By: Angel Steiner
What started with a humble family man who knew about refrigeration units and how to manufacture them, has grown into a nearly 300 employee corporation that manufactures components for emergency and fire vehicles, refrigeration units, and control panels for pieces of equipment including farm vehicles. In 1997, Ken Manz decided to step out on his own in faith to create a business in Paulding County, his home. Manz’s innovative and engineering mindset set the stage for InSource. Over the past 25 years InSource has come a long way from recycling refrigeration units — evolving manufacturing to also include electronics with embedded hardware for farm equipment plus others, wire harnesses for emergency vehicles as well as the original manufactured OEM, refrigeration units.
These are some of the things I discussed with Fred Manz, sales & marketing representative for Insource, during the tour of the facility. You could see the the growth of the business as we walked through each doorway; the history of Insource evolving with each step through a fire door threshold. Going from office space and storage areas, to the harness shop, then the electronics and engineering and then refrigeration. With Fred’s enthusiasm for the employees’ work and the products they manufacture, it was quite easy to get excited about the mission of Insource.
InSource is a Quick Response Manufacturing company. Meaning that InSource does the smaller quantities for a quicker response time for their client. Since InSource is only providing pieces for a larger product, getting their part completed and shipped off to their client as speedily as possible without compromising a quality built component, allows those companies in turn to complete their product and get it out to the consumer. Larger mass quantities are posted manufactured overseas. InSource provides companies with a resource to not only stay in the USA but stay with small local business. On average, about 5,000 parts are made in a work day. Products of Insource are for their clients all over the Midwest region – from Illinois, Indiana, Ohio to Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. One Insource client that deals in farm equipment technology has been working with the company since 2007.
Some of the pieces of equipment being used during the tour was technologically above my hairline of understand, so I stood in awe and pride at what Paulding County does for the business region. There is an entire team of leaders that oversee production in all units of Insource. Larry Manz oversees Controls and Harnesses, while Fred is the overseer of the Refrigeration unit and the new nylon loom braiding for the wire harnesses unit. In all actuality, all the units of Insource are a team effort. While watching a harness assembly happening, it was evident that each person’s particular job on an order is important to a good quality end product. They need to be in constant open communication, whether they are measuring, cutting assembling, clamping, etc. There are indispensable jobs at Insource. Each worker is important for their task.
Fred Manz, commented about the success of InSource in its 25 years of operation at the conclusion of our tour, “This business is bigger than we are. We are just standing back and seeing what God can do through us with our employees. It’s amazing to watch really.”
Get Tuesday August 16, 2022 on your calendars, because Insource will be hosting an Open House to the public that day from 3:00-7:00 p.m. at their facility at 12124 Road 111, Paulding. Come out and take a tour of the facility, chat with the Insource team, and enjoy a hot meal … all on Insource!
