Growing by degrees Brewer auto parts manufacturer sees success through continuing education program

BREWER – Throughout the last two decades of ups and downs in this city’s manufacturing sector, Brewer Automotive Components has quietly thrived, holding its place as the sole supplier of steering and suspension parts for Toyota of North America.

Inside the large warehouse-style factory at 6 Baker Blvd., about 135 employees are in perpetual motion, inspecting, cleaning and packing the smooth steel parts produced by enormous machines. Many parts fit in the palm of a hand, and in a short time will hug the wheels and axles of cars and trucks at dealerships nationwide.

About 20 million tons of finished goods leave the plant each year, and 2007 sales totaled about $37 million, according to plant manager Andy Fitzpatrick. He forecasts strong growth through 2010.

“We’re riding with Toyota,” Fitzpatrick said, referring to how demand for his products relies on the automaker’s sales. “So far, business is excellent.”

Founded in 1989, Brewer Automotive Components is a joint venture between Somic Ishikawa of Japan and ZF Lemforder of Germany, both established auto parts manufacturers. A second Brewer Automotive Components opened in Wytheville, Va., four years ago.

Fitzpatrick attributes much of the success of the business to the expertise of its parent companies and the consistently high quality of its products. But he believes the future of Brewer Automotive Components rests on a skilled, well-trained work force and support from local and state government.

“Our energy costs keep going up, and it always makes me nervous,” he said. Fitzpatrick has joined the paper industry’s appeals to state government for help in fighting what they see as exorbitant fees imposed by the ISO-New England power grid.

When Fitzpatrick moved from ZF Lemforder to Brewer Automotive Components about two years ago, he noticed that his employees’ knowledge of the plant and its products were excellent but their formal training and education were lacking.

“Global competition requires that we maximize every employee’s capabilities,” he said. “We not only needed to catch up with technological skills, we needed to keep pace with the rest of the country.”

Fitzpatrick decided he wanted to find a way to inspire employees whose jobs are relatively routine and very physically demanding. He wanted them to look toward the future of the company and contribute to discussions of product development and efficiency.

“My hat’s off to them. Some have been coming in every day for 10 years doing the same motions, so when they express a need to want to progress, you want to give it to them,” Fitzpatrick said.

In early 2006, Fitzpatrick contacted Mike Ballesteros, director of development and business services at Eastern Maine Community College in Bangor. Together, they created a plan for Brewer Automotive Components managers to take the college’s reading, math and technical skills tests.

The results showed that the skills of the managers varied in almost every area, Fitzpatrick said. With help from the college’s Trade and Technical Occupations program, Brewer Automotive Components joined the Maine Apprenticeship Program, a division of the state’s Department of Labor, and created four technical apprenticeship programs that would allow employees to earn a state and federally accredited certificate.

So far, 15 Brewer Automotive Components employees have enrolled in the apprenticeship program and plan to continue for associate degrees. The Maine Apprenticeship Program reimburses up to 50 percent of an apprentice’s tuition for college credit courses, and Brewer Automotive Components pays the rest. In addition, the company pays for any courses an employee wants to take to improve workplace skills.

Gary Martin, 35, a product manager who has been with Brewer Automotive Components for 14 years, said he never got around to earning his degree. With some flexibility around work hours, Martin and 14 of his co-workers attend an evening class at the community college twice a week.

“I think it’s a wonderful opportunity. I’m looking forward to completing [my degree],” he said. “There was a little bit of rust I had to break off at the beginning, but it’s great to go through it with the rest of the team.”

The boost in morale has spread throughout the company, Fitzpatrick said. Tammy Robertson, a 10-year employee of Brewer Automotive Components, is not part of the apprenticeship program but is taking a math class at the Maine Career Center in Bangor and hopes to earn her associate degree, too.

Ballesteros said apprenticeship programs were popular when the pulp and paper industry was thriving but have since become an untapped state resource.

“With partnerships we can do things that are a lot more economical for the businesses,” he said.