for each of the separate steps. The combined piece rates are tabulated for total direct labor. Overhead is also included in the formal quotation when, like any other business, Windfall must purchase special equipment for specific jobs.
“We’re normally competitive in price, and the only time it gets difficult for us is when it’s a very large volume job and our competitors have equipment that allows them to automate a portion of it, like a poly-bagging machine. They can get their price down a little lower,” Johnson admits.
Windfall must also determine whether the contract is long-term and if other job orders from that customer are likely. That question came up when Plastipak Packaging Inc.’s research and development department approached Windfall about a project in which 2,000 bottles would need to be sprayed lightly with a low-tack adhesive to prevent the glass from getting scratched in transit. Special transport boxes also had to be constructed.
“We had to look at the possibility that, if this was a one-time-only job where we jumped through hoops to meet their needs, we must add some overhead to that,” Johnson says. “If it was going to be a job that would lead into more work, that was a different story.”
After Windfall’s bid was accepted, Plastipak boosted the order to 24,000 bottles, which had to be completed in the same time frame as the 2,000 bottle order. To meet the customer’s volume and deadline requirements, members of Windfall’s sales staff rolled up their sleeves and got involved to help get the job done.
“We bid on jobs, big or small. If they can be done 100 percent by individuals with disabilities, great — that’s the bonus. If we need to step it up and bring in nondisabled workers, we’ve done that, too,” Johnson says. “We may split a job, with 50 percent disabled workers doing some of the steps and nondisabled doing the other 50 percent. If we didn’t accept that job because we don’t want to bring in nondisabled workers, the people with disabilities wouldn’t have that opportunity to do the other 50 percent of that job.”
Most of Windfall’s contract packaging assembly is done in house. Some companies require that Windfall comply with their individual Quality Standards and ISO 9000 standards, but such certification can be too costly an endeavor for a nonprofit. So, Windfall hosts period audits where customers can come into Windfall’s facility to quality inspect work being expedited on site.
How to reach: Windfall Industries (330) 764-8988, Ext. 253