Adapting, innovating, and producing materials crucial for society in some of the most trying times our nation has ever faced; the Contract Industrial Tooling team rose to the occasion and found a way to be part of the solution. CIT is proud to be the Wayne County Area Chamber of Commerce’s 2020 Corporation of the Year Award recipient. 

At the height of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, when hospital beds were at capacity and frontline workers were spending every waking hour caring for sick patients, it took an all-hands-on-deck approach to creating solutions for unprecedented problems. 

The CIT team was ready, willing, and able when the call came that they may be a part of the solution during the height of the pandemic when asked to create a rapid response bed for hospitals in many different cities all over the United States. 

Within two weeks, the team designed the beds, built prototypes, and tested these designs to ensure that they were of utmost quality. Within three weeks, the project was in full-swing “from scoop to nuts”, and the first beds were built. 

Chamber Board Member, Randy Templin spoke on this, stating, “I think all businesses have to adapt and have to change […] 2020 brought the need to adapt and change even more prevalent, and I think about CIT’s ability to fabricate and to do different change for their customer base,” he continued, “But to change on a dime and really to solve a need for what society needed and what demand was, was pretty neat.”

Weekends, evenings, and nights spent perfecting the design and execution of these beds was not only something that the CIT team did willingly, but with a zeal that demonstrated the extraordinary dedication and talent that the entire team possesses. 

This award is not about one individual or the company itself. Rather the team and the part each person plays in the success of this project, and all others. The CIT team has proven their excellence time and time again. This time their resiliency shone in sticking together to be a part of the solution during this difficult time. 

So what makes a winner of this award? Templin said that the winning team must be innovative, forward-thinking, profit-minded, and employee focused. Customer focus is most important. 

The Contract Industrial Tooling team is all of this and more, and are deserving recipients of this honor.

CIT Inc. is more than just the rapid response hospital beds that they’ve produced. Though this recent product has received a lot of attention, CIT is dedicated to so much more.

Originating in 1987, CIT became the solution to manufacturing needs from concept through production.  Now, CIT has over 25 years of experience in developing and manufacturing reliable designs and design improvements. The CIT team has designed and manufactured OEM Cabs, lift gates, custom steel shipping racks and medical therapy tables, the rapid response hospital beds, and more.

The work at CIT never stops.

Currently, CIT has a new cab design that they are working on for Jarraff, which produces industrial tree trimming equipment for along roadways. This cab has a better overall ergonomic design that allows the operator a higher level of comfort so that they can accomplish more in the same amount of time. This particular cab also has a fresh more modernistic look to it. Since CIT is always working towards advancement, the team has developed fixtures that clamp the entire cab unit together prior to welding and rotates in different directions to allow for the most accurate welding possible.

This product should be out on the new piece of equipment by the third quarter of 2021.

Meanwhile, CIT is expanding their capabilities in aluminum welding so they can reach more clients. The company is sending 3 different welders to 2 weeks of training at the Hobart Welding Institute for AWS D1.2 Certification training.

This advance will allow CIT to take on and complete Aerospace products from customers like Rolls Royce.

CIT has already claimed leadership in steel returnable racks for the automotive industry. By increasing th`eir capabilities in Aerospace welding through training and new robotic welding options, CIT hopes to claim leadership in this field, too.

Manufacturing innovation is CIT’s goal. Their efforts stop at nothing to make that goal a reality.

Philosophical humor aside, what are your views as a consumer, and/or producer?
We try and follow the market trends to prepare ourselves for the Cab line we produce. Rental and Lease options tend to be on the rise these days. Maintenance, upfront investment, and/or cost control tend to be factors to consider. So your opinion… Do you rent, lease, or buy and why?

Also, if you haven’t checked out our cab line do so here on our website under products.

http://conexpoconagg.com/news/march-2016/equipment-rental-market-on-the-rise/

Hey business people…. actually, any people, take a breather and open a book. How important is reading? Not just the business journal or the newspaper, but novels reading for fun, or insight in other fields like science or economics.

According to John Coleman at Harvard Business Review (link below):

“Even as global literacy rates are high (84%), people are reading less and less deeply. The National Endowment for the Arts (PDF) has found that “[r]eading has declined among every group of adult Americans,” and for the first time in American history, “less than half of the U.S. adult American population is reading literature.” “

“Reading can also make you more effective in leading others. Reading increases verbal intelligence (PDF), making a leader a more adept and articulate communicator. Reading novels can improve empathy and understanding of social cues, allowing a leader to better work with and understand others — traits that author Anne Kreamer persuasively linked to increased organizational effectiveness, and to pay raises and promotions for the leaders who possessed these qualities. And any business person understands that heightened emotional intelligence will improve his or her leadership and management ability.”

“Finally, an active literary life can make you more personally effective by keeping you relaxed and improving health. For stressed executives, reading is the best way to relax, as reading for six minutes can reduce stress by 68%, and some studies suggest reading may even fend off Alzheimer’s, extending the longevity of the mind.”

And if you would like more information or to READ the blog on this see the following link https://hbr.org/2012/08/for-those-who-want-to-lead-rea   

If you would like some ideas on actual business reads the link to 50 of the most influential are found here : http://www.businessinsider.com/famous-business-book-summaries-2015-1           

The scene is set. You sit in your aisle seat hopefully toward the front of the plane so that it is easier for restroom breaks and getting off the plane at your arrival. The very courteous stewardess is asking you to get the pamphlet out so that you can learn how to turn your seat into a flotation device (I’m still skeptical) and put your oxygen mask on before helping others scream for their life. What is the next thing you do?? In case you didn’t purchase a magazine in the airport for $35 and you forgot your own reading material…… You grab the SkyMall right? Because everyone wants to see all the handy dandy items they should have purchased for comfort for their flight, or those moon shoes you wanted as a kid. Well folks I hate to tell you, but the internet and handy cheaper ways of purchasing have put another business out. No more SkyMall. Now where on earth am I going to get that Ostrich Pillow I had my eye on? (see pic below)
This does make us all look at the way businesses are forced to market and run. Those that wanted to purchase items from SkyMall forgot all about the items once off the plane. Had they been more cost friendly and marketed to folks sitting on their couch with wifi could they have lasted? Possibly. Even smaller local businesses still need a little edge with a Facebook account and website as a few ways to make themselves more searchable on the web.

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2015-01-24/skymall-is-earthbound-but-its-legacy-of-nutty-gifts-lives-on#r=hpt-ls

Here is wishing everyone a great Thanksgiving, and be careful picking up the bird. 

The year has turned its circle,
The seasons come and go. 
The harvest all is gathered in
And chilly north winds blow.
Orchards have shared their treasures,
The fields, their yellow grain,
So open wide the doorway,
Thanksgiving comes again.

[Author: Unknown]

Just in time for Veteran’s Day.

Last week we got to visit one of our customers DJO Global and help them with their Marine Corp Scholarship Foundation… Our golf team didn’t win, but they had some fun.

See a little more about the MCSF (Marine Corp Scholarship Foundation) below.

http://www.golfdigestplanner.com/26407-DJO/benefactor.html 

Many times in your life you have heard and will continue to hear.. Two brains are better than one. Not only brain power but teamwork all around helps efficiency and an all around better work environment when we can all work together. Check out the cute/ fun video.

One man can be a crucial ingredient on a team, but one man cannot make a team. -Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

It is nice to be recognized locally. We were notified we won the Best of Richmond Award. See the attached press release. #Quality 

http://richmond.richmond.awardservice.org/PressReleaseub.aspx?cc=DDZ-GQG4-B8ZZ

This is your heads up… Periodically this month we will be posting facts/ myths and information about Breast Cancer Awareness on our Facebook. According to Breastcancer.org “About 1 in 8 U.S. women (about 12%) will develop invasive breast cancer over the course of her lifetime.” Now fellas, if you think this doesn’t affect you, think again. “About 2,360 new cases of invasive breast cancer were expected to be diagnosed in men in 2014. A man’s lifetime risk of breast cancer is about 1 in 1,000.”

Think about that. Do you work with 8 women, have more than 8 female friends, have more than 8 female family members?? Do you think men regularly check themselves either? This can affect any one of us.

Currently there is no prevention, but awareness of Breast Cancer, facts, and tips of self check can help catch it early. Cancer doesn’t discriminate!

Keep posted on our Facebook site.  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Contract-Industrial-Tooling-INC/737010179660164