ESOP is a way to transfer company ownership from one generation to the next—in many cases, this transfer happens when the original owners sell their stake in the company to their own employees. ESOP stands for Employee Stock Ownership Plan, but the acronym hardly conveys the potential of this empowering ownership model. That’s because ESOP is more than just a financial structure—it has the potential to shape company culture, fueling innovation, driving accountability and making an appreciable difference in the quality of customer relationships.

Our slogan at Eagle Precision is “Think Like an Owner,” which is a direct reference to our ESOP structure, and aims to boost awareness among our employees of the benefits we all share. Our employees are our company owners, and adopting that mentality has already led to a slew of innovations and improvements in our daily operations.

In many ways Dakota Hanson (above) is a typical Young Millennial: he's an avid Tik Tok fan, spends his spare time playing Call of Duty, and has a job working with cutting-edge technology. However, unlike many members of his generation, Dakota's workplace is more than a laptop and a WIFI connection. As an Engineering Technician at Eagle Alloy (a shell molding facility in Muskegon, MI) Hanson specializes in programming robotic cells that play an integral role in the manufacturing process.

In fact, Eagle Alloy has a growing number of employees whose job descriptions include programming and operating robotic cells. Through a continuing education program led by robotics manufacturer ABB, Eagle Alloy has been able to provide its in-house team with manufacturing robotics expertise, further improving the company’s response time and resilience.

Eagle Alloy's new internal certification program recognizes the skill and dedication of our top-performing employees. The Master Foundryman certification will be awarded every quarter based on objective measures of experience and productivity. The first Eagle Alloy Master Foundrymen, awarded following Q1 2021 performance reviews, have demonstrated consistently outstanding performance in all aspects of their jobs.