The Janesville Culver’s Scoopie Night GROWTH STORIES ROOTED IN JANESVILLE A prime example of a business that remains involved and continues to invest in Janesville is Prent Corporation. Launched in 1967 with 15 employees, Prent now has 10 facilities on three continents. Yet Janesville remains the home of its world headquarters. Prent doubled down on its commitment to Janesville a decade ago, when its spin-off company GOEX Corporation built a new 190,000-square-foot facility here, a building that was expanded by 40,000 square feet three years later. “(Expanding here) was a fairly easy decision for us,” says Joe Pregont II, Prent’s President, North America. “We were able to get the land that we needed so we could expand...and run a world-class operation out of this community.” Janesville is also the company headquarters for United Alloy, a metal fabrication business that began with eight employees in 1999. Twenty-six years later, UA now employs over 1,000 in three states. According to Ben Lodahl, UA’s Vice President of Human Resources, his company and the city of Janesville share DNA. “Culturally, we’re so aligned with what good work looks like, and what hard work looks like, we’ve really been able to benefit one another,” says Lodahl. “Our beginnings are here, and our headquarters is going to remain here. The square footage that we’ve been able to add, just in the last five years alone, has brought our manufacturing square footage to over a half million on our Janesville campus. We will continue to grow, and growth will happen in Janesville here, as well.” STRENGTHENING THE TALENT PIPELINE That growth, however, may not come without some growing pains. Pregont cautions that continuing to grow operations right now is a challenge due to workforce constraints. “We want to grow, but it’s challenging because of very low unemployment,” Pregont says. “If we are able to bring in more people, we would certainly be able to grow a lot more. Our limiting factor is our workforce. We need to retain our people in order to be able to continue to grow, because if we have a high turnover rate, there’s just not a big enough market to continue to employ in this area.” “Workforce is vital,” says Kuborn, “and it’s more important than anything else. How do you recruit those who live here and are coming through our education system?” One of the areas where the survey data identified an opportunity for improvement was in the area of student workforce readiness, where two-thirds of the respondents felt Janesville needed to do better. Fortunately, this need has already been recognized and is being addressed by local businesses like Prent and United Alloy who have stepped up and become partners in programs like the Janesville Business Academy and Craftsman With Character. Pregont says that the involvement of Prent and other local businesses is key to make work-based learning a success locally. “The better the program, the better the results,” says Pregont. “We have businesses in town (that) are all in on Janesville, and they’re all in on our young generation. They want that generation staying in Janesville and working at the companies (here). And if we have a really strong program coming out of the schools and supported by the business community, that’s a winning formula. We’re going to be able to develop some very high caliber young people to step into the workforce.” UA’s Lodahl agrees: “One of the things that I’m super proud of is our local school districts really rallying behind the needs of the businesses in the area. There have been, in the last few years, some really great programs that have been developed that have helped young people get a taste of what working in a manufacturing environment could look like. So a lot of kudos go out to the local school districts. It’s something we believe in very heavily. We need to continue our pipeline coming out of school. I think the partnership between the local school districts and a company like United Alloy has really been something that is bringing business back, and making people want to come and open up business here in Janesville.” Forward Janesville continues to partner with the School District of Janesville in both the Craftsman With Character and JBA. We also announced at our Annual Dinner that we have helped secure a $100,000 Studer Education partnership grant from the Forward Foundation – the 501©3 arm of Forward Janesville – to elevate performance and attendance and achieve learning outcomes. And we added Greg Phillips as our Workforce Development United Alloy now has more than 500,000 square feet of manufacturing space in Janesville. Prent Corporation has spent nearly six decades expanding in Janesville. “Workforce is vital. How do you recruit those who live here and are coming through our education system?” www.forwardjanesville.com | 9
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