Solving Increased Labor Demand for a Local Manufacturer
Client Overview
- Company: a local food manufacturer
- Industry: Food Manufacturing
- Location: Mebane, North Carolina
- Company Size: 185 employees in NC
The Challenge
In the fall of 2025, the manufacturer experienced a rapid increase in production orders that required immediate staffing support.
The manufacturer struggled to fill multiple roles, including:
- Production Operators
- Packers
- Baggers
- Quality Control
- HR Coordinator
The company had seen turnover, long time-to-fill rates, and a limited flow of qualified applicants.
Unfilled positions led to:
- Increased overtime
- Production delays
- Burnout among existing staff
- Additional challenges included:
- Urgent need to fill 40 openings for various production roles
- Tight local labor market and high competition for talent
- Inconsistent attendance and high turnover from current full-time employees
- Limited internal HR bandwidth to manage recruiting and onboarding
- Changeover in management: a brand-new COO and the resignation of their longtime HR Manager
The manufacturer needed more than applicants—they needed reliable, skilled workers who could hit the ground running.
Our Approach
Our staffing team immediately scheduled an on-site meeting with the new COO and HR Generalist and conducted an on-site workforce assessment to understand:
- Immediate needs for production associates through year-end
- Production projections for 2026
- The new COO’s goals and outlook
- Current hiring qualifications and requirements
- Training procedures and attendance point system requirements
- Culture and leadership style
Our staffing team also consulted with them on current market trends, market pay scales, upcoming economic development in the region, and current hiring challenges we are seeing in the county.
We then developed a targeted recruiting strategy that included:
- Reaching out to our existing manufacturing talent pipeline
- Marketing the positions through multiple sources, including job boards and social media platforms
- Pre-interviewing candidates for reliability and culture fit
- Providing candidates with realistic job previews to reduce turnover
- Scheduling a plant tour for our staffing team to thoroughly understand the positions and culture fit
- Offering flexible temp-to-hire solutions to support long-term stability
This hands-on, tailored approach ensured the manufacturer would only receive candidates who were qualified, dependable, and prepared.
The Solution
Within the first 30 days of receiving the positions, we delivered a rapid and effective staffing solution:
- 30 roles filled, including production associates, packers, quality control, and baggers
- Temp-to-hire program to support workforce stability
- Weekly orientations and onboarding to ensure a smooth transition
- Custom safety orientation aligned with internal requirements
- Daily check-ins to monitor performance, attendance, and fit
Within 60 days, we were able to extend a direct hire offer to an HR Coordinator to help provide support to the HR team.
Results
Our partnership produced immediate and measurable improvements:
- Increase in production output due to fully staffed shifts
- Decrease in turnover through better candidate matching
- Improved morale and workload balance among existing staff
The company regained control of its production schedule and met customer deadlines with confidence.
Client Testimonial
“We’ve had a wonderful experience working with the team at Prime Personnel Resources. Their professionalism, responsiveness, and genuine commitment to understanding our needs have made them an invaluable partner to our food manufacturing facility. They consistently provide dependable, high-quality candidates and go above and beyond to support our operations. We truly appreciate the relationship we’ve built and look forward to continuing our partnership.”
— HR Generalist
Why They Chose Us
The manufacturer selected our staffing firm because of our:
- Expertise in manufacturing recruiting
- Fast response time
- High-quality pre-screening process
- Commitment to understanding their business and culture
- Ability to deliver consistent, reliable talent
- Clear and responsive communication
- Commitment to candidate selectivity
- Local presence within the community and long tenure of staff
