Ownership Mentality

Look for an in-depth feature on St. Cloud-based Scipi in the next issue of Enterprise Minnesota magazine, written by longtime editor Tom Mason, who’s writing for us occasionally now that he’s officially “retired.” The article explores the culture of an employee-owned company that embraces continuous improvement.

Scipi (pronounced “skippy”) started in the 1960s as North Central Bus and Equipment and has grown through organic expansion and acquisition. It now operates five eclectic subsidiaries in industries including buses, auto parts, and monuments. It’s one of the oldest continuously operating employee stock ownership plans in the country, among the first companies to take advantage of the federal legislation that created ESOPs.

Employee ownership isn’t a side story for the 300-employee company—it’s the thread running through Scipi’s subsidiary companies, which share finance, HR, IT, and marketing services. Each company has its own president, reporting to COO Jason Klinefelter. And every employee, from bus technicians and granite carvers to warehouse workers and office staff, owns a part of the company. Scipi shares detailed financial performance data with employees, reinforcing operational efficiency and growth efforts.

That ownership mentality has made Scipi’s lean and continuous improvement initiatives especially effective. Sunburst Memorials, one of the subsidiaries, recently opened a 42,000-square-foot manufacturing facility designed largely by employees using Lean principles. More than twice the size of the 108-year-old plant it replaced, the new building lets material flow efficiently from raw granite to finished memorials.

Before construction began, Dylan Gertken, Sunburst’s director of operations, led four Lean-inspired planning sessions with his team to map out how each part of the plant should function. “They’re the subject matter experts,” Gertken says of the employees.

Lean thinking runs through every Scipi company, not just in major projects like the Sunburst Memorials facility. After a few false starts, leaders recognized the need to give all employees a solid grounding in Lean fundamentals. Today, every employee is trained on the eight forms of waste, 5S, and process flow basics. As Klinefelter puts it, the goal is a common language: “When we speak of waste or efficiency, we want everyone thinking about it in the same way.”

This lean culture is matched by an equal investment in people. Jen Matzke joined Scipi three years ago as chief human resources officer after three decades in higher education, most recently as dean of students at St. Cloud State University. She was hired to build something the company lacked: visible career pathways, structured development, and a learning culture.

The centerpiece is Scipi University, a learning management system with more than 20,000 modules covering everything from Excel basics to customer service to respectful workplace relationships. Supervisors also use a development platform to track performance and map out career paths.

Lean, ESOP transparency, Scipi University, and the broader ownership culture all reflect the same belief: when people understand the mission, trust their leaders, and share in the rewards, they’ll improve the business in ways no top-down initiative could.

Look for the full article in Enterprise Minnesota magazine — it offers valuable depth on Scipi’s culture that any leader can learn from. We’ll be publishing that issue at our State of Manufacturing®  survey release event on November 11.

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