NEWSROOM

On Monday, Feb. 11, Co-Line hosted local firefighters, EMT’s, and first responders from three area fire departments. In appreciation for all of the local volunteers, Co-Line treated the group to a dinner cooked and served by Lynnville’s Smokin’ J’s.  The snowy weather made for a smaller crowd, but 20 volunteers braved the snowy roads. After dinner, Co-Line owners reviewed their emergency action plan, gave the group a tour of their south facility, and answered any questions.

“As our organization and facilitates continue to grow, it’s important for us to prepare our local emergency response teams as much as we possibly can. During the tour, we identified our new storm shelters in our south facility, our high-risk areas for fire, and our flag system in time of need of an ambulance. We keep our aisles wide and clear in nearly every area of our two buildings in case of the need for an ambulance. The ambulance can be driven throughout our facilities to the location of need. For the ongoing safety of our employees, we host the local firefighters and first responders every other year or so,” shared Dale Brand.

To help the departments continue to serve our local areas, Co-Line donated $1,000 to each department in Reasnor, Lynnville, and Sully. “It’s a small token of our appreciation for their dedication to help our local areas in time of need,” concluded Dale.

Co-Line employees surprised Dale, Tana, Eric, and Faye Brand by wearing blue, teal, and pink to honor Dale’s sister Lisa, who was diagnosed with a very rare form of cancer. They also handed out awareness wristbands. #Teamcoline’s message is: “In this family, nobody fights alone — #teamlisa.”

The Brand family thanks everyone for their support and is so touched by their surprise gift.

1. CO-LINE GOES VERTICAL in material handling with space savings and efficiency gains in vertical structural tube storage. Addition of two Hubtex forklifts allowed narrow aisle storage solutions. Look for more vertical space saving gains in 2019!

2. 2018 MARKED THE LARGEST INVESTMENT IN New EQUIPMENT and the future of Co-Line with fiber technology in tube and flat steel. Another fiber tube laser, first fiber flat laser, five Toyota forklifts, several modular weld fixtures, and welding equipment, and new capabilities with a Schroder folder were added in 2018.

3.  EMPLOYEES KICKED BACK AND ENJOYED A BACKYARD COUNTRY PICNIC with live music, Redneck Wind Chime Contest, cannon shooting, watering hole, log sweeper, games, and prizes, capped off with an over-the-top fireworks show!

4.    RECORD BREAKING SALES YEAR, NEW CUSTOMERS, and DIVERSITY OF PROJECTS
made the list the for the second year in a row.

5.  ANOTHER RECORD $104,950 was handed out in years of service bonuses. That’s 1049 years of collective manufacturing expertise!

6.  AS A CONTINUED EFFORT TO KEEP CO-LINE A PREMIER EMPLOYER OF THE AREA, announcement of health insurance premium increases were fully covered with no additional costs for employees.

7. CO-LINE RECEIVES A RECORD NUMBER OF applications WITH 779 PEOPLE interested in joining team Co-Line. We welcomed 42 of these to the Co-Line family.

8.  RAGBRAI CENTURY LOOP RIDERS take a break at Co-Line for free water, restrooms, and tours.  Spontaneous tours along with dozens of scheduled customer, vendor, school, and college tours solidify that Co-Line is always TOUR READY!

9.  FABULOUS FRIDAYS kicked off the final six weeks of the year including tailgating snacks with flag football, dodgeball, and donuts, Sharing is a Piece of Cake, Freaky Fast Friday, Free Shirt Friday, and concluded the year with a company-wide potluck. The FUN will continue in 2019.

10.  FARM & COMMERCIAL REPAIR SHOP CLOSES AFTER 40 YEARS. With new projects and continuous improvement ideas, the skills of this department will be invested in our own projects for the next 40 years!

Co-Line’s second annual food donation drive netted 627 pounds of non-perishable food products for the East Jasper Christian Food Pantry.

For each pound of food donated by employees, Co-Line matched monetarily and on Monday, Nov. 26, the company presented East Jasper Christian Food Pantry with a check for $627 in addition to the two pallets of food.

“Instead of catering in a big feast for our employees the day before Thanksgiving as we had for years, we started a new tradition last year encouraging employees to bring in food pantry donations in exchange for a free pizza lunch. The response was greater than we could imagine and together Team Co-Line is blessing many others during this holiday season,” shared the Brand family. 

The food donated for the Thanksgiving Food Drive filled a van and was quite a load to sort and count. Luckily, third generation Co-Liners, Carter and Abigail Brand, had it all sorted and weighed prior to the van arriving.