To determine Fortune’s 2021 Best Workplaces in Manufacturing & Production list, Fortune partnered with the people analytics firm, Great Place to Work®, to analyze anonymous survey feedback representing more than 220,000 employees working in the Manufacturing & Production industry in the United States. This is the second consecutive year Landscape Forms has earned a top three spot on this list.

According to Landscape Forms CEO, Margie Simmons, there are many aspects to the company’s manufacturing culture that make it unique, but a commitment to a high level of participation and professional development are primary drivers. “We work very hard to demonstrate that you can have a healthy, exciting and gratifying career in manufacturing at Landscape Forms,” says Simmons. “As a high-variety manufacturer, our team members aren’t just cogs in the wheel—they are craftsmen and women with a personal commitment to quality who know they’re really creating sustainable art that will enrich the outdoor experience.”

For Jim Marshall, Landscape Forms Vice President of Culture, maintaining the company's participatory environment and celebrated workplace culture begins with high-quality communication. "Full-circle communication is one of the key components of building and maintaining our positive workplace culture," describes Marshall. "We communicate a message from the Executive Leadership Team, but the full-circle aspect is about active listening, answering questions, and despite our growth, maintaining a culture that feels small and well connected.”

From this reciprocal communication and degree of participation, Landscape Forms is actively redefining the manufacturing and production workplace experience. "Today, the modern worker is looking for more from their workplace experience, looking for a different relationship with their work,” says Marshall. "As a high-variety manufacturer, we’re always talking about the virtues of flexibility in our production capabilities. It is then a natural evolution—and currently our biggest workplace goal—for this flexibility to apply to the team members themselves.”

Landscape Forms has recently introduced the option for a four-day workweek in their manufacturing and production facilities. The company seeks to go much further developing a more balanced, flexible and personalized relationship with the workplace for their team members.

"It’s kind of a radical idea in manufacturing, but ultimately we understand that people have unique needs and therefore we want team members to have a range of opportunities and the ability to choose between various levels of part-time, full-time and even over-time schedules if they want,” describes Marshall. "It requires extensive cross training—something we already take a lot of pride in—and building a deep understanding of team members' abilities to best deploy them throughout our organization. But it's a really exciting project. I think it will differentiate us like no other manufacturer and serve as a recruitment and retention tool.”

"People around here know Landscape Forms is special—it’s a growing organization that has a super bright, successful future that also has this purposeful culture of doing right by all,” concludes Marshall. “But to have an outside third party with a consistent metric they’re using across the nation recognizing our work is validation.  It lends credence and weight to what we’re saying about ourselves and inspires us to try new things and continuously improve as we move forward. ”

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About Landscape Forms

Landscape Forms is the industry leader in integrated collections of high-design site furniture, structures, accessories, and advanced LED lighting. Since its founding in 1969 Landscape Forms has earned a reputation for excellent design, high quality products and exceptional service. The company is headquartered in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and includes Kornegay Design, located in Phoenix, Arizona, and Loll Designs, in Duluth, Minnesota, in its family of premium outdoor brands.  It has sales representatives throughout North America, South America, the United Kingdom, Australia, the United Arab Emirates and Asia. Landscape Forms collaborates with renowned industrial designers and consultancies, landscape architects, and architects to design and develop integrated collections of products that address emerging needs and help create a sense of place. Additionally, the company has formed global marketing partnerships with select companies that share its commitment to design. Landscape Forms has an installed base of products around the world. Clients include municipalities, transit centers, corporate, college and health care campuses; and familiar brand leaders such as Harvard University, Linked In, New York Central Park Conservancy, Bryant Park, Google, Coca Cola, Oculus, U.S. Tennis Association (USTA), Nike, National Museum of African American History (Washington, D.C.), Barclays Center, Adidas, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Microsoft, and Uber. We’ve been named one of the Best Workplaces in Manufacturing & Production for 2020 and 2021 by Fortune magazine, Michigan Manufacturer of the Year for 2020 by the Michigan Manufacturers Association, and by 269 Magazine as one of Southwest Michigan’s Wonderful Workplaces. 

To learn more about job opportunities at Landscape Forms, visit landscapeforms.com​.

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