Masterbrand Cabinets Experiences Exponential Growth with the Right Talent

MasterBrand Cabinets, founded in 1954 and headquartered in Jasper, Indiana, offers a wide spectrum of cabinetry products designed to provide the same great service, product innovation, and quality. With over 15 household name brands, like Thomasville, Aristokraft, and Fieldstone, MasterBrand is one of the largest and most influential cabinet manufacturers in the country.

Every business faces challenges as they grow and develop, especially during a major global and economic crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic. Even multi-million dollar companies, owned by multi-billion dollar conglomerates felt the sting of the consequences of the pandemic. Like millions of other businesses, MasterBrand began experiencing issues with recruitment and retention as the job market fluctuated. Despite their numerous resources, they recognized that some of these problems may be better handled by experts, a partner with workforce solutions at their core.

Every business has its own unique core and finding a trusted partner that not only complements but enhances that core is key to maximizing growth and exceeding potential.

Jackson – The Beginnings of a New Partnership

Expansion can be tricky, especially in an unfamiliar market. When MasterBrand moved into Jackson, GA, it was their first Southeastern Greenfield. It was to be a state-of-the-art facility, the best of the best. However, they lacked critical regional knowledge, making it incredibly difficult to attract the high volume of talent needed to get the new facility up and running. Additionally, the new facility needed to start production as quickly as possible to meet customer demand. With significant competition and the impacts of the pandemic working against them, it became clear that the job called for more uniquely capable hands.

After a serendipitous introduction facilitated by a third-party client, MAU was brought in as a partner. As a Georgia-based staffing company, MAU was uniquely equipped to support MasterBrand’s goals. MAU built on MasterBrand’s established hiring plan to co-create a solution tailored to their current needs. MAU was able to handle recruiting and onboarding, so Jackson’s HR team could focus on building a healthy culture for long-term team member satisfaction.

It was a tag-team effort that onboarded 150 employees, from initial signing in January to early March, significantly expediting the time it took to ramp production. By August, over 670 new employees had been brought in and the Jackson facility had far exceeded productivity predictions.

Together, MAU and MasterBrand were able to build a strong workforce that will continue to thrive. The success at Jackson gave MasterBrand Corporate the confidence to bring MAU on for another project at a pre-existing facility in Kinston, NC.

Kinston – Partnership Leads to Growth

The situation in Kinston was a bit different than Jackson. The plant was struggling with high turnover, leading to increased overtime and culture dwindling. They were missing produc-tion goals and falling behind on deadlines, a manufacturing facility’s worst nightmare amid skyrocketing demand and inflation.

When MAU came on board, diagnosing the existing problems and coming up with the best solution was a top priority. Unlike in Jackson, Kinston had an established culture and current employees, but the high turnover rate was damaging what had already been built. While the problems at Kinston were slightly different than Jackson’s, the solution was the same: a Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) Model. MAU funneled in skilled talent to fill gaps in the workforce, while Kinston HR focused on re-energizing their culture and reducing the turnover rate. The turnover percentage dropped from the 30s to low teens in a few short months.

Through the effectiveness of MAU and Masterbrand’s
co-created solution, MasterBrand was not only able to reach their production goals, but exceed them, achieving maximum production levels and overall growth as a company. Now, another ramp-up is planned for early 2022 to capitalize on the plant’s success, and MAU and MasterBrand’s partnership is poised to expand to other facilities in the midwest.

Key Takeaways

In order to accomplish short-term goals and ensure long-term success, businesses need to build trusting relationships with partners that specialize in problem areas. By allowing experts to diagnose any problems and create unique solutions, businesses are able to focus on what they do best and rest easy knowing everything else is taken care of.

The best partnerships are those that grow together. With aligned goals and a growth mindset, the partnership, and each business, can thrive. Like with MAU and MasterBrand, a tag-team approach can help your business not only meet expectations but exceed them, and ensure long-term growth and success.