Scaling Manufacturing Operations Without Expanding Internal Talent Acquisition
Discover how Advanced RPO helped an EV battery manufacturer rapidly scale hiring, improve candidate quality, and build a flexible recruiting model to support shifting growth plans.
Situation: Post-Acquisition Growth Without a Recruiting Foundation
Following the acquisition of a U.S.-based EV battery manufacturing operation from a major automotive company, our client, a Japan-based organization, was left with a critical gap: no internal recruiting function to support hiring in the U.S.
Before partnering with Advanced RPO, the client relied heavily on a third-party staffing firm to support hiring demand. However, as hiring volumes increased, the approach became increasingly difficult to sustain. The client began facing challenges around candidate quality, scalability, cost, and process consistency, creating risk to production goals and broader operational timelines.
At the same time, the organization’s growth plans were accelerating. What began as a need to stabilize hiring at a single manufacturing site quickly expanded into support for two new plant builds and the development of a U.S. corporate headquarters.
The client needed more than a short-term staffing solution. They needed a scalable recruiting strategy capable of supporting rapid growth while remaining flexible enough to adapt as business conditions evolved.
Solution: Agile Recruiting Support That Scaled with the Business
Advanced RPO initially engaged as a rapid-response solution to stabilize hourly hiring at the manufacturing facility.
The team quickly stepped in to:
- Ramp up frontline recruiting efforts
- Implement more structured sourcing and screening processes
- Deliver more consistent, qualified candidate pipelines
This immediate support helped restore hiring momentum while establishing a stronger long-term recruiting foundation.
As the client’s business needs expanded, the partnership evolved alongside them.
Advanced RPO’s role grew beyond hourly manufacturing recruiting to provide broader talent acquisition support across:
- High-volume manufacturing hiring
- Exempt and professional recruiting
- Workforce planning and hiring for two new manufacturing facilities
- Recruitment support for a newly established U.S. corporate headquarters
This scalable model allowed the client to reduce reliance on staffing agencies and operate with a dedicated, embedded recruiting function without the fixed overhead, long-term risk, or complexity of building a large internal TA team.
Throughout the partnership our approach remained flexible and agile. As hiring demand increased, Advanced RPO scaled recruiting support to help ensure business objectives were met. As priorities shifted, the program adapted seamlessly, adding resources where needed to maintain continuity and support evolving talent priorities.
The client initially projected significant hiring growth based on broader market conditions and optimism surrounding continued EV expansion. As economic and political changes impacted EV demand and growth projections slowed, hiring needs changed rapidly. By leveraging Advanced RPO’s scalable recruiting model rather than building a large fixed internal recruiting team, they were able to adjust recruiting support in line with changing business conditions without the cost, disruption, or morale impact often associated with downsizing an internal TA function.
Results: Improved Hiring Outcomes and Reduced Operational Risk
Advanced RPO delivered measurable improvements across hiring performance, efficiency, and long-term flexibility.
- Outcome: Over 500 hires were made throughout the partnership, including more than 200 exempt hires.
Impact: The client gained a scalable, full-service talent acquisition function capable of supporting hiring needs across both exempt and non-exempt roles. - Outcome: 98% of non-exempt hires were sourced directly by Advanced RPO.
Impact: Ownership of sourcing efforts and the corresponding sourcing spend was shifted from the client, significantly expanding reach beyond organic applicant flow. - Outcome: 70% of exempt hires were filled with passive candidates.
Impact: By proactively targeting top talent, the program improved candidate quality rather than relying solely on active applicants from job postings. - Outcome: Advanced RPO conducted more than 11,000 candidate phone screens on behalf of the client.
Impact: Thousands of hours were redirected away from the client’s internal team, allowing leadership and hiring managers to stay focused on core business priorities. - Outcome: Through stronger hiring manager partnerships and enhanced screening practices, Advanced RPO reduced the slate-to-interview ratio from 9.2:1 to 3.4:1.
Impact: Hiring managers spent less time reviewing and interviewing candidates while overall candidate quality improved.