New Way® Air Bearings works hard to offer high-precision, non-contact air bearing solutions. But we also like to play hard too!
Every year, New Way hosts an Annual Fun Day for employees. We take the opportunity to close down the facility for the day and go off-site for some team-building activities. A highlight from this year’s Fun Day was the opportunity to assemble bikes to donate to underprivileged children in our local community.
Frictionless Motion®️TM Begins with Our People
We believe in frictionless operations, not just in our air bearings, but in our teams! Better teams make even better operations. The main ingredient of Fun Day involves teams participating in a number of activities, such as mini-golf and go-kart racing to name a few. While having ‘fun’ is certainly a goal on this day, one of the other goals is for our employees to interact with others from different departments. To do so, teams are randomly created to participate in several activities throughout the day.
After doing this for several years, employees have built relationships with others they may not have interacted with before. This time allows employees to interact without the pressures of work and develop a sense of camaraderie. We’ve seen the benefits of improved communication, collaboration, and cooperation in our business…..and all from just having FUN.
Connecting to our Community
New Way believes in our own people, as well as the people around us. The company’s founders were born and bred outside of Philadelphia, PA where the company still is today.
Connecting to the community where everything began and where our employees live is something we are passionate about. Aligning with that, this year’s Fun Day added a charity component.
A goal for this year’s Fun Day was to build bikes to donate to local families in need. Instead of just buying completely assembled bikes, we decided to seize the opportunity for a unique team-building activity where our employees could utilize their skills working together to directly benefit the community.
This new challenge began with each team receiving a box of bike parts to assemble. Each team was timed to see who completed their bike the fastest. Of course, we also had an independent quality check to make sure the bike worked. The team with the fastest time and functional bike won the challenge.
However, the real winners are the kids who will receive these bikes. Fun Day resulted in 24 bikes donated to several local charities supporting families in need. Continuing the theme of community, New Way partnered with three community businesses organizing toy donations for the holiday season.
- Deja Vu Salon hosted a toy drive for City Team Chester, which helps people struggling with poverty, homelessness, and addiction.
- Wide World Chester was an organizer of the 8th Annual Chester County Toy Run, benefitting the Chester County Youth & Family Services.
- Kenya Harbinger, a local business owner of sakkstyles.com, hosted a giveaway to provide children with bicycles for Christmas when parents who work hard simply cannot afford one. Children were nominated and names were drawn at random by Kenya’s daughter.
Getting Back to Work
Between bike donations and the relationships built, a Fun Day was had by all! We couldn’t be the standard-bearer in air bearings if it weren’t for our people. After Fun Day our employees return to the office with new connections to both their teammates and their community. We’re confident these connections directly play into the quality of our air bearing products. If you are interested in learning more about New Way Air Bearings for your application, contact us today!
