Our thanks to all who visited Ajax at Design2Part Minneapolis. LOTS of folks turned out to meet & greet the Ajax team of Sales Engineer Jayson Marcott and Plant Manager Brandon Holmes.
The Medical Device & Manufacturing (MD&M) show in Minneapolis is set for November 2 & 3, 2022, and Ajax will be there.
Check back for show updates here on the Ajax blog.
Join the Ajax customer service team in Atlanta on March 30 and 31 at Design2Part. Meet us in booth #212, meet the guys, and take a look at our showcase of stamped and fabricated parts. See you in Atlanta!
Entering its 20th year at the Cobb Galleria in Atlanta, the Design-2-Part Show has been a show Ajax never misses. Our booth visitors enjoy being able to see and touch the dozens of stamped, formed, punched, fiber laser-cut, and welded parts we’ll have on hand.
More importantly, visitors can get answers regarding metal forming processes, logistics, materials, and more. So make your plans today to stop by booth #212 and say hello to Ajax customer service team members Don Wellman and Jayson Marcott.
Ajax Metal Forming Solutions and Sales Engineer Jayson Marcott have again joined the robotics team at Providence Academy of Plymouth, Minnesota, to create a new entry for the FIRST® Robotics Competition. FIRST® is the world’s leading youth-serving nonprofit advancing science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education.
FIRST® organizes teams of high school students and their instructors to build high-tech robots that launch balls into goals, hang on bars, operate along balance beams, and more. Although a kit of standard robot parts is provided, FIRST® encourages teams to design custom parts that improve robot performance. That’s where Ajax and Sales Engineer Jayson Marcott stepped in to assist. The Providence team designed custom parts made from lightweight aluminum but lacked the material and machinery needed to make the parts. Ajax provided the aluminum and allocated time on the company’s Salvagnini L3 fiber laser and Loewer Beltmaster to cut and deburr the parts.
“Providence Academy has a very impressive group of youngsters on their robotics team,” Jayson said. “We’re very excited to see how this year’s robot performs in competition.” Last year, Providence finished 7th out of 25 teams but won the FIRST® Engineering Award.
“Our team got right to work to replace the robot’s wooden prototypes with the finished laser-cut plates that Ajax produced,” said Providence Physics and Engineering Instructor Michael Plucinski. “The parts fit beautifully, and we had a successful test of the mechanism. We greatly appreciate all that Jayson and Ajax do for us here at the Academy.”
The Providence team will compete on March 3, 4 & 5 at the Entertainment and Convention Center in Duluth, Minnesota. Check back to get competition results!
Providence Academy finished the competition with a record of four wins, five losses, and no ties. While the final score did not live up to the team’s high hopes, the event went very well. Most importantly, the team members gained valuable engineering knowledge and experience throughout the process of designing, building, and operating the robot.
View the competition video here: https://youtu.be/7Bj86SpvVD8
Ajax congratulates team leader Michael Plucinski, the physics and engineering instructor at Providence, and the Providence team members who made this year’s competition so worthwhile. Great job everyone!
Ajax Sales Engineer Jayson Marcott and Ajax Vice President of Sales and Marketing Don Wellman welcomed dozens of booth visitors at the three-day AHR Expo in Las Vegas, which ended Wednesday, February 2, 2022. Thanks to all the HVACR folks who stopped by to learn about our company’s stamping and sheet metal fabrication capabilities and check out our latest array of fabricated and stamped metal parts. See you next year for AHR Expo 2023 in Atlanta!
Djubek took the company’s reins from the Ajax family 4 years ago, having worked his way up through the ranks after starting there in 1990 working second shift “and with no prior experience running stamping presses,” he says. Now Ajax’s chief executive and with a significant ownership stake, Djubek has set a course for continued growth by spreading the company’s wings and commissioning—in early 2021—a new manufacturing facility in Raleigh, NC.
At the same time, the company, which performs progressive and deep-draw stamping, as well as sheet metal fabrication using press brakes, turret presses and laser-cutting machines, recently launched its Ajax Academy to help ensure a steady stream of skilled workers.
Metalforming Magazine Q: What’s the best management-related book, webinar or event you’ve recently enjoyed, and what were one or two of the key takeaways?
Djubek: Earlier this year we tied up our conference room for three days to broadcast the Dave Ramsey EntreLeadership Master Series training workshop. Most of our management team, around 12 people, attended some or all of the program. One of the standout speakers, for me, was Jocko Willink, whose book (“Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win, Dichotomy of Leadership”) my plant manager and I both purchased after hearing him speak.
Willink really reminded all of us here that, even with the best planning things can unravel, so it’s important to plan for potential pitfalls and then learn from any our mistakes so we don’t repeat them. And, personally, I appreciate his perspective on where to place the blame when things do go wrong.
That is, when something goes wrong it’s likely due to lack of leadership rather than someone else’s shortcomings. As a leader, if you don’t set the right parameters in terms of expectations, the results likely will be less than expected.
Metalforming Magazine Q: What is the biggest challenge you face as a company leader?
Djubek: We continue to be challenged by the shortage of skilled workers, but we’re making inroads here by first striving to hire the right people—with the right attitude—and then investing in training, via our Ajax Academy. Years ago, hiring was done at a high level, but we discovered that I may not always be the right person to be hiring people that I’m not working with day in and day out.
So, now our leads and managers do all of the interviewing, and as part of that process they walk through the plant and try to get a feel for the attitudes of applicants and gauge whether or not they would be good fits for the Ajax culture.
When it comes to operator training and solving the skills shortage, Erick Ajax (former vice president, now retired and serving on the company’s board of directors) did a great job developing close relationships with the community colleges and trade schools. Building on that, recently we launched our Ajax Academy, partnering with a local technical college and then adding some of the virtual learning options through PMA’s METALFORM EDU program, as well as plenty of hands-on learning on the shop floor.
Metalforming Magazine Q: What are two or three of the most important things you look for in a mid-level manager?
Djubek: As noted earlier, it all starts with attitude, and drive. Most of our management team has been promoted from within, and here we look for self-starters—those team members who have been commended by their managers and are looking for opportunities to grow with Ajax. I look for people who want their plates filled, and over-filled, who will accept added responsibilities and push themselves.
Ajax Vice President of Sales Don Wellman (L) and Ajax President Kent Djubek on the plant floor.
You’re invited to download the latest Ajax newsletter. Inside, you’ll find a must-read article on the importance of logistics, some great leadership thoughts from Ajax President Kent Djubek, and more. Here’s a snippet:
“Getting product to customers on time, long an Ajax selling point, was becoming more difficult (and costly) to achieve. Solutions were few. And what if this problem has legs? Would it stretch into 2023? With all this in mind, the Ajax team fell back on a tried and true management idea: turn a problem into a competitive advantage.”
