Benefiting both sides

Cook Vandergrift partners with PWAC to provide opportunities and create efficiencies.

What does providing jobs, giving away magnetic hooks, fixing etching machines, and playing a good round of golf have in common? These are all ways in which Cook Vandergrift is giving back to their local community through a unique partnership with Progressive Workshop of Armstrong County, Inc. (PWAC). A nonprofit in Kittanning, Pennsylvania, just minutes from Cook Vandergrift, PWAC serves adults with disabilities, providing a variety of programs and services to
assist trainees in finding employment within their community.

When Cook Vandergrift’s Kristy McCorkle, Human Resources manager, and Chris Evans, general manager, attended a Chamber of Commerce Meet and Greet event in early 2021, it was a light bulb moment that opened the door to opportunities for both Cook and PWAC. They met representatives and learned about the different models for employment PWAC coordinates for adults with disabilities. One of which was secure document destruction. They offer a mobile shredding service, which was the first project Cook Vandergrift negotiated with PWAC in June of 2021. On a regular basis the PWAC mobile shredding service takes care of the destruction of confidential documents on site for Cook. They also offer cleaning services. PWAC clients do janitorial work for Cook’s satellite office.

“Their other model where they support their clients is with small project employment that they can do in their facility,” Chris said. “Kristy and I were the first Cook employees that got a chance to visit the PWAC facility. It was a mix of areas where they could work and where they could socialize.

“It was quite inspirational to see the support the organization provides to some of the folks in our community who have mental or physical challenges,” he continued. So, having seen that, we took it upon ourselves to say, ‘How can we support this organization?’ and offer them jobs that their clients can do, but at the same time looking at what skills and support we can provide.”

A project for PWAC

Cook Vandergrift’s Human Resources and Manufacturing teams started evaluating what PWAC employees could do for the assembly teams. All manufacturing employees were encouraged to think outside the box for ways PWAC trainees could help maximize efficiencies on the production lines.

“It’s nice to see our supervisors and our team members on the floor thinking about different things, and they always bring ideas to us, and say, ‘Hey is this something PWAC can do?'” Kristy said. “So, throughout the whole building, everybody is looking. Great team effort!”

PWAC has a defined process for any work projects that come through the organization from local companies. It was no different for Cook. With each new project from Cook, PWAC’s Operations vice president (VP) visited Cook and reviewed the job that PWAC clients would take on. The VP took the job back to PWAC and did a time study to understand how
long it would take PWAC clients to do the job. He also developed a pricing contract for the work.

At first, the PWAC facility did not have specific space set up that would be conducive for medical devices and even small assembly jobs for Cook; however, they did have room.

“We helped them convert a conference room at their facility into space that would be suitable for product assembly, which was completed in January 2023,” Chris said.

The biggest change to the conference room was replacing the carpeting with tile flooring to minimize dust and contamination. Some environmental controls were also implemented such as wearing disposable gloves for some operations and wiping down the work area to ensure it is dust free.

“It’s not the same environmental controls we have here,” Chris added. “The level of work at PWAC does not require it. Their work includes dividing and sorting bulk delivery parts. They are dividing them into the sizes we need to use in production. But it is a clean environment where we are making sure we are minimizing dust or particles that could come back with any product that they’re sending to us.”

The work assigned to PWAC is straight forward and does not require formal training; however, Joe Felschow, senior Machine Shop technician at Cook Vandergrift, will go to the PWAC facility and demonstrate as necessary. Joe has been instrumental during the PWAC and Vandergrift partnership, identifying the tasks for PWAC.

Two groups of PWAC trainees work throughout the day on Cook projects when work is available. The facility is open from 8:00am to 4:30pm. To help divide the work equally, they work two, four-hour shifts starting between 8:00 to 9:00am. One group takes the morning shift; the other group will take the last four hours of the day if there is enough
work available.

“One of the big things at PWAC is everybody gets a paycheck. That’s one of the things they love up there. I had the opportunity to be there when they actually got a paycheck on a Friday,” added Joe with a smile. “They were all in the cafeteria. One of the PWAC clients waved their paycheck and said, ‘I’m going to Walmart tonight!’ And I said, ‘I’ll see you up there!’ It was really cool that they were so excited.”

One of the jobs PWAC clients have worked on supported the LEMO connectors for the Doppler Blood Flow Monitor.

“On the Cook manufacturing floor, employees would disconnect it, set it on their desks, and then reassemble it. They were touching the product two or three times. So, we gave this job to the PWAC trainees. The trainees disconnected everything for us and placed the parts in sets of 20 individual bags,” Joe explained. “Now Cook manufacturing employees can just do their lines, which our employees say has saved a tremendous amount of time. The tedious process they’ve done for years and years has now been eliminated. This was a job that was low risk and high reward work for PWAC to do for us.”

More opportunities to give back

From purchasing handmade charcuterie boards from PWAC’s woodshop to give as birthday gifts to Cook employees and participating in the Golf Scramble, which is PWAC’s largest fund-raising event, to donating hundreds of magnetic hooks for craft projects, Cook Vandergrift continues to benefit from and support the Cook Vandergrift and PWAC partnership. Joe even volunteered his “master griller” skills to the Golf Scramble cookout.

Going a step further, while Chris and Joe were working with the employees in the woodshop, they discovered that PWAC employees wanted to buy an etching machine to help with fine carving their wood projects.

“But they had no experience with machine tools and set up and how to run these relatively complex machines, but we do, right?,” Chris said. “And we have Joe here, and Joe is their tech. He’s been up there a number of times to train them on how to set up the etcher and how to program it. So, we have been able to loan some of our skills that we have inhouse as a manufacturing company.”

Chris has been able to give back personally to PWAC. In mid-summer of 2022, one of the board members retired and Chris was invited by PWAC to take their place.

“That was quite an honor and furthers the relationship between PWAC and Cook,” he said.

Recently, all of Cook Vandergrift had an opportunity to pitch in and support PWAC. A charitable organization in Armstrong County plans a day of giving for a chosen local organization every year. This year PWAC was the recipient. Cook Vandergrift held a fundraiser in the cafeteria, “Get a Cook cookie.” Employees purchased a cookie, and the money was donated to PWAC.

“Our employees raised $500 in one day,” Kristy said. “We were able to give back to PWAC.”

A true calling

Kristy shared one of her experiences the first day she went to PWAC to observe the work the trainees were doing. It was an unexpected gift of inspiration.

“One of the gentleman who was done with his shift came over to me and our Quality Assurance (QA) manager, Jim Ferguson, and said, ‘Thank you for giving us work to do it makes my heart happy!’ I teared up, and I think Jim did, too. It was so wonderful.”

“Seeing the joy, self-respect, and life purpose this brings to the folks doing the work for us—that is the reward,” Chris added. “I’ve had the privilege to work on the board and get to know the CEO, and as I mentioned the Operations vice president, as well. These are impassioned people who really believe in this mission.”