Marvin intends to make huge investments in automation, according to a report from TCB.
Paul Marvin, CEO and chair of the window-and-door manufacturer, explains that nobody is going to lose a job because of automation.
“We are not going to build a factory of robots. That’s not appropriate,” says Marvin in an interview with TCB. “Automation is simplifying processes with technology and data.”
Automation and technology upgrades are central to a five-year business strategy that Marvin has begun to unveil to his employees. Marvin will conduct 41 employee meetings between mid-January and early March across several states.
"Everyone has a right to know that we have a plan and what it is,” Marvin says. “I’m looking forward to hitting the road and walking the floors and being with our employees.”
Labor shortage
Marvin says the company wants to deploy automation to reduce redundant work or busy work, so it can make faster and better decisions. For example, that could be the case in manufacturing, finance or marketing. More and more businesses have begun exploring automation for similar purposes.
Marvin reports that his company is short of workers in Warroad, which has “triggered all kinds of strategies and initiatives focused on hiring, retention and process optimization,” he says. “It greatly affected our production in 2022 as well as in 2021.”
In conjunction with other organizations, Marvin says, his company is involved in a “community-wide effort to add 300 housing units in Warroad and a new daycare center.”
Wage increases
Marvin employees are spread across 16 cities in North America. The manufacturer has been doing business in areas defined by low unemployment and high inflation, which prompted Marvin to boost wages.
“We have made what I’d call out-of-cycle, cost-of-living adjustments to wages, including starting wages and all wages,” Marvin says. “That has a cascading effect when you raise a starting wage, then you adjust wages throughout the operation.”
During the past two years, Marvin increased starting pay in every geography where it does business. Those increases ranged from 50 cents to $2 per hour.
