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Case Studies

Healthy Meal Delivery Service Finds a Skilled, Reliable Workforce

Amid a restaurant labor shortage, PRIDE Industries provides employees for kitchen and warehouse positions for MealPro, a company that makes healthy eating easy and affordable. Customers can either order from fitness-specific diet plans like keto meals, choose favorites from an a-la-carte menu, or they can create custom meals from scratch. If customers have medical conditions, heart-healthy meals and low-sodium meals, among others, are available

MealPro delivers their pre-made meals to customers’ doorsteps nationwide using major carriers. Customers who live close to one of MealPro’s stores can pick up meal boxes at their convenience, or one of the company’s courteous drivers will deliver the packaged meals.

The Challenge: Restaurant Labor Shortage

Like many businesses in the food industry, MealPro is impacted by a significant restaurant labor shortage, low retention rates, and high absenteeism. The turnover rate in the food service industry hovers around 75 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. To get its product to customers, MealPro needs a workforce that is skilled, motivated, and reliable in the kitchen and in its delivery service. 

“The restaurant labor shortage is real, and we fish in the same talent pond,” said Andrew Sartori, MealPro’s Founder and CEO. “We need employees who show up on time and take their jobs seriously.”

The Solution: A Reliable, Skilled Workforce

To bridge the talent gaps MealPro turned to PRIDE Industries. PRIDE Industries is a social enterprise with a mission to provide employment opportunities for people with disabilities. The organization is now a vital partner for MealPro in addressing its workforce needs.

“The employees we hire from PRIDE Industries come to work on time and are happy to be here,” said Sartori. “They are very detail oriented. In fact, one of the gentlemen we hired can cross-reference a list with 500 items. He is a phenomenal worker.”

MealPro is so Impressed by PRIDE Industries’ mission and the quality of its employees that Satori extended the partnership to include Chef Dan Catanio’s Culinary Staples Foundation. Chef Catanio developed a program to train youth with disabilities in Sacramento and Placer counties for employment in the culinary field, with a particular focus on jobs in the food service industry.

“Our goal is to help give our students the skills and confidence they need to work in restaurants and other food service businesses,” said Chef Catanio.

When students complete the program, PRIDE Industries steps in with job placement and support services to foster students’ success.

The Result: A Delicious Partnership

The partnership between MealPro, Culinary Staples, and PRIDE Industries is generating a reliable talent pool for MealPro and beyond. Contrary to misconceptions, there are proven business benefits to hiring people with disabilities. Research published by the National Institutes of Health found that businesses that hire people with disabilities measurably improve profitability due to lower turnover and long-term retention, reliability, punctuality, productivity, and customer loyalty and satisfaction.

This collaboration not only improved the company’s operations but also inspired it to contribute to the economic health of the region by offering culinary training opportunities to youth with disabilities. The positive impact on employees, business performance, and the local community underscores the value of such partnerships in the food industry.

“The employees we hired from PRIDE Industries come to work on time and are happy to be here. They are very detail-oriented. In fact, one of the gentlemen we hired can cross-reference a list with 500 items. He’s a phenomenal worker.”

— Andy Satori, Founder and CEO, MealPro

Laser Manufacturer Improves PCB Contract Manufacturing Quality, Delivery Times

PRIDE Industries provides PCB contract manufacturing for Vortran Laser Technology, a company building ultra-reliable, high-performance laser solutions for the biomedical, medical, and industrial markets.

The company’s high-precision lasers perform cutting-edge scientific research such as flow cytometry, which analyzes cells by measuring their response to light; and optogenetics, where a laser activates light-sensitive proteins, called opsins, to control the activity of cells in living organisms. 

The precision required to target invisible objects with an accurate beam requires equally precise printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturing. Parts need to be close to perfect.

The Challenge: PCB Contract Manufacturing Quality, Delivery Times

In 2020, Vortran had many issues with its PCB contract manufacturing partner. “Delivery times and quality were slipping, and costs kept increasing,” said Managing Director Chris Kruger. Unpredictable delivery schedules compromised Vortran’s ability to meet deadlines, and since the PCBs control laser performance, substandard quality is unacceptable. 

“Our lasers need to be ultra-stable and reliable for 20 to 30 hours at a time,” Kruger said. “They have to deliver an absolute reference point for researchers.”

The Solution: Customizable Boards Save Time and Money

Kruger and Vortran turned to PRIDE Industries to improve on all fronts.

“We immediately improved delivery times and quality by 50 percent,” Kruger said. “And we were able to cut costs by 10 to 15 percent.”

Kruger worked with the PRIDE Industries electronics manufacturing team to develop a flexible PCB platform that allowed Vortran to use similar boards it could customize for specific products in the assembly process. The solution streamlined purchase orders and enabled higher volume purchases of platform parts to reduce costs and inventory. And reducing the number of boards to order helped mitigate supply chain strains during and after the pandemic.

Results: A Robust Supply Chain

“A significant benefit PRIDE Industries has delivered is having a robust supply chain,” Kruger said. “We have access to the parts we need, and the team is very good about communicating and anticipating any issues that might impact delivery times.”

But the biggest success factor is quality. “Before working with PRIDE Industries, we had to build a 15 percent excess to account for poor yield,” Kruger said. “That’s gone now. The technology—inspection and manufacturing tools—that they use and the quality they deliver are state-of-the-art.”

“We’re a relatively low-volume PCB manufacturer and appreciate that the PRIDE Industries team works with us to manage our runs and inventories so that it works for them as well,” Kruger said. “It’s a real partnership that is hard to find, especially compared to offshore manufacturers.”

Services

  • PCB Contract manufacturing
PCB contract manufacturing: Voltran Laser Technology logo

“We immediately improved delivery times and quality by 50 percent. And we were able to cut costs by 10 to 15 percent.”

— Chris Kruger, Managing Director

Highlights

10-15%

cost savings

50%

improvement in delivery times

50%

better quality

Brewery Solves Labor Shortage with Employees with Disabilities

Jerry Moore acquired Knee Deep Brewing Company in 2010, initially using a contract brewing facility in South Lake Tahoe to make beer and ship kegs to bars and restaurants just over the Nevada border in Reno. Fast-forward to 2013, when operations moved to its current home, a 37,000 square-foot, 40 BBL brewhouse with multiple 120 BBL fermenters. Unfortunately, labor shortages have been a persistent challenge.

The Challenge: A Reliable Workforce

“We had trouble finding reliable, hardworking employees to do the work.”  

Like many front-line roles in the wake of the Great Resignation, the labor shortage faced by the brewering was real, and turnover was high and disruptive.

Moore came up with a novel solution. Just down the road from the Auburn, Calif., brewery was a job development center run by PRIDE Industries, training people with disabilities for real-world jobs. Moore reached out and a crew from the social enterprise started in 2020. It’s been a win-win relationship ever since.

“The first thing that surprised me was how happy they were to be here,” Moore said. “They show up on time, work hard, are a lot of fun, and have turned out to be a perfect fit.”

The Solution: Workers with Disabilities a Perfect Fit

Such a great fit that when Knee Deep launched its first special brew to call attention to Autism Awareness Month in April 2022, they named the beer Perfect Fit, complete with a PRIDE Industries logo on the cans to call attention to autism and promote the inclusion of people with disabilities in the workforce. The brewery made 10 barrels and sold out in a few weeks.

“It was an English-style IPA which people liked,” said Brewmaster Dean Roberts, “but I think people also liked the cause of autism awareness, and it gave them a reason to choose that beer.”

The PRIDE Industries team named the 2023 version of the April brew—Hoppy Roger—with a pirate-themed label that included caricatures of employees Aaron, Thomas, Zach, and Evan crewing the ship with a Knee Deep logo replacing the skull in the traditional Jolly Roger flag. This time the company made 30 barrels to satisfy demand. 

Knee Deep donates a portion of proceeds to The Michael Ziegler PRIDE Industries Foundation, which provides programs to help people with disabilities, veterans, and foster youth—like the team working at the brewery–become job-ready.

“Awareness is great, but we want to do more,” Moore said. “We see the power of acceptance and inclusion and want to spread to the news.”

The Result: Contagious Enthusiasm

Should other breweries consider hiring people with autism or other disabilities? Yes, but not just brewers. “It’s not that different from hiring anyone else,” Moore said. “It’s finding the right person for the right job. This job happens to work for these individuals, and they love it.”

Take crew member Zach, for example. Ask him if he likes his job, and he answers immediately: “I love it.”

“They’re happy to be here, and that’s contagious,” said Roberts. “We’re all one team, and everyone enjoys working together. You don’t even think about the disability part anymore.”

It helps that a PRIDE Industries job coach is on hand to make sure everything runs smoothly.

“I love working with this team,” said coach Aaron Cartwright-Vasquez. “They’re great workers—I have to make sure they have what they need and take their breaks.” Cartwright-Vasquez provides transportation for those who need it and ensures everyone understands their schedules, which can vary weekly. “They’re waiting for me every morning wearing smiles.”

Untapped Labor Source

“Knee Deep Brewing has always been proud to have the best people working for it,” Moore likes to say. “Without them, we would not be where we are today. With great people comes great beer!”

More than 15 million people of working age in the U.S. identify as having a disability, an Accenture study found. The study found that companies that actively recruit and manage employees with disabilities have 28 percent higher revenue, twice the net income, and 30 percent higher profit margins. “Persons with disabilities have to be creative to adapt to the world around them,” the study said. “As such, they develop strengths such as problem-solving skills, agility, persistence, forethought, and a willingness to experiment—all of which are essential for innovation.”

Services

  • Packaging and fulfillment

Knee Deep Brewing Logo

“The first thing that surprised me was how happy they were to be here. They show up on time, work hard, are a lot of fun, and have turned out to be a perfect fit.”

— Knee Deep Brewing Company Owner Jerry Jones

Corrections Facility Counts on PRIDE Industries to be Hospital-Grade Clean

With 1.4 million square feet, eight buildings, and sixteen small yards, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation/California Health Care Facility (CDCR/CHCF) Stockton is a licensed medical facility that provides medical, mental health, and dental care to approximately 1,200 inmates. It employs approximately 4,000 professionals who administer an array of services. The facility is further responsible for the housing and incarceration of about 2,450 felons/patients who receive various treatments and care. The prison’s licensure requires compliance with Titles 22 and 24, which include extremely strict guidelines for environmental services, ensuring the proper cleaning and maintenance of a facility at a hospital standard of care.

The Challenge: A Shortage of Reliable, Trained HIPPA-Compliant Staff

Since the facility’s opening in 2013, the CDCR/CHCF has struggled to find and retain a reliable, knowledgeable environmental services workforce. The unique nature of the organization and its facility—its mission, its need for patient confidentiality, its sophisticated training requirements, its stringent cleaning requirements, its security clearance mandates, and the people skills required for patient interaction—presented significant challenges.

“Before PRIDE Industries, CDCR used a porter system, civil service personnel, and another contractor, but there were a lot of hiring and retention issues with all three,” said Ande Heckman, Correctional Business Manager II at the facility. “Then we found PRIDE Industries. Not only did their experience and expertise stand out, but so did their mission to create employment for people with disabilities.”

The Solution: PRIDE Industries Provides Hospital-Standard Environmental Services with a Consistent Workforce

“We were able to offer CDCR the personnel resource bandwidth and expertise needed to resolve their staffing issues,” said Gary Swarthout, General Manager of Hospitality Services at PRIDE Industries. “Equipped with the necessary recruitment strategies, infrastructure, quality and safety experience, and an eager workforce, we expedited and activated services for the facility.”

This has included a staff trained specifically in hospital-standard cleaning protocols—one that consistently passes security clearance investigations.

The Result: Consistently High Assessment Scores, Reduced Disease, and Preservation of Licensure

“Our approach has resulted not only in meeting CDCR/CHCF high cleaning standards, but it has also enabled a robust review, reporting, and corrective action process along with monthly executive summaries that highlight levels of compliance and performance,” said Swarthout.

The team’s efforts and infrastructure also resulted in CDCR/CHCF Stockton obtaining a Healthcare Assessment Maintenance score of 92.5 percent in March 2022 and 85.4 percent in October 2022. These results point to measurable outcomes which preserve the facility’s licensure and its environment of care for patient housing and treatment, ultimately reducing the spread of disease and infection.

A Full-Service Solution

PRIDE Industries recruits, hires, places, and comprehensively trains its CDCR custodial staff—specifically in medical-standard operating procedures, safety, quality, compliance, equipment, and institutional policies.

Business Excellence with a Positive Social Impact

PRIDE Industries is a social enterprise with a mission to provide employment for people with disabilities by delivering high-value business services in the areas of facilities management and manufacturing. The company provides award-winning environmental services in large spaces like the Sacramento Metropolitan Airport as well as at large corporations like Vision Service Plan.

 

CA Deptartment of Corrections logo

“Before PRIDE Industries, CDCR used a porter system, civil service personnel, and another contractor, but there were a lot of hiring and retention issues with all three. Then we found PRIDE Industries. Not only did their experience and expertise stand out, but so did their mission to create employment for people with disabilities.”

— Ande Heckman Correctional Business Manager II, CDCR/CHCF

Highlights

92.5%
Healthcare Assessment Maintenance Score
1.4M sq ft
cleaned at hospital-standards

California State Parks Taps PRIDE Industries for $6M E-commerce Website

With 280 state park units, over 340 miles of coastline, 970 miles of lake and river frontage, 15,000 campsites, 5,200 miles of trails, 3,195 historic buildings, and more than 11,000 known prehistoric and historic archaeological sites, the California Department of Parks and Recreation contains the largest and most diverse recreational, natural, and cultural heritage holdings of any state agency in the nation.

The Challenge: “We put building an e-commerce site out for bid but didn’t get any responses.”

That’s from the parks’ Concessions Statewide Project Manager Sasha Tokas. 

The parks draw 68 million visitors annually, and all those people need passes to enter. In 2008, the agency decided to be one of the first state parks systems to offer park passes and merchandise online. 

But without any historical demand or promise of sales, they couldn’t find a vendor to take on the e-commerce website development project—until PRIDE Industries came along.

The Solution: “PRIDE Industries also does fulfillment for merchandise and saw room for us to grow.”

And grow it did. In 2011, the website grew to $1 million in sales and soared to $6 million by 2022. “Visitors from all over the state, country, and world can buy their passes online, making their trip planning easier and more predictable,” Tokas said.

The Result: “PRIDE Industries brought us into the 21st century!”

“The best part is that it happens behind the scenes while we work on business-critical issues like contract and partner management,” said Erik Hernandez, Concessions Program Manager. “I previously worked at a parks and rec district where I had to run the e-commerce, and there is just no way we could do that and handle the demand. Having online sales in place was huge.”

“I don’t know what we would have done without them when the pandemic hit.”

“While many businesses and organizations were scrambling to go online, we were already there—just when demand went through the roof,” Tokas said. 

PRIDE Industries designed, built, and currently manages the state parks’ online store. The company also designs and ships all merchandise but the passes. Individual parks with concessions also order and sell merchandise.

“The relationship is very positive,” Tokas said. “The team is very responsive to our needs and listens to our suggestions, and it’s seamless.”

“We love PRIDE Industries’ mission to build an inclusive workforce."

PRIDE Industries is a social impact company with a mission to provide employment for people with disabilities by delivering high-value business services in the areas of manufacturing and logistics, and facilities management. The company has some 65,000 square feet of warehouse, manufacturing, and packaging space and performs packaging and fulfillment for companies as large as Hewlett-Packard (37,000 parts!) to small startups. Regarding e-commerce, the company uses top web developers and platforms to deliver secure, profitable sites.

“We share a strong commitment to accessibility—in our case, accessibility for all to our amazing parks,” Tokas said.

A Vision of Accessibility

Indeed, one of the core values at California State Parks is cultural diversity and accessibility. The agency believes in the right of all visitors, including persons with disabilities, to have access to recreational opportunities and to enjoy the cultural, historical, and natural resources found in state parks.

Of course, the state parks’ online store was designed to be accessible to everyone and follows the standards set by California Government Code Sections 7405 and 11135 and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

California State Parks Logo

“Visitors from all over the state, country, and world can buy their passes online, making their trip planning easier and more predictable. PRIDE Industries brought us into the 21st century!”

— Sasha Tokas, Concessions Statewide Project Manager

Summary

The challenge: Build a world-class e-commerce site to enable park visitors to buy passes and merchandise online.

The solution: PRIDE Industries offered website development, management, and merchandise fulfillment.

The result: The site now sells $6 million each year.

Services Provided:

  • E-commerce website design
  • E-commerce management
  • Packaging and fulfillment
hand in blue glove working on microchips medical device manufacturer
Case Study:

Medical Device Manufacturer

20% Cost Savings and On-Time Delivery for Medical Device Manufacturer

When a Class II medical device manufacturer needed a reliable partner for production and supply chain management, it turned to PRIDE Industries. For more than ten years, PRIDE Industries has helped this manufacturer produce essential devices that are used to reduce pain and speed recovery for athletes, military personnel, and post-surgery patients worldwide.

Situation: Turnkey Medical Device Manufacturer

In 2008, a Class II medical device manufacturer hired PRIDE Industries as contract manufacturer to provide a full turnkey solution in supply chain management and electronics manufacturing services. Our solution is vertically integrated with global distribution support.

Services Provided

  • Supply chain management
  • Electronics manufacturing services
  • Strategic partnership, not solely transactional

Results

  • 95%+ optimized, on-time delivery
  • 20% cost savings realized through custom solutions and pricing
  • 18 months – obtained ISO13485 medical certificate and FDA compliance
  • 60% = 2021 forecast of YOY production volume increase for one product
  • Initial results exceeded expectations, leading the customer to expand the manufacturing contract

Highlights

20%

Cost savings

95%+

optimized, on-time delivery

“PRIDE Industries has been a reliable business partner for several years. The team at PRIDE remains in constant communication to ensure successful production of our products, and they consistently deliver quality results. We trust PRIDE Industries and we look forward to continuing to work with them as our business grows.”

— PRIDE Industries customer

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