Monday Manufacturing Motivation – with Manufacturer’s Edge

Damon Pistulka  00:00

I got plenty of coffee somewhere.

Curt Anderson  00:04

Okay, and Damon dude good morning happy might while it’s afternoon where I’m at but Good morning to you my friend how are you?

Damon Pistulka  00:12

I’m doing awesome Curt doing awesome,

Curt Anderson  00:15

man look I just let’s just let’s just savor this moment just look at the stage that we just can you just feel the heat coming off right now like I’m not I’m a little like off put I just I don’t know what to do with myself with all these rock stars. So, guys today Happy Monday manufacturing Monday motivation here. I don’t know what the date is today. I’m just so excited. So man, we have rock stars from manufacturers edge that is the MEP Out in the great state of Colorado. So I’m going to go around the horn first and foremost, I’m I don’t know if I’m gonna go alphabetical. Just the person next to me is Beth. Beth. Good morning. Happy Monday. How are you today?

Beth Dickson  00:53

I’m great. How are you?

Curt Anderson  00:55

I’m doing awesome. I’m going to slide over to the right, Dana. Good morning, my friend. How are you? Happy Monday.

Dana Schenhoffer  01:02

Good morning, Kurt. I’m fantastic. How

Curt Anderson  01:04

are you doing? If I was doing any better? I just I might be like head on. I might have to call the funeral home director and Jessica. How are you today? What is what’s happening here?

Jessica Cowden  01:18

Oh man, we’re just doing we’re just going crazy. Curt, things are good. Things are good. Thanks so much for having us here. Have you ever heard this one? If things were any better? I’d have to have a twin. If things

Curt Anderson  01:27

were any better, I’d have to have a twin from you. So I so man, happy Monday to everybody. Boy, you’re out there. drop us a note. You absolutely absolutely want to connect with these three man, we are going to have a blast. We are talking about the Manufacturing Extension Partnership. We’re going to dig deep into that. We just have a rockstar crew from manufacturers edge in Colorado. But before we do that, so what just got i You guys sitting down? I can’t tell you guys sitting down for this bathroom is probably the best. So I Damon, I have three original questions, three completely different original questions for all three of you. And so this way you guys can be prepared for that. I’m going to start with you. Okay. Went now your manufacturing Rockstar we’re gonna get into this in one second. But now when you were a little girl growing up, I have a question for you when you were little girl growing up. Who was your hero? Now while you’re thinking about that, just going again, I have two totally different questions for you guys. But when you were a little girl growing up who was your hero?

Beth Dickson  02:36

My dad?

Curt Anderson  02:37

Oh man. So Damon right. We’re big girl dads. That’s one of our favorite answers. What is Dad’s name, please?

Beth Dickson  02:44

Um, his name is Frank. And I actually I lost him a year and a

Curt Anderson  02:50

half ago. We send our thoughts and prayers.

Beth Dickson  02:53

Thank you. Thanks. But I grew up in Ohio, actually. And I see you went to I see. Yeah, Mama buck. I stalked you

Curt Anderson  02:59

too. Were Ohio. Did you grow up?

Beth Dickson  03:03

In New Concord, Ohio. Wonderful. I saw your undergraduate degrees from

Curt Anderson  03:12

I was hanging out in Columbus. That’s fine. That would take me but yes, Beth. I’m I am a buckeye. So let’s let’s hear about I’m dying to hear about Frank.

Beth Dickson  03:22

Well, let’s see. He was he was a single dad. So you know, of course I admired him from about, you know, yeah, this is single dads. I’m about my second grade on and he’s just an awesome man who’s a hard worker, great work ethic, raise three kids and was a union electrician for over 50 years. I don’t know, I don’t know what else to say. Pretty amazing guy and very dedicated to his family, his his work but had that great work life balance that I have taken a lot from that. So you know, you’ve worked to live?

Curt Anderson  04:06

Well, that you know what made our day so hey, you know what, and Frank is just looking down, just beaming with pride and just so proud of his little girl. So thank you for sharing that. That you’re a buckeye. And that Frank, just so you know what a great role model you had, as you’ve brought your superpowers into manufacturing. We’re going to dig into that for a minute. Now. Jessica, you’re you’re you’re kind of a pinch hitter today. I didn’t know that. You’re going to be here today. So I have a different question for you. You’re ready. We are going to have another one of your teammates on. So I’m going to take a little curveball, Damon, you know where I’m going to go here. So, Jessica, I don’t have a new question for you. When you were growing up as a little girl who

Damon Pistulka  04:47

was only has a lot to

Curt Anderson  04:50

do, I was prepared because I knew that you were joining us. So I have a different question for you. But just who’s your hero growing up?

Jessica Cowden  04:57

Well, similarly actually, it was my grandfather. Who is my biggest hero. So my grandfather was a really extraordinary man, he, he had a really rare form of arthritis and then later develop Parkinson’s and never ever let it slow him down. So he used to devise all these like tools and stuff, he was very innovative. So even like, as his health started to deteriorate, he wanted to hold on to his independence. So we actually crafted these tools to like, help him get through his day. Because like, he couldn’t button his shirt, right. So he developed this tool to like button the shirt for him. And I mean, just really super intelligent, always curious, super creative. Just a wonderful giving man and like, never felt sorry for himself. He just kept going, you know? Never missed a beat.

Damon Pistulka  05:42

Very cool, man.

Curt Anderson  05:45

What was grandpa’s name?

Jessica Cowden  05:46

His name was Jim.

Curt Anderson  05:48

Jim. You know, David reminds me of your dad, you know, just you know, towards the end of his life, and just what an inspiration. I can’t button my turtle will complain about it. I’m going to solve it. What a wonderful inspiration. So, Frank online. We’ve got Jim, just great inspiration. So Dana, okay. I have a new question. Hang on. I have to get organized here. Let me get my notes. Dana. Who was your hero growing up?

Dana Schenhoffer  06:15

That’s the second question. Kurt.

Damon Pistulka  06:19

Thought I was kidding. He really only has

Curt Anderson  06:21

a question. I bad. I you know what? I’m not a young guy anymore. I get very forgetful. So I thought I had a new question for you. Apparently. I don’t, Dana. Little girl growing up. Who was your hero?

Dana Schenhoffer  06:36

Yeah, it’s funny. I feel like I’m jumping on the bandwagon here. But it was my mom. I remember. Growing up, she had this, this mug. And I still see it when I feel overwhelmed today. But she had this coffee mug and it had this picture of a woman. And she was carrying a baby. And she had a phone in one hand and like a coffee pot somehow, like balanced. In the other hand, she had these, like sweeping to clean the floor things on her feet. And she was skating around with an apron on and she was she actually did so much. I mean, my mom and my dad were fantastic. But my mom really showed me the you know, hey, this is home life. This is work life. This is how you can be successful at both. And she was a rock star. So definitely. She was always there for me as a kid.

Curt Anderson  07:23

What and what’s mom’s name?

Dana Schenhoffer  07:24

Her name is Marcy

Curt Anderson  07:26

Marcy. Okay. Boy, man, Damon did i do i told you this was going to be fired today. Now we’re getting a good idea of like how we have such inspiration on the stage. great role models, just wonderful parents. And so let’s just get this keep this party rolling. We’re going to talk about manufacturing and how you guys are just doing an amazing job helping manufacturers throughout the Great State of Colorado. And so and what I want to dig into is just kind of like what led you guys into manufacturing? Before I go there, Jessica, my dear friend, my 10 year veteran of manufacturers edge, please share with the folks what is the Manufacturing Extension Partnership. We’re going to dig deep into that the M E for from here on out we’re going to call it the NE P. What are we talking about there? What is this MEP?

Jessica Cowden  08:11

Yeah, absolutely. So the MEP, and I serve on the steering committee for all the marketing representatives across the national network. And our biggest challenge is that the MVP is still a best kept secret. It’s been around for over 30 years. And it is a program under the Department of Congress or of commerce sorry. So we do receive part of our funding every year from the federal government. And then we have to match funds either through state funding or through actual client pay for our services. But the entire purpose of the MEP is to serve as manufacturers in the in the United States of America. So there is one center like ours in every state, there’s also a center in Puerto Rico. We can either be a standalone nonprofit like manufacturers edges, or we can be associated with the state or we can be associated with a university. And then to further complicate things, we all go by a different name. So this is part of why people don’t necessarily know what the MEP is. But at the end of the day, we’re a resource to provide support and services to a manufacturer right from a startup all the way through succession planning. So their entire lifecycle, we have ways to help them every step of the way. In some instances that support can come free of charge. And other instances we can help with very large scale multi year engagements through consulting, training and other other resources.

Curt Anderson  09:35

Absolutely, that’s fantastic. And great example for a shameless plug. Our guest on Friday is Wendy Covey, when he Covey and I are doing a webinar at Purdue, we book a lot of webinars at iMac, the Illinois MEP at Purdue which is parked at university. So it’s just good to subscribe. There’s an MVP in all 50 states, whatever state you’re coming from, you’re like hey, wait a minute. I want to know about this MVP. There is an MVP right near you. And so let’s we’re going to keep this party rolling to dig in further. And just I love that stop being the best kept secret because Jessica, do you know the name of my mom’s favorite book by any chance? Name of my mom’s favorite book, we have a copy right here. My mom’s favorite book date. And let’s stop being the best kept secret. Well, my mom’s favorite son. Of course, it was her only son wrote this wonderful book. And so what’s in first shameless plug, what’s funny is I work with a lot of MVPs. And when I meet them for the first time, and Beth we were talking about stalking each other, and I did I say stalking I met checking each other out, and LinkedIn. And so a lot of folks, when I meet them for the first time, they’re like me, and Kurt, we need to have our director read your book, because we are the best kept secret. And that’s our goal is we want to help manufacturers realize that this is not a secret. This is a really powerful resource, a tool for manufacturers and entrepreneurs, a lot of time you feel like you’re alone out there, you’re in the trenches, man, you are not alone, my friend, Beth, let’s get you into the party. Why manufacturing, you are just crushing it helping manufacturers you’ve been at MEP for over a year now. But just talk about like Frank was a great role a role model for you. You just bring a tremendous amount of skill and passion into manufacturers, but as a young person, what led you into manufacturing?

Beth Dickson  11:16

This was good. Just actually just get it. All right, there you go. I, you know, occur I have been, I’ve been in sales in one form or another, basically, since I finished college. And, you know, I was with I was with Pepsi for over 10 years. And, you know, I was just kind of looking for something a little different. I spent some time in the mortgage industry, and was leaving that just decided I really need something else. And I’ve known Jessica for a long time, we actually have known each other for years, she grew up on the western slope. And we’ve known each other very, very long time. And she’s like, Hey, I know you’re looking for a new job, you should come join our team, I think you’d be great. So so it’s just this fall.

12:12

All it’s all about Jessica, right?

Beth Dickson  12:16

Just consult so but I, but I am so appreciative that she thought of me. And because now that because when I first got into it, I was like, I don’t know, what I’m doing is right. Like, you know, as far as Pepsi goes, I know, it’s manufacturing, I’ve seen the plan before and it but like I’m, I’m on the front line, right, I’m just out there selling, I don’t really have anything to do with all of that. But so it’s taken at least a year, for sure to kind of get a grip on manufacturing. And, and really, it’s just, you know, like, as far as, as far as selling goes, you know, I hate to say that we’re really selling, but it is kind of what we’re doing. I mean, we, we sell consulting, and we sell training, and that’s just to grow and develop any manufacturers business. And, and to provide them with anything that they need to help scale and grow and, and be successful and hit their goals. So yeah, but it’s been, it’s been fantastic. And, and I love it. And the biggest thing that I love about it is really building the relationships with these manufacturers. I mean, they’re, they’re, you know, they, they’re in my backyard. So you know, here on the western slope, everybody’s friends, you probably know them, you probably are at one of the breweries and they’re sitting at the table next to you. You know, you’re so it really gets a you get to know them, you get pretty tight with them. But really, it’s just about building those relationships, and then and, and really building some credibility with them just showing up for them. And when they need something, get after it, you know, we basically can give them anything that they need to help them grow their business. I

Curt Anderson  13:56

love that. And so you know, in to take it a step further. When you say selling, it’s like you’re selling efficiency, you’re selling growth, you’re selling hope you’re selling profitability, you’re selling, you know, just so much value that you know, you can only you know, as a small business owner or an entrepreneur, you can only be as good as your internal team. Like you’d have to bring in outside sources, outside experts to help you elevate otherwise, you’re just going to stay stale and stagnant. Just pique my curiosity, just share a little bit, you know, you have great, you know, Pepsi one of the greatest companies on the planet, you have tenure history there. How does that big corporate experience helps, you know, that small manufacturer 10 person 20 person shot, I just think that’s just so valuable somebody with your experience to help out the small, you know, guy or gal, right? Just share how that corporate experience has helped brings what that brings to the table for you with your clients.

Beth Dickson  14:47

I think the biggest thing really is just, you know, coming from such a big corporation, but you could really, you know, some of the customers that I called on and Pepsi you know, like I can You know, I was Walmart Key Account Manager, and then I was a C store, Key Account Manager. And then I covered three states at one time. And it was. So we have all of these different experiences with big stores, smaller stores, mom and pop shops. And so that’s really, that’s kind of my favorite, though, was the mom and pop shops, because, again, it’s, it’s those relationships that you build with them. And the more that they get to know you, the more that they open up, and, you know, and so I always share my experience my work history with everybody, because they’re kind of like, Why should I trust you like, right, but you have to offer me really, I mean, and so I, I just, you know, I’m very candid and very transparent with all of my, my clients and the manufacturers here in western Colorado. So they they know my history, and I open up to them, and then they open up to me. And I really think that that’s where the Connect is for me.

Curt Anderson  15:53

Well, that’s awesome. And I know that guys, you absolutely want to check out manufacturers edge website and check out the teammates. And Beth I love you have positive, honest and fun just what a great equation that is. Dana, my friend, let’s get you on stage. And let’s just pull in so you are celebrating you’re also celebrating I believe a one year anniversary and manufacturers edge. Just a little bit about like your background, what attracted you to manufacturing? And why manufacturers edge? What attracted you to the MVP?

Dana Schenhoffer  16:22

Such a layered question.

Curt Anderson  16:27

We’re gonna go deep Dana.

Dana Schenhoffer  16:28

Yeah, you’re corrected, I Oh, I am celebrating an anniversary. So that’s fantastic. And it’s nice to have been around that long. I feel like the MEP network is so vast, and we can do so much. And there’s so many manufacturers in Colorado, you know, we’re at like 7000, or something that fall in our main bucket that we look at that I feel like I’ve really just started putting my toes in the water. So my background, Gosh, I really come at everything from a you know, I’m a human, you’re a human, we’re all trying to do the best we can and how can we find a way so that everybody succeeds. So everything that I’ve done in the long sales, key account management, business to business relationship. Now a little bit of project management realm of jobs that I’ve had across the board from a small manufacturing company in Colorado, doing life safety devices to Fortune 100, fortune 500 companies. I used to work for Covidien, which is now Medtronic, so big giant company also in manufacturing, everything. I come at that from that, how do I help you? How do we empower you to succeed? And then how do we find that sweet spot where everybody is, you know, being happy about it and developing that long term relationship? So that’s a bit of my background. Let’s see, I, I tend to be that person that comes into a company and makes waves. So if I see something that’s, you know, hey, we could do this better, hey, this client asked for this. And I don’t I don’t know where to go for it. How do we find the right resource, I’m the person that brings that to the top and makes things a little bit more streamlined. So that’s right up manufacturers edge ally, and what we were predominantly known for with lean and five s and Six Sigma and all of those operational type things. And what really drew me to it is, I did a bit in mortgage as well, which was a fantastic experience working in nine different states there. So yeah, very large breadth options in terms of where my background comes from. But what led me to manufacturers edge is somebody that worked with our company previously reached out to me and said, Hey, I think you’d be a great fit. So it was kind of an internal recruitment type thing. I had no idea about the MEPs didn’t know what they could do, the more I dug into it, I was like, Wow, this seems really cool. You mean, I can help people with anything. And, you know, it’s not just that data and technology. It’s not just operations. It’s not just people. It’s not just 6x planning, which are the four pillars that we put everything under, but it’s also increasing that network around Colorado. So we launched something last year called The Colorado manufacturing network. And it was a great way to get people to start you know, connecting and how do I access those wonderful partnerships that MEP Colorado manufacturers that has you know, World Trade Center or edit all these different folks. So it was really jumping into a different area of manufacturing where I got to see so much more be exposed to so much more and then be able to help clients because of that.

Curt Anderson  19:42

Now, okay, that was just so Damon. I told you this was gonna be a great day. So guys, if you’re just joining us, happy Monday, drop a note. Let us know that you’re here. You absolutely want to connect with our friends and manufacturers edge that Dana our friend Jessica. just gotten signed over to you celebrating 10 years and manufacturers edge now you have an incredible, amazing website. And Dana, I think you just hit it you know your tagline empowering manufacturers to reach their full potential drop the mic. What a great tagline. Jessica talked about like your 10 year journey, what attracted you to manufacturers edge? And what have you seen over this tenure? A decade for goodness gracious, what have you seen over the past 10 years? Well,

Jessica Cowden  20:25

and funnily enough, Kurt, my my experience with manufacturers edge technically even goes back even further, because many, many years ago in the late 90s, when I was finishing my undergrad at Colorado Mesa on the western slope, I served as an intern for what was then called mam tech. So the the state of Colorado had, they didn’t we didn’t have our own MEP center, we were actually a branch from the MEP center that was based out of Kansas. And so they actually had an office space there on the Colorado, the community college campus for for what is now Colorado Mesa University. And so I served as an intern for them. So I started sort of getting to know, the manufacturing landscape and ecosystem here in the state of Colorado when I was an undergrad. And what’s interesting is I so I come almost predominantly almost exclusively from an arts background. So I was actually a theater major in college I’ve helped, I’ve helped friends start up their own theatre companies, I’ve done a lot of theater based or fine art fine and performing arts marketing in the past. But what I always found fascinating about manufacturers and still to this day, I’m constantly inspired, is that they are very similar to artists, right. So in the same way that a playwright or a sculptor is so driven to bring something into the world that’s going to make life better for other people. That’s exactly what manufacturers are doing. They see a gap, they see a need, and they want to create something, bring it into existence, to help people’s lives become easier, better, more fulfilled. So to me that that sort of parallel passion is really exciting. And it’s, it’s, it’s inspiring. It’s what keeps me going. I love that, for example, like part of my job is writing success stories. So I love looking at the data to see how we help people. And that’s, of course, how we’re measured. How many jobs did we help create? Did we help you increase your revenue, but the anecdotal part of it is what really keeps me going. So when I get introduced to a manufacturer that we’ve worked with, and I can call them up and say, Tell me your life story, you know, like what you do Kurt, right? Like, tell me who you are, what drives you? What was it like working with us? And what kind of results did you see? It’s just so cool to get to know folks better, and really see what what drives them what their obstacles are, what their dreams are, where they hope to go. And knowing that we play even some small part and helping them achieve those goals is that’s you know, that’s why we do what we do.

Curt Anderson  22:48

Yeah, I absolutely love it now, Beth, my friend, I understand I think you need to cut out on us in a couple minutes. So I have that correct. are you sneaking out now you can blow off that next meeting. I’m just

Beth Dickson  23:01

I was just checking to make sure everybody’s still on time. So I’ll stay as long as I can.

Curt Anderson  23:06

So I’m just teasing. But if, if you feel free to cut out anytime that you Yes. But before you sneak out, I would love to please share women in manufacturing. Why this you’re talking to a younger self, your younger self, maybe a young person in college were kind of looking at a career. And they didn’t like manufacturing that’s not on my radar whatsoever. PepsiCo manufacturers edge like you’ve really lived a great career and you’re you have a long way to go talk about why women should be considering manufacturing for career choice.

Beth Dickson  23:42

Because they’re definitely a minority. I mean, like I don’t I the the women that I work with in manufacturing are very, there’s very few, I can say that. So there’s a lot of opportunity there. I would say there’s a lot of opportunity for grants. There’s a lot of opportunity for recognition. And to kind of have a spotlight on you really, I’m thinking of one specifically here in Grand Junction. I don’t think I can say their name, I don’t know. But it is a women a woman owned business, and she just does an outstanding job. She’s younger than I am. But she grew up doing this. And I just I don’t know how much we can actually say but you know, she’s so it’s hard not to because I love to brag about her. But um, she’s just an incredible person. And she has this amazing team of about 40 employees and which are all men and they all just think the world of her. So and she’s just this little bitty small it’s this George’s long blonde hairs. She’s very feminine. She goes walking through her warehouse and like they’re all just like Oh, yeah, like, Y’all like, all the attention. So but it’s, you know, she’s just she’s very good at what she does. She’s smart. She went to school in her field, and which again, she was a minority being a woman in in that area that she works in, so yeah, yeah. I just I think it’s, I think it’s great. And I think she has a lot of influence. And a lot of younger ladies in the area too. She’s trying to start something in western Colorado, to build more awareness for women to be in manufacturing. So

Curt Anderson  25:39

love and speaking of women in manufacturing Daymond, we got a few people I want to give a shout out to we’ve got, you know, best explanation of the MVP. I’ve heard to date hope you don’t mind if I steal it, Jessica. So how about we fire our dear friend so she’s with TAC? If you guys are familiar with tax, she’s in the mid Atlanta tax. So And how about Whitney Whitney is a great manufacturer down in Houston, Texas. So guys, happy Monday. Again, drop us a note, let us know that you’re out there. You absolutely want to connect with Beth with Dana with Jessica here on LinkedIn, or wherever you hang out on social check out their website manufacturers edge. Dana, can I slide over to you that? Are you leaving us? Are you gonna stick around for a few?

Beth Dickson  26:16

I’m gonna stay for a few minutes, my meeting started.

Curt Anderson  26:19

All right. It’s a lot more fun over here, Beth. So Dana, how about I’m going to slide over to you what attracted you to the MVP as far as like? Or more importantly, what are things that you would share to younger self? Or say you’re talking to a group of young people in college high school? Why are all the cool kids going into manufacturing these days?

Dana Schenhoffer  26:39

Well, the cool kids are in manufacturing, and we need more cool kids. So just like you said, yes, absolutely. I think what I would probably say to my younger self or two kids, you know, in college or trade schools even or anything like that, is I think there’s a common misunderstanding of manufacturing. It’s like, oh, it’s the big automakers, oh, it’s, you know, this dirty, grimy equipment. And it’s not, it’s really taking something and turning it into something else that classifies as manufacturing. So we work with folks all the way from craft brewers to aerospace, I’ve got bakers and bakeries in there, got people making some really cool biomedical science type equipment. And that’s something that when I when I see manufacturing, I think about manufacturing, that’s not what I would think if I, you know, I think, oh, that’s medical, oh, that’s food services, you know, but all of that qualifies. So having a broader viewpoint of what manufacturing is, as being a part of this for the last year, I think is something that I would probably share with folks.

Curt Anderson  27:43

Absolutely. Okay, great, man. Are you even? Are you feeling the heat or what and when you drop down? So I know it’s gonna affect women and manufacturing? I believe, Jessica, you guys have a strong chapter in Colorado. I know a couple of folks in your chapter. So you know, a lot of excitement there. Just because let me slide over to someone hit you with two questions real quick. So I’d love you know, let’s carry on this women in manufacturing from your perspective. And then I want to talk about the manufacturers edge team. We’re gonna hit that with you. You’re the veteran on stage today. But start with you know, why manufacturing for young if you’re talking to a group of young folks High School, why the cool kids? Why do they need to consider manufacturing?

Jessica Cowden  28:20

Oh, absolutely. And I actually put this into practice, Kurt, because I have two high schoolers who are still, you know, they’re trying to figure out what they want to be when they grow up. But I, you know, another thing that’s really baked into what it is that we do, is trying to raise awareness for manufacturing just in general. Right. So I mean, Dana and Beth both both touched on this, like trying to dispel the four deep myths, right? Dumb, dirty, dangerous and on a downturn. And that’s that’s

Curt Anderson  28:53

right, I have not heard that. I’ve

Jessica Cowden  28:55

never heard that. I can’t. That came from Paul harder. He was the owner of Aqua Hot a manufacturer here in Northern Colorado. So he taught me that when I first came on board and my mantra, right, so it’s not 30 it’s not dangerous, and it’s not on a downturn, right. Yeah. Yeah. And strangely enough, once again, going back to my arts background, like when a kid says, Hey, I’m going to major in theater like I did, and my parents were like, Are you sure you’re gonna make any money? But kids who want to go into manufacturing actually get a similar response from their parents? So they have to say, look, no, it’s no longer this horrifying, you know, situation where I might lose a finger right now. It’s like, I’m gonna go in and program some friggin robots and send stuff to Mars. I mean, it’s absolutely fascinating. And the amount of money that you can make in manufacturing with or without a four year degree, I mean, it’s, it’s, it’s part of it’s part of what makes me so passionate about my job is to be able to say, you know, there are other routes when I was here. hang up, people were like, well, you either have to be a doctor or a lawyer, right? And now it’s like, no, you can do anything. And like Beth was saying some of our women in manufacturing in the state of Colorado, I adore them. We have a manufacturer who I can talk about, who’s based out of golden. Kenley Perkins who owns spinster sisters, you know, she started making soap in her house. Eventually it took over her entire house, her husband said, please find a facility, the soap out of my house. And so not only is she making a huge name for herself as a woman in manufacturing, she’s making a huge name for the state of Colorado. And she’s making enormous strides in sustainability. So everything that she does, she’s able to leave her stamp on it and do it in her own unique way. And say, You know what, I’m doing it this way, because I’m a woman, and I’m in Colorado. And that’s how we do things here. You know, it’s really cool to be a part of that.

Curt Anderson  30:54

War man. And I wanted to comment up here from Karen, she said they are artists that was from earlier. And so Alright, man, that just because let’s keep going and you guys are on fire. You got your CEO, Glenn, I’m buddies with Rob, you know, Rob comes from Illinois. He was with iMac the the Illinois MVP. Now bringing his superpowers out to Colorado. You know, just, you know, you been there for a long time. Damon, we’ve interviewed a couple other folks, I know some of your alumni that have worked for you guys. We actually had a manufacturer from Colorado, a woman manufacturer tax back in November was on the show, just the time. Let’s talk about your team. So we’ve got Beth, we’ve got Dana here today. We’ve got Rob Glenn, talk about the other folks, Jennifer, you guys really have an all star crew, talk about the other folks on your team. You know, we

Jessica Cowden  31:41

have an amazing team. We’re about 13 strong right now. We’ve gone through a lot of changes in the last few years, as a lot of people have, I think partly in response to COVID and then sort of just trying to get our feet under us and that sort of thing. So our CEO, yes, Glen plugins, he came to us from a credit. And he had previously overseen all of the small, small business development centers for the state of Colorado. So he has extensive experience in the business world, in this in the state of Colorado. But previously, he was actually he owned his own business in Michigan and Michigan, putting hitches on cars on vehicles. And so he knows firsthand what it takes to to run a business. So that’s, that’s very cool to have somebody at the helm who can who can get down in the weeds and be like, I’ve been there. I know what I’m talking about, because I’ve been in your shoes. RC O is an absolute force of nature. Her name is Jennifer Hagen, deer, and she actually resides in Tennessee, and so she has run the MVP center in Tennessee. She then worked for the entire MEP network. So she has a really interesting perspective on how the entire country works and how, you know, like trends that people are seeing in manufacturing across the whole country. And then we when we brought on Rob Newbold about a year ago, he was able to then leverage his experience, as you mentioned, from the Illinois MEP, but it was funny for a long time, we were almost a majority women. So it was there was a time where we were like, Okay, well, we have a couple of positions we need to fill, and we looked around the table, we’re like, you know, in order to be a more of a diverse team, we have to hire men.

Curt Anderson  33:19

We need some dudes in the room.

Jessica Cowden  33:23

Like how unusual. And so now we we do have, we have a sales team of three. So two women, one man, and then our folks behind the scenes that a lot of people don’t get to meet, they’re absolutely top notch. We’ve got a quality engineer who is an unsung hero of the team who really keeps us moving connects us to the resources that we need, she can walk into a facility and know exactly where those areas of improvement are because she has seen firsthand how things can go wrong and how to prevent we have a project manager who’s been working with our team for over a decade now and she can right off the top of your head tell you every company we’ve ever worked for worked with, what projects we did with them and what kind of results they saw. She can also tell you if they’ve paid their bills yet or not. It’s all locked in an amazing team both front of house and back.

Curt Anderson  34:15

Absolutely love it. All right, Jessica. Man you are Gosh, what was your line earlier? If I was any better I’d be 20 to 20 I need to hang out with Jessica that’s that’s like better off that other meeting just hang out with us right now they

Beth Dickson  34:32

haven’t joined my meeting yet so I’m just holding

Curt Anderson  34:37

in so that now 13 People manufacturers edge if I’m not mistaken, correct me if I’m wrong. PepsiCo you guys had more than 13 people did you not a little bit of adjustment going from Pepsi to 13 Folks, but one thing that you have on your profile I manufacturers as you love taking tours. I like I like to dig into you walk into a meet, you know, there’s a manufacturer out there listening to this. They’re like, man, we’re having a good time hanging out with these three manufacturers edge. I’d like to learn more, walk us through you call the manufacturer for the first time. How does that engagement? How do you bring your superpowers to help that manufacturer? And let’s go there for a minute, so many fixtures out there, you want to engage with the MEP walk walk us through? How does that process work?

Beth Dickson  35:25

Yeah, so I’m usually like, if it’s a, if it’s a cold call, typically, I’ll set up a meeting, but I do do I also do cold calls? Just because I kind of like it.

Curt Anderson  35:38

Right? It’s in your DNA. Manufacturing. Looks good. And they’re right there. So

Beth Dickson  35:42

I may as well, because I do a lot of driving just to put that out there in western Colorado. But yeah, so I’ll go in, if I have an appointment set, sit down, have a conversation with the owner or Director of Operations, whoever, whoever it is that I’m meeting with, and then, you know, we we just got I kind of just listen and get to know about their business, ask a lot of questions. And, and then typically, I’m like, right into the tour, I’m like, Hey, do you have time for tour, or usually they’re a little offer, because they want to show off what they have, right? They want to show it off, after they hear kind of what we do and how how we’re around to help they get a little bit more interested in then it’s kind of like, oh, let me just kind of want to show off a little bit, show you what I have. And so then I you know, are if they don’t, then I usually ask a you know, you have time for a tour and toured the facility. And then typically, from there, you know, we we do a what’s called a BHA, it’s a business health assessment. And what that does is develop a baseline for us. It’s a it’s a Survey Monkey it is, you know, 42 questions, and they’ll typically send that out, we ask them to, you know, whether it’s the owner, director of operations or management team, whoever is kind of fun, you know, on that end of, of the business, then we have them take that survey monkey, and then, so they do the survey, they do the business health assessment, and they can, once they’ve completed that, we come back around, we do kind of have a conversation with them. We’ve been calling it a readout. And then we turned it into something else. Really what is a discovery conversation to find out what you know, like some of these questions that we asked them on the surveys is really diving in deep to more of what they need in their business. And it’s, you know, it covers help me out, Dana and Jessica covers, you know, HR, and it covers operations, and it covers customers, and it covers sales and covers, you know, different pieces of the organization. So we, you know, and they kind of get graded on it. We bring our team in with their team and have this roundtable conversation about, hey, looks like you might need some help on these things, these items and kind of go for those top three priorities. And usually, it’s not much of a surprise to the organization, they usually you No, no, hey, that we kind of knew that we probably need a little bit of help in that area. And that’s where we are. So really, it’s just this kind of, it’s this process that we follow. It’s not always estimated, but typically, you know, things go well, but that’s kind of how we do things. And then we go to our back to our team after that conversation. And decide kind of together collectively, like which outside consultants or trainers do we want to bring in to help them. And then we introduced, we introduced them, I like to call myself a matchmaker, like I’m matching my matching a good OC with, with the manufacturer, and we meet usually via zoom. And then if they like him, and everybody feels good about it, then then we move forward. And we we present them with the project. So

Curt Anderson  39:10

absolutely love it. And what I’m hearing, it’s like, you know, you come in like you’re another set of eyes and just kind of looking for those blind spots or gaps and so that you know whether the manufacturer sees it or you know, if it’s a blind spot, obviously, they don’t see that gap. But then other times they can raise their hand and just say hey, man, I’m really struggling with supply chain. I’m struggling with hiring, retention, everything that’s been going on through COVID or maybe marketing or whatever it might look like. So Dana, let’s slide over to you you cover a different portion of the state in a wonderful state of Colorado. Just your superpowers, your your process you walk into a manufacturer, just walk us through like how your engagement works, and like how you how you help Colorado be a better state for manufacturing.

Dana Schenhoffer  39:51

Yeah, a lot of its going to be pretty similar to beds. I think we have a pretty similar account management style and interacting with people style. But I usually reach out to people and say, Hey, I’d love to learn more about your business. If they come into the website, then that’s already done. And we move forward to a zoom call or an in person meeting. I’m helping people across the great State of Colorado. I like Beth, if I’m out somewhere and I see a really cool looking tech Park, and there’s a bunch of folks that I know we’ve worked with before, or maybe we haven’t worked with, you know, I’ll stop by and introduce myself. And it might be five minutes of, hey, here’s me, here’s a quick brochure about who we are love to set up a meeting. But really the process for me, what’s really neat about it is that we’re tailoring our process for everybody. So I get questions all the time about, Hey, can I have a menu of your service offerings, it’s like, I could not even put that on on a book for you. There’s so many, right, and it really is tailoring it to the customer needs of the organization. And that means that we need to get to know the organization, the challenges, the successes, the struggles, the hurdles, you know, where they’re looking to go five years from now, and then helping them find the easiest, most efficient and effective way to get there, making the most bang for their buck. And, as I mentioned, we have that business health assessment that we can do. But we also have a slew of other assessments. So we have one for, you know, workforce is huge thing right now, supply chain is a huge thing, right now, we have separate assessments for those. So if somebody comes and says, I really need help with hiring the correct people, you know, from writing that, writing that job posting to making sure my culture of my company is the same as I hire and onboard people, or the legality of it, or whatever we can help with that we can go straight to workforce assessment, we don’t have to go with this huge, deep, deep dive. But we have the capability to do that. And that deep dive that Beth mentioned, I I think of it a lot as shining the light in the dark corners that either you haven’t looked at in a while, or you didn’t realize were even there because you’ve been so busy wearing so many different hats as your company grew and scaled. So I think that’s a nice thing is we can find the customized the tailored answers for them. And, you know, we really go with their pace, you know, I’ve got people I’ve been working with for the whole time I’ve been here and we haven’t done more with them than keep in touch and know what’s going on because they’re waiting for the right time, they’re gearing something up. But when that time comes, like I’m prepared to have the background, I know where they’re going and know what they’ve been through. So it’s that really that long term relationship is, is my specialty, as well as what else like to say, oh, that we’re measured on our impact and our revenue. So that’s a really fantastic thing in my mind, because I come from a business background, big business, small business, all of its business, right? It’s show me the money, and how quickly can we move and all that. But we’re evaluated on a survey that comes out from our overarching Department of Commerce and NIST, at the end of anything that we do. So we truly are focused on what’s the impact that we provided to your business? How do we help move the needle for you? What revenue did you actually get as a result of working with us? And sometimes that’s simply from having that business health assessment conversation, sometimes it’s from the assessment results. Sometimes it’s a networking connection. And sometimes it’s a big, long, multi year project that helps them you know, fill the the gaps as they scaled.

Curt Anderson  43:25

Okay, all right. Dana, that was like you’ve rehearsed, was phenomenal. So hey, I’m a little random. To see now, I don’t want to keep you guys I know we’re coming at a time. Jessica. Let’s start. We’re gonna start winding down here. So let’s talk collaboration. You mentioned collaboration earlier, Glenn, CEO, amazing job background at SBDC is the perfect Dean, I noticed on your profile you love you know, one thing that you love about joining manufacturers edge is a collaboration with SBDCs, etc. different environments. So I’m throwing all these acronyms and people like, hey, wait a minute, Kurt, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Jessica, could you please talk a little bit about when someone when a manufacturer engages with an MEP, such as manufacturers edge, talking about like these collaboration partners, and I love for you to also explain before we went live, you guys just tripled your deep bench of subject matter experts, at least go there. Because you know, if somebody’s like, hey, wait a minute, you have 13 people on your team, but you have a really, really wide web. Let’s go so talk collaboration partners and your third party resources and as deep bench that you’ve really done a great job of building.

Jessica Cowden  44:32

Yeah, absolutely. I’ll try to cover all of that as much as I can. But if I if I go off track just rein me back in. So

Curt Anderson  44:40

we handed it off, you just run with it.

Jessica Cowden  44:42

Okay, perfect. Yeah, to your point. Um, what what we try to tell our clients is, is challenge us, bring us bring us a problem that we can’t solve, because I can pretty much guarantee you that we can find at least one resource who can address whatever issues you’re having. Because like you said, I mean, we can help them with Mark I think we can help them. In fact, what this is right up your alley, but one of the foremost ecommerce experts in the entire MEP national network system across the entire country is a gentleman based out of Hawaii. So I keep telling them to send me to Hawaii so I can talk to him more about his ecommerce services. And so far, they haven’t taken me up on that offer, but it still stands. But yeah, we can help people with virtually any problem that they bring to us. And so in order to do that, you know, we we have some internal expertise and some internal delivery resources, who can go out and help with certain things. But for a long time, we were just known as the Lean people, we did a lot of lean a lot of fibers did a lot of training grants. And these days, we, you know, the messaging is more like, we don’t care what it is, if you’re a manufacturer, and you want another set of eyes, or like Dana said, you’re wearing a lot of hats, let us take some of those hats from you. Let us be an extension. It’s the name, you know, extension partnership, we want to be an extension of your team that you don’t have to vet and hire and put on benefits, right? We’re going to come in and help you out with whatever way we possibly can. So just plug and play us, right. So we have also expanded our bench of outside consultants. So we used to have, you know, a handful dozen or so people that we would call on reliably. And actually since Rob Newbold joined the team, he and our quality person, Karen had been working diligently to expand that bench. And I want to say we have expanded at what five fold or something, we now have over 50 people that are thoroughly vetted and on contract, and that we are actively doing work with in everything from strategy, you know, like actual, like strategic planning, to succession planning, to e commerce, to marketing to operations, everything that you can possibly imagine. Now, pivoting a little bit into what you’re talking about with the partnership, one thing we’re really proud of it and I think Beth mentioned this a little bit ago, we launched the Colorado manufacturing network back in November. And we’re just starting to, you know, kind of get some steam under that. But what we’re trying to do with the Colorado manufacturing network is actually formalize an ecosystem, where we can bring all of the partners to the table that have anything to do with assisting the manufacturing community of the state of Colorado. So we’ve got manufacturers edge, we have a very close relationship with the World Trade Center of Denver. So they come along with us in that partnership, of course, we’re working closely with Aladdin, we’re working very closely with our trade association at kamma. The EDC which does economic development for the entire state. So those are basically the founding partners. And then what we’ve discovered is that a partnership is all very well and good, but you have to have a platform on which it resides. Otherwise, it just becomes a bunch of zoom meetings where you go, yeah, okay, we’ll see you next time. Let’s catch up, or let’s go, okay, good luck with that. Let’s migrate. But the platform that the Colorado manufacturing network resides on is called sustainment. And so what sustainment is is that it’s a mapping tool, so that we’re helping to connect the supply chain. But as you’re looking at that mapping tool, and you’re seeing who makes work in your own backyard, so you can connect with them. You also have an entire resource library where you can see the resource cards for your economic development, folks, for your manufacturers, as we’re adding all the time, things like financial resources, do you need a low interest loan? Do you need to find out more about grants that are available through the state through the country who can help you out? We see all the time manufacturers who say, I wish I had known about you 10 years ago, I wish I had known about the SBDC, 10 years ago, I wish I had taken advantage of these grants that I didn’t know existed. So what we’re trying to do is give there’s no wrong entry point, right? You come to the Colorado manufacturing network, whatever you need is there. And if you go is overwhelming, I don’t know where to start, come to us. We will meet with you. And we’ll tell you where to start. Even if that’s not with us. We don’t care. We’re just here to help manufacturers. Whether we make any money out of the deal or not, is absolutely of no consequence to us. Because like Dana said, we’re measured on impact. And we’re measured on making sure that our manufacturing community is strong and thriving. That’s it. Thank you. Also, we’re a little passionate about that about all of them.

Damon Pistulka  49:19

It’s so funny. It’s so funny. I hear you talk and I just like your it’s great to hear. It’s great to hear because

Curt Anderson  49:27

like a football coach and appreciate you guys. You guys are out there.

Damon Pistulka  49:31

Right now. Listen, it’s awesome. It’s

Curt Anderson  49:34

awesome. I want to be mindful of time. I know. He’s like, Yeah,

Damon Pistulka  49:38

it could be so good.

Curt Anderson  49:39

I don’t know if I told I told somebody like maybe Jared I like I’m like, Dude, it’s gonna be really fast. Did that thing that just fly by or what so? Whitney’s like, like, Hey, Jessica dropped this comment was like, you know, we, you know, Jessica, what we become moments of silence like we’re just somebody just really drops the mic. right there, we just need to take a moment just to savor what you just shared. So, alright, let’s do this. I want to be mindful of everybody’s time, we’re going to start winding down. So Dana, last question for you of the day, just share any any words of wisdom, any parting thoughts that you want to share as far as manufacturers out there, and why they should connect with their MVP?

Dana Schenhoffer  50:23

Wow, parting thoughts put around. I think you know, what’s the harm? What’s the worst that happens is we have a 20 minute 30 minute conversation, you get to know some cool people on our team, we get to know some wonderful folks on your team, and you have a network to work from down the road. And I just mentioned, we have the 50 bench. That is a huge increase from what we had before. But we’ve also got this national network of I think at last count, it was 1400 Plus experts, and everything we do is a train and do mentality. So a lot of the questions I get at the beginning, are there a lot of consulting companies out there, there are a lot of people that are looking to make something happen. And I’ve had clients go so far to say, Okay, so before we go further, I want to know, like, you’re not going to ask me for an arm and a leg at the end of this and I’m gonna be hung out to dry. It’s like, No, we’re invested, we do a 3060 90 day follow up on anything. And we usually come in and help from a train and do mentality. So it’s not like Teach a man to fish not give a man a fish. So at the end of the day, the company is better overall. Great John, Dana.

Curt Anderson  51:35

And yours, Jessica. So Dana, just amazing. Marcy is very proud of you. So thank you for just sharing your your brilliance, your passion, your expertise. Jessica, take us home, my friend. Any parting thoughts, words of wisdom manufacturers out there like man, like just say, You’ve got me ready to run through a wall? Any parting words of wisdom that you would share with that manufacturer out there?

Jessica Cowden  51:57

Yes. But I’m gonna have to share the mic, evidently, with my dog who won’t stop barking. So I apologize. But like Dana said, What do you have to lose? What we need to do is shine a light on manufacturing. And what we have right now is a once in a generation opportunity, where suddenly, thanks to COVID people are talking about things like supply chain around the dinner table, people are starting to be aware of what somebody makes toilet paper. And if there’s a shortage, people are suddenly aware of manufacturing in a way that they haven’t been for decades. When I first took this job 10 years ago, I have a relative and I won’t say who, who was like, why would you work in manufacturing manufacturing in the United States is dead? Well, guess what? It’s not friend. It’s not. And this is, this is our moment. This is the time we’ve got a strike while the iron is hot. So come to us and let us help. That’s all that’s all we’re trying to do. Like Dana said, we’re not like your average consulting company. I once met a potential client who before we even got started, he said, What kind of car did you drive here? And I was like, friend, I have a month and okay, that’s not what we’re doing here. Like, we’re not looking to pad our wallets. You know, we’re not looking to buy that second house boat, right? Like, this is something we do because we want to make a difference. And we want to make sure that we’re doing good and we’re doing what is right for the manufacturing community. We’re building a strong base, not only for manufacturers before ourselves, so that we can go to the store and buy toilet paper. So that’s, you know, this is our moment. We believe in manufacturing, and we’re here to help however we possibly can.

Curt Anderson  53:34

We’re just, yeah, we’re just we’re just praying. Alright, guys, I want to be mindful of everybody’s time for calls that are coming up at the bottom of the hour. First off, if you’ve been with us, and you’ve been sitting, I encourage invite everybody out there once you give a stand kind of stretch, give a big standing ovation for Dana for bath, who had to sneak off on us. And my dear friend, Jessica, thank you, each of you for all that you do what you do for manufacturers, you know, manufacturers are the backbone of our economy. Jessica, you just summed it up so great, so elegantly, man, you guys come back anytime because I know we could geek out for and we have tons more that we could cover today. So I’m gonna wind down on this, go out and how about you know, think or hug or just give a high five to your local manufacturer, thank them for what they’re doing for our economy. If you are a manufacturer, boy, reach out to your M E. P. You just get a little sliver here of the passion, the energy, the resources, the opportunities to help elevate your company by aligning and partnering with your local MEP. Daymond any words of wisdom that you want to leave our folks with today?

Damon Pistulka  54:47

No, I mean Awesome. Awesome. Getting to talk with you guys today. That’s that’s the thing. It’s it’s so great. It’s so great to listen to the MEP s like you manufacturing edge there and collar Reto and and others because manufacturers like you said are out there grinding it out, working really hard making just cool stuff. And they don’t really know these resources are available. And it’s so nice to be able to have you on and share that for Colorado manufacturers in your case but in in manufacturers across the United States. And then to see you guys as women being in manufacturing, you know, it’s it used to be a lot different. It wasn’t necessarily good that way. Really, really inspiring.

Curt Anderson  55:36

So absolutely. How about this, you know, part two, Geek geek out especially in part two, I am good. Good. You Karen. I appreciate awesome. So we’ll close out again the fort we learned the four DS dump or DS dangerous and downturn and then usually and then after you’ve been said the word dead so that was like a fifth. Don’t miss those days are behind us manufacturing is alive and well. And then manufacturers all the cool kids are going into manufacturing. So guys have an amazing, incredible just a wonderful, splendid, marvelous week. God bless you out there. And Jessica Dana hanging out with us one second. And Damon with men. We’ve got Carol Thomas here next Monday. Wendy Covey on Friday members, keep the momentum going. So guys, have a great day. And we’ll see you soon. Thank you