By HANNA MORDOH
WISH-TV | wishtv.com
One local business is desperately searching for employees and has hundreds of open jobs for Hoosiers. The pandemic is causing Bastian Solutions business to boom, but the search for workers is slower than expected.
The Indiana Department of Workforce Development said December’s unemployment rate was 4.3 percent. That rate is way down from 16.9 percent in April, but higher than March 2020 by about 1 percent. Now Bastian Solutions said it has part of the solution, with around 400 open jobs.
“Our biggest problem right now is hiring. In this calendar year, we need to hire roughly 400 people,” said Greg Conner.
Conner is the Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing at Bastian Solutions, and he said 120 of those jobs are in manufacturing in Greenfield and Westfield. The remaining jobs are corporate positions in sales and engineering that can be done locally and remotely.
“We have always kind of hinted we are the best-kept secret on the north side of Indianapolis,” Conner said.
Photo provided
Bastian Solutions is a material handling systems integration company and helps other companies automate their distribution operations.
“We make the stuff that allows next-day delivery, same-day delivery, and same-hour delivery. All the stuff that people are so excited about. We make the stuff that makes that happen,” Nolan Barr said.
Barr is the plant manager at the Westfield manufacturing facility. He said the business has grown significantly in the last few years and has exponential growth expectancy.
“We will basically be quadrupling in size within 18 to 24 months,” Barr said.
That’s because Bastian Solutions makes a variety of products, including conveyor equipment, for companies that deliver packages straight to consumer’s doors. The pandemic has also increased the demand for packages for many of their customers.
“The trend toward automation material handling has been going on for decades and the pandemic has only accelerated that,” Barr said.
“Really the whole COVID situation has just turned our industry on fire, when you think about how many different types of packages everybody is ordering each day,” Conner said.
“Just keeping up with the hiring has been our biggest challenge,” Barr said.
The business needs all kinds of people, including educated, skilled and unskilled workers.
Advanced Manufacturing Center – Westfield
Shifts available:
- 2nd Shift: 2 to 10:30 p.m. (pay starting at $18/hour – includes shift differential)
- 3rd Shift: 10 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. (includes shift differential)
Positions available:
- Machine Operator
- Material Handler
- Production Technician
Corporate Headquarters – Carmel
Positions available:
- Controls Engineers
- Design Engineers
- Project Managers
- Project Engineers
Custom Automation – Greenfield
Shifts available:
- 1st Shift: 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. (pay starting at $16/hour)
- 3rd Shift: 10:30 p.m. to 7 a.m. (includes shift differential)
Positions available:
- Machine Operator
- Fabricator
- Material Handler
- Painter
- Welder
Interested applicants can visit BastianSolutions.com/careers, call (317) 324-1047, or email resumes@bastiansolutions.com. Applicants can send in their resumes or a summary of their experience and what job they are interested in.
“As we hire, we are looking more for attitude than aptitude. We will teach you the skill sets needed to do the job well,” David Moore said.
Moore is a General Manager, and he said what matters most is an employee’s mentality – because in the end, the right solution for this solutions company is the Indiana community.
“I think we have a lot that we are going to be contributing to the economy of central Indiana and it makes me proud,” Conner said.