2023
“While our facilities were consolidated and improved, we knew that we also had to invest in ourpeople. We produce high-quality products for team sports, so getting our employees to work as a Bison team is imperative. The training offered by the Nebraska MEP helped us to work together better, standardize our processes and continually look for improvements.”
J.C. Stiles
Chief Operating Officer, Bison, Inc.
Supervisor development creates teamwork that pays dividends
Bison, Inc., established in 1985 in Lincoln, Nebraska, has earned a stellar reputation for producing high-quality, durable sports equipment. Since 1985, athletic directors, coaches, facility administrators, and equipment managers have relied on the good sports at Bison to provide safe, durable, innovative and on-time products to fit their unique sports equipment needs. Initially known in the industry as a basketball equipment supplier and now the exclusive NFHS partner for the sport of basketball, Bison now offers virtually every indoor and outdoor sports-related item to completely outfit your gymnasium or sports field, as well as producing benches, and bleacher seating solutions.
The Situation:
Led by COO J.C. Stiles, Bison recently consolidated 16 separate buildings into a single facility. With this consolidation project, enormous savings were accomplished, including better use of transportation, no back-and-forth movement between buildings, no challenges with inclement weather, such as snow during the winter months in Nebraska. This resulted in a large reduction of square footage, which also translated into a large savings in utilities. A dramatic environmental change also called for cultural changes among the workforce. Supervisors and leads were now working in closer proximity and needed to understand and operate under common best practices and methods. And while Bison recognized the need to invest in their facilities, they also knew that investing in their people was a critical component to continued success.
The Solution:
The Nebraska MEP was called on to present workshops for Job Relations, Job Instruction and Job Methods to the employees of Bison. The Job Relations workshops coached supervisors on how to evaluate and take proper actions to handle and to prevent people-problems. Participants also learned how to recognize problem situations, how to handle them, and how to prevent them from occurring. By exchanging experiences and practicing the method during the training, supervisors practiced making the right choice to take action and to follow up. This aims to strengthen their relationship with the employees.
Job Instruction taught Bison supervisors and leads how to instruct operators to do their jobs safely and conscientiously and identify “the one best way” to teach those methods and create standardized processes for operating staff.
Participants in the Job Methods training added a continuous improvement element to increase productivity in less time by breaking down every step of a process. Supervisors are taught to question every detail systematically to generate ideas for improvement. Bison has repeatedly relied on the Nebraska MEP over a number of years to provide training solutions to many of its employees.
Results:
As a result of the training, Bison reported:
| Investment in workplace skills: $10,000.00 |
| Successful investment and team transition to $16M consolidated facility |
