A bio box for Kinefac
Updated: 9 hours ago
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2025 Manufacturing Excellence Awards
Manufacturing awards: Kinefac prioritizes workforce to ensure long-term innovation
Photo I Courtesy of Kinefac
Almost 1/3 of Kinefac's workforce has been hired within the past six years, although 22 have been with Kinefac for more than 20 years.
2025 Manufacturing Excellence Awards
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- Best Collaboration Award: Rocheleau Tool & Die Co. Inc.
- Manufacturing Champion - Large Company: Jim Knott Jr.
- Manufacturing Champion - Small Company: John Biagioni
- Rising Star: SpadXTech
- Green Manufacturing Award: Electric Hydrogen
- Workforce Development Award: Kinefac Corp.
- Product design & Innovation: Walchem, Iwaki America
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More than 60 years after Howard Greis opened Kinefac, the Worcester-based metal forming manufacturing firm still works to maintain the same entrepreneurial and collaborative company culture instilled by Greis in 1962.
Now at the helm of Kinefac, Howard’s daughter Leslie Greis said this culture, along with the company’s forward-thinking lens, are key to retaining employees and essential to the work at hand.
The company builds custom machines used in a wide range of industries, including automotives, aerospace, power generation, railways, and medical devices. This work demands innovation and resourceful thinking, said Leslie Greis.
To find employees looking to do this kind of work, Kinefac pulls from a multitude of educational institutions, with 10% of its employees coming from vocational schools throughout Central Massachusetts. The company participates in co-op programs, allowing vocational school students to learn on the job. Additionally, Kinefac offers college and post-graduation internships to neighboring institutions such as Worcester Polytechnic Institute. These students typically work under Kinefac’s head of research and development on specific projects with many becoming candidates for long-term positions.
“We've created opportunities for people from a variety of backgrounds and levels and allowed them to build a career and a life,” said Greis.
Knowing that new hires, regardless of their backgrounds, need to learn the ins and outs of Kinefac to be successful, the manufacturer heavily emphasizes ongoing hands-on and industry trainings.
New mechanical and electrical assemblers work under experienced colleagues to learn Kinefac-specific skills while engineers take online courses to fulfill customer needs and enhance their foundational knowledge.
“These are all parts of the glue that keep people there, have kept people there in the past, and will keep people there in the future,” said Greis. “Workforce development is integral to the long-term viability of the company.”
Kinefac’s high employee retention proves these programs work well for the company, she said.
Nearly half of Kinefac’s workforce has been with the company for decades: out of the company’s 48 employees, 22 have been with Kinefac for 20 years or more. In fact, one of the company’s employees retired in December following a 59-year career with the manufacturer.
“It's really nice to be able to bring in folks locally who have had a good secondary education and see them take off at Kinefac,” said Greis. “We are just so pleased to continue the culture and environment and create opportunities for people that my father started creating 62 years ago.”
Mica Kanner-Mascolo is a staff writer at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the healthcare and diversity, equity, and inclusion industries.
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