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Advance Food Co. one of Enid's
largest employers and Autry Technology Center have worked
together for two decades in securing a common goal for their
community to have the best, trained work force possible.
Advance Food Company began in
1973 as Advance Meats, with eight employees housed in a small
building in downtown Enid. Staking their claim as "the country
fried steak experts," owners Paul Allen and David McLaughlin
combined 30 years of experience at Hormel Foods to found Advance.
Sales from their first year of operation were just $300,000.
Since 1990, the company has seen a 20-30 percent increase in
sales revenues each year, according to Brian Hayden, director
of the People Department at Advance. This year, sales are expected
to exceed $300 million.
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Today, the Enid-based company manufactures top-quality, value-added
food products and is known to have the most diverse line of chicken-fried
steaks in the industry. Now they are serving up great-tasting,
quality products across the country, in Canada, Mexico and the
Caribbean.
 Advance
grew by leaps and bounds to its present size of approximately
1,200 employees, 950 of which are in Oklahoma. The company has
two production facilities and a 125,000 square foot distribution
center in Enid. Last year, total payroll was approximately $30
million, not including benefits, which add significantly to that
figure.
That couldn't have happened, however, Hayden
said, without the support of the community of Enid and Autry
Technology Center.
The involvement of company owners, Allen and McLaughlin, and
their willingness to invest in the community and its people has
also played a great role in Advance becoming what it is today,
Hayden said.
Growing the company was never done at the expense of the people
who make it happen, Hayden said. Advance continues to run the
production facilities five days a week, where most of the employees
have the weekends off to spend with the family.
Employees enjoy a multitude of benefits including help with down
payments on homes. The no-interest loan is forgiven if the employee
stays with the company three years. They also receive educational
reimbursements and child-care.
Employees and owners alike are highly involved in their community.
"What Enid brings is the people side of it," he said.
"What Autry does is provide the training and expertise so
we can continue to develop people and grow the company."
That is why Advance Food Co. is being recognized as one of Oklahoma's
CareerTech Business Champions.
CareerTech Business Champions attribute much of their
economic success to the partnerships they have formed with the
local technology center or high school CareerTech programs.
 Without a quality,
trained work force, a company stagnates and cannot reach its
potential, according to Hayden. Autry provides a variety of training
for machine operators, computers, curriculum development, supervisors,
new employees, and safety.
"You have to have the people ready to step up to the next
level," Hayden said. "Autry helps us to do that by
providing training for the development of our employees."
When a company believes in employee development, said Carol Hoberecht,
human resources and training manager at Advance, that company
has to be willing to provide the resources to develop them. Advance
does that through Autry.
"The development of innovative production methods, together
with emphasis on product quality and individualized customer
service, has resulted in the company's strong reputation and
recent dramatic growth," said Hayden.
Autry Tech's partnership with Advance dates back to the 1980s,
when the first Training for Industry Program (TIP) money was
secured for the company. Seven TIP agreements have been secured
since then. By the mid-1990s, the partnership was in full swing.
By 1996, Autry was doing so much training for Advance, a training
coordinator position was created for the company. Karen Leierer,
who currently holds that position, works for Autry, but is housed
at Advance. It is the only such position in the state.
"There were, and continue to be, a great deal of training
needs," said Teri Holle, business and industry services
director at Autry. "We want to be the training arm for the
company. We want them to come to us first for whatever their
needs are."
Autry has tried and talked about training ideas and platforms
with Advance that haven't been done or discussed anywhere else,
Holle said. Most of the time it worked. Some of the time it didn't.
"We have grown and learned together," she said.
For example, Autry's pilot program called "Train the Trainer"
was first tried at Advance and has since been successfully adopted
by many businesses in the community. Holle also said curriculum
development training, which Autry did for Advance, in many instances
works well for other companies too, and has been implemented
accordingly.
"Working through the successes and the not so successful
ventures has strengthened the partnership between Advance and
Autry," Hayden said, "There is a mutual respect, a
willingness to make mistakes and learn from them, and an investment
of time by both parties."
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