Correction: In a previous version of this story, the Caster Concepts Corporate Impact Award group was incorrectly identified as the Michigan Public Service Commission. MPSC, the state regulator of utilities and telecommunications, did not attend the ceremony. The Michigan Public Works Board presented the award jointly with Governor Gretchen Whitmer.
These are the mantras that Bill Dobbins chooses to live as president of Albion-based manufacturing company Caster Concepts.
Founded by his father Richard in the mid-1980s, the company manufactures heavy-duty industrial rollers and wheels for a variety of applications. What started with just three employees in a 6,000-square-foot workplace in downtown Palma has grown to 120 employees and multiple workshops, including a 70,000-square-foot facility northeast of downtown Palma.
The company’s significant growth has also meant growth for Albion, with Dobbins focusing on investing in the health and well-being of its employees, children’s education and technology programs, and community regeneration to boost the local economy through the company’s philanthropic arm, Caster Cares.
In recognition of these efforts, Governor Gretchen Whitmer and the Michigan Public Works Board recently named Caster Concepts the 2022 Corporate Impact Award Winner.
“For a country, recognizing that this is unique, I think it reinforces what we are doing,” Dobbins said. “I think it’s important. Recognition is not the end result. Recognition confirms that we are doing the right thing in the right place at the right time.”
The company was one of 45 individuals, businesses, and nonprofits to receive formal recognition for their community service at the November 17 awards ceremony at the Fox Theater in Detroit.
“Michigan is doing well because the people of Michigan are doing everything they can to serve their communities and inspire others,” Gov. Whitmer said in a statement. One single contribution can have a huge impact.”
Sitting at the company’s headquarters on an overcast December morning, Dobbins admitted that Albion had gone through a lot of economic trouble.
“It’s no different than a lot of cities in the Midwest, where industrialized cities create wealth through early manufacturing companies, and then (those companies) move overseas, modernize, relocate or whatever for various reasons,” Dobbin said. S. said. “Albion was not ready for its end…private property in the community was gone, and therefore investment in the community was gone.”
The broad wave of community outreach that became Caster Cares began in the summer of 2004. Recognizing the opportunity to breathe new life into the community, the Dobbins family unofficially took over the Victory Park Band Shell, renovated the structure, and launched the Swingin’ at the Shell free concert series.
“For 18 years, it was just ‘Hey, we think we can do this,’” Dobbins said of the company’s outreach efforts. “Where will it lead to in the end? I don’t know, I just think it will lead to good results.”
Over the past five years, the Caster Concepts partnership has relocated and opened seven small businesses in Albion, including a bakery, Foundry Bakehouse and Deli and Superior Street Mercantile, an independent marketplace for local suppliers.
The company has also invested in new housing, including Peabody Apartments and Brick Street Lofts, to attract new residents and boost property values.
In 2019, the company launched INNOVATE Albion, a nonprofit technology education organization, to create a technology and engineering pipeline for Michigan businesses. The firm purchased and renovated a 100-year-old, three-story Masonic Temple to house the program, with in-person classes beginning in the summer of 2020.
Caroline Herto, Dobbins’ daughter and chief executive of INNOVATE, said the nonprofit, which consists primarily of after-school programs and summer classes, aims to expose K-12 students to a variety of hands-on, high-tech careers. in Albion.
“The end goal is that I date a student in kindergarten and I have a curriculum that they can continue to learn and an experience that they can continue to participate in until they graduate from high school,” Herto said. who also works as a community representative. for Caster Concepts.
The nonprofit continues to add classes, has been successful in supporting elementary and middle school robotics teams so far, and plans to support more teams, including at the high school level, in the near future.
Through the Albion Community Foundation, INNOVATE Albion will also be offering a free field trip this fall to all fourth graders in Marshall Public Schools.
“If we can get a child to go on a field trip and get them interested, and then send home information about INNOVATIVE Albion or robotics, we hope they will come back and join us for an extracurricular or summer program,” said Herthor. said . “They can then join the team and then continue to connect with industry professionals and our team of mentors to learn about jobs and careers and what it’s really like.”
While continuing to invest heavily in society, Caster Concepts is also committed to promoting the health and well-being of its employees.
To this end, the company regularly buys tickets to the Boma Theater and distributes them to employees and their families. It also distributes $50 book vouchers to the local Stirling Books & Brew bookstore and promotes health and wellness by buying groceries from local farmers and hosting a free employee-only farmer’s market.
“What I love about what Caster does is that he brings the whole community together and really brings us together in a really unique way,” Herto said. “Book vouchers and movie vouchers that are great for families… giving them the opportunity to share and have fun together.”
The company is also giving away more than $40,000 worth of gas cards to employees in 2022 to help reduce rising fuel costs, and employees are supporting communities by voluntarily restoring parks, local post offices and even city halls.
“If you get more, the expectations are higher for you,” Dobbins said. “I think my father expected that we, the business he invested in at the age of 67, would create a legacy based on a great workplace, a safe workplace, a place where you can fulfill your own dreams (employees)… … I think he will feel good about it all.”
Post time: Feb-02-2023
