Warren County braking components manufacturer hiring more than 50 employees

A manufacturing company’s Warren County facility is looking to add more than 50 new positions.

ADVICS Manufacturing Ohio, in Lebanon, has been producing braking components since 1989. The company started with making the front brake disc caliper for the Ford Escort and has grown to be a leading manufacturer of world-class quality braking systems producing components for most of the major automakers including Toyota, Ford, Chrysler, Mazda and Nissan.

“We have expanded to not only produce the disc caliper but anti-lock braking Systems, electronic stability control units, and the electronic parking brake,” said Shelly Sack, assistant manager of human resources.

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Headquartered in Japan, ADVICS Co. Ltd. is the parent company for ADVICS North America, which includes facilities in Ohio, Georgia, Indiana, Michigan and Mexico.

ADVICS Manufacturing Ohio, the company’s corporate headquarters, started with one plant on its property in Lebanon at 1650 Kingsview Drive and has expanded to three large plants. Staffing started with 50 team members and now includes 943 employees with plans to add more than 50 more this year.

The company’s biggest need is for production operations. Entry-level positions start at $14.61 an hour with $1 shift differential with regular pay increases available. Other positions to fill in 2019 will be maintenance technicians, PLC programmers, forklift operators, CMM operators, quality engineers and manufacturing engineers.

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We asked Sack and human resources specialist Scarlett Sawyers about the ADVICS’ hiring needs. Here’s what they had to say:

Q: What’s the biggest challenge facing your company and others in the industry and how is the company uniquely positioned to address that challenge?

Sack: "The biggest challenge we, and other local employers, are currently facing is finding qualified candidates for our open positions. Job history is the most prevalent roadblock we encounter. We require that a candidate does not have more than two jobs in a 5-year period and that is very difficult to find these days with unemployment being at a record low.

“Good advice to candidates who are working but seeking a new employer is to not quit your job until you have another job. A candidate is more desirable if they are currently employed.”

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Sawyers: "Another issue with our skilled positions such as maintenance, PLC programmers and CMM programmers, is that there are not enough people with appropriate skills available in the job market. There's a skill gap between the generations. Most high school graduates are going to a 4-year college these days and not attending technical schools or obtaining 2-year degrees. Manufacturers need to get the word out that not everyone needs a 4-year degree. They're very expensive and create years of debt for graduates.

“ADVICS is unique in that we have never had a layoff of our hourly team members and don’t plan to no matter what the economic condition. With that being said, we’re so busy right now and our team members have been working a lot of overtime.”

Q: What’s the vision for ADVICS’ growth, both jobs and otherwise, for the next five years?

Sack: "ADVICS will be adding business in our Electronic Parking Brake plant and will be adding over 50 more team members this year with plans to keep growing for the next 5 years."

Q: To what degree can employees advance from entry-level roles to be promoted to greater positions?

Sawyers: "There are plenty of advancement opportunities within ADVICS. We believe that the more our operators grow, the more our company can grow. To the degree the employee can advance depends on the direction, motivation, and ambition that the team member has. We have production operators that took advantage of tuition reimbursement, received their degree, and now are working in HR and upper management positions.

“The most notable growth routes are through leadership development and our maintenance internship program where we offer education in coordination with on-the-job training.”

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