THE PEOPLE PERSON
Guelph entrepreneur started business out of her car
Lynn Gmelin has had about 50 jobs in her lifetime — everything from bartending to hair styling — and all those experiences taught her what she didn’t want to do.
“It was terrible how people were being treated,” says Gmelin, who owns and operates Guelph-based Axis Sorting Inc. “I thought if I ever started my own business, it was going to be based on respect, integrity and morals. People want to be able to go to work, do their job and go home.”
Out of her car
It was a customer at one of her previous jobs who inspired Gmelin to start her company, offering sorting and containment services — from inspecting product parts to eliminating waste — to various industries. Gmelin started with six employees and ran the business out of her car. Within six months, the company had grown to around 150 employees.
Axis Sorting (axissorting.com) was incorporated in March 2011. “We’re third-party containment,” she explains. “A customer runs into a quality issue and I send a team of people in. Some assignments can last years, some can take a week or a day.” Gmelin will have teams sorting parts through the night, with supervisors on every shift, in multiple plants at the same time.
Her company operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, closing only on Christmas day and New Year’s. And that can be stressful, says Fernanda Maté, Gmelin’s “right arm,” who is responsible for the accounting, invoicing and human resources. “Some days we have four or five calls a day,” Maté says. “It takes time to set up each job.”
And like most small business owners, Gmelin is loath to turn away work — inspecting parts herself if need be. “I do what I can to support the staff,” she says. “We are all the same, no matter what position we are in. We’re here to get a job done.”
Here to stay
Gmelin’s determination to create a healthy work environment has never wavered. “It’s all in the way you treat people,” she says. Every Axis employee starts at an entry-level position — parts inspector. Once they become full-time staff members, employees are paid a competitive wage, receive mileage and benefits (close to 100 per cent coverage) and are given bonuses twice a year. She has helped 16 people come off financial assistance by bringing them into the Axis fold. “We find ways of training people who don’t speak English. Everybody deserves an opportunity.”
From Gmelin’s car, Axis moved to a small office in Guelph, then a 24,000-square-foot warehouse in nearby Cambridge, where Axis provides storage for its customers. Gmelin is now looking at purchasing her own building in the Kitchener/ Cambridge/Waterloo region. “It’s one step at a time,” she says. “You get up that step, perfect it and then move up to the next step.” She credits the steadfast support of her husband, Kevin, and three grown children with her success so far. “Family is number one,” she says. “I couldn’t do it without them.”
Despite her history of changing jobs, Gmelin says she and Axis Sorting are here to stay. “I worked for two sorting companies — one out of the United States, one out of Toronto — but the morals weren’t there,” she adds. “I was meant to do this. I’ve worked in all different fields but I’ve finally found where my heart is.”
“We find ways of training people who don’t speak English. Everybody deserves an opportunity.”