IMM offers a wide variety of nation-wide industrial installations and maintenance services, including metal fabrication and machine building. While their field crews work across the country, their home base is their manufacturing facility located in Central Northern Lower Michigan (Gaylord).
IMM is a staple in the Crawford county industrial footprint. Their goal is one of growth and the addition of job opportunities. Working in partnership with community tech educators and industry trainers, it is IMM’s goal to strengthen the abilities of their current team and build in the technical advantage of new team members. This focus will help IMM continue to be an industry partner of choice with current and new customers.
As with other companies in the area, IMM struggles to find solid industry talent. This, along with a desire to remain competitive, drives IMM to begin an apprentice program in partnership with Kirkland Community College and working with local technical programs to align career pathways to the many levels of welding/fabrication certification (starting with a basic interest the industry, to a journeyman, and even to certifying the quality of the final product). IMM is creating a buzz in the industry as a fabricator of choice as they continue to build a solid team that can produce quality workmanship.
With the help of Michigan Works! Northeast Consortium, IMM received a 2021 Going PRO Talent Fund award of $6,716 to train 17 existing employees. The funding paid for blueprint training, which benefitted the employees by: giving them knowledge of what the symbols on the print means, giving them knowledge of how to read a print, giving them knowledge of following a blueprint, instilling self-confidence when making decisions after reading a blueprint, and provided employees a refresher course on measurements (both standard and metric).
This training will make for more efficient workflow at IMM, ensuring less mistakes, rework, and downtime rework due to reading blueprints incorrectly or not understanding them. Having the staff trained in blueprint reading was extremely important to meet IMM’s production goals.