RELYCommunity partnerships·Workforce accessMenomonee Falls, WI
Schools, workforce organizations and community partners
Community Partnerships That Build Manufacturing Capability
More capable people can meet manufacturing’s standards when access is broader and preparation is structured.
RELY works with schools, workforce organizations and community partners to widen the way into manufacturing careers, and trains to the same documented work instructions it uses on customer programs.
Operator coaching · RELY floor
Who does what
Clear roles across the partnership.
RELY
Training to the work.
Runs the Intro to Manufacturing program, trains to documented work instructions, hosts facility tours and shares its training practices with manufacturers.
Engauge Workforce Solutions
Staffing and recruiting.
RELY’s sister staffing company. Staffing and recruiting inquiries belong with Engauge, not RELY’s contract manufacturing programs.
Schools
A first look at manufacturing.
Partner school programs bring students into real production environments to see the career paths behind them.
Community partners
Wider access.
Nonprofit and community organizations that help more people reach manufacturing work.
Measurable impact
The work is producing real workforce capacity.
Forklift training
500+
Individuals certified in forklift operation over the past four years
Production hours
3,614
Hours worked by team members with disabilities in 2025
Pre-training | 2024–2025
64
Associates pre-trained through RELY programs and placed into manufacturing roles, with staffing placements made through Engauge Workforce Solutions
Multilingual leads
8
Leads who assist with training
From RELY workforce records.
School partnerships
Show students what manufacturing looks like before they rule it out.
RELY partners with local schools so students see real production environments, supplier and customer operations and the career paths behind them.
- Kettle Moraine High School
- Nicolet High School Student volunteering and work-experience partnership
- School District of Elmbrook, LAUNCH program RELY leaders coach student project teams
Building the pipeline
From workforce access to qualified work.
01 · Access
Intro to Manufacturing program
Hands-on industrial training for individuals with disabilities and people entering manufacturing from non-traditional paths, built around real production expectations.
02 · Preparation
Structured development
Visual work instructions, repetition, safety and real expectations, with sign-off before anyone works independently.
03 · Customer programs
Pre-training before a ramp
For RELY customer programs, associates are trained on the part, the quality expectations and the paperwork before production scales, so qualification happens before the ramp.
For manufacturing buyers
What this means for a RELY program.
The workforce story matters to a buyer because it shows up in execution: trained people, planned coverage and the same work instructions on every shift.
In your program
- Operators signed off before production
- Coverage planned beyond one person
- The same instructions on every shift
Startup & scaling support
Helping manufacturers build scalable systems before the strain starts.
01 · With BizStarts
Scaling production cost-effectively.
Practical education for emerging consumer-product founders on scaling production without unnecessary complexity or downstream cost.
02 · With The Water Council
Working with U.S. contract manufacturers.
What good looks like, what to ask for and how to structure partnerships that scale, for international and emerging companies.
03 · At RELY
Facility tours.
Manufacturers can see how non-traditional workforces are trained and supported: visual work instructions, training structures and support systems.
Community partners
Organizations helping expand workforce access.
Thought leadership & advocacy
Moving the workforce conversation forward.
RELY leadership shares what it takes to integrate non-traditional workforces into manufacturing, from RELY’s floor and customer operations.
2024 recognitionRELY was part of the collaborative group recognized with the 2024 Nonprofit Collaboration of the Year Award through the Think Ability Wisconsin initiative at the BizTimes Nonprofit Excellence Awards.
- BizTimes Conference · breakout session
- Food & Beverage Wisconsin · panel
- Fox 6 Milwaukee · feature
- WisPolitics / UWM · panel
- WMEP Manufacturing Matters · breakout session
Talk with RELY about a partnership or a tour.
Tell us what you are working on: a school program, a workforce partnership, or a visit to see how RELY trains and supports its teams. Manufacturing program inquiries go to the program form.