Back in February of 2015, the MTMIC Board of Directors, after reviewing the 2014 company results declared a members dividend of $2.5 million. This dividend was actually two parts: $1.5 million to be paid to members with an outstanding loss ratio and $1 million paid to all members. Checks were issued and delivered in March and early April. If you have read a few newsletters from 2015, you may recall that I wrote about how much fun it was delivering checks and how I looked forward to a “repeat” in 2016.

Well the “repeat” has arrived! I am pleased to report that on February 18, 2016 the Board of Directors completed a review of 2015 MTMIC results. After carefully reviewing company financial results for 2015, they determined that a member’s dividend of $3.5 million would be paid in March of 2016. This is a terrific result for our members and also for MTMIC. The $3.5 million is once again made up of two parts. A member’s loyalty piece of $1.4 million. Last year it was $1 million. Also, a second dividend of $2.1 million for accounts with an outstanding loss ratio. Last year the loss ratio piece was $1.5 million.

Since the board meeting, the staff has been putting together the systems to make sure that all the checks are issued properly and that the distribution process is efficient. We expect to start delivering the checks to members on March 7th. Last year it took about four weeks to complete the process and we anticipate it will be similar this year.

The member dividend is one of the most important benefits of being an MTMIC policyholder. We are not a large commercial company where the profits go to outside investors or other stockholders. Our 824 members receive the rewards from the company operations. Last year while we were pleased with the $2.5 million, being able to increase it for this year will make it even more fun. Like last year, we will take some member pictures for an upcoming MTMIC newsletter. We discovered it was pretty easy for a member to smile once you hand them a check.

On behalf of the Board of Directors, the management team and staff at MTMIC congratulations on having a terrific 2015 year which made this dividend possible. We will see you soon.

As we closed the 2015 accounting year and start work on the 2015 dividend for presentation to the MTMIC Board of Directors in February, it is interesting and helpful to know the company history and culture that history built. MTMIC dates back to 1976 when the Detroit Tooling Association (DTA) took advantage of en
abling legislation which permitted employers in the same industry to establish a group self-insurance fund.

At the time the Fund was formed the cost of Workers’ Compensation was exponentially increasing on an annual basis and becoming a negative influence on the ability of the tooling industry to remain viable in Michigan. The DTA Workers’ Compensation Fund was established to service the needs of the local tooling industry and it soon became the Michigan Tooling Association Workers’ Compensation Fund (MTAWCF) as membership grew outside of the local area.

The Fund was governed by a Board of Trustees representing the tooling community. With their direction, the MTAWCF developed programs which resulted in millions of dollars in reduced insurance premiums while providing dividends to the members of the Fund through effective cost control, improved safety and vigilance against fraudulent claims. Does that sound familiar today?

By 2006 the tooling environment was changing and management attempted to restructure the program to reflect that changing environment. The State of Michigan however would not permit the Fund to broaden the definition of “tooling” to include the many manufacturing operations currently involved; this limited the ability of the Fund to grow and change with its members.

Many months were spent determining the best course. At the end, Management and the Board of Directors agreed that a mutual insurance company would provide a structure similar to the Fund, and allow for the continued success and growth of the group. In 2007 the change was made and MTAWCF became Manufacturing Technology Mutual Insurance Company (MTMIC).

MTMIC is still governed by a Board of Directors elected from among the policyholders. The policyholder body has, as expected, grown to include many aspects of manufacturing and related industries as the growth of the organization has accelerated over the ensuing period. However, the culture from the Fund of effective cost and loss control, aggressive claims management and one on one service for our members carries over to MTMIC today.

Now for the MTMIC management team, back to working on YOUR dividend. More on this member benefit in the next newsletter.

By Glenda Moyle, Premium Accounting Manager

This is just a reminder to all of our Policyholders that our audit company, The Aprise Group, will be doing the final audits again this year. They have been our audit company for the past 25 years. Once your policy expires, they will be contacting you within 30 days to set up an appointment to do the audit. If you have any questions, please contact me at glenda.moyle@mtmic.com/blog. Thank you for being a member of the MTMIC.

By the time you get this, the holiday season will be over and I hope you enjoyed it with your family. At the same time, you’re already busy with 2016 business activities. We at MTMIC, are in that same situation. As quickly as possible we are closing out the financial numbers for December 31, while also working on business issues for 2016. I expect that the next newsletter will have a first indication of the actuarial and claims numbers from 2015. These numbers will presented to the Board of Directors in February for Member Dividend declaration.

For this newsletter, it seemed like a good time to reintroduce three key contacts at MTMIC. One of the hazards as President of doing this, is you can never only pick three. I will address more staff in a future newsletter. But for this newsletter, let me start the staff introduction process. The first is Glenda Moyle. Glenda is our Premium Accounting Manager and also handles the endorsements and certificates of insurance. Many of you have known Glenda for many, many years. I have to say our company personnel records from 30+ years ago are not that accurate. Glenda has been with us somewhere north of 35 years and is the encyclopedia of MTMIC. Any premium or endorsement questions, Glenda is the key player. What you may not know, is that Glenda is also the MTMIC Corporate Secretary. She covers lots of territory.

(more…)

First, I hope you and your family had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. The Karlen’s had the normal family get together. Weather cooperated, and we all arrived at the right place at the right time. That in itself, is something to be thankful for.

This is a busy time of year where we deliver renewals to over 300 members. During these deliveries and renewal discussions, I keep a list of frequently asked questions. Here’s one of the top three that you may find interesting. The question is, “What are the benefits of being an MTMIC member?” There are several answers to this, so here are a few.

(more…)

As you may recall, last March, the MTMIC Board authorized distribution of $2.5 million of profits to members. The dividend covered policy years 2010 – 2012. The dividend was comprised of two parts:

1. Loyalty – how long have you been with MTMIC. All members with coverage during the covered or beginning during the “covered years” and still in force as of February 28, 2015 shared in this dividend part.
2. Great loss ratios – accounts with outstanding loss ratios during the “covered years” shared in a second dividend. The end result was an average dividend of 19%. A total of 108 members received a dividend that exceeds 50% of their current annual premium. Yes, that is very cool.

(more…)

Just recently, MTMIC achieved a couple of milestones. For the first time in our nearly 40 year history, we broke through the 800 member mark. Second, MTMIC’s asset value passed the $50 million mark. Both of these results are based on our member’s loyalty and dedicated staff. Building member loyalty comes from two sources. The first source is that we have a dedicated Board of Directors. These board members represent the owners/member’s interests every day and their skillsets built over the years, demonstrates that they know how to create member value by giving staff the freedom and support to improve member services.

The second source that builds member loyalty is the MTMIC staff, which is filled by unusually tenured veterans. One of the most frequent contacts is with Glenda Moyle, the MTMIC Premium Account Manager who handles billing and underwriting service questions. What you may not know, is that Glenda has been with MTMIC (and our previous Trust Fund) for nearly 35 years. She knows most of our members, some of their family, and lots of policy details for most accounts. The next frequent contact is Donna Motley, our Vice President of Claims. With her number two, Cindy Boyce, they both have more than 20 years with MTMIC. Other frequent contacts are with our loss control staff, with Chris Doebler, our CFO, and of course our Marketing Vice President, Megan Brown and Marketing Assistant, Patty Allen. A common thread with all the MTMIC staff, is member commitment and tenure. I have had the privilege of leading this team since August 1, 2013. Our employee turnover rate in 2013 was 0%, 12014 0% and 2015 0%. Yes, I am the newest employee.

The board and staff’s focus has been simple. Make sure that all accounts are funded properly to ensure claim payments and secondly, when there are profits above this funding requirement, those profits are OWNED by our members. In March, $2.5 million was returned to our members. At the October Annual Member’s meeting, we will have the first discussion about the dividend for March of 2016. The Annual Member’s meeting is Thursday, October 15th at 11:30 and will be held at the Inn at St. John’s in Plymouth. I am pleased to pass on these two significant achievements and hope you can attend the Annual Meeting to hear the first words about the 2016 member dividend.

During a regular business week I receive notices from outside vendors, state associations, and government bulletins. Most of the time there is nothing exciting to report from them; but last week I received two that were interesting. The first was a report from the state on the number of time loss injuries for Michigan employees. In 2007, the state recorded 11,262 time loss injuries. Three years later in 2010, time loss injuries had decreased to 9,566. And then in 2013, the number was 7,109. This study goes on to give credit for management’s focus on improved employee risk management, but they also credit changes in the manufacturing process and the reduction of hazardous work. Overall; this data does give us a good story on the improvement in employee safety. I wanted to pass these numbers on to you to give credit for the important role you play.

(more…)