
Overview
Proactive Global is a trusted partner for Daifuku Airport Technologies. For the last 100 years, Daifuku Airport Technologies has been an industry leader and a trusted partner of airports and airlines globally, providing end-to-end solutions. Their fully integrated material handling solutions. Daifuku oversees 60+ airports throughout the United States and has around 2500 employees. Proactive Global has consistently provided skilled talent to meet their evolving staffing needs. Driven by a commitment to customer focus and a strong sense of urgency, Tron Thornton and his team at Proactive Global have been instrumental in helping Daifuku swiftly identify the right talent for critical roles within the organization. Whether filling high-priority positions or tackling urgent, complex requirements for new site launches, Tron and his team have earned a reputation for delivering fast and effective results for the last four years.
The Challenge
Before partnering with Proactive Global, Daifuku faced several significant challenges in its hiring process. Their hiring managers were responsible for filling roles across sites using their ATS system and employee referrals. However, they struggled with a lack of direct applicants for open positions, and the hiring team had limited time to manage site operations while sourcing candidates. As a result, their average time to fill was 82 days, far exceeding their target. In addition to long hiring times, Daifuku faced retention issues due to the demanding nature of airport operations, which run 24/7, 365 days a year. Unfilled positions led to severe financial consequences, with Daifuku being penalized monthly for not meeting required headcounts, resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost revenue. Daifuku contacted Proactive Global after seeing the successful results of our Amazon contract. During our discussion, Daifuku shared their pain points and goals, which included reducing the time to fill to under 25 days, improving the quality of hires, focusing on hiring the best candidates, and ensuring long-term retention. These goals aligned perfectly with Proactive Global’s commitment to delivering quality and efficient recruitment solutions.
The Solution
After understanding Daifuku's challenges, we proposed an RPO (Recruitment Process Outsourcing) solution, which allowed us to seamlessly integrate into Daifuku’s internal recruitment process. By gaining direct access to hiring managers and their ATS system, we empowered them to focus on what they do best—managing their sites—while we handled the recruiting tasks: sourcing, screening, and presenting highly qualified candidates for interviews. We were committed to meeting Daifuku’s stringent hiring standards, ensuring that every candidate we screened could pass a federal background check and meet the airport badging requirements. Given the strict FAA regulations, the badging process could take 2-4 weeks, so our team constantly communicates with candidates to guide them through this rigorous process. To expedite the recruitment process, we devised a strategy to tackle 122 open jobs across 45 locations in the U.S., many of which had been open for over 60 days. Our team worked in unison, making themselves available outside regular office hours to communicate with candidates and hiring managers. This approach ensured we could fill positions quickly and deliver optimal results for Daifuku.
Results and Impact
During the first 30 days of integrating with Daifuku, we learned about their ATS system and introduced ourselves to site managers. We successfully extended our first 15 offers. As the partnership progressed, the results continued to improve month after month. Within six months, we reduced the number of open positions from 122 to 45 while receiving new requisitions to address attrition. Our efforts led to an average time from open to offer of just 18 days, and Daifuku’s overall time to fill dropped from 82 days to just 34 days, representing a 58.5% reduction in time to fill. Additionally, we saw a 27% increase in Daifuku's retention rate, which clearly indicates our partnership's positive impact on the company’s workforce stability. These improvements helped Daifuku meet its staffing goals and ensure long-term success and operational efficiency.
Conclusion and Client Testimonial
Proactive Global has helped Daifuku significantly reduce hiring delays, mitigate penalties, and decrease attrition. By streamlining Daifuku's recruitment process, Proactive Global has ultimately contributed to a more efficient operation at its airport locations.