New products excite Skana executives

President Barack Obama toured Skana Aluminum Co. about one year ago.

If Obama came back to the Mirro Drive manufacturing plant he would find quite a few changes — including "SPIT" and "SAP" — designed to satisfy customers for decades to come.

"Compared to a year ago, the plant is running very well," Tom Testwuide Sr., Skana's chief executive officer and board chairman, said. "Now, we are looking at future efficiencies and quality improvements."

The mill employs 108 individuals supplying coil metal and other products, about 56 million pounds last year, for customers nationwide.

They turn the aluminum into something they sell, like the cookware emerging from Tramontina USA, Skana's next-door neighbor under the same roof at the mammoth plant built in the 1950s.

"The level of hard work and commitment from our work force has been outstanding," said Robert Gamba, president and chief operating officer.

Many of the employees have been at the plant for decades, working first for Mirro and then for Koenig & Vits before it ceased operations and was eventually sold out of receivership to Testwuide and his partners.

"I remember May 8, 2009, well because it was our wedding anniversary and my wife and I went hot-air ballooning in the Napa Valley," Testwuide recalled last week.

"I got a call from Community Bank (& Trust) that Koenig & Vits had ceased operations," Testwuide said.

He had been an adviser to Koenig & Vits and "fell in love with the potential there."

It has been almost exactly two years since Skana Aluminum was formed and completed the purchase of the plant's assets for $6.8 million.

After rehiring laid off workers and rehabbing facilities, the first slab of aluminum emerged from one of its two completely rebuilt furnaces in July 2010.

Fast-forward 20 months and Testwuide's executive assistant, Steve Gallimore, coordinates SPIT — Skana Process Improvement Teams.

"We get different areas of the company together for 20 quick minutes to see what is on their minds," Gallimore said. "We talk about what's going on that we can improve upon.

"SPIT helps us have better communication and I make the guarantee that I will carry their concerns forward."

Value-added products

Skana's first full year of operations also included creating a value-added division, Skana Aluminum Products, or SAP, that is now operating out of a 65,000-square-foot building at the south end of the complex that had sat idle for eight years.

"We've gone from a warehouse full of water to nearly 1 million pounds of finished product monthly," Gamba said of SAP's productivity.

The new operations include four stamping presses, a slitter, tension leveler, cut to length line and circle shears.

The 22 employees in the new division can use a shear to cut aluminum circles up to 48 inches in diameter.

They could be turned into custom satellite dishes, caps over the ends of pontoons on boats or a "obscenely oversized cooking utensil," Gamba said, picturing 25-gallon military or correctional institution cook pots.

SAP also creates flat 12-by-4 aluminum sheets in different gauges, rather than coil metal, that machine shops and fabricators find useful.

This year, a laser welder will be installed enabling coils to be joined together, to reduce customer-handling expense during their production processes using Skana's aluminum.

The Manitowoc plant creates metal of different alloys and Gamba touted Skana as the best manufacturer anywhere of "O temper" aluminum that has a wide range of end uses.

While Skana has a sales force that works the phones with current and prospective customers, Gamba said business also is conducted face-to-face.

"We bring a lot of people to the plant so they can see our capabilities and see the investment we've made," Gamba said.

Gamba and Testwuide said Skana's customers have been rooting for the new company's success.

"It's not just about driving down prices" by having another supplier, Gamba said.

He said Skana has been able to supply customers' needs that had not always been met.

Gamba said customers' rejection of Skana products is less than 2 percent, lower than industry standard.

DNR official visit

Cathy Stepp, the state Department of Natural Resources secretary, is set to visit Skana on Thursday to acknowledge completion of environmental work done at the 53-year-old mill.

Environmental assessments of the building and groundwater, cleanup of previously removed underground storage tanks, and excavation of tons of contaminated soil are finished, aided by a $650,000 state grant.

"This site has a clay basin under the plant that stops seepage from migrating into Lake Michigan … which is extremely lucky," Gamba said.

"Most of the cost of environmental remediation was about testing rather than removal … there was very little contamination so we can stand here today and say we have a clean plant," Gamba said.

For Jerry Keehan, director of plant operations, his focus is on getting the many big pieces of expensive equipment to be well-maintained and running continuously for maximum productivity and quality.

The "stretch goal" is to cast 60 million pounds of aluminum in 2012 that will be shipped to customers across America with less than 10 percent going outside U.S. borders.

Keehan has the advantage of veteran employees that Testwuide said have a wealth of knowledge in knowing how to run the mill.

"You can't just bring in a guy off the street to run the operation," Testwuide said.

He and Gamba are focused on succession planning.

"We have been pushing hard to get younger people into Skana with the potential of very good jobs," Testwuide said.

"So much of the workforce we have brought back are in their 50s," Testwuide said. "That's good but we need their sons and daughters to go into manufacturing."

Testwuide came out of "semiretirement" to help give birth to Skana and lure seasoned professionals from larger competitors to join the existing work force.

He said Skana "has a very good long-term future."

"Getting these talented people working together has been fun for me to watch," Testwuide said.