PK U.S.A, Inc. is located in Shelbyville, Indiana, and occupies a new 317,978 square-foot facility built on a 66-acre site. PK U.S.A. began its operations in Shelbyville in 1989, and has experienced five expansions since that time. The plant employs 500 workers and is the primary supplier of metal body parts, chassis parts and plastic injection parts for automotive companies in the United States, as well as other countries around the world.
The parent companies of PK U.S.A, Inc. are Press Kogyo Co., one of Japan's largest independent automotive parts manufacturers, and Mitsui & Co., Ltd., one of the world's largest trading companies. As such, PK U.SA. enjoys the stability, financial resources, and technological support of these worldwide corporations.
Diversity Integration Initiative
According to PK U.S.A., one of the biggest challenges faced by automotive suppliers in the United States is the ability to recruit and retain qualified employees for production positions. In the late 1990s, PK U.S.A. faced new customer projects without being able to recruit the needed staff to support these initiatives. Therefore, the decision was made to expand the recruitment process to other counties and to explore alternative recruitment strategies.
While Latinos comprised 1.1 percent of Shelby County’s and 3.5 percent of the state’s population, PK U.S.A. indicated that the Latino population in the late 1990s was approximately 1 percent of its total workforce, and that none were included in its management ranks.
To address this diversity issue, PK U.S.A. launched a major diversity integration initiative to recruit, hire and retain qualified Latino applicants to fill open production positions. Coupled with the successes of recruiting and hiring Latinos into production and professional jobs, the company also promoted Latino employees to higher-level positions, such as General Manager of Engineering, Tool and Die and Quality Engineers, and Shop Floor Managers.
In order to ensure that PK U.S.A.’s workforce understands and accepts cultural diversity, much time, effort and money were spent in providing employees with training in harassment-free workplace and cultural diversity. These training sessions are presented to all employees, including those in leadership positions, with the anticipated end result of fair and impartial treatment in the workplace. In addition to this training, the PK U.S.A. management team conducts regular feedback sessions with its Latino workers to ensure that they are being treated fairly. Issues and concerns are immediately addressed and resolved by the PK U.S.A. management team. The company also partners with the state and local school system to improve English-speaking skills for its Latino employees.
As a result of this initiative, currently more than a quarter of the company’s full-time workforce is comprised of Latinos. This workforce has been very stable. Annualized voluntary turnover in the production ranks has been less than 8 percent over a three-year period.
