BSD Industries trains workers in 
robotics in Chicago's South Side

Chicago — During stints at Ford and Elkay Manufacturing, Trista Bonds was brought in to replace workers with robots. When the projects were finished, the companies had trouble filling the jobs that remained: automation technicians.

“I could see the need; I could see the demand,” she said.

Now, at an injection molding plant in Chicago's South Side, Bonds is doing something about it.

BSD Industries has two work cells with 240-ton EcoPower all-electric presses from Wittmann Battenfeld Inc., churning out injection molded cutlery. But the two W833 Pro robots really tell the story of BSD because the company's main purpose is to train workers in robotics.

Bonds, an electrical industrial automation/robotics engineer, got the idea 12 years ago when she saw a similar project for machinists run by a Detroit nonprofit called Focus: Hope. She wanted to establish something similar in Chicago for robotics training.

“I had a desire to provide training in automation, programing and robotics for industrial equipment, and I didn't know how to do it. I just had a desire, I was just hopeful that there was a way to provide that for people who wouldn't necessarily have the opportunity,” she said.

Bonds wrote a plan for the program but didn't know how to make 
it a reality. Then, one day at church, her pastor, the Rev. Byron Brazier, said he was looking for ideas to invest in people.

Brazier also heads the Arthur M. Brazier Foundation, based in Chicago's Woodlawn neighborhood. The foundation supports programs aimed at reducing crime, improving education and supporting local businesses.

Bonds took her idea to Brazier, and BSD was born.

“I decided on plastics molding because of my experience in technology and manufacturing. In my opinion, it's a clean process. I also feel like it's a relatively financially feasible project to launch as a manufacturing initiative,” Bonds said.

The plant started training workers a year ago and started molding in October. The first class of trainees — BSD calls each group a “cohort” — was recruited from Brazier's Apostolic Church of God.

Bonds, 45, is BSD's vice president of engineering and manufacturing operations.

The Brazier Foundation owns BSD, which stands for “building self determination.” The company calls itself a social enterprise — something between a traditional business and a nonprofit. It started with help from the community: JPMorgan Chase contributed $500,000, the church kicked in $50,000, and the Chicago Housing Authority added a grant to lease BSD's factory on the corner of 95th Street and Cottage Grove Avenue, near Chicago State University.

BSD has lots of community and political connections. When the factory held a grand opening ceremony in October, Mayor Rahm Emanuel was among the attendees.

BSD eventually expects to be giving back to the community. Within three years, Brazier anticipates BSD will give $250,000 to each of Woodlawn's six schools annually and another $750,000 to the foundation's public safety initiative.

Right now, BSD sells its cutlery to the University of Chicago's hospitals, the Cook County Jail, Hyatt Hotels and others. Bonds is eager to sign up more customers who want to support its community-based mission. Within a year, she hopes the plant will be operating three shifts because that means BSD can provide training to more people. BSD is already looking at adding more molding capacity.

The first class of trainees started last year on a 13-month program, including lessons in software and all types of circuits: electric, pneumatic and hydraulic. Now that the Wittmann Battenfeld equipment has been delivered, those trainees are starting a four-month apprenticeship with hands-on experience programming the machines.

Bonds said employers are already interested in hiring the first class of trainees, but she wants to keep them as apprentices. BSD apprentices earn $12 an hour.

“Our goal is to offer them an apprenticeship before they go into the workforce. Why? Because it is very difficult to prove to an employer that you know what you're doing until you have experience,” she said.

“We're just holding them back,” she joked. “We just want to make sure that they can handle the challenges that will come to them when they have to fix a situation, repair [equipment] or program something. We just don't want them to go out there without any experience.”

The apprentices are eager to test the job market. Bonds estimates they will be qualified for jobs paying up to $60,000 annually; more if they're willing to travel. BSD plans to train 90 people annually, with 30 apprentices in the factory at a time. She expects the first trainees will find full-time work in the first quarter of 2018.

Bonds describes BSD's relationship with Wittmann Battenfeld as a partnership.

“I am not a plastics engineer, I am not a plastics tech, but we have now a plastics tech in our plant because of what Wittmann did, above and beyond the financial obligation of what we purchased from them,” she said. “They just basically held us by the hand and walked us through the whole process from start to finish. I cannot thank them enough. Every time I see them, I give them a hug because they've been such a tremendous help to us, a great partner.

“We're already talking about growing, and every press in this plant will be a Wittmann press,” she said. “They are offering support to help us be a strong company that produces a good product.”

Brian Heugh, Wittmann's Midwest regional sales manager for injection molding machines, said working with BSD has been unique.

“The first time Trista came to our South Elgin tech center, she came out and explained the whole BSD background. It wasn't just, ‘I want to buy a couple of molding machines and some robots.' I've got to say, in the business, I've been around the block a few times. And this was pretty inspirational, it really was.

“It's probably the most fulfilling opportunity I've been involved with. I love telling the story,” Heugh said.

Bonds came to an open house at Wittmann's Torrington, Conn., U.S. headquarters last year.

“What I really liked was the technology, the seamless process they use to link all of the equipment. I was introduced to the Wittmann 4.0 platform, where they superintegrated all of the components used in the injection molding process, and I was wowed by that,” she said. “I'm just really excited about 4.0. It's my friend.”

In addition to the two EcoPower presses and robots, the Wittmann equipment in BSD's two work cells include Drymax Aton2 compact dryers, MCBalance gravimetric feeders, Mas 4 beside-the-press granulators, Tempro direct Plus temperature controllers and a Coolmax 5-ton chiller.

Heugh thought the project was a long shot when he first heard about it, but now he is confident that it will succeed.

“There are more jobs out there than there are people who are qualified. If she trains them, there are opportunities out there,” he said.

Bonds said she will consider it a success when the trainees get full-time jobs.

“We're giving people opportunities. I'm ecstatic, I'm happy to be a part of it,” she said.

Carolyn Hooks, a trainee who was in the first cohort, is proud of what BSD has already achieved.

“I know it's going to be successful because when we started, none of this existed. We just had a small classroom in the church. We just hope to keep it going now,” she said.

See the Nov. 2 Plastics News Now for a video report on BSD Industries.