KraussMaffei Corp., which debuts at No. 9 on the Best Places to Work list for 2017, celebrated its 50th anniversary last year. Since its founding in 1966, the U.S. subsidiary of KraussMaffei Group has been a manufacturer of plastics processing machines in injection molding technology, reaction process machinery and extrusion. (The company is roughly 180 years old in Germany.)
To celebrate this milestone, both the 202 employees and customers were invited to celebrate at its Florence, Ky., facility.
"We have open houses on a more-or-less regular basis, but the 50th anniversary was a little bit more because it was the 50th," President Paul Caprio said. "It was a day of fun with customers on the golf course, and then the next day was the technology day at our facility, where we had vendors in and equipment running from all our divisions. I can't remember the number, but roughly 400 or 500 visitors came in to celebrate with us."
KraussMaffei Corp. has more than 200 employees in the U.S. and Canada, as well as 5,000 around the world.
"Every year since the [economic] downturn has been a better year than the year before," he said, "and they all happen to be record years. We are on a very good run right now."
Caprio, who has been with the company for 25 years, said the secret to the company's success is that their culture is treated like a large family business.
"Everyone cares about the end customer," he said. "Everyone cares about the internal customer to provide the best service in the business, and that can be through products and service."
The perfect employee, according to Caprio, is one who has a great attitude, is willing to go the "extra mile for both external and internal customers" and "embraces every day as a positive challenge.
"I would say our core values are that everything revolves around our customers, and I think, from an engineering perspective, that we are offering the best technologies to the plastics industry. It starts with our customer. Obviously, we treat our employees as the most valuable asset in the company," he said.
Each summer, KraussMaffei brings in employees for sales and service meetings and to participate in a baseball game at the Florence Freedom's UC Health Stadium. Caprio added that they partake in a cookout, and all families are invited.
Employees are also encouraged to be involved in volunteer and community work, which include walking for various nonprofit organizations and donating to local charities during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.
"Everyone is generous of what they are giving, and the company matches what is given from the employees," Caprio said, adding that the company is looking to give back on a more regular basis throughout the year.
Employees can also take advantage of cardiovascular screenings, biometric screenings and flu shots.
"The people are just excellent throughout the organization, back through Germany and everywhere else around the world that we interface," he said. "Everyone just seems to be very helpful and very driven to make sure that we're doing everything we can to be a successful company, and that means with keeping our customers happy, but it's really everyone. So when there are issues that come up, we really get support no matter where in the world we need it or where it can come from. I really enjoy that feeling that you're never left out on a limb."
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