Manufacturing eCommerce Success – with Ray Ziganto

Ray Ziganto  00:00

Check it Gary.

Damon Pistulka  00:02

We’re live now.

Curt Anderson  00:03

Hey, David. What is up? Never day worker. So Damon. Hey, it’s our it’s our maiden voyage here. So Happy Monday, dude First Monday, November and now now it’s gonna get loud. So hey, David, how are you?

Damon Pistulka  00:23

I’m doing great today guys.

Curt Anderson  00:25

I’m just Do you notice anything? Anything different anything? Was there anything different in the background

Damon Pistulka  00:31

here? Well, I know that with you today. The gentleman is familiar. He has the best mustache manufacturing VI

Curt Anderson  00:42

and I get to touch it the best mustache and manufacturing mustache and manufacture Hey, Damon, happy Monday. Happy Monday everybody so welcome to the show. And man, dude like I’ve been up since like four in the morning just so fired up for this course like time difference thing like I’m way off but yeah, we are in the Windy City today we’re in Chicago and I am with the one the only the manufacturing unicorn razor Guy No, right? Today

Ray Ziganto  01:10

I’m doing great man glad to finally meet you in person you believe this?

Curt Anderson  01:15

Like we go back like early it might be in pre COVID So you know connect with grey through our dear mutual friend house and afford? And well I don’t know if I know more fierce advocate for manufacturing than this handsome devil. So you know and as busy as he is he takes time and shoots over we’re in a west suburbs right behind O’Hare. And we’re hanging out in the lobby of my hotel. And so Ray thank you for joining us appreciate it. My pleasure a little bit on background and who’s excited? Man this is gonna be good Damon I’m just fired out what’s a little bit of background on you your manufacturing background, that’s

Ray Ziganto  01:50

no problem. awesome to be here. Love you guys love everything you’re doing for manufacturing. My background it was it was an awkward journey. I mean, I just I grew up. I tell the story of my old man had a he had a shop in the basement, he didn’t have a man cave. And so I was I always hung around people that made stuff and did stuff. And over the years had the great good fortune to stumble into manufacturing, it was alcohol related. I met a guy who ultimately wound up giving me my first job standing around a keg of beer at a friend’s college graduation party and 38 years later, had an awesome career and a lot of time in job shops, manufacturing, so I get what it takes to get up every day, get good parts out the door, keep people motivated, keep the customers happy and and keep innovating. And that’s that’s a lot of balls to juggle. So I come at what I’m doing with a tremendous amount of respect and admiration for manufacturers everywhere. They’re my heroes. And at this point in my career, I’m on a mission and I’m on this earth to help as many manufacturers as I can elevate themselves in their businesses to just just go out there and kick ass

Curt Anderson  03:03

man we just got that might be the best line of all show do like you know what? We’re just gonna stop the show right there. That was like total like chop and like he’s talking about Nancy O’Leary, I’m actually I’m gonna dancy later today, Nancy, what a way to kick off the week powerhouse folks here build big impacts for manufacturing. We’ve got Diane from tech. So guys, drop a note in the chat. Let us know as you’re here, you want to connect with this handsome guy that I’m here with razor Guy No. raised with iMac but before we go there, Ray, you like you said you’ve had an extensive extensive manufacturing background. You’re president of 1000 person company. Yeah. You’ve had literally all over the globe all over the world. You’ve had manufacturing experience. Just go there. Give us a little bit of your background.

Ray Ziganto  03:47

You know, I got I got interested in international Well, I got real interested in international in college, my wife efforts to be from Malaysia, from Penang, Malaysia. Yeah. And I’ve always had a I’ve loved travel, I got the opportunity. My folks sent me on a high school trip, got to go to Germany. And it was just where a lot of kids go on their first trip and can’t wait to find the nearest McDonald’s or Starbucks or they find something that’s familiar. I wanted to know what the locals were doing, you know, at least 16 years old and that curiosity never left me. And, you know, I got I got I started actively pursuing international opportunities when I was probably in my late 20s and actually had the great opportunity. I worked for a company and lived and worked in Singapore. I’ve lived and worked in Mexico, spent tons of time in Malaysia and Shanghai and all over the world. And it’s just it’s fun to see the the differences and what’s similar. You know, the similarity what’s remarkable is the languages might be different, but people are largely people. They care about their families. They care about making a better life for themselves. Obviously, they care about learning new stuff, they care about being treated with respect, that doesn’t change anywhere. The the the cultural stuff you, you roll up into, which is kind of it’s kind of the cherry on top, it makes it special and unique. But that’s just been awesome. And it’s been, that’s probably been, the international experience has been probably the biggest influencer, for me in terms of when I come back and work with us manufacturers, because I had the chance to be in places where manufacturers didn’t have a fraction of the resources we have here in the States. And they made it happen. And they just had that, that heart and that and that passion. And they just went for it. And if I can bring a little bit of that back, and re instill that in some manufacturers today, I think that’s key. Our friend, Chris Lukey, interviewed a guy and I wish I could give full attribution, but one that he I think hit the nail on the head, he says a lot of manufacturers in the US today are prisoners of the decade in which they were started. But that resonate a little bit, you know, and in some cases, I think that’s an homage to, you know, Hey, grandpa started in the 50s. And this is the way he did it. But there are other examples, and we’re real close to one right now. Wiegel Wiegel tool is a third generation manufacturer that has continued to evolve with each transition of ownership within the family. But they’ve stayed true to your values. And I think companies lose that. It’s like, keep the values evolve the technology and the processes. And I think what we’re seeing today is too many people are still trying to trying to hang on to a lot of the old when they should be, you know, listen on, on what own that spirit when grandma and grandpa started this thing in the garage. But keep up, you know, keep up and leverage it. So that’s I love that

Curt Anderson  06:53

respecting the tradition. Yeah, you know, and that’s the thing like Damon we talked about, like, you know, disruption, you know, transformation and everything. And that’s the problem is I know, even like myself with E commerce, I come in like a bull in the china shop. And, you know, and you know, you made changes change, and it really like, it disrupts everything. It’s not a positive disruption. It’s like negative disruption. So I actually love what you’re saying. Let’s go here for a little bit. Yeah, you know, so you built up your career? And, you know, President of company just talk like, talk. See, there’s, you know, young person out there in manufacturing, or like, you know, we love being advocates of lightweight, everybody should be talking about like, what did how have you built your career over this? 30?

Ray Ziganto  07:32

Would you say 30? Plus? Yeah, you know, it’s, the rules of the game has changed. It’s different today. You know, I’m of a generation in the workforce. I think my shortest tenure with any company was two years. My longest was 18. unheard of today. I think my advice to folks that are coming up number one manufacturing is was and will continue to be an awesome industry we’re in as they will as pointed out my boss. We’re in kind of a manufacturing supercycle where some decisions getting made right now that are going to influence the path of manufacturing, like never before. So is it a great time to be here? Yeah. My advice to anybody that is interested in getting into manufacturing. Number one, the notion that you have to have a degree to get started is not true. That’s no longer true. I would strongly advise getting as much exposure and experience as you possibly can. Local community colleges, I’ll give a shout out to college and Lake County and their advanced technology center. They do a thing now with young students to build awareness. It’s called gimme 10. And what they do is students that are interested, we’ll pair them up with a manufacturer, and that still no spend 10 hours just to get exposed to what’s going on. It’s no big commitment on everybody’s side. But face it kids don’t grow up riding their bikes in industrial parks, that well what’s going on, you know, in these businesses get is, you know, go to shows, go find, find somebody that’s working somewhere doing something, you think it’d be cool Sunday and get their feedback, find somebody, you know, as passionate as I am about manufacturing, it doesn’t resonate. My passion may not resonate or connect with a 16 year old, you know, so it’s so you’ve sometimes it’s not what said, but who’s saying it for guys like Andrew Crowe that are out there today and just killing it. That’s Eva, Megan. Exactly. That’s that’s the future. The sooner you connect people with that and see what’s going on but get experiences try and do stuff and keep it going.

Damon Pistulka  09:43

And you know, getting those high school kids in and seeing how things are made watch and the machines work watching things happen. Just understanding it. I mean, it is it is like it is hypnotic when you get into Goodman Manufacturing companies watching this is a symphony of people and machines and materials all moving and flowing together with products coming out the other end. Yeah, it’s an awesome, it’s awesome that they can get those kids at 10 hours, because that’s enough time to really understand a lot of different pieces in the puzzle. Yeah,

Ray Ziganto  10:18

yep, there are, there’s

Damon Pistulka  10:20

so many. I mean, you could start right out of high school. And I people have heard me say 100 times, my son’s got friends are 24 years old. They did not know about manufacturing. And they are working in jobs that they I’m sure they wish they weren’t working in. And if they had started out of high school and a manufacturing company, they can be doing things that they could look forward to a career without a college degree, or that can create

Ray Ziganto  10:45

light. And here’s the thing, the average a pop quiz. What’s the average age of a person that is participating in a registered apprenticeship in the United States? Give me a guess.

Curt Anderson  10:58

Damon, you got a number.

Damon Pistulka  10:59

I don’t even know it’s all double probably because we only have

Ray Ziganto  11:02

Yeah, it’s 29. So that difference between 18 to 28, what 1011 years in there, where we’ve either lost a group of people that we ought we should have got earlier, or they’re figuring out, Hey, I got my four year degree. I don’t like what I’m doing, you know, right now, or, you know, they got tired of kind of moving around some of the they had a lot of jobs, and now they want a career. With manufacturing. We got to quit talking about manufacturing jobs and talk about careers. Yeah, because that’s, that’s what’s going on because without a college degree, you know, what’s the average wage in the Chicago area and manufacturing is close to 90 grand? That’s, that’s a good piece of cheese, man. Yeah. So

Curt Anderson  11:45

it’s a great piece of cheese right there. So let’s jump

Damon Pistulka  11:49

right in the hours a lot better than delivering pizza.

Curt Anderson  11:52

Right? That’s right. Hey, we got a couple of comments here. So we’ve got NBC and hey, let’s connect. We’ve Galileo and Alan Zoe’s he’s down the road in Indianapolis. yesterday or last year we got Nancy seen students and their parents need to see what a manufacturing crude looks like. And boy, she was just with us last week, Nancy send you lots of love my friends. So

Ray Ziganto  12:14

do the update on the program those guys did on their nickel just launched Hey, this is the face of manufacturing manufacturing

Curt Anderson  12:20

athletes. Yep. Go to manufacturing Mavericks that manufacture mavericks.com is perfect. Nancy, if you could drop that in the chat for everybody. I dropped the link manufacturing mavericks.com with our folks at friends at Custom direct Inc. Just did an amazing job. So Nancy, Jeffery, the whole crew there just did an amazing what an initiative of just promoting one at a time. Just wonderful. Millennials and or I’m sorry, Gen Zers. Their Gen Zers that didn’t get into manufacturing. So all right, let’s go here. Okay, all over the place. You’ve been global lifetime career. And hey, guys, again, I just want to drop a note there. You know, drop a note in the chat box. Let us know that you’re out there. Happy Monday. We’re with the manufacturing unicorn. We’re here in Chicago. Just having a great conversation. Let’s go here. You know, Illinois. Yeah, I think there’s one or two manufacturers in the state of Illinois. Do I have that? Correct.

Ray Ziganto  13:10

12,500.

Curt Anderson  13:12

I just I just made a statement. I just I just I’m just a couple but there’s that was my Mulligan. So there’s 12,500 manufacturers here in the state of Illinois. We’re in Cook County, we’re just we’re in the western suburbs, right near O’Hare. And man I’m Tony in Cook County is just you know, you think Windy City and downtown and just you know, wonderful. It is just a an abundance uplift. Yeah, of manufacturing here in Cook County. So let’s go there. Right talk about some of the manufacturing here. Let’s touch on the state. But I want let’s start with right here in Cook County,

Ray Ziganto  13:44

Cook County, if you look at everybody else, you know, Chicago Chicago’s a piece of the puzzle, but there are big 93 other villages, cities, municipalities, that encompass Cook County as well. And if I’m not mistaken, there’s something like 5000 manufacturers in that area. I mean, the 5000 number, the staggering, you know, that are there and even, you know, across the state that 12,000 Plus, according to you know, the definition of small and medium sized manufacturer, which is technically less than 500. The majority are probably less than 100. It’s like 99% of the manufacturers across the state fall into that category, which is right in IMEC in particular MEPs in general. That’s our sweet spot. You know, that’s where we live. These are the folks that we work with everywhere and manufacturing is everything from I mean, it’s aerospace, it’s medical device. It could be you know, manufacturing, it’s it’s automation, excuse me, it’s food manufacturing. There’s an enormous food production and growing segment throughout the state. That’s part of it. It’s it’s distillers. It’s brewing He’s, there are so many things in businesses that fall within that manufacturing area. And the things we talk about and that you bring to the table, they resonate across all of these businesses, you know, is it is it workforce? You know, probably the number one and number two thing we we work on and engage with our clients on over the last year it’s been around workforce, it’s been around growth. It’s been around cyber, it’s been around ecommerce. So it’s, we help front door to backdoor is what we do is one of my colleagues says, it’s, you know, piata cash, you know, I do I go front door to backdoor or you know, whatever’s keeping them up at night. You know, we come in with a plan because owners and small manufacturers, it’s, it’s easy to get sucked into that vortex of working in the business, not on the business, we show up and give them that little break to have a big impact and get the plates spinning and then get back do what you’re doing. Now you’re doing at a higher level. I

Curt Anderson  16:00

love some of the analogies today. Damon you dropped the word Symphony earlier dude, like that was a phenomenal you know, he’s talking about, you know, spinning the plates and just, you know, it’s just, it’s just awesome. It’s just so exciting. So let’s go here, right, so we’re talking we’re here in Illinois, 12,000. Manufacturers from top to bottom, just a whole you know, it’s just such a wonderful manufacturing state. We’re talking about iMac So for anybody out there who’s not familiar, just share a little bit who is iMac? I know you’ve been you’re flying colors. Say you got the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, right? Who is who and what is the MEP? And who is IMEC,

Ray Ziganto  16:30

the MEP network, we’re part of Department of Commerce, where the MEP network is how Department of Commerce deploys resources throughout all 50 states plus Puerto Rico. And we are we have a mission. In fact, this is we’re the only federally funded program the only one in the country that is solely dedicated to working with small and medium sized manufacturers. And it’s expected and incumbent on us to play nice with every other federal agency and local one as well to the benefit of those manufacturers. So what So what are we do, we’re a group of about 58 manufacturing specialists, we bring a really unique and robust set of tools, techniques and knowledge to manufacturers to help them be more competitive, help them thrive, help them innovate and help them really deliver that multiplier that we all know manufacturing brings to the economy. Nothing in the economy contributes like manufacturing does every dollar generated manufacture is what about a buck 89 to the rest of the economy in the area. So it’s it’s an engine and our job is to keep it going. So

Curt Anderson  17:49

yeah, innovation thrive and just you know, so again, if any of our friends and manufacturing out there, you know, whatever state you’re coming from, I strongly encourage you welcome you check out your local MEP. You get to hook up with guys like like Ray if we got a few comments here. So Nancy, Nancy jobs, manufacturing mavericks.com. So check out that website. It’s an all year long celebration. And so hey, we’ve got Diane come in manufacturing careers. We’ve got someone jumping in Oh, hey, Dr. Saying hello. So hey, happy Monday. So again, guys, we’re here with razor guy. No, we’re in Chicago, we’re talking about manufacturing. A lot of awesomeness here. And we’re talking about so we’re talking about the MEP network manufacturing, extension partnerships and IMEC. And so how, right let’s go into so a manufacturers out there and they’re like, you know, hey, I’m dealing with a certain issue, okay. Like, you know, is it realistic to me if he can help me with like, a little bit of anything or everything, you know, like, it seemed like, MEP is known for like, we have a guy or gal, right? We

Damon Pistulka  18:50

have a guy or someone that can help. We got somebody

Curt Anderson  18:53

that can help. So let’s go there between like your 58 strong here and with the IMEC, you know, internally, you have third party resources, just talk about when somebody reaches out to you, what does that engagement look like? You

Ray Ziganto  19:04

know, I guess the first the first thing is, we hope that more manufacturers get comfortable just doing that initial thing reach out just as Hey, does anybody know? Because I’ve been there I’ve been that that guy where it’s like we’ll figure it out ourselves. The notion of reaching out or asking for something well, if I hire a consultant, it’s gonna cost me a fortune. Well, what’s it costing you to live with the with the problem number one, you’re number two, you’re wrong. It’s not going to stop it’s not going to cost you a fortune right? So once you get over the you know, the pride thing you say, Listen, if I could get some help and shorten my learning schedule here so that I can move on to that next thing that’s going to be a huge help how does I make engage you reach out the very first thing we do we we come at our our engagements with with manufacturers, from a point of service, we’ve got the worst business model in the world, be everything be all things to all manufacturers. It’s it starts with a phone call and sometimes to your point it is, I know a guy I know maybe it’s not something that fits within our purview. But at least we can share Hey, let me get let me get you a phone number make an introduction, share a report about some industry, you know, information. Sometimes, it’s like I’m kicking tires, I don’t know where to begin on this lean, lean journey, or retinas automation, or any of my Am I my dei readiness, there are so many things we can do, how about we come in and do a what we call a mini project. And just kind of spend some time with your and develop State of the Union, here’s where you are relative to what your OEM customers might be expecting from you or relative to where the industry is. And then from there, you make decision, you want to go after it on your own, do you want us to help you with any piece of it, we can, we can do that. You know, as well, all the way up to an including. And we’ve got we’ve got clients where they really were like, we’re like an extension of their advisory board where we just are kind of ongoing, they’re they’re committed to growth. And we’re there to be able to bring in, we can bring in a Lean Expert, one day and automation expert, the next and organizational development person, the next and ERP expert, the next. We’ve got we’ve got Jedi level people that we can bring in either from our staff or from our third party resources to help move the needle. Now, how do you do that at scale, largely through the help are 3/3 party resources, you know, such as you and Nancy and the folks that custom direct. Last year, we were able to bring value to 2000 over I think it’s closer to 2300 manufacturers throughout the state. That’s everything from the downloaded an article that attended a webinar or something like that. But that’s, that’s a lot. It’s not enough. There’s 12,000 out there. We’ve got more more to go after. Yeah. Okay. But that 20, some 100 generated about half a billion dollars in economic impact across the state. That’s client reported. That’s not us reporting, right? Because that’s how we’re measured. So my circle back to the beginning, how do we engage? Yeah, just raise your hand. Yeah, just raise your hand and say, I got something I’ve been wondering about and start a conversation. You know, that’s, that’s the other.

Damon Pistulka  22:20

The other thing and I’m really impressed by with a lot of the MEPS is they do a great job of understanding what grants are coming out, and how that can help manufacturers because as manufacturers, you don’t have time to be searching all the grants coming out from the government. But the MEPs do a really good job of doing that and saying, all right, there’s a grant that can help you with this, let’s get it out to people, because we can facilitate that, and get some get some beneficial work for you. And really share the cost, which I think it takes the cost of some of these things that are prohibitive down into the range of hey, let’s do it. It’s,

Ray Ziganto  22:58

you know, if there was one thing, I’m so glad you brought that up. There are so many resources available, whether it’s grants grants come and go. Yeah, he genuinely we don’t we don’t write grants, but we stay close to the organizations that do and a lot of times they need help deploying it. Yes, like deploying our money. You know, in Cook County, there was tremendous effort put into and dedicated, focused in the manufacturing space, in suburban Cook County, to do projects that are 100% reimbursable, the touch on all of that stuff, the manufacturers worried about it, we didn’t make it up, we went out and did a survey. And 1000 manufacturers came back and said, post COVID Here’s what we need help with. So there’s there’s money there to be done. Same thing in McHenry County is happening. There’s a new project coming. In Kane County, there’s always new stuff happening. Then there’s the workforce boards, everybody’s talking about workforce, I need to upskill I need to find new people, how do I onboard? How do I do? Apprenticeships, you there are a tremendous amount of resources out there to be able to, if not fully fund significantly offset the costs of doing all of those things, and your MEPs are right in the middle. Because we’re the ones that can help get you ready for those career paths. We help manufacturers be good consumers of the workforce that is coming out. And manufacturers are in a position they have to compete for that workforce. Yes, it’s not 30 years ago, where you put the sign out on the URL that says, you know, taking applications and then you sift through them, you know, no way, you know, no way and it’s everything from you know, reminding a manufacturer maybe if you picked up a paintbrush, you’d have a better response to your in person interviews, you know, to, you know, Hey, how are you leveraging video to showcase what your place is really like? You know, so there’s, there’s a lot of new tools and techniques that can help so, just again, It goes to raise that hand. The money’s available. I have somebody telling me it’s like, dude, the dudes and dudettes we’re giving you your money back. Yeah. You know, this this this free money was collected from PACs or somewhere. And the government has found a way to redeploy it so that you can crank up your engine. Yeah, take it. Yeah.

Curt Anderson  25:18

Yeah, that’s our mutual friends wall brothers that louvers. I know that he, Derek and Devin, they use that line, they’re like, you know, I think they have a coat or a testimonial of like, you know, I’m that guy is like, the best teammate that I have, that doesn’t cost me a thing, you know. And so it’s just like, you know, it’s just amazing how they get to move the needle. And it’s just

Damon Pistulka  25:37

go ahead and point great point it just cuz we, as manufacturers, you’re worried about manufacturing, you want to make these improvements and those, those grants or other opportunities to help you, you know, offset some of that cost is a key, it is a key and you’re just missing out if you’re not talking to them. MEPS and taking advantage of those.

Curt Anderson  25:59

Right, exactly. Hey, and as Diane says, you know, yes, I know someone that can help. I know a guy. And so let’s, we’re talking about iMac and so we have a number of dear friends, you know, give a shout out. And you go, you know, Dr. David lay Damon, he was just on the show. Yeah, we go in, he’s got the he’s got the final colors right there. Yeah. Dr. Dave was on the on a bus tour going around the state. And of course, you know, Jacqueline, Melissa, most Abasa, Melissa Zerbo, Amanda, I’m almost fearful like to try to rattle off names, because I’m going to leave off. You know, there’s 58 teammates, but talk about like, just how amazing some of your, you know, there’s Cassie know, we’ve had Damon we’ve probably had like 20 people on the show for iMac. But just to talk a little bit about some of the team members that you have,

Ray Ziganto  26:44

you know, it really is the cool thing. What I really love at this point in my career, the caliber of the teammates that I get a chance to interact with, is just spectacular. The one thing that I found while I was out on my own doing the consulting thing for a while, and that comes with its own challenges, as you guys know. But what I didn’t appreciate until I got into IMEC was the opportunity to learn from my colleagues. There’s just so the bench is so deep and so strong. And it’s just I’m in awe of the folks that we work with and what they’ve accomplished. You know, it happened over the years, you’re you climb a few rungs, and you start thinking you’re, you’re the real deal. I get the IMEC, that’s a big deal. There’s, there’s 30 people that have done cooler stuff than me, you know, so but it’s awesome. It’s awesome. Because once you get past the war stories, it’s like, well, how can we bring that to bear? You know, for this, this 12 person business or this? This one that’s starting up or this other one that’s really looking to pivot into technology? Yeah, we got a group have been there done that yet. You know, so why would you take the long way? You know, yeah,

Curt Anderson  27:58

I love that, you know, and going back, you know, so a couple of things. I admire your humility, you know, to say it’s almost like you know, when you play Little League or whatever, baseball, then all sudden, like you put you know, you start playing with other kids in your area, like, Oh, gee, maybe I’m not as good as I Yeah. Well, it’s been great and Little League. Yeah. And I was like, I was batting 500 enrollee, you know, then, but anyway, not to say that you’re, you know, but it’s just, you know, iron sharpens iron, right. And just, you know, just being around is amazing. You know, and again, when you’re a consultant, it can be, you know, you’re on your own, just kind of you’re a lone wolf doing your own thing, when you’re part of a team. And just, everybody’s just so passionate. And so, you know, Damon, we’ve worked with a number of different MEPs. And, you know, I was at the MVP conference, the National Conference, and it’s just amazing. Just the, the, the one common bond with everybody. I’ll say, two, is the amazing talent that everybody you know, this person came from retail, what does retail have both customer service, you know, this person came from this, this person came from, you know, totally different walks of life. There’s, like, 1300 people that worked with the MEP network. And then just the sheer, just unconditional passion for manufacturing. Hey, we’ve got a comment here from Alan. These are the exact issues we work. That’s perfect. Yeah. So Allen’s a dear friend of ours comes to us through the Purdue MEP. And so they do property tax relief and automation and workforce. And so yeah, as a matter of fact, we’re doing Wesleyan and I are doing a fun little LinkedIn workshop at Purdue next Thursday. Just a little shameless plug. So let’s take it another step further. What are some of the things that you’re super excited? We’re coming in towards the end of the year? What are you excited about? IMEC are for manufacturers coming into the fourth quarter looking out ahead for 2024?

Ray Ziganto  29:32

Well, the good news is, I’m already in the middle of the sweet spot. Our year ended September 30. So now you know, this is first quarter and we’re guns blazing now just just to get stuff rockin. We have so much on the horizon in terms of, you know, stepping up what we’ve already done in the in the workforce space, what we’re doing in the automation, you know, leadership development, really the full suite of projects. We’ve got going our new supply chain portal that we recently launched is really getting some tremendous traction. Shout out to my colleague, Adrian Garces, who’s who’s leading that up with Christy, John’s, and just developing some phenomenal things. Our team is coming up with some great innovations now, to offer manufacturers kind of some, some quick hits, you know, some 30 minute one hour type things that can, you know, that can really add some value in a short amount of time and get back to work. You know, we know how busy everybody is. And again, everything we do, we have to start from bring the value first, bring the value first. So we’re, we’re looking to bring do as much, you know, live interaction type stuff that we can, I’m working on a cool project in the casting and forging space that’s funded by DOD to specifically drive innovation and resiliency and that segment. And that’s been really exciting to see what’s going on in that space and do some special events in that area. But the real goal in the coming year is to get to try to create more peer to peer collaboration with manufacturers are the islands of excellence are nice. But you know, and I’ve been in manufacturing a long time, we still have to shake that. Well, I don’t want them to know who my customers are, again, news for you. They probably already do. Yeah. And and most companies that small manufacturers that think they’re dominating a segment, are probably only supplying like rounding error, compared to what’s possible. So yeah, my message to manufacturers, there’s plenty of work out there. Don’t be worried about the other guy grabbing what’s yours, you know, work on leveraging, and efficiently making sure you got all the share of customer for what you currently have. Because there’s a lot left on the table. What are you doing to develop your workforce? At the end of the day? Even with, you know, the industry 4.0 And hold on to your seats? They’re already talking industry? 5.0? Yeah, 20 years from now, what it’s going to come down to is your company culture, your your unique data set and domain expertise, and your ability to innovate? That’s it. Yep. That’s it, are you it’s like that Elon Musk thing? You know, the cars, not the product, the factories, the product? Yeah. That’s kind of where the mindset needs to be. Yeah, so manufacturers, that’s where we’re really working on what are you really working on right now? That’s where we need to do be, and there’s a lot of best practices already happening, right?

Damon Pistulka  32:35

Yeah. And you you hit that they’re beginning to you said they’re stuck in the decade that they were founded. And those are the companies that will die because the companies that are innovating, the small, the companies that are not afraid to do that. And like you said, the factory is the product you’re making. And that is the drop the mic moment for the decade, because it is what we need to be concentrating on. And

Ray Ziganto  33:01

the flip side because the other thing that’s real popular, and rightfully so, I wish I can remember the cat’s name. He’s got a business that helps folks helps manufacturers focus on EBITDA, you know, and really ask them as a metric and he’s doing a huge service to manufacturers, because at the end of the day, you know, the the age of the average manufacturing owner is getting older, and they got to figure out if they’re gonna sell it internally, you know, to management or family, you know, what’s what’s it worth? Yeah. And having those conversations and Damon in your business? Yeah, you know, looking at it in a, you know, from a buyer’s perspective, you know, the story of how it came to be is nice, but, you know, are you keeping up? Do you mess around employee attraction, retention development? Do you have a process for retaining and growing your market share? Do you have a process for innovating on your shop floor? If these things aren’t, aren’t processes, but they’re based on? You know, Bob, who’s been with the company for 50 years and he just knows what to do? Well, when Bob gets hit by a pie truck tomorrow what happens? Yep, you’re kind of stuck so and

Damon Pistulka  34:13

this is this is true whether or not you’re succeeding the business or selling a business too because those the if you want your family to be interested in it, look like it did 50 years ago, even if it’s making money you expect somebody to come to work they’re one of your kids, one of your nephews or nieces whoever take that thing over. They kind of be excited about it. It’s got to be good and bring in the next generation in it better make a little more money because otherwise somebody’s given away a lot if if someone comes in without that business keeping on and growing it’s

Ray Ziganto  34:45

because what happened where I see this more often than not and it’s probably going to resonate, is like the the owners, rightfully so a lot of them were accidental CEOs. Yeah, we’re good at what they did. They wound up building a business that consumed way more of their time and energy that they’re Ever thought they would. So rightfully so they suck some money out of it, especially as they’re getting kind of near the end. So it’s not going back into equipment or anything yet what happens even if it goes to the family, all the cash has been sucked out of it. The new owners stuck with the old equipment, no way to reach to recapitalize the business. So, you know, they’re kind of at the at the cliff right now with with a wind at their back. You know, yeah, it’s so it’s tough. So the right way to transition it is, you better leave a few bucks in the bank and some new equipment, you know, it’d be your own word, you know, you

Damon Pistulka  35:34

got to be your own, you got to be, you

Curt Anderson  35:37

know, so I’m, I’m, I’m gonna throw a little curveball, though, from when you were chatting earlier. So this might be a little bit of a broad question. But as you were chatting earlier, I’m thinking, the 75% of all manufacturers are 20 employee 20 employees or less, like you’re saying, like 99, or probably 100, less, I think, 75% or 20, and less. So say there’s manufacturer, regardless of age, or what that looks like, you know, and you walk in, and like, they’re just man, Ray, I just kind of I feel stuck. I’m just like, you know, that necessarily scared, but just like, I’m not sure what the future is, I feel a little bit stuck. I know, this is just kind of broad, but just like as your as you were talking earlier, that kind of sparked this question like, how do you help that manufacturer? Like, what how can you give them? You know, inspire them hope? excitement for the future? You know, I know you I feel like you’ve touched a lot of this, but what would you tell that manufacturer, you know,

Ray Ziganto  36:23

if it’s the 20 to 20, person, you know, business type thing? You’re looking at, you know, in general, what’s, what’s their niche? What are they doing? Are they are they a tool shoppers or CNC shop? Are they Is it real niches? You know, how specialized is it? How broad is it? Who are their current customers who’s been their current customers? So there’s a lot of ways to really frame where you’re gonna go with it. I’ll give you an example. When I was when I was working for a living industry, and running a company, same thing, you know, we’ve kind of plateaued at about, you know, 50 60 million bucks, and it was just, you know, in a job shop, you’re constantly kind of replacing, right, you know, you’ve had some stuff, and then some projects come to an end. So you got to get back. And it’s like, how do we pull ahead. And part of it was doing a fairly detailed analysis of our customer base, call it an 8020. You know, whatever it was, at the time, we had 300 companies on our customer base, we went through and after a thoughtful analysis determined 12 of them were really worth focusing on because we realized not to abandon the others. We just figured if we really focused on these 12, because they were, they were different. They were in diverse segments. So we weren’t going to get pigeonholed. We had growth within their supply chain. How did we know that? We asked? What’s your spend in the category that we’re in? What’s the share? What’s driving it? You know, we looked at those things, what were the margins? What were their hot buttons, and we really focused in, in those on those 12. And it was interesting, after 18 months, after focusing on 12, eight of those companies had really bought into our new base. It was a key account strategy. Yeah, North eight accounts generated about $23 million in new business. These were customers we already had. Yeah, we already? Yeah. And I’ve seen that play out over and over again. You know, it’s just you. It’s like an insurance company. They’re nicer to the new customers than the ones they already have. Yep. You know, wow. So that’s really the first place you look, you know, exactly. You might be sitting on gold and don’t know it, because you’re never asked,

Curt Anderson  38:39

right. Yeah, employee or key customer strategy. And yeah, dude that was like that is that.

Damon Pistulka  38:48

In fact, I interviewed someone last week was just talking about that again, and going back to the well of the people that you know, and get really good at delivering what they need. And you can you can double your revenue in 12 months doing that.

Ray Ziganto  39:04

Right. And be sure that part of your analysis factors in your margin. Yes. Just because, oh, we got to hurry up and ship this. Why, you know, as part of that analysis, we fired some customers. Yep. In a nice way. But it’s like man, 300 customers in you know, we have across the whole company, probably 2000 active part numbers. You know, that’s a lot of stuff to track. Who does that put burden on? That’s your office that’s, you know, who’s pulling the EDI reports. How many different companies do you have to connect into your ERP? You know, shipping advice, I’m stuck. You know, you the multiplication effect on the overhead applied to a big customer base for most for most companies in Job Shop manufacturing. You don’t need 1000 new customers you need three to five are the right ones. Exactly. And you’ll have more business and you’re ever going to then you’re ever going to need

Damon Pistulka  40:00

And that’s, that’s so that’s so true even if you’re a large amount of even be $100 million manufacturer because you’re not going to go after the $500,000 account, you’re gonna go after the five or $10 million accounts every year, you get two or three of those. And now I just added, you know, 15 to $30 million $40 million to $100 million manufacturer this is it’s not going out and find 1000s

Ray Ziganto  40:24

Now, and plus what happens is as you up your game, and the caliber of company that you’re serving, you’re all of a sudden kind of work in in a in a different stratosphere, the air gets a little more rarefied because you play in that space, you have to demonstrate some real chops and birds of a feather. If you’re supplying one, it makes it a hell of a lot easier when you want to walk over and go, Hey, we’re already working with that guy. We speak your language and know how to meet your requirements. But we can we’ll put some spin on it to make it unique for you. You’re in. You’re in, there’s none of this. Well, we’ll send you all the crap to quote for 20 years. And if you’re persistent, you know, we’ll transfer a tool. You’re not in it to get a tool transfer. Yeah, you’re in it to compete. And if they see you’re serious, it happens, man, though, you can get overwhelmed, then you got another problem. You know, how do you slow it down? You know, but that’s, you know, you’ll get what you asked for if you got a plan. So

Curt Anderson  41:22

oh my god, this is out there. astrograph That one? Like it’s been nothing but my charts today. Great. This is? Boy, if you’re a manufacturer out there, you’re president of company man, I welcome you encourage you hit the replay button hit this a few times. And again, this is just this is why we love interviewing MEPs because this is just, you know, again, just a pure masterclass. Right, no, you’re super busy. We’ll start winding down here, I like I’ve totally lost track of time, because I’d love to be with spend all day with Ray, let’s go here. A couple last things I want to ask you. So manufacturing is just we were just we’re manufacturing geeks and just find it so inspiring. Who or what inspires you kind of in the future of manufacturing, who were what is inspiring you, as we look out ahead in manufacturing,

Ray Ziganto  42:11

I’m really stoked about seeing so much startup activity in the manufacturing space and not just on the software. You know, everybody’s got something I’m gonna I’m gonna you know, this is transformational. And it’s like, before you get there, you’re really got to kind of have your blocking and tackling dialed in. So I admire the hell out of the company’s good friend, Oxshott Irani from ampere technologies and what he’s doing as a practical tool to get manufacturers of any type and any decade off to start collecting some data from their factories, seeing what’s going on, you know, the pro shop guys that are out there vandalizing Paul Van Meter and his team. Yeah, you know, I’ve come from a from a time when, you know, ERP was a necessary evil. This guy’s got a fan base, rightfully so yeah, it’s good. They’re good. So understand. So seeing that, and just seeing the, the people that aren’t afraid in this day and age to come out and say, I’m going to start a shop, or they still have a goal, I’m going to start a shop, right, because my heroes, frankly, it’s a lot easier to start with a clean sheet of paper, to bring something up with current technology. Those Those folks I think are they’re really going to be the future. My my heroes, to this day continue to be the manufacturing leaders, the business owners of those small and medium sized manufacturers that get up every day, and show up to make it 1% better, right, and the ones that are figuring out how to make that happen. It’s not the geniuses in the conference room. It’s everybody in that organization pulling in the same direction. That’s the power of their organization. So those those are my heroes, and anything my colleagues and I can do to help advance that. That is why we’re here. That’s why our friends, our friends in Indiana, and all of the MEPs get up every day to go to work. It’s to move that needle for those manufacturers

Curt Anderson  44:17

about this comment here, Alan, I agree with you 100% Yes, he is dropping bombs, you know, and I love it. So let’s start we’ll start winding down. So again, we’re here with razor guy, no connect with Bray on LinkedIn and Daymond dude, like, reason person? I mean, I know. I’m like, Guys, I’m like so excited and I can’t express how much this means to me. It’s not that we got our hair done together. You know, and just honestly guys, you know, we goof around a lot, but I can’t tell how much I appreciate you this man. Taking the time. And you know, we talked about the MEPs and this you know, I’m I’m honored. I’m with a couple IMEC colleagues here. We’re hitting manufacturers all week here in the Windy City and again, Cook County there’s this Oh much amazing incredible manufacturing going on here. It just I’m just so humbled and honored and privileged to be hanging out with guys a rageous get this masterclass that we had and then go see what these may you know what these incredible manufacturers are making right here in Chicago. It’s just so cool. I know Damon you’re interviewing Alyssa Dr. Alyssa Rodriguez from the media tomorrow night. up we just did a live stream with them the other day and they had they had a we did a live stream with them they had a client on and they pulled in the New Jersey MEP for some equipment. They had a six the woman was going to buy a piece of equipment and it was at 90 grand, which is like a piece of equipment 90 grand. They connected with the New Jersey MEP. The Alaskan AP connects her like hey, we have a guy. He’s at the New Jersey MEP. He found the same piece of equipment for 30 grand this woman saved $60,000 The MEP network. So it was raised talking about not only do they have 58 strong here in Illinois, they’ve got third party resources. They’ve got other states that they can call on. Just have the humility just had the courage just to reach out to Ray or somebody with your MEP network and just ask ask raise your hand like Ray said ask for help. And these guys are it’s just so incredible what these guys do to help manufacture so we thank you we applaud you we commend you just so admirable were written and thing is like, you know, rebrand 1000 person companies you can just tell the way he was talking for the past 45 minutes, ran 1000 person company and now he’s bringing his skills, his talents, his passion, just as unconditional drive to help manufacturers. I’m that one last question for your friend. North sider south side who is your baseball team? Ah,

Ray Ziganto  46:37

this this could be career limiting. Just just because it annoys more people and I get a kick out of it. I’m a Sox fan. So outside base. Oh, he’s

Curt Anderson  46:48

alright. So Damon. We’ve got a White Sox fan here. Yeah. Okay. So let me throw a little just a pure asking for a friend hypothetical. We’re at the White Sox game. I mean, if their baseball season NBT Ray, we’d be going away Sox game tonight. Right? So we’re at the White Sox game and it’s in it’s a tie score. It’s bottom ninth, and it’s high score. There’s a guy on second base tie score by midnight. We’re like, you know, we got to get this game over. But the manager for the White Sox looks down the bench. He yells he’s gonna get up to the plate. Hit in the winning run. Yeah, you grab your bat. You’re walking up. What’s your sign?

Ray Ziganto  47:23

What’s my song? Ooh, good one. My bad.

Curt Anderson  47:28

What’s your walk up song to hit into winning run at the White Sox game.

Ray Ziganto  47:35

signed, sealed delivered.

Damon Pistulka  47:38

There we go. That is a good one. At that time. You would want to change it to that at them. signed, sealed delivered. Are you kidding me? To think of that other than raise a gun. Oh, man. So hey,

Curt Anderson  47:52

we’ve got here we’ve got Nancy saying there’s only one true baseball team here. Thanks. For we’re wrapping up. So alright. Ray. Thank you, brother. Love you. I appreciate you, Damon, what an honor and privilege down here to have

Damon Pistulka  48:09

a great time this week, guys. We’re gonna have a great

Curt Anderson  48:11

time. We’re hitting manufacturers here in the Windy City. So guys, we’ll let you go have an amazing incredible week catch Daymond on faces of business. He has some great guests. We have another great guest coming up on Friday, Damon, we’re going to be talking about respect in the workplace. Nancy says you’ve signed so delivered Rosie Ramsay. So I man. We’re closing out Damon, thank you, brother. Thank you, everybody. Thank you, Nancy. Everybody in the comments. Stephen, what do you what do you takeaways from right? What do you got before we wrap up? I

Damon Pistulka  48:42

just it’s so much fun just to get talking about I guess, because Ray and I whenever we get out and we just get going, man, because it’s so much fun. It’s so much fun. Because there is such an opportunity in manufacturing now that for people involving their companies or people that are getting into the industry. Just it’s just a fun space right now. Like it hasn’t been I mean, because I you know, you and I both Ray started in this in the 70s. Right. Yeah. And and this just it just hasn’t been like this before. Yeah,

Ray Ziganto  49:14

we had a good first few years. And then it was 40 years.

Curt Anderson  49:18

Yeah.

Damon Pistulka  49:20

It hasn’t been like this now. It is so exciting to see that the young people the innovation and the things that are happening for us.

Curt Anderson  49:26

I agree. So All right, guys, we’re closing out. Thank you. God bless everybody. Hey, Diane says Have a great week. So great, fantastic conversation. Nancy. Thank you. I’m gonna see you later tonight. And we’ll close