Success Story: Dixon Valve Strengthens Workforce Across All Levels Through the Maryland Rural Manufacturing Partnership
Company Profile:
Founded in 1916 and headquartered in Chestertown, Maryland, Dixon Valve & Coupling Company (“Dixon”) is a global leader in the manufacture and supply of hose couplings, valves, dry disconnects, swivels, and other critical fluid transfer and control products. Dixon serves a broad range of industries including petroleum, chemical processing, food and beverage, fire protection, mining, construction, and manufacturing. With a deep commitment to safety, innovation, and reliability, Dixon’s mission is to create fluid transfer solutions that are safer, longer-lasting, and always available.
The Situation:
As Dixon Valve’s operations continued to grow, the company identified key workforce development needs that spanned multiple organizational levels. There was a need to strengthen front-line leadership among supervisors, expand the technical design capabilities of engineering staff, and provide structured instruction to support skilled trade apprentices. Dixon recognized that a more strategic and comprehensive training approach would be required to meet internal goals around employee advancement, knowledge transfer, and productivity. The company engaged Maryland MEP through the Maryland Rural Manufacturing Partnership to support a set of training initiatives designed to meet these evolving needs.
The Solution:
Maryland MEP collaborated with Dixon Valve to deliver three distinct, high-impact training programs that supported professional development across supervisory, technical, and apprenticeship tracks.
To elevate leadership at the front line, Maryland MEP delivered in partnership with Go-Lean-Six Consulting LLC, a multi-session Core Supervisory Training Program to two employee cohorts. The program provided hands-on training in communication, conflict resolution, goal setting, and team building and participants earned a Core Supervisor Certificate upon completion. To reinforce long-term impact, the training also included three months of follow-up coaching to support real-time application of the skills on the job.
To strengthen engineering capacity and design capabilities, Dixon partnered with Chesapeake College to deliver a 45-hour SolidWorks Introduction Training. This course was delivered virtually to a group of incumbent employees over several weeks and focused on building foundational skills in computer-aided design, modeling, and simulation. The training helped employees better support new product development and customer-specific design requests.
To expand skilled trades capabilities, Maryland MEP provided related instruction support for two Tool & Die apprentices through Tooling University (ToolingU). This training provided essential technical instruction to complement the apprentices’ on-the-job learning, ensuring alignment with industry best practices and internal performance expectations.
Together, these programs reinforced Dixon’s commitment to growing internal talent and strengthening its ability to meet customer and industry demands.
“Partnering with Maryland MEP through the Rural Manufacturing Partnership has allowed us to support our workforce in meaningful, targeted ways. Whether it’s upskilling a machinist, giving a new supervisor the confidence to lead, or enabling design innovation, this program has helped us advance our people and our processes. It’s been a huge win for Dixon.”
— Eric Lemon, Manufacturing Training Manager, Dixon Valve & Coupling Company
The Results:
Across these training initiatives, Dixon Valve provided direct development opportunities to 27 employees across various levels of the organization. By promoting internally, the company avoided thousands in recruiting and onboarding costs. Improved technical capabilities supported more efficient prototyping, contributing to Dixon’s mission to delight their customers. Two apprentices made measurable progress toward journeyperson status, helping to reduce Dixon’s long-term skilled labor gap and strengthen its internal pipeline of advanced manufacturing talent.
These efforts represent a strategic, organization-wide investment in talent and capability, and underscore Dixon’s commitment to workforce excellence in rural Maryland.
