Capacity is often a problem for many industries and manufacturers. However, with a 70% unemployment rate nationally for people with disabilities, that is one problem that Human Technologies (HT) rarely faces. When approached by Omniafiltra in November 2016 to help them alleviate some of their capacity problems, HT’s response was immediate. Since that time, HT has converted over 1,000,000 insect repellent absorbent pads for them.
Among their many products offered, Omniafiltra manufactures a low density blotter paper that is die-cut into small rectangular pads, packed, and shipped to their customer who use these absorbent pads as part of an insect repellent system. The bottleneck for Omniafiltra was in the specialized packing of these pads for their customer, which sometimes forced management to pull personnel from highly specialized jobs to work on packing these pads or working on them at home to meet customer demands. A more cost-effective solution was sought, and a call was made to Human Technologies. Within a week of the initial meeting, the first sample order was received by HT and immediately turned around. Since that time, HT has had a steady supply of pads to work on, and the prognosis for continuing this working relationship is good.
Packaging and assembly are a core competency of Human Technologies. On any given day, ten people or more can be seen working on this job. HT employees are happy to be working and especially enjoy the volume of business that this opportunity brings to the packaging and assembly department. It’s something they can look forward to working on every day, and the fact that they are working with HT is not lost on Omniafiltra’s management. “Our experience working with Human Technologies has been nothing but positive,” states Scott Sauer, Mill Manager at Omniafiltra. “They really helped us manage our costs and delivery commitments as this new piece of business reached a commercial level. That all of this was achieved while providing meaningful work to our neighbors with disabilities is simply wonderful.”