This article was originally published on March 21, 2025 by the Wisconsin State Journal. To view the original article, please use the link in the citation found below.
Before Mike Davis arrived at Dane Manufacturing years ago, he’d grown accustomed to responding mechanically to a grating sound piped onto factory floors at regular intervals. But for all its practicality, he was more than happy to be saved from (certainly not by) the bell — or that infernal buzzer as it were.
“I’m 61 years old. I’ve been in manufacturing all my life, and this is the first manufacturing company that I’ve ever worked at that didn’t have a buzzer system,” explained Davis, a trainer who shows new employees the ropes at Dane. “They don’t buzz you to go to break. They don’t buzz you to get back to your machine. They trust you to be responsible, and I like that.”
He contrasts that with a previous manufacturing job where he was made to feel more like a cog in a wheel, rather than a human being — buzzed constantly to limit breaks and squeeze every minute out of workers on the factory line. “It made me feel like they didn’t trust me — I was part of the machinery,” he recalled. “It was a terrible feeling. … It was too stiff.”
At Dane, by contrast, he and other employees describe a relaxed — yet by-the-book in regards to putting safety first — environment, where employees are comfortable joking with one another. Making employees feel that everyone from leadership to the most junior worker is all in it together is the secret sauce for this midsized employer, which was named a Top Workplace for the first time. It’s a cooperative spirit that permeates all levels of organization.
“I really like what a team environment it is. It’s not looked at as this is my job or your job. It’s our job,” said Tom Krumpen, a team lead in assembly at Dane. “Every department has their own responsibilities, but if there’s something you need to get done, you can count on help from anybody in the plant.”
That’s the tone set by owner Troy Berg and it extends to the factory floor, according to Krumpen and others who work there. “Everybody just is willing to work together,” he continued. “They’ll jump in, run a machine. Anybody will do anything they can to help out.” The team approach is vital to turn around customers’ orders quickly, he added.
Monthly all-company meals, where food is brought in or supervisors grill out, are also a feature of work life at Dane. Employees and managers describe a workplace where accomplishments are celebrated and workers are regularly asked for their input to refine operations and improve the overall experience.
Mike Westphal, production manager, discusses operations with Jeremy Borman, production supervisor, at Dane Manufacturing.
“It’s not just dictating to the employee what you want out of them,” said Mike Westphal, production supervisor. “It’s more of a two-way conversation [like], ‘Hey, how can I make your life easier?’”
Instead of slowing things down, employees like Davis said that the people-first approach motivates them to work harder. Accordingly, that’s how he deals with his charges. “I don’t tell people what to do, I ask them to do something for me,” the trainer said. If something needs to be shipped by 5 o’clock, he added, “you would be amazed at how they hustle to get that job out the door.”
“I really like what a team environment it is. It’s not looked at as this is my job or your job. It’s our job.”
Tom Krumpen, team lead in assembly at Dane Manufacturing
At A Glance
Dane Manufacturing: Contract manufacturer and metal fabricator
Founded: 1917
Madison Area Locations: 1
Local Employees: 188