It’s surprising how many companies have been founded on the basis of wiretapped conversations.

One such company is Exotic Metals Forming, now a division of Parker Hannifin Corp. In 1963, engineer Don Lindsey was visiting a Boeing assembly plant in Everett, Washington, when he overheard a conversation in the lobby about the failure of titanium sheet flanges on a new 727 jetliner that had just gone into production.

Lindsey immediately recognized the problem as an opportunity to apply a new manufacturing process he had been developing—axial-load bulge forming—that promised to revolutionize the way sheet metal parts were formed. Lindsey, a seasoned salesman, rose to the challenge and said he could solve Boeing’s flange problem.

The Kent plant recorded 80 incidents in 2019, and just six in 2024 – none of them related to ergonomics. Image courtesy of Exotic Metals Forming, a division of Parker Aerospace

From that chance meeting, what began in Lindsey’s garage has grown into a company in Kent, WA, with nearly 1 million square feet of manufacturing space and a long history as a world leader in advanced sheet metal fabrication. Today, the company produces a variety of aircraft parts, including exhaust components, ducting, flexible joints and door sills. Many of the world’s leading aerospace manufacturers rely on Exotic Metals, including Airbus, Collins Aerospace, Gulfstream, Honeywell, Lockheed Martin, Pratt & Whitney and Safran.

Manufacturing conglomerate Parker Hannifin Corp. acquired Exotic Metals in 2019. Parker, a Fortune 250 company, is a global leader in motion and control technologies, providing precision-engineered solutions for a broad range of mobile, industrial and aerospace markets. With headquarters in 44 countries, Parker employs 62,500 people worldwide and operates 335 manufacturing facilities.

Safety has long been a priority at Parker. Over the past five years, the company has reduced its recordable incidents by 45 percent and its safety record ranks in the top quartile among its industrial peers. The company focuses on continuous improvement, incorporating an ergonomics process along with other safety initiatives to improve operations and employee well-being by reducing the risk of work-related illness and injury.

Employees are required to complete short e-learning sessions on ergonomics and safety once a month. Photo courtesy of Exotic Metals Forming, a division of Parker Aerospace

Reducing Injuries in Washington State

So when it acquired Exotic Metals in 2019, Parker rolled out its ergonomics program throughout the Kent facility. Shasta Denoso, the plant’s safety manager, couldn’t wait to get the program up and running. She set a goal of reducing the plant’s average of 80 recordable injuries per year. The new program would be just what the doctor ordered, since a large percentage of the plant’s recordable injuries are strains and sprains.

A key tool in the Parker program is Industrial Ergonomics software from VelocityEHS.

“We were excited to use VelocityEHS Industrial Ergonomics so we could assess and quantify improvements,” Denoso says. “Unfortunately, strains and sprains often go unnoticed because they are not immediately apparent (since they typically develop) over time.”

The software helped engineers better understand how to reduce risky movements and postures. Photo courtesy of Exotic Metals Forming, a division of Parker Aerospace

Parker organized an ergonomics team made up of people from safety, engineering, lean manufacturing, and production. After completing ergonomics training, the group used their new skills to walk around the plant, talking to different workers to better understand the challenges of their jobs and daily activities. They took photos of different areas, weighed materials, used a motion capture tool on highly repetitive tasks to get a good baseline, and collected information to find opportunities for improvement.

The Kent campus consists of four buildings with facility leaders. Once the ergonomics team had collected their data, they presented it to the facility leaders, providing a list of improvement opportunities for each building. Each facility leader was asked to select the top five opportunities to add to an “action list.” This gave the ergonomics team a starting point of 20 action items.

“It was a very collaborative process,” Denoso says. “The team would come together and create a problem statement for each action item, so we knew where to focus our efforts. This was important because as we brainstormed, our ideas would evolve and sometimes get off track, so having a problem statement helped us stay grounded in finding a workable solution to the original problem.

Exotic Metals Forming produces a variety of aircraft parts, including exhaust components, ducting, flexible joints and door sills. Photo courtesy of Exotic Metals Forming, a division of Parker Aerospace

“Throughout the process, we were able to play around with it—nothing was off limits. We would look at each problem and then draw or mock up solutions that extended all the different ideas that were being proposed. Once we had a solid list of possible solutions, we would assign them scores and put them into different categories based on cost, ease of implementation, and overall effectiveness.”

By analyzing each solution, the team was able to select those that could serve as a good starting point.

“Not every idea we thought was the best solution ended up working, but we learned from it and were able to come up with even better solutions,” Denoso says. “We made sure to celebrate the solutions that worked across campus, creating visibility and excitement. That helped build passion around improving ergonomics in the workplace.”

One project that has been effective in reducing the risk of injury is the development of a rotating or inversion cart. Because some items are moved across campus, they must lie flat or upright, depending on the layout of the facility. The ergonomics team developed the cart to help the worker easily reposition the item with little or no strain.

When implementing an ergonomics program, engineers should involve the people who actually do the work. Photo courtesy of Exotic Metals Forming, a division of Parker Aerospace

Keys to Security Success

As the team implemented the various solutions across campus, they quickly began to see great results. Before they knew it, the number of incidents being logged was dropping. The first step was to change the workplace to make it more comfortable and productive for employees. The next step was to begin studying different employee behaviors to better understand how to reduce high-risk movements and postures.

“With the positive results we saw from changing workplace conditions, we wanted to further engage our members and help them better understand the ergonomics process through e-learning,” Denoso says. “We started hosting monthly micro-sessions where they learned about different hazards. Through these sessions, members were better positioned to know how to prevent high-risk postures and movements, while also being able to identify a more appropriate tool to use in different jobs.”

The combination of introducing ergonomic design into the workplace and educating the team through digestible e-learning sessions helped everyone achieve their goal of reducing the number of recordable incidents. The Parker Kent campus went from 80 recordable incidents in 2019 to just six in 2024—not one of them related to ergonomics. That’s a 92 percent reduction compared to 2019.

When asked what advice she would give to others looking to implement a successful ergonomics program, Denoso said, “It’s important to get people involved. Engagement and collaboration with the team members doing the task is key. There are so many great ideas out there, and they know the tasks best. There are some wins that can be easily achieved with small changes, like simply lifting something off the ground so members don’t have to bend down to pick it up. Many improvements can be made with very little investment.

“Also, don’t get overwhelmed by the process. Take it one day at a time. There will always be opportunities to improve, so take it one step at a time.”