Purdue MEP: High-Value Solutions to Help Manufacturers Reach Success

Damon Pistulka  00:09

All right, everyone, it’s Friday, and you know what that means. It is time for manufacturing, ecommerce, success. I am one of your co hosts, Damon Pistulka, and we are excited today, because we’re going to be talking about the Purdue MEP and the high value solutions they bring to help manufacturers reach success. I’m going to turn it over to my co host right over there. That pretty gentleman, Curt Anderson, let’s take it away.

Curt Anderson  00:38

Hey, Damon, we’ve got some you know what? First off, we have a repeat offender on the show today, so I think you know multiple times. So she needs to be a better judge of character, don’t you? Yes, find some different friends. But hey, what an honor, what a privilege we have. Ranae Stewart, and so we have something really new and exciting to share. Ranae, Happy New Year ish, I guess, like, I know, we still sing Happy New Year. Well, Happy New Year to you. How

Ranae Stewart  01:01

are you? I’m great. How are you?

Curt Anderson  01:03

Hey, I’m doing phenomenal. So now you’ve been on the show again.

Ranae Stewart  01:07

I must have fooled you the first time. Invite me back. Well,

Curt Anderson  01:12

hey, you know what? We both fooled each other, right? How’s that? How that worked out? Pretty darn good. Yeah. So you were on several years ago. Had a great time. We were diving in I actually we were live together at a workshop, and I grabbed you on stage and we we did a little live stream in person at the National MEP conference in Chicago. Got you back on today for kicking off the new year. This year, you have something a little bit there’s a little newness in your title. What’s, what’s, what’s, what’s going on with Ranae? Anything new?

01:43

Well, it’s a it’s a little bit of old news, but I was very fortunate a year ago to actually be named the Senior Executive Director for Purdue MEP after 12 years in a variety of roles. As I shared earlier, I just wore everyone down. They gave me the title, but it’s been amazing. I mean, it’s been a it’s been such a fun year, and we’ve got a lot of great things going on. And I love my job. I love what, what we do, and I love our organization. Well,

Curt Anderson  02:15

I’ll tell you what, as a proud girl dad, I just think it is so amazing, so wonderful on multiple folds. Like, you know, this is Purdue MEP, the top engineering school in the country. You guys are with the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, which we’re going to dive into, for folks this might be new to and you know, you are the leader of the pack. And so I just, I commend you, applaud you. Just wish you massive, massive, incredible success. And just you know, as I’ve been kind of on the sidelines watching you grow, it’s just been just thrilling. So again, well earned, well deserved, and congratulations to you and the entire team at Purdue.

02:51

Thank you. Thank you. Looking forward to the conversation today, absolutely. So

Curt Anderson  02:55

Alright, so let’s dive in. Let’s go here first. So for folks that aren’t familiar with the MEP network, and what I’ll do is, I’ve got a little map here, but just give us a little one on one who is the Manufacturing Extension Partnership. What is this MEP that we’re going to be talking about today?

03:09

So the Purdue MEP organization is one of 51 centers. So for those of you that don’t know, there is an MEP center in every state, and the easiest way to describe what we do is ultimately help small and mid sized manufacturers become more successful. A lot of folks don’t realize that almost 99% of manufacturing is comprised of those small to mid sized manufacturers, which is typically 500 employees or less, and we help bring the resources that are much needed to those companies. And it’s really about meeting that manufacturer where they are. So sometimes it’s helping them with a lean implementation journey. Other times it’s going, you know, starting fresh for a new quality management system. We also do leadership development, training, technology and innovation, helping companies identify cost effective technology solutions. And that’s that’s just scratch scratching the surface. That’s where we spend a lot of our time. There’s also supply chain efforts, which I’m sure everybody is familiar with that after what happened during the pandemic. I don’t, I don’t think anybody had really thought about supply chains before that,

Damon Pistulka  04:36

not as much as they did, that’s for sure. No, I don’t know if they even knew what supply chain even, like, we just order stuff, but it shows up. Yes, it was about what it was,

04:45

right? Well, you know, people like, what do you what do you mean? It’s not going to be delivered in free business days, what? Three months, right?

Damon Pistulka  04:53

Yeah, yeah. It’s total

Curt Anderson  04:55

disruption. You know, you think about the container boats that were, you know, you know. Can just, you know, boy, taking things from one after. So, yeah, one after

05:04

on the right side, because of those issues that has really allowed for a resurgence in in American manufacturing. Because, yeah, there’s abilities and companies realize that there’s more to the cost of working outside of the US than just what you’re paying. You know, there’s, there’s a lot of other factors that need to be taken into consideration. So the supply chain work that we’ve been doing as a national network has really been pretty powerful.

Damon Pistulka  05:38

Well, and you, you mentioned the National Network too, because this is one of the things with the MEP that I think is super cool, is I may be in Washington here talking with impact Washington about a project. They may not have an expert that they can go out to the entire MEP network, and they’ll find somebody that knows about it in the network that can help them. And that is really the I think they when you look at today, we’re talking about Purdue. You got tons of talented people there, and, and, and that’s awesome. And if somebody comes to you at Purdue and you go, wow, we don’t have somebody, you can go out to the entire network, and 99% of the time, you get a response back from someone that says, Yes, we have an expert. Or that expert comes back to you directly, absolutely,

06:28

that’s a it’s a really great point. We have sent our folks to, you know, Tennessee, South Carolina, Utah. No one has has called us from Hawaii, and I keep waiting for that. Yeah,

Curt Anderson  06:43

that would be a good call. That would be a good call about this time of year, yeah. What on earth we need to work on that? Renee, right? Yeah.

06:49

But we’ve also pulled in from other MEP centers, you know, for when you have those really specific requests. And yeah, and it’s also great because we’re very collaborative. I heard from Andy Carr at the South Carolina MEP earlier this week, and he said, Hey, I’ve been working with this company. They like what we’ve done here, and they’ve got a facility in Indiana. I’m going to connect you so you can work with them directly in this area. So it really is a very, a very powerful and collaborative national network.

Curt Anderson  07:23

That’s right. So, so the big takeaway here, you know, small manufacturer doesn’t matter what state you in, where you are, you know, reach out to your local manufacturing ascension partnership. You know, there’s a different name in each state, but just, you know, Google that. And again, you can get the, get the party started. Ranae, right? Yeah, just dynamic. And I know we’re, let’s dive into Purdue. You know, I know firsthand, we’ve had multiple of your teammates on the show cover, you know, different topics, you know, cyber, like you said, you know, it goes right down the, you know, we’re going to talk a little bit about AI. You help folks real heavy on DoD marketing, Lean leadership. So let’s see I’m going to grab so just share a little bit. I’m going to grab your website. And let’s talk a little bit specifically what’s going on at Purdue.

08:09

Well, we are extremely fortunate to be the the MEP center in Indiana that is housed within Purdue University. It really this program aligns nicely with the land grant mission of the university helps strengthen the state, the economy, businesses, and as you mentioned at the start of our conversation, the strength that Purdue has in terms of engineering and STEM based curriculum is a vast resource that we tap into ourselves. So in addition to our employees here at Purdue MEP, we frequently work with Purdue faculty and Purdue grad students for some of those really specific issues that are coming up for manufacturers, and they need that world renowned expertise. So it’s, it’s a dream come true. I’m, I’m a Purdue graduate, so coming back here and having the chance to work for my alma mater makes it that much better. That’s awesome. Totally

Curt Anderson  09:18

agree. Very sweet success, as we like to say, and I’m and I’m sure Purdue is just beaming with one of their students going off with a wonderful leadership role that you’re playing. Let’s we we started discussing some of the attributes, some of the benefits that manufacturers can take advantage of at Purdue. MEP, let’s set this up a little bit here. Ranae, what are we looking at?

09:41

So that’s those areas, right? There are really our main focal points of where we’re connecting with clients, the continuous improvement pillar, that’s been something that has been a strength of ours for decades, and. Um, especially as I mentioned, the lean and the quality offerings that we have, and we’ve, we’ve really expanded upon that significantly in the past 10 years to include, I mean, basically responding to market demands. You know, what are, what are the issues that are keeping decision makers up at night, and how can we craft solutions for them? So I know I briefly touched upon leadership. I feel like that’s a good example of where there was an industry need and what we did to address that. A lot of times, individuals that have been great employees within a manufacturing facility are rewarded by being promoted. However, they don’t have the managerial toolkit to six to succeed in that role, and that results in more turnover and that role and for the individuals reporting into those folks. So we created a it’s basically a nine day offering for brand new frontline leaders that talks about things you know, team building and manufacturing. You know how to lead a team, how to have those crucial conversations, how to build trust with with the individuals that are reporting into you. And it it’s been so successful that we launched a follow on program to that again, another nine days for that next level, that mid level manager, and it was just, it was something that kept coming up with our conversations with manufacturers, and, you know, how do we address this? And we put together this program, and honestly, we’re doing just about as much leadership as we are lean and quality with our clients. Well,

Damon Pistulka  11:58

it’s such a, I mean, it’s such a great thing to be offering manufacturing, because typically, you know, I grew up in manufacturing. I started, I think first place. Didn’t do it when I was a teenager, but when I was certain, well, I did, I guess I did about 19, and I started. But, you know, it was, it was usually because of technical ability, or you’re able to get things done. You got promoted. It was, and no one really talked about leadership as much as we should have. And I really think that’s critical now, especially when we’re trying to attract people into the into the workforce that are millennials and Gen Zers. I have that, right? I always my son is this that age, but you know, because the leadership portion plays a bigger and bigger role as you’re trying to attract people. Because people don’t want to simply come to work and do stuff. They want to come to work and feel part of something. They want to be engaged, and they want to be a part of something bigger that is actually helping the world in some way. Exactly,

13:00

yeah, yeah. Gen Z, don’t they also call them Zoomers. I don’t know. You know, they grew up with teams,

Damon Pistulka  13:12

yeah, yeah, yeah. And

Curt Anderson  13:14

I’ll tell you, Ranae, there’s no surprise we had the privilege of Jeremiah was on our program. And I’ll tell you, he is a powerhouse. He is just dynamic, engaging and just, you know, you know, there’s no surprise that you’re just, you guys are just absolutely crushing it with this program here.

13:31

Yeah, he’s, he’s done a great job with our offerings in that space, and has also done some work in terms of working with companies on their employee attraction and retention efforts, onboarding, so really helping manufacturers not only improve their ability to attract talent to Damon’s point, but also to keep who they have. Because that’s that’s more even more important, because if you can’t retain your staff, and that’s just dollars walking out the door every time you have that turnover and have to start over and lose that tribal knowledge, right?

Damon Pistulka  14:10

Yeah, and so much of that is not the dollar per hour or dollar per year they get paid. It’s about, Do I have a good place to work? Do I feel I’m able to do my best work every day. You know, am I able to come there and enjoy it a little bit? You know, it’s just, there’s so much in the leadership aspect of it. Exactly,

Curt Anderson  14:30

alright. So I’d be remiss if we don’t slide over here. Ranae, so let’s talk. Can we? Can we hit up a little cyber security? Because I have to give a shout out to this, this young man right here. Man, my brother, Jean Jones, I have a call with Jean coming up this week, so I know you guys do amazing work on cyber just, can you just share a little bit here?

14:49

We so we’ve been very fortunate here in in our state, that our Indiana Economic Development Corporation recognizes the importance of cyber. Security, and they have worked with us over the past eight to 10 months to fund projects for companies to get their cmmc certification, which you know when you’re talking about cyber security, that’s what companies need to to go through in order to to pursue or keep any type of work with the Department of Defense. And, you know, I, I’ve had a lot of my peers calling from other states wanting to to duplicate that recipe. You know, how can we, you know, get the state to pony up some dollars and help these companies go through this process. But it’s, it’s, it’s ironic to me, you know, you start these conversations with small companies and they’re like, Oh, I’m, I’m, I’m not going to be on their radar. I’m the last person they would target. And it’s actually the the flip side, yeah, you are more likely to be targeted as a small company. And we’ve seen a, you know, a pretty good receptivity from companies in the past eight months wanting to go through this and address their cyber risks. It’s a big deal.

Curt Anderson  16:17

There’s a manufacturer in my corner of the world that you know, was hacked, hijacked, shut down, blackmailed, I mean, like everything. I mean it’s, it’s horrible. It’s not even fun, you know. I mean, it’s horrible. What is happening. And so, yeah, I just, I again, once again, commend you the team at Purdue. I’m close to my buddy gene here, and I just know, with his passion and your entire team, you guys are doing great work protecting our Manu, our American manufacturers. So again, round of applause for you guys on the side of

16:49

things, yeah, no, it’s, it’s very important, and it’s gotten a lot more attention as of late because of, you know, people talking about Tiktok, for example. Yeah, you know, oh, what do you mean? They that they’re using this app to spy and so it’s it’s making it more of a relevant conversation, when folks realize the creative links that these folks will go through to try and, you know, attack your your business. Yeah,

Damon Pistulka  17:18

yes, I can. I can tell you that just about every business I’ve interacted with has had some sort of security breach, everything from, you know, the old school washing checks to one was more elaborate, not quite as bad as Curt said, had some big suppliers, multi billion Dollar suppliers, that got shut down by by ransomware. But the one that was really interesting to me was, you know, they’re 2020, ish, million dollar company. They did a lot of work over offshore, but someone took months to listen to emails. Do things intercepted, a wire transfer, significant size wire transfer. Had them change the account and intercept it, had the wire transfer go the wrong place. And luckily, my client called, they hit the button, and they called the the supplier offshore, and they said, No, that’s not us. And somehow they stopped it, but it was several $100,000 and that, you know, that’s not it. It’s not, you know, in the whole scheme of things, not millions, but to that company, it was a lot of money,

18:27

absolutely. And they, you know, the hackers just continue to find other ways to be sophisticated and creative. Like, for example, I recently learned that you shouldn’t be scanning those QR codes anymore. Oh, is that right? It is. It is. So now I feel like I’m, you know, like an 80 year old when I go out to eat and ask for a paper menu because I’m not allowed to scan the QR code. You know, you get a you get a Gen Z or that kind of looks at you like you don’t know how to use your smartphone to scan it, so I usually explain. I’m like, Well, I’m not really, I’m not really supposed to scan these because of my job. Yeah,

Curt Anderson  19:08

yeah, wow. Isn’t that cool? Alright, learn some new. Learn something new. I learned something new some other day. We can be David. We can stay check challenge. When we go to the restaurant, we’re just like, just give me. Just give me the menu, you know, just, you know, alright, just, just give me the special today. I’m not even going to look at the menu, right? So, yeah, that works too. That works too. So, Ranae, how about, can I? Can we jump into the digital manufacturing technology center? Can we take Yes, candor there? Because I believe, I know I’m buddies with Kyle. I know Kyle has been a big raving fan of what’s going on here, talk to us here.

19:43

So we have partnered with Telemon robotics, which is one of the largest private companies in the state, to put together this technology center that has brought. Rotating applicable new technologies that can be demonstrated for companies. So we will do one on one appointments with manufacturers that are interested in looking at some of this. And we also do open house events. We have one coming up in February, but it really allows for the the individuals and manufacturing facilities to take, you know, take a time out from being on the shop floor and come through and see a variety of different technologies on display. Talk with the subject matter expert, try it out themselves, and really see you know how it could be applicable for their operation, how easy it is to utilize a lot of this. I have actually programmed some of the CO bots in that space, which says a lot, because I am not an engineer by trade, and we try and where we try and swap out what’s on display depending on receptivity. I mean, initially we had some virtual reality and augmented reality in there, and just it didn’t really resonate and didn’t seem to be a solution. So we swapped that out, and are highlighting some other potential solutions for companies. So it’s, it’s really cool. The last open house that we had, I think there were over 60 individuals that showed up, which is a pretty good number. And they stayed for, you know, it wasn’t just, oh, you know, I’m going to pop in for five minutes or a lot of really in depth conversations and follow up to try and help them see, you know, one one event, one place. Let’s take a look at 10 different technologies and what might be able to be used in my facility. Yeah,

Damon Pistulka  21:53

and that’s, you know, that’s the hard thing for a manufacturer, is to be able to see different types of technology and really experience it in action. And because otherwise, you’re an engineer, you’re someone that has you’re charged with buying that piece of equipment, and those pieces of equipment are not cheap, and you gotta two or three choices. You really to see it in action is so valuable. And to be able to go one place and see multiple things working can really help you make better decisions well,

22:27

and just to see the advancements that have been made in terms of, you know, especially with CO bots, how, you know, people don’t understand the various tools that can be utilized with just one cobot. You know that end of arm tooling can be swapped out? Yeah. So it’s not just a solution for one area. It can be a solution for several areas. And typically the the function that that cobot would be doing is usually one of the highest turnover roles within a facility. So let’s, let’s take that individual that’s, you know, doing a pick in place, and use their talents in another area of the operation.

Damon Pistulka  23:12

Yeah, yeah, it’s awesome, because you’re absolutely right. And the other thing is, we’ve had for decades now it’s been harder and harder to recruit people into manufacturing. Lot of people are aging out normally in the in the manufacturing sector and and these co bots are helping us allow people to work longer if they want to, because they’re doing the hard jobs. That’s that’s the big thing. You don’t want somebody lifting 100 pounds over and over if they have to. And these robots do it all day long. You know, works just fine. And and also, then if you can’t find someone to do that, that certain task, and you can do it with a robot or a COVID. Now, I now they those same people that you couldn’t hire for the robot can help or they can do something else in the facility. We need them to do. So, right,

24:01

right? And, you know, the the age old joke that a robot never calls in sick to work? Yes,

Damon Pistulka  24:08

yes. But it come back to it though the safety improvements and in the quality improvements. I was just talking to somebody while we were talking with one of the, one of the clients in Illinois there, this, this last week, about the robotic welding. I mean, you take things like robotic welding and all these other things that are moving heavy pieces of stuff around in the in the factories, around or or articulating things, like you said, in different areas, so it makes it easier for people. It’s just amazing what these things have done. And then the last the AI and the other things that are helping the controls and the sensitivity get better on them is just super cool,

24:45

absolutely and and being able to see how easily these items can be programmed, because that’s another reason why manufacturers might be hesitant to make this type of investment. Assessment because they’re concerned they don’t have the talent on staff that knows how to program it. But, you know, we have it set up to where they they come in and we can show them. You know, this is how easy it is to program this CO bot. It’s very cool. I always enjoy when we have those open houses. It gives me, gives me a break to go around and and play and see if I can break anything. But you haven’t yet.

Damon Pistulka  25:25

Well, that’s awesome.

Curt Anderson  25:27

Go Ranae, if you’re not capable of breaking it, just have me come over and I’ll take care of that for you. So, you know, like my you know, I’m not allowed to touch anything in my house. So, you know, come over to this so, and you know, David, you talk about the safety, and you know, we’re kidding around about the workforce, you know. And also that consistency, you know, like, yeah, just getting that consistent where, you know. So anyway, alright, let’s keep moving forward. Demon, did you have something you want to add?

Damon Pistulka  25:50

Yeah, we got a couple people dropped by. And I want to mention some comments here. We got Usman dropping by today. Thanks for staying. Dropping by and dropping a comment there. We got Willie’s. Hey everyone. Nice to see you today. We got Cece, great to see you today, and Florian, always good to be alert and verify. Yes, it is in the cyber security world. Thanks for being here and dropping your comments. Yeah,

Curt Anderson  26:13

thank you guys. Happy Friday. Drop us a note. Let us know you’re out there. Please do us a favor. Connect with Renee on LinkedIn. Do yourself a favor. If you have friends, family, your dog, anybody in manufacturing, reach out to your local manufacturing extension partnership, the MEP, we’re here talking with the one, the only, the director of the Purdue MEP, that’s a great state of Indiana. Renee. I wanted, did I close out the window? I want to go back. There was one more thing. And if there’s anything that you wanted to show, are you comfortable? Can we talk about the supplier scouting network? Can we hit that real quick?

26:44

Yes, absolutely. Okay, yeah, I know I talked a little bit early on in the conversation about the supply chain efforts that we’ve been doing, and this is really kind of a true collaboration across the National Network to where, if we have a client that’s looking for a very specific part, we can reach out so there’s somebody in each MEP that is working on supply chain issues, and they have kind of this platform where we can send out a request to all 51 centers and ask them if they have any matches for this. So it kind of goes back to that, that reshoring comment that I made earlier, and that, you know, you’d be surprised the number of times that we are able to find a match in within the state or, you know, the next state over. But I think it’s just manufacturers have so much on their plates right now they’re trying to get product out the door. So when it comes to sourcing, you know, a new potential supplier, it’s easy to just tap into your local MEP program and ask them, you know, hey, give us a list of companies that could fulfill this need. And I know, personally for us, we’ve had several manufacturers in the state of Indiana that have gotten some really significant business opportunities through the supplier scouting program.

Damon Pistulka  28:26

Well, it’s amazing how many manufacturers don’t know the manufacturers within a two mile radius or five mile radius. And then when you go, Okay, how far would you go for that supply? Normally, it’s probably 5060, miles, right? And no one, I’ll, I’ll say that I don’t know for sure, but most people are not going to have any idea how many manufacturers that for the specific thing that they could really need that they may be getting from across the globe.

28:51

Yep, yeah. I mean, it is very much it’s been eye opening, you know, because you I kind of made the assumption that, oh, well, they would know who’s in their backyard and right, never, never good to assume. So it’s been a, it’s been a really, it’s been a fun program to watch and see those connections being made and just further strengthening manufacturing in the US. Yes, yeah. And I

Curt Anderson  29:18

think this is a really important takeaway Damon, and we always preach that, you know, having that vibrant, strong referral network, you know. And I think this is Renee, I feel like there’s a, I wanted to bring this up because I feel there’s a couple important points here, you know, for manufacturers out there, boy, God bless them, they are busy. They’re, you know, head down the grindstone. They don’t dare lift their, their their head above the trench, you know, because they’re dodging bullets. And they’re just, they’re just, you know, kind of working away. And so when it does come time that they need that partnership, that collaboration, you know, maybe they just, you know, they’re not super active on LinkedIn or on on social media. So it’s great when they can lean on you guys to be that network collaborator, you know, to pull in those other partners. So I just, you know. We’ve talked to other MEPs that are really relentlessly going this direction. We’ve been hearing some wonderful success stories. And back to your point, Damon, when we opened up, we’ve been hearing, you know, Alaska has that wonderful success story when they partnered with the New Jersey MVP, like, how many miles apart are they? And yet they came together, and we had a client of theirs on our show talking about how the last MEP saved her $50,000 to for her a piece of machinery because of a partnership with the New Jersey MEP. And again, it’s this. This network here is just so powerful. So anyway, Renee, and

30:34

I’m not sure, Curt, if you’re aware, this really was born out of how the National Network responded to the pandemic. Yeah, so, you know, people were desperately trying to find face masks, hand sanitizer, shields and the the national network not only helped make connections between, you know, hospitals and hand sanitizer, we helped manufacturers pivot to make some of those materials that were needed. So it was a very proud moment for me to realize just how committed this program is, not only to the success of manufacturers, but just to, you know, the country in general, and and really just kind of completely doing a 180 and, okay, you know, we can be a solution. Let’s figure out how we can help. What’s going on right now? Yeah, absolutely love

Curt Anderson  31:31

1. So, man, I have so much to talk to you about in our time. Is flying back. How about any other services that we want to recap before we move forward? Is there anything else on the list that you want to really touch

31:42

on? Well, I think we were going to talk a little bit about AI. We

Curt Anderson  31:45

are going to talk about AI. Let’s dive into AI. And I just wanted to see, was there anything else before we dive in AI? Are there any workshops, any events that you want to put on the radar that we’ve got coming up that you want to give a shout out to I’ve got? Well, obviously,

31:58

the the the technology open house, the dmtc that we have coming up in February. I think it’s maybe February 20 or 21st Yep, there we go. February 20. Got some great leadership, offering some some new things so that personal accountability and taking care of me, is a new offering that Jeremiah has been working on. So I’m hoping to make it to that one. But we have, I mean, it’s hard to name one. We have so many great things going on throughout the state, and some online, so I encourage you to check it out for your yourself, if you’re interested, yep.

Curt Anderson  32:40

So stop by the Purdue MEP, go to their event section, all sorts of fun things. So speaking of AI, we have a fun as a matter of fact, we’re going to be doing, we’ve, we’ve got a couple fun workshops coming up this year, 2025, that we’re partnering with you guys on. But let’s go. Let’s dive into AI. Ranae, we had your our mutual best friend, art Thomas, was on the show, my goodness gracious, is that guy just fiercely excited about AI? And I know you guys are doing wonderful work. Let’s hear what’s going on with AI at Purdue. Absolutely

33:14

Well, I I’m very excited about this. I think the amount of publicity that AI has gotten has really elevated industry 4.0 in front of manufacturers, and opening their eyes to the various possibilities that are out there. So I will admit I was a little bit intimidated myself by AI and how to use it, and we had an internal session where one of our subject matter experts, Cindy Farr, did kind of just say, Hey, this is how I’m using this and in my day to day, and this is how I’m starting to help clients use it. You know, a good starting point with a position description, right? Go to chat GPT, and just say, I’m trying to write a, you know, plant manager. PD, for the automotive industry. And you know, it gives you a starting point. SOPs, another thing just go in there. Use chatGPT, so we were having a little bit of fun. I have to tell this story because it’s amusing to me. So we since it was an internal session, we were kind of meeting and playing around with it and stuff. And I was incredibly fortunate to have been invited to the White House last year. Oh, is that right? Yes, yes, to talk about workforce and the MEP program and some things that were being considered nice. And I’m not normally like this, but what do you wear to the White House? Right? So. We use chatGPT to tell me what to wear. We did? We put in, okay, you know, middle aged woman going to the White House in the spring. What do you wear? So we so we generated the answer, and then yes, I did have to take a picture to show the team that I that I followed what chatGPT told me to wear, and I think I nailed it. So it basically told me a conservative dark navy or black pant suit with a neutral color blouse and low heels, perfect. It was more, it was probably more, you know, in detail than that, but it was just, you know, just kind of fun to get in there and play around with it. But we are, you know, as an MEP, we are telling people to use chat BT for their wardrobe, right, helping them utilize from any end of the spectrum. How can you tap into AI to do some simple day to day tasks, you know, administratively all the way to how can you use this to transform your business, and truly, you know, weave it into to what you’re doing as a company. So it’s been really exciting to see the level of interest that we’ve that we’ve had, and really, it’s been just four or five months, I’d say that we’ve started to to have those substant conversations with companies.

Damon Pistulka  36:39

Well, it’s, it’s getting easier and easier to use. That’s the thing. And, and the models are getting better. The Voice Interaction now is really something to see. And, and the, like you said, going from zero, you know, we’re trying to do something zero to 100 but getting from zero to 30 or 50, you know that blank page syndrome is is a killer. And when you just start putting, hey, give me some ideas for this. Give me some ideas for that. Like you said, it could be a job description. Could be what you need to wear, what you say in a situation. You know that I’ve heard of people do it, just so many different ways to use it.

37:19

Yeah, it really is and, and I would encourage anyone, you know, just go, go pull it up and just kind of play around with it and experiment. And you can refine it too, you know, you get started and, you know, not as you’re you mentioned Damon going from zero to 30. Well, if, if it’s only a 30, then you can refine it and say, oh, you know, write it from both the perspective of, you know, a five year old, not that you really want to do that, but you can start adding more and more parameters to it to really hone in on kind of of what you’re wanting to get you maybe zero to 55 and then you just have to take it that, you know, last little stretch to get it final.

Damon Pistulka  38:02

Yeah. And there’s some of the easy technical things I never even tell someone told in this a few months ago, use it for your Excel formulas. I mean, how many hours are wasted every single day because you don’t know how to do an Excel formula, and all of a sudden, overnight, you’re an Excel expert? Yeah, that’s a good I haven’t,

38:21

I haven’t used it for that, but I feel like I’m always messing up. You know, where you need parentheses, where you need parentheses. It

Damon Pistulka  38:28

takes care all that really big logwoods using for using things that you never knew were available. And it works. And you’re like, get that little, yes, it’s nice.

Curt Anderson  38:41

Drop it in and say, you know, hey, Chad, what am I doing wrong here? So let’s slide in here. Renee, we’ve got a wonderful event coming up in March. I believe that you’re going to be speaking at, just kind of a little big deal, right? A little big deal. Where are you going to be speaking at in March, and what are we talking about?

38:59

So I didn’t, I didn’t ever think that this would be like my real life. But, I mean, it’s hard to top the White House, right? Like getting invited to go to the White House, but I am going to be speaking at the incredibly famous South by Southwest event in Austin in March, and it’s about one of the things that I am probably most proud of that we’ve done during my time at Purdue MEP. And it’s about Second Chance hiring. So we have a workforce development program. It’s a 10 day boot camp that we rolled out formally in 2018 and since that launch, we have trained about 2000 people to prepare for a career in manufacturing, and many of those folks have been justice involved. We’ve actually been within state and correctional. Uh, state and county correctional facilities. So, you know, before the individuals are even released, and it is just, it’s life changing, and, you know, being able to see the impact that it’s had. I mean, it just is like, if you ever want to just feel like phenomenal just go in and sit with a cohort of of these folks that have renewed hope? Yeah, right, because the number one indicator on whether someone ends up incarcerated again is employment. So how can we best set folks up for success upon re entry and and this program has been, you know, just one solution of many that are out there. So I am just incredibly, incredibly fortunate to be able to have a platform to talk about that program at South by Southwest and

Damon Pistulka  41:04

2000 people, over 2000 people have gone through your programs. That’s incredible. It is, it is in manufacturing gives these people a career that has advancement levels to just great careers and and lifestyles that affords, and, oh, there’s so much benefit

41:25

it is. And you know, when we, when we first embarked upon this, you know, we felt like we were on to something, yeah, and when I really knew that it was something special, was when we had, it was one of our very first cohorts within a correctional facility, and we had a participant ask to stay incarcerated longer, just so they could finish our program.

Curt Anderson  41:53

That is, wow,

41:54

yeah. I mean, it was, like, absolutely unbelievable. And it’s just been incredible. And you know, whenever I want to get my kids attention, if they’re not paying attention in the morning, while they’re having their breakfast, they’ll be like, Hey guys, I’m going to jail today. And they’ll be like, wait, what?

Curt Anderson  42:15

Drop the mic. Are you that is wild?

42:19

Yeah. So it’s been very eye opening to

Curt Anderson  42:23

finish the so kudos to you, Renee again. Gosh, you’re so inspiring. How, how does one apply to South by South? Like, how did this come on your radar? Were you guys proactive and you initiated it? Did they contact you? Like, how that

42:36

I had? I mean, I never in a million years, thought this would be a possibility. But we’ve, you know this, this program has has gotten a lot of attention, not only in Indiana, but outside Indiana. So, for example, we have worked with the Tennessee MEP nice to so they have this curriculum in their state, and they’re doing the same thing. So, you know, it’s, it’s had gotten a lot of attention. I’ve written some articles around it, and done some, you know, informational sessions, interviews, and NIST MEP actually came to me and said, Hey, this is really special, and it tells such a powerful story of what we can do as a national network. We want to put this up for, you know, proposal to South by Southwest. And I, I never in a million years, thought it was going to happen. I’m pretty sure I committed to Julie Warner that I would wear sparkly cowboy boots if I got picked

Damon Pistulka  43:41

hold your bluff. We called your so now you have to get the sparkly cowboy boot. Now

43:46

I know, I don’t even know where one goes for, I guess, Alice chat, GPT. That’s right. Yes, that’s right. So we were, we were fortunate, and that we were, that we were one of the, one of the selections for it. So I’m very much looking forward to telling that story. And what makes Stephen cooler? Um, we have done a quite a few cohorts with a re entry Center in South Bend, and their deputy warrior at Warden is going to go with me talk about it from his perspective, you know, because he’s seeing you know firsthand. You know, I can go in and sit with a cohort for a few hours, but you know he’s seen over time that the impact that this program has had on on participants, so it’ll, it’ll be a really fun time, and yeah, forward to telling that story.

Curt Anderson  44:38

Mind blowing. Okay, so I know, gosh, I know. I think I’m actually keeping over. So Ranae, how does this alright? First off, thank you. That is, what an inspiring story. What a great way to kick off this program here. How does somebody, I’m asking for a friend? How does somebody graduate from Purdue? I. To start their career, and it looks like marketing, marketing, marketing, marketing, right? Yeah. And then how do they become the director of the Purdue MEP? So I know I usually ask this first, but we had a bunch of our things that we wanted to get to. So if you don’t mind, we’re going to wind down and close out on this. But just share with us, when you were undergrad at Purdue, were you kind of in that marketing mindset, like, were you thinking what your career would look like? Did you ever see yourself in manufacturing? What were you thinking back then?

45:28

So, so honestly, so I went, I wanted to just go solely into marketing. I was like, I’m going to be a sports marketer. I’m a huge sports fan. Like, I’m going to be a sports marketer. I’m going to work for Nike you know? And my and my dad was like, I am not paying for you to get a marketing degree. You will get a business degree. Is that it is right, so good for dead, yeah? But I showed him because I got a business degree with a marketing minor, and then I actually got a marketing job, yeah? But, but what kind of inspired me along this path? My first job after graduating from Purdue was what at a very small B2B marketing agency that solely worked with manufacturers, and that was my first true exposure to manufacturing. And I was like, this is super cool, like, we built all of this stuff in Indiana. I mean, I don’t know what I thought happened, like how things were made and and it was almost like a missed opportunity for me, because I I excelled in stem like I would have been an ideal person. I loved math and science. Yes, I’m just feeding into our conversation earlier about how big of a nerd I am. Curt, I own it. And I thought, wow, this is this is really cool. I really love this. And then I kind of took a little bit of a detour and worked in professional services for a while, and then this opportunity with Purdue. MEP came up, and I was like, this would be incredible, because it combines so many things that I love Purdue marketing and manufacturing, and what a great story to be able to tell. So I I came on board in 2013 as the marketing manager, and have just grown in various roles and find myself here and just having an incredible time loving what I’m doing. We’ve got such a phenomenal team as as you know, you’ve met a lot of them, and it’s, it’s great, but you know, going to work every day when you know that you’re making such a huge difference. Yeah,

Curt Anderson  47:42

it’s not, what do they say? You never work a day in your life when you just pursue your passion. And I just and what an amazing gift that checks every box. You know. Wait, it’s my alma mater. Oh, it’s manufacturing. I can do marketing and again, like, you know, I know you several years now. So even from the time that we’ve been friends, I’ve had the privilege of privilege of watching you grow. Did you when you when you send in your resume that for I don’t know if you can go back 2013 in that first interview. Did you ever think you’d be sitting in the director’s chair?

48:14

No, no, because Dave snow terrified me, and I was like, Man, I don’t know if I could ever be that scary? No. I mean, I never thought that this is where I would land, but I’ve just been incredibly fortunate in my career. I’ve had great mentors, and just I, like I said, I warmed down. I’m just still standing.

Curt Anderson  48:40

Keep warm down. So Ranae, as we close out future, what’s the future? And the thing is, like, you know, you the sky’s the limit, I’ll tell you, you know, you’re at such a young age, you’ve accomplished so much, and you’re your passion is just so contagious. What? What’s What do you see? What’s the future at Purdue MEP dream?

49:00

I mean, there we have a lot of exciting stuff on the horizon that we’re working on. We just went through a process to kind of map out the next what we think the next few years looks like for us. And you know, where can we grow and expand? And certainly, technology and innovation is going to be a huge part of that, not just helping identify and implement technologies, but, you know, upskilling folks, I think you’ve caught on that’s something that’s really important to me, is the workforce, and how can we help them continue to grow and learn? So how can we pair those new solutions with helping the workforce develop into knowing how to use those solutions. But there’s a lot of great things going on. I feel like we’re just scratching the surface. We were very fortunate to have gotten some funding from the Department of Energy to. To to work on a playbook that’s around electric vehicles and electric vehicle components nice. And you know, how can companies, you know, maybe look to grow into that space in the future? So just looking for other opportunities like that, where we can be a little more forward looking and helping companies prepare for the future and looking for new markets. It’s, it’s a lot of fun. There’s a lot of lot of great things that are that are on the horizon. Well,

Curt Anderson  50:31

congratulations. Sky’s the limit. I tell you. It just, you know, Damon, I just love having a front row seat just to see where you end up. Who knows where she’s going to end up, Damon, your thoughts as we close out, Damon, any takeaways? What do you got?

Damon Pistulka  50:43

No, I’m just excited that we got to talk to you today. Ranae, it’s so great to hear what the Purdue MEP is doing and how they’re helping the manufacturers there compete and, you know, just really thrive.

50:55

Well, thank you so much for having me. It’s, it’s been a blast. Curt, it’s always fun. Damon, it’s, it’s great to finally have, I’ve gotten the chance to meet you. So

Curt Anderson  51:03

last question for you, Ranae, you’re a sports fanatic. Who? Who’s on your menu? So I’m assuming the Boilermakers, right? Number one, yes,

51:09

yes. Um, actually, my, my number one team is the Atlanta Braves. Oh, you’re big Braves fan, okay, huge Braves fan. Okay. What else we got it, Braves, colts, which is been, that’s been rough, yeah, yeah. We’re getting through it. We’ve got, you know, some therapy going oil makers, or they’re always going to be up there. Just went to the Pacers game this this past Saturday. Nice. Yeah, yeah. I, I love I love sports, even when it breaks your heart,

Curt Anderson  51:42

well, even when it breaks your heart. So Damon, I can’t help myself. I know. So the absolute last question for you, being the big Braves fan that you are, are you ready? Are you sitting down? You ready for this question? Yes. Okay, the Braves are playing the dreaded Mets. Okay? Just the dread, like, ooh, right. Can you feel it

52:02

like, is this like Mike Piazza, met era? Is that where you go back? What

Curt Anderson  52:08

is your most dreaded like on, like, right? Like,

52:14

so the, what, what? What team Am I disliking? Well, we’ll

Curt Anderson  52:18

just, we’ll go with the Mets, right? We’ll just go with the Mets. No, no. Who likes the Mets, right? When you, if you’re a Braves fan, you can’t like the Mets, right? So it’s, they’re playing the Mets. They’re at home. It’s bottom of the ninth, okay, okay. Braves are playing the Mets bottom of the ninth. There’s, there’s somebody on second base. Ty score, there’s two outs, okay. The manager of the Braves looks down the bench says, Hey, Stuart, grab your bat, grab your helmet, get to the plate. Could you please hit in the winning run? Run? I’ve got dinner reservations. I want to get out of here, right? So you walk up, you grab your bat, you grab your helmet, you’re walking up to the plate to hit in the winning run, bottom of the ninth, two outs against the dreaded Mets as you walk up to the plate. Renee Stewart, what is your walk up song?

53:02

Oh, my goodness, that is, that is a really tough question, and I don’t know if you know, I’m a huge mark. I’m a huge music fan. These are my top six concert experiences.

53:17

Um, who’s behind you? Um, so

53:21

we’ve got the churches, 21 Pilots San for mean outcast, Kendrick Lamar and Kid Cudi. Nice. I’m probably going to have to go by first. It’s going to have to be Kendrick Lamar, but I don’t know what song it’s.

Curt Anderson  53:40

About, how about Outcast here?

53:44

I would probably go bombs over Baghdad for outcast, and maybe not like us from Kendrick Lamar. It’s, it’s tough, but it’s definitely going to be something in that genre. I’ll get back to you the next time I’m on, here

Curt Anderson  54:00

you go. So we, we like springing that one on you. So thank you for playing so hard as we wind down, Ranae, congratulations. It’s an honor and privilege for us to again watch you grow all the work, amazing work. We wish you massive success at South by Southwest. Man, I wish I was a wine Well, Damon, we might have to go, dude, just to see Ranae, man, this would be awesome. What a what a thrill. What a privilege, Ranae. We wish you your team. I want to give a shout out to Julie, our Jean Michelle, like your Kyle everybody at the Purdue MEP and so again, thank you for our relationship, and we just commend you, applaud you. And as we’d like to say as we close out, just go out and be someone’s inspiration, just like our dear friend, Ranae, and you’ll make the world a better place. So Damon, how about a round of applause for Ranae? And everybody out there, give us a little round of applause for Ranae. Thank you. Alright, Damon, we’ll hang out with us one second. Ranae, Damon, take us home. Will you alright?

Damon Pistulka  54:55

Well, thanks Ranae for being here and talking with us about the awesome things at the Purdue MEP. Is doing. I also want to thank everyone who dropped comments today, and we had MD drop one here when we were finishing up. Nizam, thanks for being here and everyone else that dropped comments. Love it that you did. All you listeners out there that didn’t drop the comments. We appreciate you. I just want you to know we appreciate you listening. We saw you were on today, and we want you to come back again next time with us, because we are here on Mondays and Fridays, talking with great people in manufacturing. If you got in this late, you’re going to want to go back to the beginning, start over and listen to Ranae from the beginning. We will be back again next week. Everyone have a great weekend. Peace.