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w w w . i n s i g h t o n b u s i n e s s . c o m J a n u a r y 2 0 1 6 • I NSIGH T | 23 shot in one of the displays Philippon likes to point out — a photo taken in support of a fellow employee fighting a serious illness. Many of the employees also wear blue wristbands supporting owner Larry Treankler, who recently had surgery. "at's a special part of our culture here. It is very much a family," he says. Indeed, a family atmosphere pervades the shop floor at Bay Tek, where employee turnover is fairly low and folks know each other well. Philippon says the company has not faced some of the talent challenges of other manufacturers, even with an eclectic mix of skill sets ranging from soware developers to graphic artists to engineers to carpenters and assemblers. "People have to really get our culture," Philippon says. "We tend to select rather than hire. ose that get it tend to stay with us." at's not to say it doesn't take some getting used to. When your core products are games, the conversation can occasionally take on a bit of a different tenor. Philippon remembers one particular conversation quite well. e creative team was discussing the game Pull My Finger and was arguing about the sound the game should make. "It was not the kind of boardroom discussion I envisioned having when I was in business school," Philippon says of the discussion about how realistic the flatulent sounds should be. It was a discussion that lasted for well over an hour as the team debated the strength and weaknesses of the potential sounds. It may have not been what he expected, but he loved the results. "Still, the game is one of my favorites." are not allowed to accept anything of value, so we had to figure out how much a cup of coffee and a bottle of water costs so we could charge them." T h e v i l l a g e C ulture certainly plays a unique role in the way Bay Tek operates. For starters, it's part of what Philippon and others refer to as e Village, the collective corporate holdings of Bay Tek's owners. All told, there are six companies that make up e Village: Bay Tek Games, MCL Industries, an engineering solution firm; LMG, a manufacturer of injection molding presses; NPDG, an innovation company formed to develop new products; the Green Bay Blizzard, a professional arena football franchise; and Keweenaw Base Camp, a Christian-based summer youth camp located in Houghton, Mich. Because of that common ownership, the companies that make up e Village are able to share resources — including talent, best practices and ideas for innovation and growth. ey also form a tight-knit company camaraderie. roughout the Bay Tek plant, pictures of products and employees are posted on various boards. ere is a group N oth in g c an k e ep y ou do w n w ith a ll t h e lo ve an d su pp o rt fr o m the V ill age... Th i n k i n g o f yo u LT ! Alley bowlers and prize wheels are big sellers for Bay Tek Games, which manufactures all of its games in its Pulaski headquarters. All the employees from The Village of companies Bay Tek belongs to showed their support for an ill team member by creating a "thinking of you" poster. C O U R T E S Y B AY T E K G A M E S "It seemed simple enough — create a game with a big wheel like the 'Price is Right' — but the ideas just didn't come." Tom Diedrich, director of product development