Monday Manufacturing Motivation – with Manufacturer’s Edge

Curt Anderson  00:01

Hey, Damon Happy Monday brother. How are you? Dude?

Damon Pistulka  00:04

I’m doing great Curt Did you have a good weekend?

Curt Anderson  00:06

Oh my goodness gracious if it was any better you would have to call a 911 man that was just absolutely magnificent. Dude you have like a glow like you got this wonderful summer look to you just like you were swimming outside a little bit you were really well you know that so just hey, I got a baseball game the other night. What more could you ask for? But you know what we have? Dude? Are you sitting down for this one like this like this is we have a powerhouse panel discussion here today. Are you ready? Are you ready for this? I hope you get some rest because here we go. Okay, we have my dear friend Rob Newbold. Rob How are you my friend Happy Monday. How are things going?

Robert Newbold  00:44

Same I mean, fantastic weekend. We avoided the storms here in Denver and got to be outside a lot so it was great.

Curt Anderson  00:53

Okay, so you know what Damon Do you remember Chris Berman on ESPN he like do like the name thing with people like he always had like it was fun catchy names, you know? So my friend Rob, I had the honor privilege. I’ve met Robin person and so just a great dude. He’s just as handsome in person as he is here today. Virtually Newbold so when I was in college, you know, like, David, remember, I had like a two three in college, you know, like, so like, you know, I had I think I was like the best to three students around just you know, you know, let’s get it to four. But I was you know why I had a two three. I used to watch the show called The Bold and the Beautiful my roommates and I would come back from lunch every day. So Rob Newbold in the beautiful is here. Thank you. I just want to make that little connection. Now. Rob, you know, Mike, you know what they call my wife and I, we’re not the most beautiful, it’s the bald and the beautiful. I just wanted to let you know that. So anyway, Jennifer, happy Monday, Jennifer and we’ve been I’ve been practicing all week. Hagan-Dier Jennifer a year. How was that one for

Jennifer Hagan-Dier  01:52

you? That was fabulous. That was fabulous. People have known me 20 years and still can’t pronounce our names.

Curt Anderson  01:58

I’ve been practicing all day. Actually, I just found out a few minutes ago. But anyway, because when I first saw Hoggin Dr. Damon I was thinking, you know, ice cream was the first thing that came to mind. So Jennifer, like I said before we went live is just better than a nice ice cream cone. So boy, this is going to be just a tasty treat today. conversation. I can’t wait. So Jennifer, I’m coming right back at you. Damon, you know what I might I just might as well go old school. Go back with our riches do it. But are you ready? Let’s do it. Okay, let’s do it. Okay, Jennifer. Little girl. Where did you grew up? What state did you grow up in?

Jennifer Hagan-Dier  02:32

Oh, in Tennessee. Lawrenceburg? Tennessee.

Curt Anderson  02:34

Okay, perfect. All right. So Tennessee, wonderful state of Tennessee. Is you when you were a little girl growing up? Rob, I’m gonna have a different question for you. Right. But when you had when you were a little girl growing up? Who was your hero? Who was your heroes little girl growing up in Tennessee.

Jennifer Hagan-Dier  02:52

Um, was my hero. Well, I wanted to be a Supreme Court justice. But that wasn’t my hero. But that was my goal.

Curt Anderson  03:01

That was your goal. Okay, yeah, let’s please share. Let’s hear more. No,

Jennifer Hagan-Dier  03:05

I think in fourth grade, I proclaimed I was going to Harvard Law School, which I didn’t see. But my dad was on board with that. And I really thought being a Supreme Court justice would be the best because they can’t fire you. They’d have to kill you. Now to date today’s roll. Let’s look at that. And kind of Yeah, not the best set up. Yeah, I think it was really my dad. Nice. Yeah. Awesome. Yeah, my dad is I am who I am today because both of my parents but my father made it very clear that if I didn’t want to run the construction company that he ran, which meant working outside every year, from May to October every year, which I did every summer from 14 to 22 I’ve worked outside on a construction site made it very clear that to get did not do that I had to go to college. And then I went to law school so I could never have to be outside in the summer again in Tennessee.

Curt Anderson  04:04

Well that as as proud girl dads that Damon and I are we love that’s one of our favorite answers and dad’s name, please.

Jennifer Hagan-Dier  04:11

Oh, well, his name is Sam Hagen took over his father’s company. My grandfather had a start. He was 13 when he quit school, Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, you know and started his construction business. My father took it over and then now look back and see how much money women can make in construction. And maybe

Curt Anderson  04:36

maybe, so. Well, that’s that’s a whole nother discussion. But hey, thank you big shout out to Sam for creating this powerhouse. And thank you for sharing that story. We’re gonna dig deep into like, you know, Curt, you know, Daymond that’s, you know, most people find that path, you go to law school, and then end up in manufacturing, right. That’s what most people do. So we’re gonna get into that little path there. Rob, I’m coming at you my friend a little different question. I’m gonna get into it a little that. So you’re a little guy growing up and I built your great state of Illinois. Do I have that crack here in Illinois guy through and through even though you’ve made a little transition? Right? You’re a little guy growing up who was your hero?

Robert Newbold  05:13

My hero was my grandfather. My grandfather, on my mother’s side, Jack Johnson, owned a in Allis Chalmers dealership, in a little town in southeastern Illinois. He was also had been the sheriff and he was at the time that I was a little guy. He was the Fire Commissioner, so I got to ride on the firetruck in the Labor Day parades every year and and blow the horn. So he was he was a fantastic guy.

Curt Anderson  05:48

So big shout out to Grandpa Jack and what a big inspiration and really leaves that footprint as a little guy, right? You just probably worship and looked up to him and probably the whole community was looking up to Jack Johnson. That was one so

Damon Pistulka  06:00

cool. So I got one quick thing, Jennifer, I just looked up where clarksburg was that because it sounded very familiar to me. And I live just outside of Parkers crossroads for seven years. Oh,

Jennifer Hagan-Dier  06:15

it was Lawrenceburg. Laurie.

Damon Pistulka  06:17

Oh, Clarksburg. Oh, I thought you said Clark Lauren. Oh, Laurie. Okay, sorry. Oh, my goodness. I’m like, that’s like five miles from where I live. Thank you for clarifying.

Curt Anderson  06:30

And Damian, we can get in. You have a great track record and Tennessee. So we’ll do it again. So guys, happy Monday. Hey, we got Whitney Houston is actually coming to Wisconsin today. So yeah, Monday on Thursdays up in Wisconsin, I saw that you’re hanging out with Megan and Katie. Diane fire, dear friend of MEP network. And so I’m speaking of MEP. So we’ve got Jennifer, our friend with us. We’ve got Rob and they are with manufacturers. And so if you are a manufacturer, and you are looking to gain an edge, this is the program for you today. So let’s dive right in here. Next question. Manufacturers edge MEP network. Once it grabbed that, what is the MVP network? Jennifer, do you want to kick things off first, and then I’m gonna slide over to my friend Rob?

Jennifer Hagan-Dier  07:13

Yeah. So I got I can cover the MVP network. So the MVP network is is essentially all of the 51 and up centers, as well as NIST MEP, our federal partner and all of our stakeholders. So that would also include our manufacturers, state state agencies. And it’s really the connection between really to benefit all manufacturers so small and mediums. You know, NIST MEP, create was created by Congress 30 some odd years ago, and you’ve heard this story before, but statutorily to bring technologies out of the universities and federal labs, to deploy them through the small, medium sized manufacturers in the country. That is historically not what we’ve done. And I would say up until Carol Thomas, but Phil Singerman, we weren’t really a network, we were a lot of little MEP centers. And this EP was kind of our parent, I kind of use this analogy, one domino at the campus, you know, you were our parent, we were the teenagers, and you would give us money. And we would say, Great, leave us alone, we’ll spend our money. And we’ll tell you if we need something. The network, though, has transitioned and evolved into a collaborative, truly a cooperative agreement. And you can see that in the work we did during COVID. I think, really, it was where that connective tissue got pretty strong, because we were all scrambling, and we were doing it together. And then this new person stepped into that space. And now with praveena, our new director, she comes in fresh and is like this is gonna we’re gonna work this and so the supply chain funding we just received really shows her commitment to working as a network. And I think the beauty of it too, is it gives what what Robin I say is, our team is fine. It’s a problem, we can’t find a resource to help you with. Right? And we haven’t done it yet. Because we can call New York, or we can call Maine or we can call California or you know, New Mexico, anywhere and find someone so if you have any QA one you need, we’ll find somebody you know, we don’t have them in Colorado final from somewhere else.

Curt Anderson  09:17

But I love that we’re digging in. If you’re just joining us, we’ve got Jennifer here. And Jennifer, you are the Vice President and CEO. Oh, you have a long history of working with MVP network. I’m going to dig into that one in one second. Rob, let’s come over to you you are with manufacturers edge the Colorado version of the MEP if I’m saying that correctly, if just a little bit about manufacturers edge I know like you just made a transition yourself and you and your family. But what’s going on at manufacturers edge?

Robert Newbold  09:45

Yeah, so for eight years I was with the Illinois version of manufacturers edge called iMac and about a year and a half ago. I made the jump over I tell people my family left me all of my sisters and my son’s all moved to Arizona. And so we followed them partway and stayed here. And they’re in Colorado. So, manufacturers edge is a really organization that’s built on trying to strengthen and grow the manufacturing ecosystem in Colorado. And so we work collaboratively with partners like the World Trade Center, with Jefferson County, which is one of the biggest counties for their EDC with Denver, and the metro area there as well as across the state to bring high quality consulting, training and coaching services to manufacturers so that they can stay here and grow here.

Curt Anderson  10:41

Yeah. Okay, great. I love it. So now I want to dig in a little bit on your backgrounds. And in the great thing is, you know, Damon, we’ve interviewed I think we’re, I think we’re pushing like 40 or 50 different folks from the MIT network. And we are consistently blown away by background experience. And I’m gonna say most importantly, but like passion, is the common thread of no matter what MEP that we talked to work with, is folks are just so passionate, helping manufacturers. Jennifer, let’s go here. So we heard about Sam, your hero, law school, your dream was being a Supreme Court justice. Now, that was a perfect path to go into manufacturing. Can you please like wear this out? Nobody called an audible amongst you. Though you grew up as at work, your hero was in construction, you were looking forward to being a Supreme Court justice, went to law school, worked at a law firm I saw worked and worked for a judge. And then you’ve worked at you were the director of the Tennessee MEP. You work for NIST at the MVP center itself. And now you’re the CEO of manufacturers edge. Can you please fill in a few gaps here? What? What was what called your your services, your expertise, your passion to manufacturing? Well, how did this happen?

Jennifer Hagan-Dier  12:02

So to me, it’s the true economic development driver, right? So so it’s serving people and companies and for the country, as a daughter of I was the first person in my family, first woman to go to college and graduate first first in grad school, my family, right. That’s not required of everyone. And I know that. I think having a voice for manufacturing has been it was easy, because I can see something being made. I can see there’s a tangible thing you can touch that we provide the services, but we’re we’re actually seeing a difference in someone’s life. When I interviewed for the Tennessee MEP director position, I had known the folks at the leadership level, they’re in economic development. For years, I had worked under Governor Bredesen as an assistant commissioner of revenue and economic development. And I known them but I had no idea what MVP was, right? And that was a problem. So when I interviewed for the job, I said to them, you have a problem, you have an awareness problem. I’ve worked in economic development for 10 years, and no one knows you’re here. And my career has been a jungle gym, you know, not a ladder. And, and so I had no luck. I never worked with an MVP before when I took that job. I’ve not worked at a manufacturing facility when I took that job. But I had worked in economic development, I had worked with manufacturers, Volkswagen, Nissan, you know, automotive and Tennessee. And so it made sense. And I was the first non engineer to have that role, which I think engineers are different than liars. And so it was interesting. But it’s been great. In fact, this is the first job I’ve had where I didn’t leave that job to go to a different career. Right, I had gone from accounting firms law firm and federal government, state government. But this time I stayed with an MEP national network. And that speaks a lot about how much fun we have.

Curt Anderson  13:57

Awesome. Well, it says a lot that you you know, you come new into this and then all sudden, you’re the director. I mean, that’s like so and I just peek. I’m going a little bit off script here for myself, just what was that like, like, first day, first week, first month, like you’re kind of digging in this world of manufacturing this MEP, you’re dealing with engineers and continuous improvement, and like lean and like all this? I was manufacturing language. What was that like your early days?

Jennifer Hagan-Dier  14:26

Um, it was it was the tense like the first three months. I think Rob and I have a similar perspective coming into manufacturers edge is you really need to get to know the team that you’re going to be working with. And so I spent the first three months interviewing every single person that works in our organization. What do you like about your job? What do you would you change about what you do? What do we need to do better, right, and then, but I had the opportunity because it came in in 2013. And Phil Singerman. Started through the recompete in 2014. So I got to write the proposal for Tennessee MEP and I got to write it in Rio. The organization is I would like it to function in the future. So it was a really great time to join an organization like that and have the ability to kind of Rob and I both like to create things and build things. And so we had that opportunity to do that there.

Curt Anderson  15:15

I love that. Okay, so now Rob, my friend, I want to slide over to you. So now, I did a little stalking, I mean, a little digging into your background. And so I see dad drive this right. Did your dad go to Colorado University Drive

Robert Newbold  15:27

that currently he did. He went to UC boulder. He got his administrative teaching degree. So he went from being a music teacher to becoming a President. Well, a principal and then eventually a superintendent.

Curt Anderson  15:41

Nice. Awesome. Okay. So little back then. So your roots are little bit in Boulder, and I just my family, we just did a little vacation last year in Boulder, what a magnificent place that. Now you if I’m not mistaken. Now, little kind of both sides of the coin, you were a client of MEP. And I think you have a little fascinating background and you were in the medical device world. And I think it looked like the MEP might have helped you. Can you describe that situation? How did you find out about the MEP? And what was your relationship as from a medical device manufacturer?

Robert Newbold  16:13

Yeah, so we work for a small company that made medical devices classic, The our client classified them as medical devices. And our company had been through two audits from our client, prior to me joining where they basically failed Zero out of 100. In their audit scores for quality,

Curt Anderson  16:37

hey, my hate Rob, at least they were consistent, right? They were

Robert Newbold  16:40

consistently doing nothing. That’s right. So the president of the company was a really good friend of mine. And he said, I need you to come over and figure this out. And so I got hired on the day of the second zero audit. And by that time, he had already he knew about the MEP. So he had somebody that was on contract, but they had not been using them. So I immediately reached out to the MVP person, the quality person and said, I can’t do this without you, what’s our plan for the next nine to 12 months, because we’re going to lose this $3 million client, if we don’t, we don’t make a change. And so they worked hand in hand with me to help me create an ISO program to build the training for it to really create the full program. We went from a zero out of 100 for two audits to the third audit about nine months later 88 out of 100. And so we were able to retain crazy dollars in business at that manufacturing company and grow it over the next two years. And it really was because the MVP, and in fact, the the program worked so well that it gave an opportunity for my friend who owned the company to sell it and, and make a nice profit himself. And then I reached out to the MEP and said, I really liked what you did that you have a space for somebody new. And they said we do so I was able to work with with Illinois MEP for about eight years both as a regional director to for about five years. And then I I manage all of our regional directors the last three years I was there on the leadership team. So it was it was a great experience. Well, that’s

Curt Anderson  18:30

fantastic. Cool. And I know you’re Director of Client Services, but looks like you might even change the title to client success. Right? So

Robert Newbold  18:37

yeah, new change, new title, VP of client success. Just just happened in the last month or so. So I now manage both our business development team here in Colorado, as well as our delivery side. So all of our outside contractors that we utilize to help deliver our services. They’re there under my management as

Curt Anderson  19:03

well. Well, I love that and you know, you piqued my curiosity Daymond I know being an operations guy, you’re you’re inquiring minds need to know, Rob, how did you go from zero? Yeah, add in nine months. Can you? Let’s Can you dig into that a

Robert Newbold  19:18

little bit? Yeah, well, I mean, first it was, we had to start from the very beginning, we didn’t have a quality call policy. We didn’t have any kind of SOPs or work instructions or anything. And so it was a lot of writing, reviewing, training, and then getting the people into the habit of seeing quality as something that they live with and can have an impact on every day. And so we we it was a small company 25 I would say about 10 to 15 of those were attempts. And so we were kind constantly having to update and train and do audits and, and so it was a lot of hard work a lot of late nights for about nine months. But that’s

Damon Pistulka  20:09

pretty incredible to make that kind of change like that. It’s, and yeah, the amount of documentation and training to get there was is massive.

Robert Newbold  20:19

It was it was and this was, you know, pre 2015. So you had to really be detailed and it was a nice, big thick book. Yeah.

Curt Anderson  20:29

That’s fantastic. And and what a fascinating story that you’re so intrigued and just so impacted by, you know, by iMac in the Illinois MEP that you’re like, Man, I might as well join the team. And so that’s just what a credit. And so you know, and what I love here, guys, what we’re hearing is, you know, like, two totally different backgrounds, two totally different walks of life, you know, a legal career, an operation career, and you both, you know, find your way towards MEP. Jennifer, let’s come, I’m going to go come back to you. So now you’re director of the Tennessee MEP for a number of years. And then you actually work for national for folks that are new, that’s NIST, the National MEP network itself. But as you were digging in, so you shared, like, Hey, I interviewed you know, our team and really dug in. So you got it when you got a couple of years on your belt? What were some of the exciting things a lot of manufacturing is going on in Tennessee? What were some of the exciting things during your tenure as director of the Tennessee MVP?

Jennifer Hagan-Dier  21:24

Oh, goodness, there were so many things, we we had a really a great chance to expand how we worked. We had nine folks in the field, right, we covered the entire state, and people don’t don’t realize how large the state is. And it’s almost like three different states. If you go west of Nashville, you’re not the University of Tennessee, you are the Tennessee MEP. If you go east of Nashville, then your University of Tennessee center for industrial services, because they love the University of Tennessee, right? I mean, two different time zones to so it was we really connecting us to the economic development community was something we hadn’t done. So one of the few things I said coming in, and we use this at manufacturers edge as well. And Rob and I met do a great job is partnering and collaborating. So really, that’s what I do now manufacturers edges of Vice President programs and partnerships. So we’re rubs the with the the client facing folks and doing the work. And then in the projects, mine is more on the building of the network in the state. So I did that in Tennessee. And now doing that in Colorado is like how do we work with the industrial associations? How do we work with the economic developers? How do we work with the banks and the lawyers and accountants because as you know, but businesses going to having trouble or needs help or is growing. They’re talking to their accountants, their banks, their lawyers, their construction, folks. So that’s been a focus, focus in Tennessee, we actually had a bank hire us to do manufacturing one on one for their top tier bankers. And we did that for First Tennessee bank. And now we’re looking in Colorado to say, Okay, how do we work, we’re very intentional with our partnerships. And I think that’s really a big deal for all of the MEP centers, is making those connections both with your state government. And we had an intern in Colorado, we’ve never gotten state money before. So part of the reason, you know, we hired Glenn leggins is our CEO. We interviewed, we got to interview the CEO candidates. And we made it very clear, we need somebody that can can bring us to the table with the state of Colorado. In Tennessee, it was different because we were university based MEP center. So sometimes you didn’t really have to worry about the financials, which can be a detriment to the way the team works. Because the money is going to be there, the university is going to provide it whereas if you’re a standalone nonprofit, like iMac or Colorado movie, you got to hustle, you gotta you gotta you gotta You don’t eat if you don’t hunt, you know, I mean, you just have to, and that’s where Rob’s team plays that man is just to go out and find those grants that can help us build out our portfolio of services in places where we’re not necessary to assist us with the small manufacturers.

Curt Anderson  24:03

Okay, I love that. So let’s let’s Alright, man, we’ve got so much to unpack. Jennifer, I want to come back to you because I want to talk to you more about your experience at NUS this because you got to see really the whole umbrella right like you saw the whole network. I want to dig in our mutual friend Carol Thomas, I want to dive in and talk to you about that. Rob I’m gonna come back to you so when you start an iMac Can you private sector guy manufacturing guy now you also did I see this right your deputy you were the Deputy Secretary of the Department of Transportation to see that correct?

Robert Newbold  24:33

You did yeah. I spent 12 years in state government prior to kind of leaving the D O T and then moving over I did some private consulting and some teaching and and eventually went to work from my friend who owned the business

Curt Anderson  24:49

nice Okay, so when you would that wealth of experience that you brought into the to iMac into the MVP network, describe like your first few days I kind of like getting And just the excitement and just like what was going on from your perspective, the MEP, and like, what was that transition like?

Robert Newbold  25:07

Well, you know, it was funny, Jennifer mentioned earlier that the recompete happened in about 2014. And that’s when I joined IMEC. And we were part of the first wave of organizations that went through that recompute. So for those that don’t know, re compete, the federal government says, Hey, you can have a contract for five years with a five year renewal. But at the end of that 10 years, you got to put it back out for bid and, and let somebody else have a chance if they want to compete against your center. And so we had to create that reconfigured, I helped Dave belay, you know, edit some of the things that he wrote, because I’ve been in state government and recognize the connections between economic development and, and private sector and how we can help with that. And so I, you know, one of the things we had in our interview process at iMac, we had to take a quiz and it had 25 different acronyms of things that I now know well like DMAIC and ISO and, and, you know, Psych SIOP in so many different things, I had no idea what any of them were, I had done quality, but really, you know, that was about it. I was not a quality person before doing the quality program for our company. And so it really opened my eyes into what I needed to do, I, I begged our staff to give me as many books or recommendations on books to read about operations and lean and everything else to, to really dig into it. But I had some great mentors, people who had been with IMEC for 15 plus years, they took me under their wings, we did a lot of job shadowing and, and how to how to sell and all of that stuff. So I really give credit to the people who were my mentors who would then I had the pleasure of getting to manage later on and just top notch people, Mike wait and, and many others Edie Huey in Illinois, so really, really happy to have that experience.

Curt Anderson  27:18

That’s fantastic. And I’m sure hard to leave, but it was very exciting that you know, and, you know, we had a nice discussion. Gosh, Rob, do you remember though we the hotel Damon that we stayed at in Chicago was like old school Chicago, right downtown? It was right across the street from the Tribune. It was Yeah, right. And the pool, like the floor was like it was Al Capone used to hang out there was like, like, robbed like there was escaped or that like alcohol. But like Rob and I were in the workout gym together. I cannot the pool, and I’m telling you it was wasn’t it magnificent?

Robert Newbold  27:51

Marble everywhere. It was beautiful.

Curt Anderson  27:55

It was like, it was like a, it’s like a Roman pool. And then you could just pitcher like Al Capone, having a dream comment on a cigar and just, you know, running from the cops. Anyway. I had to share that real quick. So let’s come back to you. I love that you, you know, you’ve had multiple different hats, you know, just again, bringing your wealth of experience passion to the MEP network, talk about like, what what was the transition from you going from a director, which must have been like, you know, very wonderful opportunity, what caused you to come look at things from a national network level? And what did you see like, how did you see things differently from that position?

Jennifer Hagan-Dier  28:36

Interesting. I think well, from from the transition out was really I had done, I’d grown as much as I had Could, could really grow in that role. Again, it’s such it’s just the status of the organization like you’re in a university based with a specific kind of budget, and you were down levels, rather than the flexibility you have in a nonprofit organization to manage and to grow. And so, you know, this, we had gotten the MEP program, Tennessee MEP was at a place where it made sense to hand off the reins to someone else who could, you know, run that run the organization, the way the university wanted it to be run. And we were solidly in the first five years, I actually I left in 2019. So it was six years. And so then I made the call to Carol palmas and said, in fact, I said, Carol, I don’t want to leave the network. But I don’t know what to do next. Right. And actually, I’ve had several jobs like that where I’ve been like, I don’t really know what to do next. And I said, we really need someone a body on the national network. And we don’t have anyone, no one represents the network. This up represents this up, the senators represent themselves and we’d work together but at the end of the day, you still have this, you know, this up has their own metrics, centers have their own metrics, and they have their own stakeholders. And interestingly, someone had said, you know, the MEP centers have their own NIST MEP is only one part of their network. So thanks represent has a state agencies we need to talk to and our partners and then this up is one part of that. But for NIST MEP, the centers are their network. So how do we connect these pieces? And Carol said, you know, we have to agree with you, we don’t really have, you know, ASMC is our lobbying arm, we have different pieces, but we didn’t have anyone to do that. And so we had started the central leadership team, I was serving on a Senate leadership team at the time. And Tom budnitz, who was manufacturers edge CEO, said, You know what, we do need somebody to do that. And so they put a contract for me to go and contractually have an office that needs to be up and to bring the center’s back into history. So it became more again, less of a parent’s giving you money to move the money and run, which is what I my analogy I use for the network before was, you know, you give us money, we take our money we do and we report to you when we have to, otherwise we won’t use it. Yeah. And how do we make that more of a collaborative, and I learned more about needs to be p, there’s so many resources there. And we’re starting to pull them out. But I went to campus once a month, and I had never been see all of the things that can be able to go on there. And have a great day have a great cafeteria just for the record. To say that there, but you know, they have a nuclear facility there. I mean, they have a zero mission. They have a house that’s completely renewable. They do the Christmas trees, they do the testing to say how long a tree will how fast it’ll go up in flames. Yeah. Which I showed my husband a Christmas, like, Hey, this is what can happen. Well, people pull those things out to the network. And so we formed regional nodes. And those meet those still meet. So the Mountain West Regional node meets every other Tuesday. Yeah. And we get together and they’re great. I mean, it’s, it’s Mexico, Wyoming, Montana, Colorado, Texas, Alaska, is with us, you know, and Utah, and we get together every other Tuesday. And we talk about what’s happening in the region, what’s happening in our centers, and we share practices. And that’s the comp, that’s what we wanted out of the network. So what I saw, was it everybody wanted it, we just didn’t know how, how does he know?

Robert Newbold  32:19

Yeah. Can I add to that one other thing. When I started at IMEC, I felt like we had to find all of this the people ourselves that were going to do the work, right. We wanted to have internal Illinois, outside contractors, we wanted to have all the expertise on our staff, and we had a larger budget than manufacturers edges. So we could do some of that. What I started to learn and going to the Center for Best Practices, conferences, which started, you know, around 2015 2016, I would say was that there’s a huge network of expertise across the MVP. And we’ve taken the initiative here in Colorado to say, we’re going to use that expertise. And we’ve probably used experts from five or six centers for work here in Colorado, because we recognize that’s where we need to go first, to help our manufacturers because they not only know the system, they enter the network and the passion, as you mentioned earlier, Kurt, they have around manufacturing, but there’s just some incredible experts who have done amazing things in manufacturing that we should go to first. And then you know, we start looking for other kinds of outside contractors locally, but it’s just a pleasure to be able to say, reach out to anybody in the network, and you know, they’re gonna respond with an answer that’s meaningful and valuable for our clients.

Curt Anderson  33:51

Right? Well, I absolutely love that. And so shamelessly Daymond i So firsthand, we did live streams from the Alaska MEP just a month ago. And Rob, you’re gonna love this. Then two weeks later, I was doing live streams in Chicago. I met clients. And just you know, I couldn’t agree with you more. And what’s great is just seeing all the resources. You know, again, I think what there’s 12 1300, strong, you know, of experts that work at MVP on a national level. And so like you mentioned, Jennifer, like, hey, you know, we need an expert in such and such, you know, we have some friends here from Wisconsin here today. You know, like, Hey, we’ve got somebody in dairy. Let’s get our friends at the Wisconsin MVP, or, Hey, there’s some guy, there’s an expert in New York that’s doing this, or someone in Utah that’s doing that. So you have this deep bench of subject matter experts plus your third party resources. So I love that Jennifer, real quick. Do you want to share you had a funny story about COVID

Jennifer Hagan-Dier  34:50

If there’s anything funny coming out of COVID Yeah,

Curt Anderson  34:53

good. Yeah, yeah, I’m let me complete my sense there. COVID certainly was not funny, but you happen to be on Springboro When you were talking when you’re trying to solve things out, when the world was shutting down, and what did that day look like for you?

Jennifer Hagan-Dier  35:06

You can talk to Carol Thomas about this. I believe at one point, Carol’s Ferrell messaged me and said You’re killing me. So we were navigating an entirely new situation that we never everyone. Yeah. However, what we were doing was, we were being called on by the White House, like literally called on by the White House, to say, where can we find these things? Who makes masks who makes hand sanitizer, who makes ventilators? Where are the plans, and Carol was getting these calls and was having to respond literally 24 hours a day, and I was on the beach with my children. They are seven and 11. Now they were, I guess that would have been they would have been four and eight at the time. And we had gone to the beach because I had been traveling so much I hadn’t seen that much of. So I told my husband, you stay home, I’ll take the kids, and we’ll go for spring break just the three of us with a friend, a girlfriend of mine and her kid. And I get there and the world begins to shut down. And I am on my laptop on the beach or on my cell phone literally all the time. As long as I could see them. They didn’t drown. And we’re good, right? Like they Yeah, what’s happening. And we were hearing all these things like toilet paper shortages. And all of these things were happening. I literally was like, in my bathing suit on a conference call with, you know, MEP, and he’s from all over the country, trying to figure this stuff out. And Carol was like, I need a list. Give me a list of who makes what and what state and we were literally putting together Excel spreadsheets. We’ve come further now since then, yeah, we also were also told at the time by the federal government, we weren’t allowed to say pandemic, we weren’t allowed to say a lot of words in anything in writing. So everything had to be on the phone. Right? So we weren’t, we weren’t emailing every everybody we were having reached calls with around the country. You know, Colorado did a great job. Because they got themselves together. And like Ohio did a great job. There were states that were examples. And then there were states who just didn’t know what to do. And they it showed us the lack of connection. But how did I know that I was going to spend the next 445 days with both of my children in the house all the time? I don’t know that I would have spent spring break. Yeah, yeah.

Curt Anderson  37:31

And that right. And that’s a whole separate story. But you know, and I want to back up a second, Jennifer, you know, when you shared leaving, you know, you you realized that there was an opportunity for maybe like new direction or like, you know, you’ve taken this as far as I can. As a director of Tennessee, I wanted to back up a couple of notes that I jotted down as you’re talking to words that come to mind, humility, and inspiration. How, what amazing humility for you to say, You know what, I think I’ve taken this as far as I want to go accomplish what I want to accomplish. And here’s somebody, you know, went to law school, you know, wanting to be a Supreme Court justice, you know, I aspirations, you know, very ambitious, and you decide, you know, hey, I’m going to call a timeout here or an audible, and I’m going to make a different path in my career. Talk to Carol Thomas. And for anybody wondering, that’s the previous director, you know, the entire NIST MEP. But what an inspiration, because so many people can just get very complacent. I’m just gonna, you know, like, like, gig, I’m doing my jam, I’m having a good time. I’m the top dog, why should I change and so I just want to share with you how much I admire and how inspiring that is that you had the humility to make that to make that career change. And so hey, let’s give her a little plot. Damon. Applause for Jennifer. I love that.

Jennifer Hagan-Dier  38:49

I think that’s a that’s a, it’s a, it’s something that a lot of is, it’s a learned thing, right? It wasn’t easy. It wasn’t easy to admit to myself, that I had done all I could do and then I really weren’t, would be, they would be better off and I would be better off doing something different. That’s not because I built something and I didn’t want to walk away from it. But

Curt Anderson  39:10

you know, that’s a sign of a great leader, because it’s very hard to say like, you know, somebody else could do this better, not better, but you know, it’s time to hand off the baton. And again, like, you know, you’re young when, you know, you’re young now you’re young, then you’re like, you know, it wasn’t like you know, I’m gonna write this out for the next X number of years and just you know, this is my last job this may, you know, I’m gonna ride this into you know, the sunset, like so I really love that you you know, that you are an inspiration. Well, let

Jennifer Hagan-Dier  39:37

me as if like Rob Rob, Rob interviewed at manufacturers edge for a regional director position and I called him and said, No, no, no, no, we had we had a director level position open up and I was like, new there right. And now we’re peers. And the beauty of that is we do the six working geniuses. So if you’ve done that yet, but I highly recommend the six working geniuses assess meant by Patrick Lencioni, who did The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. And we’ve just recently done it for a whole organization. And to me, culture is so huge and joy in your work. And I think Rob and I have a lot of we, because we know our geniuses are different, but we have one overlapping, we can be complimentary of each other and do things that we really brings us joy and, and, and in work every day, and they’re different.

Damon Pistulka  40:28

Yep, yep. Very cool.

Curt Anderson  40:30

All right. This is fun. Art. Man. This is a good one. I did we were competing with our last episode. Damon, I think, you know, we won’t we won’t call out anybody. But this is a really good one. Right. Rob? Let’s go into so folks that are new to the MEP network. Let’s talk about some of the menu option items you mentioned earlier, like ISO, we’ve thrown out some of these acronyms, continuous improvement, just share a little bit about like, what are some of the things a manufacturer knocks on your door? What can they expect of working with with an MEP, or more specifically, manufacturers? Ouch.

Robert Newbold  41:01

Yeah, MEP has literally, I think Jennifer said this earlier, you bring something to us, we’re going to find an answer for it. And that’s sometimes overwhelming to a client. It’s like, I don’t even know where to start with that, right. And so what we’ve done is really broke it up into six pillars of good business for a manufacturer. And so we think about it as leaving your company. And all the services that might go into that leadership training to how would you be a better veteran governance for your board and how you run your company, strategy, how you think about the future, your future plans for your company. We think about it from focusing on people, which is all about workforce, training, development, but it’s also capability, capacity, HR, policies, all of that stuff. We think about it as growing your company, which is a lot of what you do I know Dave Damon incurred that marketing and SEO and how you’re planning to really serve your customers well. And then we think about it from the improving your operations, which is the lien the the safety, the quality, those systems. And then finally, we put in what we call it, deciding with data, and deciding what data goes from an ERP system, how you use data to help improve your operations all the way to the nine kind of pillars of advanced manufacturing, that are industry 4.0, and all of that. So it those six pillars really help us refine what a client is talking through, well, what are their saying is their needs. And we use a business health assessment, which is a we have two versions, a 46 question version for larger companies, or about a 2025 question version for smaller companies that funnels those six pillars down into actual things that we can then take as needs and, and recommendations to move forward. And so I know many centers use different types of assessments. That’s the one that we’ve chosen, we’ve developed and it helps us as we go through our discovery process to really dig deep. And we we asked the full leadership team of that organization to take that assessment. And we have the whole leadership team there as we do our readout. So it’s not just, oh, you know, six people took this and we don’t think we agree that we’re gonna have a conversation when there’s a gap of it’s a Likert, scale one to five, there’s a gap of three or four across the team. Somebody says it’s a one and somebody says it’s a five, that’s where we’re digging in, right? Or we’re gonna dig in when somebody when everybody says it’s a five, we’re gonna say, Oh, congratulations. But have you thought about this. And so we use that as our guide to help dig into what the, you know, sort of collective wisdom is of that leadership team to find where we can help them make them even better?

Curt Anderson  44:20

Yeah, this is so powerful. And again, you know, 5% of all manufacturers nationwide are 20 employees or less. And, you know, whether you’re rural area, urban area, suburban, wherever you might find, you know, so smart, most manufacturers are small business owners, and gaming, you know, firsthand, you know, all day like, hey, from nine to 10, I need to be my own HR guy, and then oh, then I need to do operations, and I need to do a little bit of marketing, Oh, I better do some finance. So like you’re thrown on a different hat all data, it’s just virtually impossible to be your own expert on every subject. So it’s just such a wonderful resource to have a trusted guide and the trusted consultants of the MEP network to lean on and that’s what they’re there for. are to give that objective advice, you know, you have no, you know, your skin in the game is purely their success. It is

Robert Newbold  45:06

it is. Absolutely. We want them to get better, because that helps our state get better, and helps people find jobs that helps people stay in jobs and feed their families and take care of their life. And, and that’s what manufacturers want to do. They want to make really cool projects, and they want to take care of their people. That’s really it.

Curt Anderson  45:28

Right? You know, and when you think about the day when you get in shows, like we just think about like there’s so it’s a calling, you know what I mean? Like it’s not even like a job, like it’s a calling in again, like you have communities that might have like, you know, one manufacturer, like, you know, everybody works at that manufacturer. And it’s like, you know, kids are playing Little League or like dance recitals, like you’re providing jobs, you’re providing livelihoods, they can go on that family vacation, that beach vacation, right, Jennifer? And so the thing is, like, what that entrepreneur what that manufacturer is like, there’s so much more going on. Jennifer, let’s go here for a little bit. You know, we’re hearing a lot about like, reshoring. And like re COVID during COVID. That was like, you know, we’re hitting like a little bit of a renaissance in manufacturing. What are you hearing kind of boots in the street? You know, as far as like, you know, more Made in USA or like, what are you hearing going on?

Jennifer Hagan-Dier  46:17

Yes. I think that’s we’re hearing there’s a desire for that. I think the challenge we’ve had and you still have is, to your point when 75% or small and Colorado 85. Manufacturers have less than 20 employees is 85. Yeah, yeah. So we also, though have one of the largest aerospace sectors in the country. Yep. So we have more Aerospace Workers per capita than every other state. So how do we put those two things together? You know, where are those suppliers? How deep is the knowledge of the supply chain? And if even if we wanted to arm for Rob and I were sitting in a meeting, and I tried to make this this presentation, and it’s something we thought, but we didn’t hadn’t seen the numbers, and he said, If you had every able bodied human in this country work, these still can’t fill the gap. Yeah, of course. And I would like, like, we knew that. But now what, right? So automation, right. zation. Like, and that to your point not to draw. But back to your point about these small businesses. You know, when I look back reflect, I have helped a lot of my friends and people that I’ve known start their own businesses at my kitchen table. Because they didn’t know how to run a business. They knew how to make pie. They knew how to bake bread, they knew how to find really good cheeses and affect the business where she could, and then distribute those cheeses to restaurants. But she didn’t know she needed an LLC. And she needed insurance. And she needed an accountant and she and that’s what we do for manufacturers. And I think the idea of onshoring is great. But where do you start? And with a system that has been built on cheap labor, cheap products, right, just in just in time, like, That’s it, we had a situation during COVID. And in fact, it lagged for the last year and a half. I don’t know if we still do. But there were a couple companies that had 52 week lead times, yeah, on things that they had to have to put product out. Yeah. And you know, and you told me in 19 2019, that I should invest in hand sanitizer companies. I will tell you, you’re crazy. And if you’ve told me in 2019, that model train companies would be hugely profitable. I would said you’re crazy. Yeah. So I, you know, workforce automation. They’re things we have to do here at home right now. And in Colorado, we are we’re going to be mapping the aerospace supply chain. And so we’ll be going from top down and bottom up. We know that, you know, Lockheed and Boeing aren’t necessarily going to hand us a list of their suppliers. But we know also that there are machine shops all over the state that are supplying into that into that supply chain. They may not even know they’re there. Right? It may not know that so far down that line. So we also have an issue with cyber. I mean, it’s a risk, and it’s a business continuity issue in we’re trying to do is get away from the word cyber, because I believe it, you know, it’s coming and CMC is going to be required, you won’t be able to sell for test anymore. And I think our small manufacturers aren’t going to be ready for that unless we get them ready for them. Right. Right. Yeah.

Curt Anderson  49:42

Right. So it was a critical topic statement when you got

Damon Pistulka  49:46

no I think this is this is great. And because you’re right, as you said, they just don’t know what you don’t know. And the small business owners and leaders you just you can’t know everything. And they oftentimes don’t even know about the MEP. So your outreach work with the economic development and everyone else’s, is critical, because honestly, I grew up in manufacturing, I was running companies in manufacturing for the vast majority of my career, and I did not know about the MEP until after I was out of manufacturing, you know, in the company. So,

Jennifer Hagan-Dier  50:21

that goes back to we keep doing what we’ve always done, we’re gonna get the same results. Yeah, exactly. Why that occurred when you say like, it’s not a logical progression for like, Rob and I both? Yes, I’ve worked with manufacturers. He’s worked in manufacturing. Yeah. However, our backgrounds are not typical of that. Yeah. Yeah. Because you need someone who can speak to speak of the other partners and collaborators. Table

Curt Anderson  50:44

in what’s in what’s fascinating when we I’m sorry, when we when we have like, Rob, so we do we have a lot of IMEC manufacturers come on our show. And folks, you know, previous colleagues of yours, and we consistently hear not only from the manufacturers, like, you know, how grateful and how thankful and what a game changer, that MEP network is for them, but even like your colleagues that, you know, are now at the MEP on your team. They’ve even said, you know, Dima, we’ve had multiple guys like, you know, the MEP. Thank goodness, I met the MVP. I wish I would have known about the MVP when I was at a manufacturer, right? Sure. So I know, man, I could talk with you guys all day. But yeah, we disappointed because like a number. And I have like 10 more questions, but I’m just getting to go and do. Rob, do you want to we were talking a little bit about like your supply chain solutions. Did you want to go there? Do you want to touch on that for a little bit?

Robert Newbold  51:34

Sure. Yeah, we, we, based on Jennifer’s knowledge of what she saw during COVID, and the lack of, of supply chain capability and capacity, she really drove our organization to look forward at that and and identified an organization called sustainment that is really working very hard at the mapping the supply chain for started out for the Air Force to find machine shops to help do work for the Air Force, where they needed, you know, quick turn on on replacement parts. And now it’s growing quickly to to map supply chains in multiple industries. But sustainment is is a free platform for those who provide services to put their information up and, and we actually have worked with them to help develop a verification process. And so a company that wants to be a supplier to any kind of organization can have us come out and take a walk through and just basically give them a thumbs up that says, Yeah, you look good. And they get a badge on sustainment too, to be able to show that a third party has looked at their organization. But we not only saw that as an opportunity to connect the manufacturers, as free manufacturing resources, but to connect the buyers, and that’s where sustainment is really powerful, you can actually use their platform to put out a project that you want to have suppliers bid on it as a FedRAMP. So cyber protected system that is useful to any manufacturer, it is a paid service. So if you’re going to actually ask for a buying project, you will have to pay a little bit but it’s very reasonable in comparison to other services. And then we also saw it as a place then to start connecting the resources that are open to manufacturers around the state and eventually around the country. Things like the economic development agencies or the workforce agencies or universities that often have or are community colleges that often have manufacturers, manufacturing programs. And so we’re putting all of those onto sustainment as well for the state of Colorado. So we almost see it as that one door into not only who your suppliers can be but also into who the resources are from from, you know, workforce to grants to cyber to anything else on that one location. And Jennifer has been really powerful in making a connection to other centers, and VP centers for sustainment and so I’ll let her talk a little bit about how we’re using that Colorado manufacturing network in a much larger sense as well.

Jennifer Hagan-Dier  54:38

Yeah, so so thank you Bob. I mean it’s our vision is a hyperconnected resilient manufacturing network instead of Colorado and beyond right like and so we supply chains don’t care about those state lawns and boundaries. So we you know, MVP said we want we need a we need a database of suppliers. We need to like make At the ecosystem, and they said, just go do it. And they didn’t tell us how we had to do it. So proposed was, we’re going to do to call our manufacturing network, we’re going to connect these companies. As he said, we’re also going to, like, you know, said, identify the resources, but we’re bringing an army of the willing. And what I mean by that is, there are all kinds of options you could do a database is going to be obsolete the minute it’s launched. sustainment is not unlike a VRBO. Or Airbnb, you can say I want to be close to the beach. And I need, I need this kind of processing, I want this kind of sector, I need these certifications. And at no cost to the MEP center. sustainment doesn’t cost us anything. And so we can use that and be the face of that in our state. And so right now, we have I believe 12 MEP centers that have committed to working with sustainment and sustainment because they were a startup. And we got in with them about a year and a half ago or more, they’ve been very open to our feedback on what MEP centers need to see. And we need to be able to to, to see who connects to who we need to be able to use this platform. And we’ve expanded how they how they thought about it a lot. Because we said you know, there’s opportunities here for us to do all of these other things. And then we have six other MEP centers that are currently considering sustainment and there’s no cost to them. So really, there’s not a risk, because sustainment is also going to be out there doing this work anyway. So if you as an MEP center don’t want to work with sustainment, that’s fine. They’re still going to be mapping manufacturers in your states. For us, it was let’s take the lead. And so we are establishing a community site on sustainment for MEP centers that everyone in the country can have access to off if you want any piece, because my goal again is to do less do more with less connecting and collaborating. And if we can’t connect to each other, how can we connect our supply chains? It’s to me it doesn’t seem like it should be that difficult. So we’ve set a working group and we’re putting together at the best practices conference TMac, Ronnie Redick from TMac. And if you haven’t talked to Rodney here, you should get running on this.

Curt Anderson  57:04

I’ve met Ronnie right he’s Yeah, he’s

Jennifer Hagan-Dier  57:10

amazing. So Rodney and I are presenting at the center Best Practices conference on a manufacturing network playbook. Like, here’s what if you want to launch a manufacturing network in your state? Yeah, here’s the way to do it. Here’s the marketing materials. here’s the here’s the things. And the Mountain West is looking at doing marketing together. So we’ve now got, you know, Wyoming and Montana and Colorado and Texas all on sustainment. So let’s get together and let’s market the supply chain opportunities across the Mountain West rather than just sticking in our own states doing it in silos.

Damon Pistulka  57:42

Yeah. Well,

Curt Anderson  57:44

I okay. So many. Yeah. Rob. Somebody might drop slide right there. Right. So army of the willing. And you know, the cool thing is, that was a great segue, Jennifer, because the gentleman, I had the honor and privilege of meeting the gentleman that founded sustainment Damon. And veterans, there are heroes, and just relentless entrepreneurs, very aggressive. And again, what’s the common theme? passionate about helping manufacturers? And just, you know, it’s just so cool watching, you know, entrepreneurs, there’s a problem in the market, let’s come up with our own solution. And that’s how, you know, it’s just a great story over and over. I met I know, we’re out of time. And I, Jennifer, I’m going to ask two last questions. Jennifer, women in manufacturing little girl want to be sukriti Supreme Court justice. How about for, you know, I have a teenage daughter Damon has a young daughter would 20s 30s. You know, for young women out there that are launching their career going out there? Why are all the cool kids looking at manufacturing? And if they’re not, why should they?

Jennifer Hagan-Dier  58:44

If they’re not, they should because it is, you know, the stem stigma of dark, dirty and dangerous still still is out there? And I would be completely dishonest if we said there aren’t still places in the country where that still holds true. Right? I think the difference we’ve seen, which is there’s pathways that offer a lot of interest in Rob took a trip to Germany, with America works back with all kinds of ideas, and you know, we’re at manufacturers edge not going to play in K 12. I mean, we’re going to partner with K 12. But we’re not going to be physically out recruiting students. But really, we are working with those educators and those community members to understand all of these different ways that you can engage in making things. You don’t talk about it as manufacturing, but as making things. You know, my kids like, what do you do mom, you sit on meetings? That’s what they think I do. Yeah. And I’m like, yeah, yes, I do. But the clothes you’re wearing, the shoes, you’re wearing the food you’re eating, all of these things were made somewhere by someone and a maker a makerspace. At that maker mentality. I think the younger generations are there and seeing that they can have a lot more ownership of their own My career and it doesn’t have to be a ladder, it can be a jungle gym. And manufacturing might fit within that. And Rob, did you have? I’m sure you have something on this because you took that trip. And you’re meet it. You got to meet you when

Robert Newbold  1:00:16

I’m on the bingo card. Yeah. Thanks. Thank you. Yeah, that the trip was amazing, we got to see eight different companies from a small 100 year old family owned business to, you know, large business like Siemens, who were building Career Pathways Training Programs for, for kids as young as sixth grade to help find their ways into manufacturing. And what I thought was so amazing is most of the work that they’re doing, not all of it, but a lot of it is built around digitization. It’s around bringing virtual reality and amazing new training programs. And, and, you know, we took a walk through one facility where they were getting ready to build out the office space, and they had a system that basically built out the office space for them as they walked through. I mean, it’s just incredible resources. And that’s all in manufacturing, right? You can do literally anything you want. If it’s from marketing, to to computers, to robotics to rocketry, we went to a rocket manufacturer recently that are building 3d printed rockets. Right? I mean, it’s just anything that you want to do manufacturing has it for you.

Curt Anderson  1:01:40

Well, alright. Rob, well said I love that answer. Appreciate it. Let’s Well, let’s close it out. Jennifer parting thoughts, words of wisdom, anything, what you’re super excited about in manufacturing, and at the MVP network moving forward? What are your last words of wisdom for us?

Jennifer Hagan-Dier  1:01:58

Oh, goodness, I mean, it’s, I’m excited about we’re in year nine of our 10 year cooperative agreement. So we get a chance over the next year, to really think about our business and on how we serve companies. And we’ve been doing that for a while, and shore up all of those pieces. So it’s really exciting time to be working in ADP centers, because we’re about to see a whole nother group of MEPs, Colorado, Tennessee, Illinois, North us, North Carolina, Texas, they’re all gonna be competing for their programs. I like personally like to win and I like to win when no one’s competing with me. So I prefer that but you know, that’s really what we’re focused on for the next year. And mapping the ecosystem because we are we you know, we are going to to do this in Colorado and hopefully, across the country.

Curt Anderson  1:02:47

I love it. And eight before we wind down Jennifer, what what’s the three? I think I heard something in the background or three or three friends in the room. There. Were the names of your three.

Jennifer Hagan-Dier  1:02:58

I have Mr. Teddy pants, and George and George is snoring.

Curt Anderson  1:03:05

He made the program just awesome. I didn’t we should have bought the dog we should have. Jennifer next time you come on. We’re gonna have a little dog program. Yeah,

Jennifer Hagan-Dier  1:03:17

we should meet somewhere. But yeah, and the cats because the cats have joined us. Damon’s

Curt Anderson  1:03:22

got like little old and I’ve got like 130 pound Rottweiler here somewhere now. So Rob, how about dude? Man, I can’t thank you guys enough. This guy could talk to you guys all day. Rob, parting thoughts, words of wisdom? What are you excited about in manufacturing MEP network moving forward?

Robert Newbold  1:03:38

I think for me, the great excitement is to see how we can impact the small manufacturer in the future. We’re working really hard to identify some resources for small manufacturers. And in fact, we just announced the small manufacturing recovery grants program. So companies here in Colorado can take advantage of that. And we’ve got plans for even more of those. We want to make sure that small manufacturers are growing, that they have all the resources that they need. And we want to help the bigger ones too. But those small ones are as you guys mentioned earlier are so important to the everyday economy of of every state in the nation. And so I think it’s important for us to put that emphasis on them and that’s where we’re going to be growing our resources for them over the next 18 months.

Damon Pistulka  1:04:34

Absolutely awesome.

Curt Anderson  1:04:36

Damon what man dude, I told you this is going to be a good one. Yeah, I mean, parting thoughts on your end?

Damon Pistulka  1:04:42

Every time I we talked to a different MEP. You guys in Colorado. I mean, I’d love Colorado. I grew up in South Dakota, my got family who lives outside of color and outside of Denver. But and you guys in Colorado, the Denver area for people that aren’t familiar with it. It is an aerospace hub, it is a hub for a large region. And you guys have so much there. And it’s and just happy to hear what you guys are doing with the MEP. And as I as I think about this, and I think about all the manufacturers in Colorado and manufacturers across United States, these MEPs are doing so much every single day, that they just need to reach out and start talking to them. Because as we talked a while back, you don’t know everything. And there’s so many experts in the network.

Curt Anderson  1:05:29

Yeah. And I think the big thing for entrepreneurs and you know, you know, and, you know, been an entrepreneur for 30 years, it’s a little it gets a little stressful here and there, you know, right, Rob, just the big thing with the program here is our tagline is, hey, let’s stop being the best kept secret. And, you know, like, reach out to your local MEP. Find those economic developers, you know, there’s almost like that little bit of a mental like, add, you know, I don’t know, government funding, I don’t know what’s going on there. I don’t know, man, just ask, you know, like, you just the answer is always no, I was with my sister this weekend. And she’s like, you know, the answer is always no, unless you ask. So you know, reach out to manufacturers edge, reach out to your local MEP. And let’s I want I’d be remiss if I didn’t give a shout out to your colleagues, Jessica, that So Glenn and Jessica Dana are gonna or Damon, Jessica, and Glenn are on the program at the end of July. So we’ve got more ice manufacturers edge coming back at the end of the month. But boy, if you can sit down for this past hour or so, I encourage you to stand up. And let’s give a big round of applause for Jennifer and my dear buddy, Rob. And just Yes, we salute you. We thank you, we applaud you, we commend you, thank you for the work that you’re doing for manufacturers, you know, just a critical they are the heartbeat of our economy and what you guys are doing supporting we just really appreciate the work that you’re doing. So guys, we’re gonna wind down. Thank you for everybody joining us boy, if you’re catching this on replay, you want to catch the whole thing. Reach on LinkedIn. Connect with Jennifer Jennifer, you put out great posts on LinkedIn. Oh, you want to definitely connect with these to check out the manufacturers edge website. They have all sorts of fun Resources Information. As Rob just mentioned, they have a grant program and if you’re coming to us from another MEP boy reach out to your local MEP is they are here to help so Damon man are we lucky or was this a great yes we

Damon Pistulka  1:07:28

are my friend.

Curt Anderson  1:07:29

We’re gonna close out Robin Jennifer hang out with us for one second.

Damon Pistulka  1:07:32

We were thanks everyone.

Curt Anderson  1:07:34

This demon what did we do? We’d like to close out just be someone’s inspiration man just like these two just rabid generals hired us today. Go out and be someone’s inspiration. God bless you and we will talk to you on Friday. Thank you