Bethlehem Die Cutting

Bethlehem Die Cutting has been creating packaging and industrial products for about 20 years, slicing and shaping non-ferrous materials into boxes, inserts, trays, pads, partitions and more. Acquired by Kyana seven years ago, Bethlehem Die Cutting has proven to be one of its parent company’s top performers thanks to a focus on growth and continuous improvement. Aided by a Manufacturing Readiness Grants award, the company has been modernizing its operations and investing in new equipment and technology that will increase its capacity and accelerate the design and testing process for new products.

With these investments, Bethlehem Die Cutting has posted consistent growth, but its leaders also attribute their bottom-line success to a reduction in expenses, including reductions in manpower costs – a result they attribute in part to the dedicated workers they get from The BreakAway.

As a small operation, Bethlehem Die Cutting has not experienced workforce shortages as dramatic as other advanced manufacturing companies. In fact, Plant Manager Jason Bohannon says that, when he joined Bethlehem Die Cutting from the parent company four years ago, he found the company had an excellent production staff. Nonetheless, he started working to add even better, dependable talent and to be well-prepared for inevitable turnover. He quickly discovered that one of his best resources for talent already provided workers to Bethlehem: The BreakAway, a nearby home for women recovering from substance abuse.

Launched in 2017, The BreakAway provides a home and web of support services to up to 14 women at a time in a house just a few blocks from Bethlehem’s doors. And while The BreakAway and Bethlehem Die Cutting do not have any kind of formal contract for putting the women to work, they have collaborated to provide jobs for several women.

Since employment is one of the expectations of women staying at The BreakAway and many don’t have transportation, Bethlehem Die Cutting is a great fit for The BreakAway’s needs. Also, since the women are being coached on self-improvement and regularly drug-tested, they show up motivated and cleared for work. Further, some of the women are coming out of incarceration and they’re hoping to put together a new life, so they tend to be hard-working, enthusiastic and eager.

The women from The BreakAway are treated like any new employee. They typically start as a production assistant, a basic-entry-level position, but are trained in other tasks because Bethlehem Die Cutting wants everyone on the team to be able to run just about every machine on the plant floor. “We’ve got people who are just graduating the recovery program and they’re running half-a-million-dollar machines,” Bohannon says. “That’s extremely empowering.”

April Campbell – whose title is Safety Coordinator but who says, “I wear many hats” – came to Bethlehem Die Cutting from The BreakAway five years ago. Having recently gotten out of jail, she said she “just stumbled onto this place” and applied. Like others, she got hired as a production assistant and she soon worked her way into roles as machine operator, forklift driver and back-up truck driver. She sings the company’s praises for the way it helps the women from The BreakAway, and she happily notes that her pay has nearly doubled since she started.

Bohannon says that thanks to Campbell’s hard work and dedication, the women from The BreakAway are now the first resource he taps when he has an opening. “The willingness to just give every ounce of effort because someone gave them a chance has made them my go-to,” he says.

Bethlehem Die Cutting has seen ample benefits coming out of its relationship with The BreakAway.

On the tangible side, the workers who come to the company from The BreakAway tend to be happy and loyal and they come to the job with an additional layer of accountability, all of which leads to low turnover, notes Kyana HR Generalist Amber Garner. This combination of reduced hiring costs and lower turnover has delivered concrete bottom-line benefits to Bethlehem Die Cutting.

Other benefits might be less tangible but no less important. The Bethlehem Die Cutting team says they’re inspired every day by seeing the women from The BreakAway using their jobs to emerge from past troubles and find new purposes. This inspiration spreads throughout the company, as other workers encourage the women and support fundraising efforts for The BreakAway.

For these and other reasons, Bohannon encourages other advanced manufacturers to tap into similar relationships. For those who might consider it, he offers a few tips: