Celebrate the resurgence and innovation of manufacturing!
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This show was originally published on Automation & Safety Radio.
Mark Schick, President of Advanced Motion & Controls, Ltd. in Barrie Ontario provides insight on what it takes. “Look before you leap, and then move quickly,” is part of the secret sauce. But obviously there’s a whole lot more. Listen in for some great insights!
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If you need a better grip on the notion of “think globally, act locally,” Charlie Post, the President of TSI Solutions is a great source. This leader of a Stone Mountain, GA based industrial distributor, while maintaining a tight focus on serving customers in his home state, also keeps the solutions he sells in the context of the global economy.
Charlie Post
Many Georgia manufacturers have both customers and facilities scattered all over the world, so that mode of thinking is essential. Post gets particularly jazzed when TSI is able to solve a problem locally and then help the customers get it implemented in all their plants regardless of location.
Charlie also talked about a few specific examples, like dealing with the challenges of tuft height in the carpet-making industry. Sounds easy maybe, but how the heck do you make tufting machines run faster while maintaining accuracy and quality?
As he told that story, it really became clear just how passionate he is about the importance and excitement surrounding manufacturing, especially here in GA. Post is an active member of the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce manufacturing group, Networking MFG (sponsor of the upcoming Georgia Manufacturing Expo on June 8) and with many facets of the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute, including their Lean Consortium. This guy’s an outspoken advocate determined to make manufacturing the cool career.
We touched on a variety of other topics as well. How do you find good sales personnel? How do attract those with not only technical skills, but also with great people skills? What could our educational and government institutions be doing better to promote manufacturing? What’ s the coolest new technology? The list goes on…
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“Everybody in the building gives a darn.”
That’s just one of the many comments made by Jim Hennen, Vice President of Sales for the Braas Company that stuck in our heads. He was referring to the fact that Braas is an ESOP, in other words, a company owned by its employees. Of course it makes an attitudinal difference when company growth and success is directly tied to the value of your retirement plan!
Jim Hennen
Another big differentiator is the Braas business model, in Hennen’s words, “an expensive one.” They have made big, long term investments in developing and maintaining technical expertise. Be it application engineering, robotics, vision, 3D vision or high end motion control, Braas customers can depend on them to know more than they do.
That depth of expertise is vital in many situations. Hennen described how difficult it is, for example, for a medical device manufacturer to get FDA approval for a design change. If even a single component becomes unavailable, sales of that device come to a screeching halt. That manufacturer needs to have LOT of confidence in the tech skills of its supplier!
Our discussion of “the next big disruptive technology” was also fascinating. Collaborative robots can work in and among human beings with little or no safeguarding. They can take over boring, repetitive, dangerous, carpal tunnel producing tasks and enable the people to apply their higher value talents. Break even for an investment in collaborative robots? Less than a year; maybe as little as three months. Yeah… I’d call that disruptive!
And there’s more. Tune in to hear it all. Especially the part where Jim describes the process Braas Company uses to pick its supplier partners. Great stuff.
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National Manufacturing Day as a new U.S. holiday? I say yes! And so does Pat Lee, Director of Marketing for the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association (FMA). In fact, she and FMA are right in the middle of a major effort, along with folks from NIST, part of the Department of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers and the Manufacturing Institute to make it happen.
Mark down October 4th and get ready for the 2nd Manufacturing Day. This year 17,000 visitors are expected to participate in over 500 events in all 50 states. Think about the impact this can and will have on kids as they consider and embark on their career paths. Think about the impact this can and will have on elected officials who need to know that the high tech automation in manufacturing can be a massive generator of good, new, high paying jobs. Think about the impact on educators who will be better able to steer their best and brightest students toward careers in manufacturing.
Take Pat Lee’s advice, check out Manufacturing Day and figure out how you can participate!
And that’s not all Pat had to share with us! Familiar with Nuts, Bolts & Thingamajigs? It’s the FMA’s foundation dedicated to helping us avoid an unprecedented shortage of skilled workers. We already have 600,000 job openings in the U.S. crying for people with the skills to fill them. The summer camps for kids and post-secondary scholarships from Nuts, Bolts & Thingamajigs will go a long way to help avert the skills shortage nightmare.
Let’s help them dispel the myth that these jobs are low paying, dirty, dangerous and mostly a man’s work.
We also discussed apprenticeships with Pat. “Bring ‘em back!” she says. You could feel her frustration with the fact that most leaders in manufacturing see the crying need for internships and apprenticeships, but are befuddled about how to actually implement effective programs to make them happen. Wouldn’t you know it, she’s wrapped up in an FMA sponsored conference for certified education centers and manufacturers to fix that problem.
This interview is yet another “must hear.” We need more people with Pat Lee-style passion!
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This interview was originally published on Automation & Safety Radio.
Tony Overy
Tony Overy, Vice President, and Alan Sharrow, Engineering Group Leader for Advanced Motion Systems contend with new safety issues every day. It could be machines without safety designed into them that have been re-shored or figuring out the hard and soft guarding needed for a collaborative robotic application.
Alan Sharrow
They also talk about the lack of experienced, senior controls and automation engineering resources. Until recently, that sort of skill was considered to be expendable overhead. Tony and Alan both see way too many situations where a lack of engineering resource inhibits their customers’ ability to get equipment installed, up and running. They sometimes can’t “pass the baton” of ownership!
Software is big bright spot though. No more Windows 95 crashes to wrestle with! The new stuff is easy to use, reliable and has things like hardware emulation built right in. It also enables a lot of remote support, again saving substantial time and money.
Lots more to learn about in this discussion. Like what customers expect. Things like CAD drawings, point to point electrical schematics, code examples and maybe most importantly, a consultative approach. Customers want to have their designs questioned. “They want us to poke holes in their designs and find something more efficient or less expensive.”
Some really interesting insights here. Listen to whole interview to learn more about how a top-notch high tech distributor delivers value to its manufacturing customers.
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Gene Gray
[If you are reading this on email, click here to listen to the episode!] [NOTE: This episode was originally broadcast on Automation & Safety Radio.]
Lots of organizations talk about Customer Service. How about “Legendary Customer Service?” Gene Gray, the President of Innovative IDM just might have broken the code.
A few facts:
Yep, I think I agree with Gene that, “Customer Service is a way of life,” at Innovative IDM. Listen and learn!
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It’s always exciting to hear the story of an industrial distributor that has stood the test of time. IFP and its president, Bernie Clarke embody just that sort of success story.
What started as an operation to provide hoses and fittings to industrial customers back in 1976 has grown into a an organization with a passion for excellence that understands the design, integration and supply of electrical automation and fluid power motion control systems.
How IFP developed its electronic automation capabilities is an excellent example of how they do business. Unlike the typical pneumatic and hydraulic houses that made a similar move, IFP created a whole separate division to focus on this important, highly technical and fast growing market segment. Recognizing the need for deep expertise, they invest in things like 4-month classes for application engineers.
That’s right, a four month class for application engineers!
IFP also routinely sends sales engineers to week-long classes. Usually four or five of them. Why? Their customers need an extension to their own design and application engineering capabilities. Customer needs it. IFP expends the effort and makes the investment to deliver it.
Bernie shared specific details about how they helped a tractor manufacturer solve a problem. In addition to solving it, IFP also simplified and improved installation, increased reliability, reduced maintenance and dramatically improved (i.e., reduced the cost of) the associated ordering and administrative processes.
Listen to the whole interview to hear Bernie’s take on the impact of technology and the future of U.S. manufacturing. (No surprise, he’s bullish!) You’ll also want to hear about how IFP chooses and continually evaluates its own suppliers. This one’s loaded with valuable insights derived from hands-on experience.
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Streamlined Instructions Equals less Downtime
Martin Tauber of AdvancePierre Foods
It’s not every day somebody tells us that we could be trusted to work on Advanced Machinery. However, that is the confidence that our guest Martin Tauber, Maintenance/ Production Trainer with AdvancePierre Foods, feels about the instructions he is able to provide. AdvancedPierre is a large organization specializing in High Protein foods that can be found in many Grocery stores, School Cafeterias, and food retailers.
Martin has been in the Maintenance field for over 30 years. During that time Martin shared with us that he realized there were some major gaps regarding training, instruction and maintenance manuals relating to machine operations and maintenance. About 6 years ago Martin began writing his own manuals and AdvancedPierre recognized the value that his manuals added and made it his full time gig. Martin explained that through his streamlined training and documentation his organization has been 
able to document a reduction of downtime by eliminating common setup issues and other minor problems.
Single Point Lessons
Martin described to us what is commonly in the field referred to as “single point lesson,” an instruction that is tied to one specific operation of a machine. We found it fascinating to hear Martin describe the detail that goes into developing a single point lesson. Take a listen to the interview to hear Martin describe training and detail necessary to properly write these very precise instructions. We really just scratch the surface as this discussion is chocked full of fun stories and valuable lessons that Martin has learned over his 30 years. We highly recommend that you download the entire interview for your own listening pleasure.
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Mike Collins, Author and Founder of MPC Management
Experience is an asset earned over time
Today we had the opportunity to speak with Mike Collins, Author and Founder of MPC Management. With over 40 years in the Manufacturing industry, authorship of 3 books and over 300 published Manufacturing focused articles Mike is a treasure-trove of Manufacturing knowledge. During our discussion today we focused on two specific topics discussed in Mike’s book “Saving American Manufacturing”
Manufacturers Must Diversify
According to Mike American Manufacturing is at a stalemate. Manufacturers simply are not growing and sales are stagnant. Mike walked us through his two key items that must be analyzed before any manufacturer can invest in a plan for growth. Mike explained that in order to have a successful growth plan, a manufacturer must first figure out why they are losing sales and secondly able to identify what competitive value the are offering their markets.
We Must Start Training for the Future
For the second part of today’s show we dove head first into a recurring issue on MRR. How can we improve the growing issue of workforce development for manufacturers going forward. Want to hear Mike’s solution? We need to place a new emphasis on the apprentice programs of the past. Mike was kind enough to provide an in-depth explanation and statistics to really expose the bare-bones of this issue. With whom does the responsibility lay for improving our training programs? Is it the private sector or public sector’s? Who needs to take the lead and invest the time and money to find this solution? Take a moment and listen to the entire interview to hear Mike’s opinions on this ever increasing issue.
Want to learn more about Mike’s Books? You can find all three books for sale at the MPC Management Website or purchase from Amazon by clicking below:
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Dan St. Louis, Executive Director of the Manufacturing Solutions Center
Today we welcomed Dan St Louis, Executive Director of the Manufacturing Solution Center. The Manufacturing Solutions Center (MSC) strives to help its clients increase sales, improve quality and efficiency. By achieving these goals the MSC helps American Manufacturers create and retain valuable jobs.
SHOW NOTES AND HIGHLIGHTS:
1. Discussed how the Manufacturing Solution Center was created out of need for better testing.
2. Learn how manufacturers can expand production cababilities
3. Value of proper testing methods
4. Ability to manufacturer across multiple industries can increase sales
5. How to test products more efficiently
6. More production often equals jobs
7. Learn more about The Manufacturing Solutions Center by clicking here
8. Visit Dan St. Louis on LinkedIn by clicking here
9. The MSC is an initiative of Catawba Valley Community College in Hickory, NC. Please take a moment to visit their site to learn more about this unique community college and the resources they are providing.
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