Manufacturing eCommerce Success – with Advantage Components Inc

Curt Anderson  00:01

Hey, good morning Damon. Dude. Like this isn’t our normal time like it’s 11 o’clock right? Like it’s really early where you are what time is it? They’re like six. It’s

Damon Pistulka  00:08

8am Curt it’s Ed I’m

Curt Anderson  00:10

already Jeff you’re gonna have your coffee you have your breakfast you

Damon Pistulka  00:13

have your workout and all that behind you all done.

Curt Anderson  00:16

Well, dude, you look so fat. You look handsome as ever. So Damon, we have a really special guest. What a great program here. I think today’s a special day. Damon, do you know what today is?

Damon Pistulka  00:26

I think I do but I’ll let you tell us

Curt Anderson  00:29

at well you know what, let’s go to my dear friend. I love the last names and our lineup here tonight. I’m a baseball fan. So like we’ll do a little Google lineup here. So our leadoff hitter is my bestie Jaclyn Kolodziej. Jaclyn Good morning. How are you

Jaclyn Kolodziej  00:45

Good morning, everybody.

Curt Anderson  00:47

Jaclyn, where are you today?

Jaclyn Kolodziej  00:49

I am in Joliet, Illinois, visiting some of my friends at Advantage Components. All right. Well,

Curt Anderson  00:56

how awesome is this? We’re gonna dig in. And hey, I think it’s it’s a little celebration today. Right? Is that Is that what’s going on? Is today a big day?

Jaclyn Kolodziej  01:05

I think today might be Manufacturing Day manufacturing.

Curt Anderson  01:10

All right. So hey, we’re baseball fans out there. We’ll talk about whether White Sox are copies since we’re in Chicago today, but I’m gonna go over to our second hitter the day my dear friend, my other bestie Diana, Diana. Good morning. How’s Chicago today?

Diana Delucio  01:25

Chilly, but it’s beautiful day today.

Curt Anderson  01:28

It’s a beautiful fall day. So Diana, thank you for joining us. Thank you for bringing the party. And I’m going to slide over to the left. So batting third. You know, Damon for third. You know, you got a good average little power. I’m going to Jason Sanders. Jason. You know what, and you know, what we call Jason Sanders by Colonel Sanders is in the house here today. So we got Colonel Jason Sanders. Happy growing up. You got that? So I’m not original human. I was hoping to be original. Jason. Good morning. How are you today?

Jason Sanders  01:56

Good. How are you?

Curt Anderson  01:57

I’m doing fantastic. We’re excited to dig deep and get your perspective from a sales standpoint. Boy Band and clean up. You know, this is the guy that he’s hitting homeruns on a regular basis. You know, he might be in the Hall of Fame someday, if not already. Kevin O’Sullivan. How are you my friend? What is happening?

Kevin O’Sullivan  02:16

How are ya? Pleased to be here today.

Curt Anderson  02:19

We are absolutely thrilled to have you here. And so you know Kevin O’Sullivan, that might be one of the most Irish names I’ve heard a lot of virus names that might man that’s when you throw that Oh, and the apostrophe and you combine it with solvent that might be the the most Irish name that I’ve ever heard. Right? It might my close on that one. Kevin.

Kevin O’Sullivan  02:35

My Irish mother and father did a good job of that one there.

Damon Pistulka  02:41

Yep. There’s only one other person I think we know that might run a second. Nancy. O Leary.

Curt Anderson  02:48

Leary, and she’s, she’s in Chicago as well. So yeah. Programming a few weeks. So that’s awesome. So , let’s kick thin Jaclyn off here. First, let’s you’re with iMac so any of our friends out there listening? You are with the Illinois MEP. Can you just please give a little background? Who and what is the Manufacturing Extension Partnership? What’s going on at IMEC?

Jaclyn Kolodziej  03:10

All right. So across the nation, every state has a manufacturing extension partnership. IMEC is Illinois. And so we are the Illinois Manufacturing Excellence Center. Our goal is to ignite Illinois manufacturing excellence and help them become more globally competitive.

Curt Anderson  03:32

Well, good answer and I tell you guys do an amazing job in his Fairfax. We talking about we’ve got a bus tour. And Damon, we’re gonna be streaming live into the IMEC bus tour on Monday. So I can’t wait for that one. So I’m messing up the batting order. Right. So I’m just I’m throwing a little curveball at you guys. Kevin O’Sullivan. Let’s go here. Please enlighten us. 1997 what was going on in your life in your world that something happened in 1997? I’m just curious.

Kevin O’Sullivan  04:01

Well, we my business partner and I we had worked for a company that did wire harnesses and molded cable assemblies, and learned a lot from now on all the way through manufacturing and back into sales eventually. And we both decided the company was sold a few times and we said to ourselves, Well, how about if we chat our own destiny. And we made the decision to partner up and start advantage components and in a 12 by 12 cubicle and we started one account that one account at a time. So here we are today, manufacturing here in Illinois, and 27 years later, we’ve I feel we’ve done a pretty good job.

Curt Anderson  05:00

Wow, I think so Damon let’s, let’s, let’s go there. Okay, so let’s do a little math. So I’m, I’m not a math major, but do you guys know four out of five businesses fail. In the first five years, four out of five businesses fail in the first five years. So batting average is like, you know, if you, you know, you come out of that 20%, your, your your gold, right? Then you got another five years ago, four out of five businesses fail in the next five years. And then it just keeps perpetuating and every five year cycle so, Kevin, dude, you have survived like you’re into your sixth, fifth year cycle, do you realize like, you’re in a percentage? You’re you’re an anomaly, my friend, you’re in a very small tiny percentage of businesses that can last 27 years. curious minds are love would love to know Are young entrepreneurs that are maybe put you put back in your you know, where you were? 9097 How’d you do it? How did you survive 27 years?

Kevin O’Sullivan  05:56

It was tough. We went through a couple of major economic downturns. And I mean, to be honest with you, I think once we gained a little bit of traction and started picking up accounts, the key to the whole thing was recognizing the employees that worked alongside us. Without them. We would never be here. You’ve got to rely on your employees. You know, their creativity, their their their perseverance, their own desire to help make you successful without them. We wouldn’t be here. Yeah.

Curt Anderson  06:35

All right, Jaclyn, that might be our first drop of mic moment, right.

Jaclyn Kolodziej  06:42

And I do I visit often. And let me tell you, I love when I get to come visit advantage components. The workforce is amazing. You go out on the floor, everyone’s smiling, friendly, happy and working hard. So the whole team here does a really remarkable job.

Curt Anderson  07:00

Awesome. Wow. Okay, well, speaking of rock star, all star Hall of Fame employees, I’m gonna slide over to Kevin to my left. Jason, Colonel Sanders, can you please share, give us a little bit of your background, you’re the sales superstar. Just give us your perspective of what’s going on and advantage components.

Jason Sanders  07:18

So I’m going to start with kind of how I got my start in the industry. So starting in 1997, I was a CAD designer many years ago, right? So I had the opportunity to work for a few different manufacturers, but also interfacing with the manufacturing floor with the designs, you know, confirming bills of material things of that nature. And I got into sales by accident. So it’s one of those things I was working on a project, the aftermarket sales manager wanted to go out and interface with the customer I did, I did such a good job that when I came back, I actually had a job waiting for me and aftermarket sales, and then kind of fast forwarding to working with ACI, you know, everything that I’ve learned along the way, it’s going to help me, you know, help ACI grow the business here, but also have the ability to learn from guys like Kevin Right. So he does have a wealth of knowledge. And I just want to take what’s in his brain and try to convey that out to the masses. So

Curt Anderson  08:18

wow, I love that answer. very humbled. And so the accidental sales rep. How about that, you know, and just, you know, and you do have a great personality, so I can imagine that the people are just like just buying left and right. So what are some challenges that you’re facing? Or what are you seeing out there as you’re dealing with clients dealing with customers Chase like, what do you what do you hear in industry right now?

Jason Sanders  08:40

Right now when I’m working with customers is just trying to make sure that we understand their their specifications with their product to help them kind of produce you know, things on their manufacturing, manufacturing floors, right? So we want to make sure that you know when or when we’re working through engineering design builds on material that we understand what is going to be required when we’re producing wire harnesses for our customers that’s probably one of the biggest challenges that I see.

Curt Anderson  09:04

All right, great answer so wire harness assemblies cables also and we’re going to dig deep into some of the how you guys are making the world a better place at advantage components. So Diana, my dear friend, boy, we had a good time a few months ago and just what an honor privilege for you to be back here. And I wish I was with you guys. But I guess this is this is second best from throwing on your marketing hat. What talk a little bit about like, how is it marketing for you know, a custom manufacturer, wire harness manufacturer? What’s it like from your perspective and First, give us a little bit of your background insight into your role now at the company.

Diana Delucio  09:38

So I’ve been here at advantage components nine years. I similar to Jason’s stumbled up on here. I saw job opening I wanted to be originally a cop. That was a career change. Well,

Curt Anderson  09:56

hey, you know what? Somebody needs to be policing overcome Haven’t right like he needed? Yeah. That dream, right?

Diana Delucio  10:05

Yeah. So that was Plan A, I started working here. And coincidentally enough, when I started working here, we were working on one of our programs with IMEC, we were doing a lean learning opportunity program with, and that really just drew me straight into manufacturing. And I loved everything I was able to learn with them, and just so many projects ever since then, and throughout these nine years, I can’t imagine myself in a different industry. And you know, like Kevin was saying, you know, the employees, the people that I work with are really great. And, you know, it’s been such a great ride here. So nine years, and now I am taking on the marketing role. So that’s been a journey.

Curt Anderson  10:56

Okay. Well, I established the fact that I’m not a math major, but I’m, I’m like, 1997, you’re saying nine years. So I’m, like, everybody started in junior high, or like high school like, what do you guys look so darn Young? Like, I’m trying to do the math here. I’m like, I’m like Damon, these these these. This timeline doesn’t make any sense to me. Yeah, you guys are doing I should work there. Make that look younger. But Jaclyn, I just heard that. Diana was just talking about like, hey, we were working with IMEC. On lean. You’re the marketing guru. Can you just share with everybody? What what are some of the services solutions, superpowers that are going on? At IMEC? We’re manufacturers like advantage can can take advantage of How about that one?

Jaclyn Kolodziej  11:37

Absolutely. So we have a ton of different technical specialists on our team that help manufacturers in many areas. So Diana mentioned lean, we help with leadership, we help with workforce development, I specifically work to help with marketing and growth services, ERP implementations, the whole gamut of things that that companies need to continue being successful to thrive. So plant floor layouts, I mean, the list can go on.

Curt Anderson  12:12

The list goes on and on. And Damon, we have the honor privilege, we interview all sorts of MEPs. As matter of fact, today, we’re interviewing Carroll Thomas, after this program, the previous director, that MEP, I know you’re blown away consistently with MEPs. Right, like, would you work with a number of them? We were up in Alaska. what’s your takeaway on MEP network?

Damon Pistulka  12:32

Well, I think I mean, that’s just I’m amazed at the MEP network. And then the other resources we have I mean, you just start to look at the depth of a place like IMEC there. And you go, wow, if you’re not, you know, reaching out to your local manufacturing, Extension Partnership, and getting to know him just getting to know him. Because that’s a resource. It’s a resource, and that you can just call upon you and say, Hey, I’ve got this problem. And it might be something that is a bit obscure, but someone in the network in the US and Puerto Rico on the other places they have, they’ll, they’ll, they’ll have someone that knows about that. And they’ll they’ll get back to you and they will help you. That’s the thing I just I just can’t emphasize enough. Plus, you

Curt Anderson  13:17

get to hang out with people like Jaclyn. Hello, Jay. So that contact is great. I’ve been I have man, I’ve gotten tons of questions for Kevin. But Kevin, what inspired you to first reach out to IMEC or to the MEP network? How did you recall years ago how it came on your radar? How did you start a relationship with IMEC?

Kevin O’Sullivan  13:39

We, we were struggling as a growing company. And one of the things we realize is that we just weren’t organized enough on the manufacturing floor in terms of executing. As the business got bigger and more complex. It it started to bog us down we realized that we needed some help in trying to lean out these assembly lines. One of the guys suggested we need a why don’t we try and find somebody that can teach our manufacturing floor about the benefits of lean manufacturing, started doing some Google searches and IMEC popped up. We reached out to them. And they came and interviewed us and listened to all the things we were doing wrong. They’re incredibly patient. And, you know, suggested a few things and the light bulb went on and and we’re like, wow. They had some very, very good people that were involved with Lean at the time. It was a Danaher guy that he was a lien guru, and they assigned him to our account. I mean, they felt that we needed the the best they had in their bullpen thought. And we started the relationship with them. And they walked us through the Lean process and worked with the employees day in day out. And we slowly made the transformation. And they were they were invaluable to helping us understand the benefits of lean. So that’s how we started with them. But as Jacqueline said, they had all kinds of resources they even had, we have a molding side of the separation, and they happen to have a guy that was a bit of a process, you know, molding guru. We bounced quite a few questions off of him. We didn’t even know he was in the in the bullpen. It just went on and on anywhere we needed help within this organization. They had somebody that could step up and help us it was you know, they’re an amazing resource.

Curt Anderson  15:50

Right? Well, and Kevin was that Jaclyn,

Jaclyn Kolodziej  15:55

it’s a goosebumps all over.

Curt Anderson  15:58

You got to goosies right? We need to be pull here. That’s her line. She says, Oh, I got the goosies. Will Kevin, I don’t know if you knew this or if everybody out there knew this. So I’m iMac is an acronym for I have a guy. And so that’s what I meant. And so whatever problem whatever, I’m not sure how the IMEC state, you know how it works out. But anyway, I’m not good with the alphabet, either. Daymond. So I’m not a math major. Not good with alphabet, but it stands for I have a guy but Kevin, I love what you’re saying. And boy, for a young entrepreneur, a seasoned entrepreneur, when you listen to somebody like Kevin has been in business for 27 years. It’s great to like, listen for clues, right? Just like Jason was saying, like, I just want to be a sponge when there’s a successful, successful entrepreneur on the stage. Haven’t you talked about your team and the employees? And then secondly, what I love and admire is a humility of like, you know what, like, we’re really not doing this very well. Like, we’re not that good. And it takes a lot of humility, because entrepreneurs, like you need to be confident you need to show your team confidence. Can you talk about that a little bit about like, how do you it sounds like you’re building incredible, you’ve built an incredible culture? Can you talk a little bit about like, when do you know, to raise your hand and say, Hey, like, I need some help here? Like, how do you how do you hit that?

Kevin O’Sullivan  17:09

A part of it is listening, you know, getting feedback from the employees, to be honest with you. I mean, I try and stay involved in as much as I can without being a helicopter owner, I guess. But when I when I see the employees bringing up these issues, the first thing you want to start thinking about immediately is okay, solutions solution oriented, how can we help these people? You know, and just listening to them, we don’t have all the answers. You know, we been in this industry a long time, but you learned something every day. And oftentimes you learn it from the people that are right on the floor, you know, they’ll open your eyes to eat, whether it’s a smaller problem or a major one that needs to be addressed. You know, just hear them out. Don’t ignore them. Make sure you as an owner, or as a manager, you want to make sure that you are approachable. You have to have that sort of personnel, they cannot be afraid to come to you. It may be them just sounding off. None of it is I never see it as a complaint. I see it as an opportunity to hear them out. And and and trying to find a solution to whatever the problem is big or small. So hopefully that that that answers the question.

Curt Anderson  18:34

Well, Jaclyn, you know, when we like when somebody when when they take the Java mic to a new level, Kevin, we call it the moment of silence. So like, I just want everybody just absorb that brilliance right there. It is never a complaint. It is an opportunity, dude. Like, like, we need a quote that right there Jacqueline. Right. It’s never a complaint. It’s an opportunity. Love what you’re saying. So let’s turn it over to our friend Jason. Jason, let’s get you back up to the plate. So you are fierce sales. Rep. Whitehurst assemblies are a little bit challenging, right? They’re not like they’re, you know, there’s a couple of parts that go into a wire harness assembly, if I’m not mistaken, right, it gets a little complicated.

Jason Sanders  19:13

Just a few. Just a few, you know, some of the products that we get involved with, you know, we get involved with things that are very simplistic in nature, right, we talk about, you know, something very similar or very simple, as, you know, maybe a few conductors, a couple of connectors, right? Or it’s going to be something where it’s going to be what we would call a Medusa harness where it’s got so many different breakouts going out into various parts of the machine, right. So you know, the machinery that we look at, it could be something that is used on lawnmowers, or it could be used something, something that’s used on let’s say, cranes or maybe earthmoving equipment, right, so we see a lot of different applications, some very simplistic some complex.

Curt Anderson  19:57

Alright, let’s take it another step further. Jason. I’m talking Little bit about like some, what are some of the industries like what are like, what do you feel like? What’s your sweet spot for advantage, like when you walk into a client, and you just, you know, back to like those goosebumps that Jaclyn was talking about where you’re like, Man, this is a perfect client for us who are like some of the best fits those best opportunities that you feel. Yeah, so

Jason Sanders  20:17

for us, we play in a few different arenas, right? So we get involved with agricultural equipment, construction equipment, maybe some medical applications and whatnot. For us, I think a sweet spot for us is working with the guys that build a construction equipment, maybe that mid size company, you know, Barry, that knows their product and what they’re looking for, right? Maybe it’s, you know, a company that has already developed the program, right, where it’s not a lot of engineering, right. So we do provide engineering services for our customers. But what makes it go much further past the initial conversation is when customers come to the table with a design already in place.

Curt Anderson  21:00

Okay, perfect. And that’s it. Go ahead, Damon. And then the cool

Damon Pistulka  21:04

part about your business, I think is you went the everything, virtually every piece of equipment, it’s gone from that simple little conductor to the Medusa with all the sensor changes, and everything else is going on it. I mean, that’s one of the things that I was, I was wondering, you know, if Kevin, you had to see incredible changes in the needs for these kinds of products over the years.

Kevin O’Sullivan  21:30

No, yeah, I mean, yeah. And that, and part of it is, is being able to equip the factory, you know, to meet those those demands, and the wire harness manufacturer is a combination of some pretty sophisticated processing equipment, combined with, you know, incredible people power, you know, it’s not all fully automated. So it’s a, you know, it’s, it’s an orchestration of both of those, you know, and to try and lean all of that out. It’s one thing to produce wires, 100 miles an hour, but it’s another thing once the employees get them to set up the process to, to get that the flow smoothly as well. And kind of in in unison with the with the high end wire processing equipment that we use. Yeah. Wow. It’s quite an orchestration. Oh, I

Damon Pistulka  22:21

bet I bet.

Curt Anderson  22:24

Interesting. In when you do, like, low runs, Kevin, it’s like, you know, a lot of that automation, you know, excuse my ignorance, if I’m off, but like, you know, if you have like a low run, or somebody just needs a small quantity, there’s a lot of, you know, a lot of manual components, it’s really kind of an art, isn’t it?

Kevin O’Sullivan  22:41

Yeah, I mean, once you take the automation out of the mix, you lose some control over the, you know, the quality monitoring of it. So you go to more tabletop equipment. And then you rely on the pool tests and, you know, higher degree of inspection along the way to make sure that thing gets out the door with the same quality level as one that’s produced off of a high end piece of equipment. Yep.

Curt Anderson  23:07

Perfect. All right. So let’s talk marketing, Diana, so you’ve been there for nine years, I still can’t believe you started in junior high. So that’s awesome. Nine years. So let’s go there, like how do you market a wire harness manufacturer custom, you know, cables, and what have you like, what are some tips, you know, without giving away the secret sauce? What are some, you know, what are some tips and strategies that you’ve learned along the way in your nine year journey?

Diana Delucio  23:31

So I think so I’ve been doing marketing, just to clarify, for seven months now,

Curt Anderson  23:38

oh, seven months. You’re a lot of seasoned veteran, that’s awesome.

Diana Delucio  23:46

We’ve learned a lot about really finding our perfect customer. Like Jason was saying, you know, there’s quite a bit of industries that we do serve, but really finding those customers that we can truly offer the most services, the ones that we can really provide value in. Because wire harness manufacturers, you can find them everywhere. But I think what really makes us a little bit different is kind of being able to sell some solutions in the construction, and the agriculture industries. So those are the customers that we really want to go after and talk to and kind of figure out what their pain points are, so that we can provide some sort of value solution for them.

Curt Anderson  24:30

Love it. So let’s you know so for the Diana’s out there, those solo marketers out there would say, you know, if you were to talk back to your seven month ago self, what are some tips or strategies or some things you know, I know you’re in early stage of the learning process here, and how exciting that you’re in a new position, but what are some tips or advice that you would share with other solo marketers that manufacturers like yourself?

Diana Delucio  24:52

Um, I would say go for it. You know, I think a lot of the times when you’re offered something new like um, You know, any aspect of marketing, whether you starting new on social media or starting new on email marketing, it can be a little frightening because you’re like, I’m not sure what I’m doing. But honestly, the best way I have learned, you know, in my nine year journey here has just been, you know, making mistakes, and then receiving encouragement from, you know, Kevin and my other leadership, and just really learning along the way. Well take every opportunity.

Curt Anderson  25:28

Yeah. And how awesome is it? You know, Kevin, you know, at the end, we’re going to talk about like, why all the cool kids are going into manufacturing. But what’s awesome here, it seemed like the growth opportunity, you know, that you have, you have Diana, we’re like, you know, previous positions, and you’ve been able to grow with the company. Jaclyn, let’s slide over to you, my friend. So you know, we’re kind of spoiled, right? We get to go hang out like these amazing, cool people in manufacturing, you get to go visit all of them and see what’s going on. You’re a marketing guru yourself. Talk a little bit about like, you know, different aspects of what you see, when you’re coming in. What are you looking for? How do you try to help? You know, from your IMEC standpoint? How do you try to assist someone like Dana with your marketing guru? Enos, I just made up that word, but with your marketing?

Jaclyn Kolodziej  26:14

Oh, well, I kind of echo what Kevin was saying, you know, we come in and listen, figure out what’s going on who they are, what their needs are. And so for, for my relationship here at advantage, it was, you know, they had brought in Diana to that marketing role. And so they’re leaning on me to help bring her up to speed in a in a training kind of arena. And so, we’ve been spending the past six months together, working through even just the basics, she wrote a strategic marketing plan as the first priority. And based on that, figuring out growth goals, company goals, now helping her learn how to tactically execute those things on her own. So I get well, and to answer the question you asked Diana, you know, for solo marketers in manufacturing, who might feel overwhelmed, give us a call. I love coming in and helping helping teach and support. Yeah, and I can continue my guru Enos.

Curt Anderson  27:21

I just like that word. I’m going to talk to cousin Scott. Right. And we’re gonna get a solo demon out if you know, Jacqueline, can you share with Damon? What’s your other half? What’s what’s, what’s his name? I forgot.

Jaclyn Kolodziej  27:32

Scott Anderson. Wow, what

27:34

a great last name.

Curt Anderson  27:35

So I had the honor and privilege of hanging out with Scott, we went up to Niagara Falls. And man, we have a good time. So let’s take back in here. So Kevin, 27 years, just relentless entrepreneur, anything when you guys when you started this little party 27 years ago, and this is gonna be a little bit of a broad answer. You know, you’ve survived, you know, we had tough times. And after 911, we had tough times in 2008. I think we went through this little thing called COVID. I don’t know if you guys knew about that in Chicago, but there was this little thing, you know, how do you as an entrepreneur, how do you weather those like really unforeseen Holy Cow moments? How do you get through those as an entrepreneur?

Kevin O’Sullivan  28:16

Wow, that’s that’s a that’s a? That’s a great question. You know,

Curt Anderson  28:21

that was my that was my, that was my high fastball. You didn’t see that.

Kevin O’Sullivan  28:27

Yeah. Well, I think I, you know, we have, I mean, I could tell you some of the things that we’ve done during the tough times, the first thing you want to do is save everybody’s job. No matter what. So it’s a kind of a group thing. We’ve done it several times in the past, we’ve gone through some some pretty tough times with with COVID with some of these major economic downturns. We were heavily automotive at one time, and when they shut the faucet off, they shut it off. That’s it. And they don’t give much notice. Yeah. So how do you how do you weather that, you know, you, you circle the wagons with the group and you tell them okay, here, you know, we’re gonna go through a rough spot here. It could be two months, it could be six months, we’re actively out looking for new business. In the meantime, we’re all going to we’ll have to go down and maybe three days a week or maybe four days a week, and my business partner and myself have done the same we have taken major pay cuts. There was a stretch where we didn’t take any pay at all in our early stages to keep this deal going, you know, to make sure the employees were paid to make sure that we kept them all because we knew it was going to turn around we just needed that that that period of time to weather that storm and to ask the the employees to weather it with us. So I know it’s it’s It’s a drastic thing to have to do. But the employees were willing to work with us. And we got through some pretty tough times and nobody lost their jobs. And that was the main thing. So I hope that answers your question. That’s all we did it.

Curt Anderson  30:17

I put you on the spot, and that you know what, you smash that high fastball right out of the park. Dude, that was like my job number 10. I lost Damon What do you think of that one?

Damon Pistulka  30:27

Well, it’s just, it’s just shows again, the resilience and what I love about private business owners and you your ability to weather these storms, and not just shed everybody out the door to do it, you know, you can make it make a choice that helps the community, your your business, the the people in the community, and, and those people themselves and their families, because they still have an they still have employment, it may not be full employment, like they actually, you know, would would desire at that moment. But in the long term is the best thing that you can do for them in the community and your business. All in one. Everybody wins when you do that. It’s so cool. And not fun. But it’s cool.

Curt Anderson  31:17

Kevin, if you relate to this, like, you know, we’re when you’re in that moment, you’re just like, Alright, I just need to make a decision right now. And then when time goes by you’re like, I don’t know about you. I was like, How the heck did I get through that? You know? How did we get through? COVID? How did I get through? 911? How did I get through these? So Jason, let’s site over to you my friend. I want to talk to you about culture. Okay. And so I don’t know Damon, I might throw I’m gonna throw him a softball that Jason I’m telling you like a big fat juicy softballs that so may. I want to talk to you about culture. So when I’m, you know, like, right off the bat, you guys have this contagious enthusiasm. Kevin, I just my respect and admiration for what you’ve built over this timeline is just off the charts. Jason, I want to hit culture on a couple of aspects. You as a teammate, team member, like, you know, your gifted guide skills, you know, the accidental Rockstar salesperson, you could go other places? What do you love about the culture at advantage? A? B, how do you is just like this dedicated sales guy? How do you help? How do you feel that you help contribute to this awesome culture? And advantage?

Kevin O’Sullivan  32:18

Nice.

Jason Sanders  32:20

Sure. So let’s start with the cultural aspect of the company. Right? So when I’m working with my team members here, you know, I want to make sure that we keep a very cohesive working environment, making sure that we all kind of collaborate, you know, with one another, right? I forgot the second portion of that question. So I do apologize about Yeah,

Curt Anderson  32:42

no worries. You know what, and I know, that’s, you know, what? And that’s, that’s, that’s my inability, I know, they will say, you should never ask two questions at once. And I did, and I broke that rule. So first question was like, you know, the code, I just, you know, like, when you go into website, and you know, what, Dana, I’ll get your mind thinking about, I’m gonna come to you with culture about as well. So I’m going to talk to you about, so I’m giving you like a little runway to be thinking about it. But Jason is from a culture standpoint, like what attracts you to stay at advantage or just being a loyal, dedicated employee? And then be as a sales? Rep. How do you exude that? So like, when you walk into a customer? Right, let’s, let’s face this, there, I think there might be one or two wire harness assembly companies in the United States. Right, sir. Kevin, do you have any competition? Like maybe one or two somewhere? Right?

Kevin O’Sullivan  33:30

Yeah, I mean, they’re almost like taverns. I think they’re on every block.

Curt Anderson  33:35

Every community has, like, like, there’s a wire harness manufacturer every right it’s, it’s not, you know, it’s not unique. So Jason, what I’m asking is, like, you know, when you walk into a client, like that enthusiasm, that culture, how, you know, they’re buying you, are they you know, they’re, you know, yeah, it’s great that you can make this wire harness assembly, but I’m buying you I’m buying knew that I trust you. I’m buying your personality, I’m buying that relationship. How do you feel as a sales rep that you spread that culture to your clients? How’s that for? Is that better? Question?

Jason Sanders  34:06

How’s that? Yeah, that’s a fair question. So for me when I’m working with my clients, you know, I want to make sure that I can actually tell the ACI story, you know, who we are as an organization, right? Telling stories about Kevin and what he’s kind of gone through with his business you know, working with individuals such as Diana talking about the marketing effort that we have here you know, talking about our manufacturing team not only here in Joliet but also down in Mexico, making sure our customers understand who we are but more importantly how can I help them solve some of their issues after seeing other manufacturing floors?

Curt Anderson  34:39

Excellent that Jason that might Damon was that mic drop number I lost count I’m not sure so we’re gonna come over to you if guys anyone check out their website is absolutely awesome. Love what you’re doing Diana again, your your your your seven month journey here in this new position. How do you help spread that culture from a marketing standpoint and I don’t know, I heard that there might be a strategic plan. Do you want to talk about your do combine that that culture with a strategic plan or let’s go through that process?

Diana Delucio  35:09

So one of the first things I learned my month number one was LinkedIn is prime. Jaclyn I didn’t have an account myself and I, when she told me about LinkedIn, I’m like, oh, man, what are we gonna post on there, who’s even on there? Now, you can’t catch me off of it. But I think what we really want to show, for example, like on our social media is yes, our product services, what we can offer, but also a little bit about our culture, who we are, how we work together, you know, our departments have all worked really well together. And I think that really shows in our culture and in our ability to just you know, all be together, have fun, have a good time, but also just really be able to get things done for our, you know, our customers. So I try to emphasize making, making a point to show that on our, you know, social media or newsletters that we send out, just making sure they know that we are a really close knit group of people. And I think that’s kind of one of our superpowers here.

Curt Anderson  36:21

Well, I love that. And so, David, what do you what do you got,

Damon Pistulka  36:26

I think that’s great, I think I think you know, you, you have the opportunity to share the story behind the products and services. And that’s where you can, people will engage with you that are attracted to the story. And then they will engage with you because they want to do business with someone that does those things that acts that way that treats people that way, and does business that way. And it’s really exciting to see you that you said I didn’t have a LinkedIn account. And then now you’re starting to use it and the company is going to use it because it’s it’s a powerful tool. It’s a powerful tool to be able to share great things about the people great things about the solutions created. And you know, the great picnic that you had, or whatever it is that that really turned out well for you or your customers.

Curt Anderson  37:18

In dynasty you.

Jaclyn Kolodziej  37:20

I’m gonna jump in here currently speaking of LinkedIn, make sure you all go to advantage components Inc, and start following. Diana has done an amazing job telling the story being on the journey. And so it is a really nice mix. She started getting into video and her and her team created a mini series about some capabilities and, and part of the culture too is her teammates, even though they might be intimidated about videos, they’re getting on and they have a show wired up with ACI And they’re just killing it right now.

Damon Pistulka  37:56

Nice. Nice.

Curt Anderson  37:58

That is absolutely awesome. And so in Jack and what I love, you know, unite, you know, you know, we love using that tagline how to teach the competition. And so what I love that you’re what you’re doing, Diana, you know, you’re coming in as an educator. So you know, you’ve got Jason as the Rockstar salesperson, but you know, like for that first touch that first engagement that first like, you know, Hey, I see you on LinkedIn type of thing we’re gonna love what you’re doing is you’re coming in as that trusted advisor, we’re like, Hey, I’m gonna make I’m gonna manufacture this microphone. And maybe I’m an expert at the microphone. But I don’t know a thing about the wires that go inside that microphone. So I’m kind of wanting you guys to be my trusted advisor to figure out that wire assembly going on, you know, whatever that product is. So I just I love that approach. And Jacqueline, as you know, you know, tons of webinars, workshops, training that any manufacturer can catch at either your local MEP, or at our friends with IMEC. So, alright, we’re gonna start winding things down, because I know you guys are super busy just producing all sorts of great products. We’re gonna go round the horn one more time. So Kevin Damon and I had an amazing, incredible interview Damon, I can’t believe it was almost a year ago already. It was a gentleman who’s a consultant, global consultant all over the world. He’s interviewed and research literally like 1000s and 1000s of people. He’s interviewed like different histories of time of people. And what the study was like, why are certain industries, certain people, certain cultures, why do they thrive and survive? And he had one word for us and it was just I will never forget it. I’ve talked about goosebumps. Jacqueline, I’m getting goosebumps right now thinking about it. He said the word saga for an entrepreneur to let that really separates themselves or the entrepreneur that’s able to survive and thrive for 27 years. What they’ve done is they’ve created a saga, and their team has bought into that saga. Maybe you weren’t thinking that way 27 years ago, but like, can you just share like, what is your saga and how do you continue your legacy for years and years have come at advantage components?

Kevin O’Sullivan  40:01

Well, I would hope that you know, everybody at this company and write down that from the office people right down the floor, people can at the very least recognize how I treated them and supported them and did everything I could to to help, you know, me, help that I wanted them to help me make this a collective success. And if they can just benchmark of that, you know, the respect the mutual respect the teamwork aspect. I think that would be the legacy that I would like to leave behind when it’s time for me to step down or retire or what have you. I think that’s the most important thing. In a nutshell, it really is. It’s what I tried to bring to the table every day I came here.

Curt Anderson  41:06

Well, boom, drop it again. Dropping it again. Name I’m Jaclyn, I need to get a new microphone after this interview. Thank you. Hey, Kevin, that was just so good. And again, like your tenacity, your humility, you know, and there’s so many takeaways, Scott, if you just joined us, man, please do yourself a favor hit the rewind button. You’re on a walk with a dog or you’re doing look out for a run this weekend. Whatever you’re doing, watching a ballgame catch this replaced as this was just a masterclass on entrepreneurial success. Jason, I’m coming to you, my friend, I’m going to ask you something very similar. We’re talking about the saga. Okay. Again, when you walk into your clients, and you know, you’re closing the deal advantage components is the place to be what how would you describe like, what is the saga? That you feel that when you’re walking with clients, or just that you, you know, you puff out your chest, you feel so proud of representing this company? What do you feel as a saga, from your perspective?

Jason Sanders  42:01

The saga from my perspective is it really starts with the team and kind of conveying that message to our customers, right? I mean, it’s one thing to say that we’ve got great products, which we do, by the way, but it’s another thing to have a team that really stands behind what you do not only from a manufacturing perspective, but also from a product perspective as well. Without that team it really means nothing that message right? So

Curt Anderson  42:28

I think my my microphone, I think it fell on the floor again. So let’s close it out with we’re gonna start winding down. From your perspective marketing, it just can you recap a couple of marketing things. Again, I heard wired up, you’ve got a little video series, you’re sharing the saga just kind of recap for everybody like Where should they find advanced components? What should they be following? Just let’s go there for a minute.

Diana Delucio  42:51

Yeah, so follow us on LinkedIn advantage components. You can catch some educational some culture stuff. You know, make sure to follow the team members as well. They’ll be posting on there as well. If you want to contact us best place would be our website. WW dad ACI wires.com. Nice and easy.

Jaclyn Kolodziej  43:13

Oh, you don’t want to give them your phone number.

Diana Delucio  43:15

Now my phone will give Jason’s number. Yeah, Jason.

Curt Anderson  43:20

Let’s go here. And you know what, Jaclyn, just for warning, maybe we you know, we’re trying to plan another trip. And when we come out, we got to stop and visit our friends advantage components. And I’d love to meet you guys and see what’s going on there. And so Jaclyn, any How about your takeaways today feedback, any thoughts that you want to share is we’re gonna wind down.

Jaclyn Kolodziej  43:40

I mean, biggest theme, obviously, you can tell just from meeting the team online, they really value their people, their people make, make the business and bring it together. There’s a huge buy in for all of the things that Diana is doing all the things Jason’s doing. And if you guys can’t see outside the door, they’re going to celebrate manufacturing month and Manufacturing Day, there’s a huge cookout for all the employees to celebrate. We’ve got balloons, they even got a tense because it’s getting a bit chilly out. So really, they’re going all in on their people. And really, I love coming to visit any anytime I get the opportunity I’m in.

Curt Anderson  44:27

Well, that is absolutely awesome. So I would a great way Daymond for this. And so first off Jacqueline, I want to thank you for setting this up. This is a different time for us. We are just thrilled and honored that you considered having us celebrate Manufacturing Day with the team here at advantage components. Now Jacqueline I Do I Do you know what? I have to go there? I can’t help myself. But are we Southside baseball fans are we Northside baseball fans in Chicago what Jason would say, oh, you’re a Southside

Jaclyn Kolodziej  44:59

Garrett. I gotta I got a look from Kevin. I don’t know the answer. First I’ll

Curt Anderson  45:05

read north side or south side.

Kevin O’Sullivan  45:08

I honestly I lived in the northwest side of Chicago. Growing up, and my dad took us down the Wrigley Field quite a bit. I just, you know, got I mean, I like both teams. I can honestly tell you, I support both teams. And I know I hear it all the time in the city. You know, good cubs. You Sox fans are? No but I’m not i i support both teams and honest, honest answer. I’m one of your top hockey.

Curt Anderson  45:43

Or you’re a big hockey fan. Diana, how about North Side? South Side? We’re Yeah, baseball. You know what? I

Diana Delucio  45:49

don’t really watch much baseball but I like the I like the cubbies blue.

Curt Anderson  45:57

So here’s what so we’re gonna go here. You’re ready, Damon, I’m gonna go there. You’re ready. We got time. Yes. So we got to Okay, let’s you know, who am I going to pick first? I’m gonna you know, Kevin, since you like both teams, I you know, I’ll go I’m gonna go to Jason. I’m gonna go to Jason. Jason, you’re ready. You sit down for this one. You’re ready. Okay. All right. So and you said Southside your White Sox guy, right? That’s correct. Okay, so even though the White Sox are not in the playoffs, let’s just say hypothetically, there’s a game going on right now as we speak, right. Right now the White Sox are playing. And it’s the bottom of the night and they’re playing the dreaded Cleveland guardians. Right? Whoever their most hated rival maybe the traits or whatever. Were playing the rival. Okay. So the white knights are playing. It’s a battle of the night there’s two outs and there’s a guy on second base. Okay. Vitamin ninth two outs guy in second base. And the manager is like, I you know, I got dinner reservations, dude, like, we got to end this game now. So I need somebody to get up to the plate and like, hitting us when he runs we can get out of here, right? So he looks down the bench and he sees Colonel Sanders sitting there and he says, Hey, Jason. Dude, get up to the plate hitting us running run because I’ve got dinner reservations. I need to get out of here. When you’re walking up to the plate to hit in that winning run. What is your walk up song?

Jason Sanders  47:12

Oh, that’s a good one. Um you know, I don’t know. I’ve never really had a walk up song. You know, I played baseball for so many years. We never did the whole walk up song thing. So if I had to, if I had to pick one, maybe it’s journey. Don’t stop believing. Even old school Damon.

Damon Pistulka  47:34

That’s awesome.

Curt Anderson  47:36

Kevin O’Sullivan? Do we have a song that you would want as you walk up to the plate to hit a net winning run about you? I never thought we gotta go Irish like we like or like maybe a YouTube song or like who’s like who’s who’s old school Irish demon. Right. So anyway, but that’s

Jaclyn Kolodziej  47:56

what did you guys do for your birthday? What shirt Did they give you?

Curt Anderson  48:02

I don’t know. Hey, how about Stairway to Heaven? What is to Stairway to Heaven?

Kevin O’Sullivan  48:10

Well, I’m looking up to the plate. That’s right. That’s right.

Curt Anderson  48:13

How about Dana, do you have a walk up song?

Diana Delucio  48:17

It’s gotta be something fall out. Boy. I’m a huge follow up boy fan? Probably. I don’t know Phoenix. That’s a good one.

Curt Anderson  48:25

Awesome. Good answer, guys. Good answer. I Jacqueline, we’d love. We’d love asking that we take that one on the road with us, right? Oh, yeah. All right. I’m gonna we’re gonna wind down. Kevin, I’m gonna give you last word, my friend. Any just last words of wisdom, parting thoughts for our friends, our manufacturers? Why are all the cool? Why should all the cool kids be pursuing and considering a career in manufacturing? How about that for a question?

Kevin O’Sullivan  48:51

I think it’s a it’s a you know, it’s still alive and well in the United States. Consider onshoring it’s an exciting career. There’s a lot of places to grow within manufacturing. You could get into shopfloor management, you get into purchasing you can get into engineering. So there’s a lot of paths we allow everybody here, whatever path they so choose. So yeah, I mean, that’d be my answer.

Curt Anderson  49:16

Well, great answer. You can get into sales. You can get into marketing, you can get promoted. There’s this there’s technology, there’s automation, there’s AI, there’s chip MIT, you may you know there’s the list goes on so all the cool kids out there, man, just consider manufacturing. guys hang out with us for one second. First, I want to thank everybody out there. Let’s give a big round of applause to our friends at advantage components. Let’s give a big round of applause to Jacqueline collo J my bestie from iMac so Damon what a great show dude like that was awesome.

Damon Pistulka  49:48

I just love to be able to talk with people like like you guys there and advanced components. Because you’re what’s what’s keeping America going in my in my opinion, and really, you know There’s nothing more fruitful ever been in my life than making things. And you guys are doing it every day and doing it really well. So thank you. Thank you.

Curt Anderson  50:10

Thank you. Thank you guys. All right hang out with us one second guys and Daymond will be back here like in 30 or 45 minutes or something. So, guys have a great weekend happy Manufacturing Day and we will see you soon catch Jacqueline and the iMac team. And so we’re gonna have a great time on

Damon Pistulka  50:24

day Yeah.

Curt Anderson  50:27

Here we go. Closing it out. All right.