For Trilogy, happy employees lead to happy customers

Plastics News welcomes custom rotational molder Trilogy Plastics Inc. to its Best Places to Work ranking this year, coming in at No. 11.

Making the list means Trilogy officials must be doing something right to keep employees happy. President Stephen Osborn says that's very important to him, but it's not an altogether-altruistic goal: “Everybody spends a lot of time at work,” he said. “I don't want them to be miserable — that's not what I want to be at work. Manufacturing is not an easy job, and if I can get everyone to enjoy it, it makes my job much easier.”

Osborn, who's been with Trilogy almost 29 years (“I haven't been able to fire myself”), realizes that keeping the employees happy helps keep customers satisfied, too. The company consistently exceeds 99 percent on-time delivery, Osborn noted.

He admits he had no plastics background when he bought the company. That has changed, however, The Association of Rotational Molders International awarded Osborn its 2005 Charles D. Frederick Distinguished Service Award and he was inducted into the Rotational Molding Hall of Fame in 2012.

“I was a turnaround consultant for Ernst & Ernst and I was looking for something to buy. This was cheap enough,” Osborn said. He and his business partner Bruce Frank, vice president of sales, bought the firm in 1987.

Today, Trilogy has two plants with warehousing in Alliance, Ohio, and one warehouse in Louisville, Ohio. The company serves the industrial, home, medical and automotive markets. Its products include tool cabinets, mail posts, flower pots, strollers, and medical storage and transportation devices. It distributes throughout the Americas, Europe and Japan, and specializes in products that rely on their appearance and tight tolerances.

Trilogy ranked No. 31 in Plastics News' 2015 ranking of North American rotomolders, with $16 million in sales for the previous year. The company has about 130 employees. Until the staff reached 90, Osborn said, he knew everybody on the shop floor.

Nearly every management position is filled by someone who has come up through the ranks, Osborn said. When people on the staff show potential, Trilogy sends them off to school and reimburses them for it: Sometimes they take community college courses, sometimes one-day seminars, sometimes plastics courses at Pennsylvania College of Technology in Williamsport.

Trilogy supports the Alliance for Children and Families, which prepares homes for families to move into. Employees help build homes for Habitat for Humanity, and help out the Salvation Army with services like mowing, painting and snow removal, in addition to donations.

Trilogy sponsors a variety of events, like cookouts where the managers serve the employees, picnics, cornhole tournaments, push-up contests, and work-performance competitions for prizes and money.

At the end of the year, a percentage of the company's profits are divided among the employees, based on twice-annual performance reviews. Performance points are converted into dollar values. The company offers flexible schedules and lets people work their preferred shifts when possible.

“It's really pretty simple,” Osborn said. “We treat the employees like we like to be treated. That's a goal they can get behind. We treat them like family, and with respect. Employee satisfaction is made up of hundreds of things — we try to do the little things right.”

Find an overview of the selection process and links to other Best Places to Work here.