A Skill for Recruiting and Retaining Workers

An Iowa manufacturer prioritizes workers and the work they do – which supports its personnel recruitment and skills training, and guides its technology selection.
Sept. 3, 2025

Successful small and midsized manufacturers are admired for their flexibility and resiliency – and that describes Co-Line Manufacturing in Iowa, a second-generation-owned family business with 260 employees, and a range of capabilities in machining, laser cutting, welding, fabricating, and more. It’s a “full-service job shop” that supplies manufacturing customers and has its own line of proprietary products.

And Co-Line is thriving because it prioritizes worker recruitment, which supports its efforts at skills training and talent retention. And it combines those priorities with a readiness for new technologies in manufacturing and automation. Listen to Co-Line’s Denny Williams and Hexagon Production Software’s Doug Wood describe how they do it.

Listen to the Great Question podcast here.

Sign up for American Machinist eNewsletters
Get the latest news and updates