Monday Manufacturing Motivation – with Sumer Sorensen-Bain & Shane Barber

Curt Anderson  00:02

Hey, Damon, I think we’re live dude. And thank God it’s Monday. How was your weekend?

Damon Pistulka  00:08

It was awesome.

Curt Anderson  00:09

But and why was it so awesome?

Damon Pistulka  00:11

I got to go the football game with my son and we won. And we made it into the playoffs. Nice. Barely,

Curt Anderson  00:18

barely, just just think like Detroit Lions had to put you in

Damon Pistulka  00:23

the Lions for us to get there.

Curt Anderson  00:24

Right, and Broncos. So speaking of Bronk, well we’ll get into that in a second. So yeah, Damon, dude. Hi. Our show is called manufacturing Monday motivation man. Like did we bring in like the two best guests that are you know, I know you guys do that word of the date that word of the year thing you know, whatever. So I my word was two words, so I can’t account two words. It’s radical gratitude. We talked about that all the time. Damon, I’m telling you right now dude, when you are done with this program, you are gonna be consumed in radical gratitude after you get done talking to summer and Shane. Now summer and Shane. It’s almost like a rock band that we have here today. You know, it’s like, What a great name of a band wants to talk about that. But I have Sumer Sorensen-Bain we have Shane barber and a house summer I’m starting with you How are you my friend Happy New Year. How are things

Sumer Sorensen-Bain  01:15

I’m good Curt. Thanks for the invite. Thanks for having us on.

Curt Anderson  01:18

Absolutely Shane barbers here Shane. How are you dude, happy Monday.

Shane Barber  01:22

Doing good doing good. Thanks for having us on. I appreciate it.

Curt Anderson  01:26

My honor and privilege now Shane, I have to tell you this Do think about radical gratitude. I am so thankful I don’t have your last name that would be very embarrassing. Firebird you get it Damon so anyway, let’s dig in so Sumer you are manufacturing Rockstar route like literally from like the start of your career my close is that my

Sumer Sorensen-Bain  01:48

Yeah, yeah, no, I started working with the MEP the Manufacturing Extension Partnership when I was in college so I literally my whole career has been manufacturing.

Curt Anderson  01:59

So let’s let’s take it one step further back if we could Sumer so when you were little girl growing up. Little sweet little girl. You remember those days? Right? Right? Which sweet little girl who Who was your hero. Growing up? Who was your hero that led this great, illustrious career in manufacturing, who was summers hero.

Sumer Sorensen-Bain  02:21

Honestly, I was one of those people that I changed my degree four different times. I didn’t know what I wanted to be when I grew up. And when I got into college, I did a variety of internships trying to figure out who I wanted to be. And I ended up settling on getting a degree in business with emphasis in information systems, because I thought with that combination, I could get a job anywhere. And then I interned with the MEP in Colorado and I thought manufacturing was pretty cool. I love seeing how things are made every day. I love seeing the magic behind the products that we use. And I don’t think people have a true understanding of of what it takes to make something that is an everyday use item. So I fell in love with it didn’t ever want to get out of it.

Curt Anderson  03:12

Was there a particular person anybody that you would have? A family member friend, mentor, coach, teacher professor, anybody that that you would say was your hero?

Sumer Sorensen-Bain  03:23

Um, well my mom’s my hero, but not because of manufacturing. She grew up as a farmer and they they made stuff every day to get the job done. That’s my guess you could tie it back there but she’s definitely one of my my heroes for sure.

Curt Anderson  03:39

That’s awesome. What’s mom’s name? Janie? Janie All right. Big shout out to Janie hopefully she’s watching at some point in time so Janie, Happy New Year. Thank you for what what an inspiration summer is Shane my friend How about so I’m gonna throw the same question at you great career dude. You’ve been at Intel manufacturing basically your whole career it side just bringing your superpowers to the table. Little boy growing up. Who was your hero?

Shane Barber  04:06

This is easy Cooter from the Dukes of Hazzard yours in one episode, he could take the generally and turn it into a four wheel drive and then have it dismantled and into a full full blooded you know streetcar. Yeah. Dirt racer, the

Damon Pistulka  04:25

next thing

Curt Anderson  04:28

I had dropped the mic on. programs over we’re gonna do shader best. Never had that answer. And now anybody under the age of 45 is probably what he’s talking about. Right. So hi, Cooter.

Shane Barber  04:51

Here, I’ll give you my real heroes, my high school welding teacher. I’ve been really fast. I’ve been welding since I was I don’t know Middle School and he inspired me his name is Richard hazy. rich he is out of New Mexico. I’ve been trying to get a hold of him for over a decade. And as we go forward with this conversation today you’ll probably see why but he inspired me to go on to to be certified as a welder go on to college go into manufacturing, and I just recently I’ve been building my own home at a metal we’ll talk about that in a bit but I need to find him I’ve driven to his address dropped a letter I had that homeowner send me a letter back hope you find him so Richard ese if you are out there anybody knows him from Los Alamos New Mexico. I would love to get a hold of him. So that’s my here. That’s our

Curt Anderson  05:47

ask. Alright, so we’re out there to the universe guys. If you know Richard, hazy, man, please have him know, an email a postcard, even a fax whatever it takes, right? So hey, we’ve got some friends here. We got a great manufacturer, our friend Bonnie Manhattan. Bonnie, happy new year my friend thanks for joining us. Diane is in the house Diane’s attack. So summer, you know tech, you know she’s in the mid atlantic tech and of course we got my buddy Michael rego. Michael. Happy Monday. Happy New Year, my friend. I absolutely love it. And he he shares a shout out to cooter so that is absolutely awesome. So all right, we’ve got summer we’ve got mom is your hero and just your this wonderful career and manufacturing chain. Shout out to cooter and your welding professor or teacher. That is great. Sumer. Let’s go here. So you mentioned the MEP, but you worked at you know what you’re so cool in manufacturing. You worked at manufacturers edge before was manufacturing’s edge. Oh, yeah.

Sumer Sorensen-Bain  06:42

No, we went through to name changes in the time that I worked there we were we started hurt. Not many people know this when the MEP started in the West. We didn’t start as a single state. We had a four state regions. So we had Missouri, Kansas, Wyoming and Colorado. And we all work together to strengthen enough that we could then become our own state senator. So I started when we were ma’am tech, and it was a four state region out of Kansas.

Curt Anderson  07:12

Wow. Okay. So talk so intern out of college, right? And so we just interviewed a Gen Z or she’s 21 22 years old and IMEC. Same exact story. And she talks about her hero was her aunt Kathy worked at IMEC, the Illinois MEP for years. And here she was summer, you know, she’s summer of 2022 of that. So Sumer, talk about like how, share with folks out there, what is the MEP, just the benefits, the incredible resource that the MEP Manufacturing Extension Partnership, that critical role that they play for manufacturers in the US? And specifically in Colorado?

Sumer Sorensen-Bain  07:47

Yeah, sure. The MEP stands for the manufacturing extension partnership. It’s a federal program out of commerce, there’s one center in every state and in Puerto Rico. And their whole mission is to strengthen and grow the manufacturing within their communities. So they are a resource that helps with everything from cybersecurity supply chain to internal process improvements and growth challenges. So contact your local MEP, they’re a great resource that I think is a great secret to the world. They’re they’re trying to get their message out there. But it’s hard when you’re one entity within an entire state to get that that traction.

Curt Anderson  08:25

Right. And you had a great career. I mean, like you stepped your way up. And I think before you move down and transition to a new entrepreneurial career, you were the CEO. Oh, do I have that? Correct?

Sumer Sorensen-Bain  08:35

Correct. Yeah, I was the COO of Colorado. Just share

Curt Anderson  08:39

a little bit of just some of the wins. Just you know why you’re so passionate why you stayed there for so long. Just share a little bit of like your experience working there.

Sumer Sorensen-Bain  08:47

Sure. As a intern, so I graduated, this is going to age date me a little bit. I graduated right before y2k. So as I mentioned my degree business with emphasis and information systems, so I was one that was gonna go save the world when the clock turned. Yep. And so I was brought into the MEP to to provide support during the transition in programming. I did website design database program,

Curt Anderson  09:14

and I’m sure you use you saved y2k.

Sumer Sorensen-Bain  09:17

Right? I single. Yes. Our banking system, nothing crashed. We all woke up and it was another

Curt Anderson  09:24

I had to sorry, I hit interject on that.

Sumer Sorensen-Bain  09:27

Yeah. So that was my beginning of my career. And so I started as a service provider doing client projects that were primarily around it based activities, software selection, those types of things. And then over time, as y2k became less or so of an issue, I got into more of the account management business development side. Got to spend a lot of time traveling around Colorado in all corners. Shane will say I know my way around every backstreet in every city because of knowing where the manufacturing part

Shane Barber  10:00

cuts are good in every manufacturing slum you can find,

Sumer Sorensen-Bain  10:03

I love them. I know all the side streets and I can navigate them well. So then I went from doing account management, to being the director of our sales team, and then transition to the CEO where I had sales, delivery, marketing, and I did a lot of our federal reporting.

Curt Anderson  10:22

That’s fantastic. And so and we’re gonna, we’re gonna dig into how you took those superpowers and then decided to throw on your entrepreneurial hat. And now you have the business excellence group. But Shane, let’s slide over to my friend. So great career, you kick, start, you know, go back to so you know, you’re done watching Dukes of Hazzard, we decided maybe we’re not to college, or I’m not sure if that played a role in like how you selected your college choice. But as you moved on, and you had a great career Intel talk a little bit like what attracted you to manufacturing, your early stages of career what went on there towards manufacturing?

Shane Barber  10:55

Yeah, manufacturing is running in my blood. My great grandfather had a steel stamping plant in Ohio, going into World War and so they told up, they stamp went away from stamping oil filter casings for pure later to bomb casings and employed three towns and so it there’s a long DNA of manufacturing, I was always a tradesman raised by raised by trade tradesmen got certified as a welder out of school. And I just wanted more. And so I went back in got a degree in production operations management, targeted Intel corporate Corporation in my hometown, and I did early beginnings, I was about 23 years old playing industrial engineer and laying out new areas. And I found myself spending a lot of time in process improvement. But I had a knack for the people quotient as well. And so as I grew up through Intel, I, you know, managed floors, production floors, and then lead them. And I had the highest performing shift in one factory mega factory. So each shift was 660 people, three and a half football fields of, of cleanroom. And I had the highest performing shift of any factory in the world, we were 20% above safety, quality, cost, output, and employee morale. And I went to a night shift to experiment on culture, and how to drive a culture within a culture. Really, I went to hide, I got sick and tired of corporate culture I got tired of faster, better, cheaper or else went to a night shift instead of quitting, got results. And all of a sudden, I got all the spotlight, I didn’t want it. I just wanted to hibernate, you know, I wanted to hide because I knew I was leaving. I was stayed as long as I did, but it put me on a global path of the person that was the CEO after I left, he ran all manufacturing, he called me up and say, We got two people or a process problem in Malaysia, I needed you to drop it and make it your idea. Put a system in place and have them invite you back Politics, Politics, Politics. But I did that I did that 42 weeks a year on average flying around, and then I left. The joke before that was instead of firing Barber, they moved me and HR. They’re like, let’s not fire this loose cannon. Let’s put them into HR, he’ll quit. And so I soaked up even further, all the people process stuff I was doing, I formalized it. And then I stepped out over a decade ago and started doing people and process improvement. And most manufacturers, most companies spend all their money and time on process improvement because they don’t want to work on the people. But what makes you feel that people are less complex than an MRP system less complex than you make manufacturing system. So I hone that craft I move I worked around and BPS and that timeframe in New Mexico shout out to Jennifer sensible, great partnership. They’re the MEP, Director, their CEO, and then she got me in front of summer and the rest was history. We work together and then we generated our straight six model together and here we are, we optimize people in process through a deliver a deliberate system that we certify teach and train other MVPs on. Okay. All right, how’s it

Curt Anderson  14:12

here’s a little Diane gives a shout out, definitely contact your MEP. So alright, so for anybody out there, they’re like, you know, what are you guys talking about? So if it’s summer, Shane, correct me if I’m wrong, like I always say like, Hey, whoever’s living in the White House at that time, and you’re here, like, hey, we have a bunch of federal funds going to manufacturers, typically those are being funneled through the MEP network. And then with that, it just you guys, that’s where the magic happens. So as you mentioned, Summer, there’s one there’s an MVP in all 50 states plus Puerto Rico. And so now you have subject matter experts just like I mean, what a daemon, how about that story, dude? Yeah. Before I jump into that, Shane I begs a question. So somebody’s out there. They’re a corporate warrior and working for somebody else for many, many years. Dude, was it what was it like for you to leave that corporate? It safety umbrella, if you will. And I realized, like you were, maybe you were in a different place because like you’re frustrated or sounds like a little burnout. But you know, what was that like leaving that paycheck in that corporate umbrella to be your own entrepreneur?

Shane Barber  15:12

Well, it’s a huge risk, right? You leave you leave decent pay great benefits. One mile from where I grew up, right? Right. Yeah, I wake up one day, and I’m like, we’re gonna start streamlining our expenses, because I’m leaving, you know. And so, stepping out onto your own shingle. Luckily, I had started up a consulting firm a year prior with a partner. And so that was running and I stepped into I built my office out the same day, I left one mile away. And so I had some security, but I didn’t know how to I was consulting internally. But that’s easy. That’s easy. Anybody that does that internally, you know, hey, sure to fly out here, whatever. And I find myself working with small to medium manufacturers, five people to maybe 25 When I was used to work in 110,000 person company, and I was known as you know, somebody that had some skill. And I step out, and it’s like, oh, how am I going to talk differently? So I started meeting in coffee shops, listening to small, not just manufacturers, because there wasn’t many at the time and New Mexico starting to dwindle as Intel, Intel went down on its investment in New Mexico. So I started saying anywhere, there’s people, anywhere, there’s process, I can optimize your business and get a different result. And drawing on a napkin, the predecessor of our model, and convincing folks in 45 minutes, building relationship, learning their pain, diagnosing it live, and then asking them, do you feel that this issue you have needs to needs to go on attended? How long does it last? I’ve been dealing with this for two years. Why don’t we end it? Why don’t we go put a process and get your people rallied around that. And off I went, it sounds easy. But then it took me three years to build like a business three years to build a reputation. When I had I left one. And I remember about eight to 10 months later, my wife’s like, Would you ever go back to Intel was like, never mentioned that again. Great company, awesome culture. But I was not case you can tell him a little bit of a robe kind of guy. And I had learned everything I wanted in that kindergarten skills. And I was ready just to break out but but much easier to work internally as a lean consultant, a process consultant, and then you step out and it’s uh Oh, where did I just go? So the big challenge, pretty big challenge. You got to think on your feet nonstop and innovate all the time. Yeah, man, just like going from the desert to the jungle. It’s like, yeah, it’s like LMI. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Exactly. All right. Well,

Curt Anderson  17:48

if you’re just joining us, man, wouldn’t you know what some are. And it’s great that you finally got Shane to come out of his shell, you know, like he was, yeah, you’re introverted. And you finally like got out of out of it. But I absolutely love what you guys are talking about. And again, if there’s a manufacturer out there, you know, catching us and they’re like, you know, this MEP Manufacturing Extension Partnership. And just when you’re hearing this dynamic tool right now, you talk about the wealth of information of Like how summer came in, as an intern and climb the chain and just passionately working. She knew every Colorado manufacture in every nook and cranny of the entire state. Shane comes in with just Whoa, you know, how, where else do you get intel expertise into like your 20 person manufacturing operation? And this is what you guys bring to the table. I think this is awesome. All right, let’s jump into your entrepreneurial journey. Just magic happens when you two come together. Can you just share like what happened where you’re like, hey, we’re really working well together. Let’s start this entrepreneurial journey together. And then let’s dig into the the, your, your, your entrepreneurial launch that you had.

Sumer Sorensen-Bain  18:53

Yeah. So Shane, as he mentioned, he was introduced to me through Jennifer who’s down in New Mexico, I was looking for somebody that worked on a project in Durango, Colorado, which is it’s easier for New Mexico to serve Durango than for Denver to serve Durango. And so Shane went into work on that project. And he and I had, we just clicked I can take Shane’s brain and make it practical in MEP speak. And he works his magic when it comes. And he’s you put him in front of a company and he can relate to every size because he’s run his own welding company of a handful of people all the way up to working for Intel. So Shane can sell scale the concepts to whatever size of company he’s helping consult.

Curt Anderson  19:49

i Alright, let’s do that. Damon you love when I do this. So I’m going to I’m going to I’m going here right away. Okay. Some are you sitting down?

Sumer Sorensen-Bain  19:56

I am sitting down. What are you reading up on this really short

Curt Anderson  19:59

This is what a couple people say about summer. And Shane, when this died this rockstar team we, you know, having worked closely with summer at ca mt for five years I repeat repeatedly been impressed by summers integrity, interpersonal communication skills, ability to tackle any problem solvers, unwavering commitment to her clients is evident by her long term relationships, ensuring that see, I’m going to jump ahead here, she says, I count myself lucky to work side by side with summer. And then Shane gets the same thing Shane has helped us build strategy for a new division, his work with us was amazing. In three short hours, I felt we achieved the results of a one week retreat, he has an amazing ability to synthesize and get to the heart of the matter. He’s an incredible business resource large or small. And so again, there’s just like, on and on of those types. So you guys come together. So I realized that there’s magic. So Shane, I’ll come over to you. What was the day where you guys having coffee? Were you on the phone where you said, like, hey, let’s do let’s start our own band. And we’re going to do our own thing. What was that like?

Shane Barber  21:07

Well, sometimes you get to blow things up before you put it back together is what I often say. So we’ll leave that there. But I think we just got to a point we developed codeveloped. The system, the predecessor, the system, we call it the straight six, six critical cylinders that will make any engine run strategy, structure, people systems, lateral processes that get people to communicate and collaborate together, metrics and methods and tools. So we we put these cylinders together, we start in our garage, assembling this engine to optimize optimize companies. And we build a rapid assessment around it that’s free to anybody that takes it today, it’s manufacturing could be healthcare, we have even one for MEPs construction. You know, I’ve literally done it with dentist, and dentists and law firms. And so we start assembling this motor. And then we realize this is a Formula One racecar we’re not race and street rods anymore. And it’s the there’s no formula one track in our area. So now let’s take it to the Formula One tracks across the US. And we said, Let’s graduate this program, let’s put this car on the circuit. And let’s put this car in the MEP circuit. And we do and we enter our first race. Our first race was out of Oklahoma. And we did rather well there shout out to Dave rollin MEP, Director and CEO of OMA and we put it out on the course and we start evolving it and we don’t, we don’t split just like a Formula One engine, you’re always trying to optimize it. We’re three years in that journey today. And it looks very different than it did three years ago. And anybody we’ve put the car on the track with, we have a longer relationship, that you can span everything all the way to the front end of sales, to process improvement to products, methods, to software, to coaching, to doing direct work with their clients. If it is a client that is much bigger than they’re in more complex and are used to servicing. We have we can we will but we always partner with the MEP. And so we just we just right summer, we started assembling the motor. We said it’s time to take it out of state.

Sumer Sorensen-Bain  23:26

Yeah, yeah. Shane and I, we had the privilege of working with four states prior to exiting out of Colorado, we had Missouri, we had Oklahoma, Utah, and who am I missing? Shane, North Dakota, they came to Colorado, we did a pilot with them of what this model could look like in their hands. And they said yes, we want it and we said, Okay, we have the option of staying in Colorado and serving one community, or we have the option to work with the National Network and serve 51 communities. So we made that decision to transition. And since then, we’ve been working with probably about 10 Mbps. And it’s a variety of things, right. So we either teach them how to use this model so that they can use it themselves and have a multiplier effect, or we are working with them in licensing content. We have content that came from Shane’s brain over the time of Intel content that we’ve co created with other MEP centers to optimize their clients. And then we also have companies or MEPs that say we need to expand our capability. So we want to use you guys as our service providers. And so we partner with them as a delivery agency to help them expand their capability. So we love the MEP, whether we’re working in it or with it we we will be a part of it.

Shane Barber  24:58

Right and a good example is like Last week, we were in Kansas, shout out to Tiffany and Donovan of the Kansas MEP, building a sub strategy for a networking group that’s covering, it’s going to span two states, along with Dusty out of Missouri. And this week, right after a keynote we’re doing on the skilled labor crisis. At five o’clock, we’re hopping in a car driving in the middle of Wyoming to you know, train the Wyoming MVP on how to wield the assessment to drive impact client count and their sales engine. And so it’s a huge variety things like summer sale,

Sumer Sorensen-Bain  25:37

and next week, I’m going to be in Utah working with one of their clients and helping deliver a efficient factory design product so we’re I think I’m in four states this month alone working with MEP centers.

Shane Barber  25:51

A lot of races a lot of forms.

Curt Anderson  25:54

Man, this is so good. All right. I know a couple of great comments here we got Tom Tom Happy New Year dude. Syracuse, we’ve got Nicole Nicole, thank you. Sometimes you have to blow things up before you put them back together. She absolutely loves that. So I you know, I know people are paying they might have a call coming up. I can I jump into Can I jump ahead to you guys. Now not only do you know manufacturing, you speak manufacturing? You are manufacturers. Can I jump ahead? You guys have you guys have a manufacturing business? Can I jump into that right now? Just have a call at the top of the hour. I have a request. I have a request that whatever you’re doing if you’re on a phone, email, just you know, just you deserve it. Take a little break for a second. I’m going to share my screen I want you to I love for you to check out something. So Damon, you let me know if you can see my screen. And now how are we looking? Yep, yep. Okay. I’m going to show I’m going to change your mind if I show this. Yeah, please do. Okay, Damon. Are you sitting down? Yes, I am. Okay, you’re all right. Look at where Shane is sitting in the room that a magnificent fireplace. And guys, as parents, I’m going to ask you to watch this video

Damon Pistulka  27:31

we’re not I’m not hearing the audio Curt.

Sumer Sorensen-Bain  27:36

That’s the best part. Shane’s given his best material.

Curt Anderson  27:39

You can’t hear it. No, I can’t hear the audio. All right. Why can’t you hear the audio? Daymond Could you do me a favor? All right, bear with me. I’m going to drop this in the comment. All right. And I’ll stop sharing see if you can. What about you guys can hear that? I don’t know. Grab that link and see if you can share it. Yeah, I’m gonna give it a try. So alright, guys, so Shane is sitting in his in his home. It’s 11 containers. And he’s built this magnificent, incredible, wonderful home. And I wonder I want I’m I’m curious to

Damon Pistulka  28:20

go I’m gonna give it a try.

Curt Anderson  28:22

Alright, see if you can share that. After watch this.

Damon Pistulka  28:25

Yep, here we go. Let’s give it a try. Share Screen I want to share this is just the right screen. Right there. Yes. Oh, I gotta Why is this not? There we go. Boom. Got it. So there we go.

Sumer Sorensen-Bain  28:48

It should be music. I can hear it.

Curt Anderson  28:54

So you can hear it. That was the same thing on my end like we can’t hear it. Yeah.

Damon Pistulka  29:01

That is strange. That is strange. Let me see one more thing yeah, there’s nothing I don’t know why it’s not

Curt Anderson  29:11

okay. I’ll tell you what, Damon I’m if you don’t mind play around with that. I’m going to keep interviewing these. You keep going? Yeah, because I’m like, if we can’t Gosh, I’ve never had that happen before mirror.

Sumer Sorensen-Bain  29:25

Shame can tell the story.

Curt Anderson  29:27

Short story he can tell the story I tell the video is very powerful.

Sumer Sorensen-Bain  29:30

I know it is it is such

Curt Anderson  29:33

video. If if if I change the mirror would that do it?

Damon Pistulka  29:38

Maybe

Curt Anderson  29:40

Okay, so Shane. Let’s do this. I apologize. Guys. Do me a favor. I dropped the link in the chat box. I was thinking I was so excited. Oh, here we go. Here we go.

Damon Pistulka  29:49

I’ve got I got it now. You got it now. Okay, I’m pretty sure I got it. Okay, yeah, I’m pretty sure I got it.

Shane Barber  30:00

We hear holding something in their bare hands is gratifying. But doing with others that are close that you love and live with is is amazing. And people say, you know, homes can tear families apart. This pool is even closer together. This home is all about legacy in 2017, we lost my son to cancer and he was 20 years old. My son’s name is Austin Wade barber. He was, you know, always want to stay honest to his craft to his art. And we feel him with us every single day,

30:32

he would show how he felt through the way he carried himself immediately in whatever situation he was in.

Shane Barber  30:39

Cole came to us and he said, I think we need to stay together, I think we need to stick together, we need to continue to get closer together than pull farther apart. Living in the Denver area was too expensive to buy. I’ve welded my whole life. My son I taught how to weld. It’s like Dad, why don’t we build a shipping container, we’ve always thought about it. And so we designed it out of foam built a physical model than we had drafted and drawn up. Day one was probably the proudest moment because we went from concrete to 11 containers stacked up, leveled welded to the footing. And immediately you can see the result just poking out of the earth. It gave us something to really rally around and you know, building something with your hands holding a MIG gun was my therapy. It was something where I can just be heads down, not thinking about anything, and lose myself in a weld. Originally, it was going to arc weld everything on the outside. And it was at the welding shop. And I look over and I see this small blue box. And it intrigued me because it looked like I mean literally could climb a ladder with it. And I stopped using all other equipment. There wasn’t one weld in this home not done with that 211. The build of this home, not only was putting together 11 containers, but it was pulling together. At the time, four of us then five of us and six of us as grandchildren were born. Just a

31:59

couple of days before he passed away. We knew he had mentioned that if he had ever had any babies that he would have named his daughter or Ella. A month later, me and my husband got pregnant with our first daughter. And we decided that a special name for her would be aura,

32:17

everything we made from the moment I started welding gates as a child, I mean, we always left our little imprint on it somewhere in a creative sense. So I want to continue that down to my children is early as possible. I feel like we’re already doing it. I have my daughter using the spray candidate four years old. And we own an art gallery as a family where I raise my children more than I do at my house.

32:37

We get to see the grandkids every day. And you know, that’s it’s filled our hearts for sure.

32:43

We never got to build anything this larger scale ever. He never got to see anything like that be built, but he would be very proud. And I think he would be more proud of how far we’ve come as a family.

Shane Barber  32:55

You know, you always think Oh, my kids are gonna grow up but I see him again, when I spend time with them. We’re bonded. We’re bonded like two pieces of metal. Now we’re going to start working together. Today. housing inventory is so low we’re not about to catch up and 25 years and our growing population needs places to live that are affordable. We’re going to start building small carbon dwells on this very site will lay down containers in this yard. Keep building that smaller square down version, father and son. You know, these containers are literally built to withstand all the elements this world can throw at them in our family have thrown over the last few years as much as we could at it and not adapt. It’s built the last it’s gonna be here well past my years. Well past my grandchildren’s years. This is my legacy on the bond

Curt Anderson  33:52

funds very cool. So how about that?

Sumer Sorensen-Bain  33:59

And there’s not a dry Yeah.

Curt Anderson  34:01

Shane, dude. First off our thoughts prayers to you your family tragic loss and just how you turned it you know what? I just turned I was just on a call before this and they talked about turning your terror into a treasure turning, you know, a mess into a miracle dude, like you completely created a miracle here. Can you just share like, look at this house you’re in like how just the inspiration the motivation, you your son, your family, just just share those stories behind here. Yeah, literally,

Shane Barber  34:33

it was a passion from high school on mentors, right? This taken me on this direction, turn that with my son. And we just decided, like that video says, too expensive to build. Our roots are in New Mexico. We were going to have to pack up and go home and we said not let’s take things into our own hands. It’s like a welding, a welding gun and let’s do it and it was less about building a house. else. It was more about, you know, building rebuilding our family, Miller Corporation. They saw that they talked to me and they said, Hey, let’s fly some folks out. And so in a 24 hour day, we started filming at 10 till six in the morning, didn’t get done until seven at night. Got that back and that went worldwide got over a million views on it. And today, we’re the face of Miller welders and we’re on every calendar. If you go to Miller welders watch that story, I’ll give you a warning, it’ll pop up and they’ll say man built home with a welder and done about it on. And really all it was is taking our manufacturing routes, and putting him to work. And every for the last decade. Manufacturers always when you go into their plant, they’re proud, they don’t take any obstacle. It’s a challenge. But it’s never they’re not willing to lay down and and walk away from it. And as a third party coming in, they’re always challenging you skeptics, what do you know about manufacturing, you came from Intel? Oh, here we go. speaking a language that we need a glossary of terms on kinda like lean, and we’re down the earth, right? They’re like, Well, what have you built? I’m like, oh, you know, shipping container, oh, tiny home. 4100 square feet, 11 containers, nine months in one week? Sure. tiny home. Right. And, you know, I don’t say it like that. But at the end of the day, we’re tradesmen, and our company today is, you know, summer myself, my son, the the staff that works for us, we’re all owners, we started in October, when container prices came down. And here we are. And so, you know, the message I think I’d like folks to hear is our roots are in manufacturing, whether it be starting at the IT world starting as a welder to systems processes, people, the end of the day, we build it for us by us. And when we walk into a plant, we want to be a partner, not a consultant, not a resource. We want to be a partner for life, not on their payroll, we want to come in and quick as a surgical resource to address the pain, assess the pain, put a fix in place, transform them, and then get out of the way and teach them how to sustain it. Good consultants do that. Good partners do that. Other ones want to stay on the payroll. And so we can we can go into aerospace, we can go into, you know, two weeks from now, I’m at a major hospital in Michigan. And we’re doing the same kind of rigor we do. And everybody is a production facility. Whether you produce yarn, whether you produce, you know, dentistry procedures, your you have procedures, you just need to link their people up to it. So we’re for you, by you, we’re partners, not consultants, we can either help an MEP helping them be an extension of them, direct to client, but we’re passionate about what we do. If you don’t you don’t see that in that video. We’re passionate. We can’t turn it off. Hard to notice.

Sumer Sorensen-Bain  38:03

I’ve spent my last six years with Shane trying to keep him focused.

Shane Barber  38:10

She’s an interpreter. She’s a manager. She’s like, over here. I’m like, Yeah, we could do right there.

Curt Anderson  38:17

You guys are yin and yang. And I don’t know if I mentioned that earlier. I’m gonna mention it again. So I had the honor and privilege of meeting summer and Chang, this wonderful rock band in Chicago at the MVP national conference. And Damon you so you’re kind of getting an idea of who’s the extrovert extrovert who’s the introvert. So what do I do I run over to summer and like, I’m doing a LinkedIn live right now. And she’s like, you know, kicking and screaming, and she’s like, No, get Shane and like, he was talking to somebody else. I’m like, Come on, let’s go. And so she graciously came over and jumped on the microphone. And so we did a LinkedIn live together. It was just an honor privilege meeting you guys. And so I wanted to have some time to spend here saying I’m going to come back I’m gonna come back to you one more minute. You know, your family. Just what an inspirational story just it’s just so touching, man. I just thank you for, you know, having the courage to share that with the world and sharing it with us. Somewhere. I want to come back to you as an entrepreneur, again, Shane shared how he was at Intel big corporate umbrella and just you know, that’s a little bit of scary. He was you know, he was ready to go but a little bit scary. You know, here right out of college, you worked at the MEP manufacturers edge, you know, steady paycheck kind of doing your thing for X number of years. What was it like for you when you ripped off that band aid and took that leap?

Sumer Sorensen-Bain  39:32

So, Curt, I did. It’s a dirty little secret. I did leave the MEP in the middle of my 24 years. And I went to run a medical manufacturing company. I wanted to prove to myself that the systems methods and tools we were telling manufacturers to use actually worked. So I left and did. I ran a medical device company. We were purchased by our competitor And I figured that’s a great time to come back. Now I have the practical application side, and I’m going to come back. So I, I did spend 24 years with the MVP. But I did take a sabbatical, as I call it. I’m the risk adverse one. But once we got those four states together and started having conversations about how this model works, and there were times where I would go in with Shane, we would draw kind of the basics on the board. And we saw CEOs taking pictures of what we put on the board and asking us to leave it and do you have copies of that. It started resonating, that there’s something here that is bigger than ourselves. And so when we got those four states together, and they all said we want that we said, okay, it’s, it’s a risk, but it’s a calculated risk, because we already had MEPs that said, this will work in my state. And we said, Great, then we will take that leap of faith. We’ll start with you guys. And we’ll see where this goes. And it has grown substantially.

Curt Anderson  41:06

Yeah, it has. And what I did guys, is I dropped your website I dropped in earlier, just dropped it again. So check out Shane and summers website is absolutely phenomenal. If you are connected with an MVP out there, we love our MEPs, you absolutely want to if you’re not familiar with with their program, their processes, go to their website, you as a matter of fact, you have a page dedicated to the MEP centers, I will drop that in the chat box as well. And let me do that right now. I’m thinking of it. And so if you’re an MVP Senator out there, boy, definitely reach out to these guys. So anybody out there, please drop us a note drought connect with these guys on LinkedIn. You absolutely. Man, you’re just telling the inspiration here, Shane, I’m going to come back, you know, a lot of folks today what I love, you know, what came out of COVID? You know, in the past, we really, you know, vulnerability or empathy, curiosity, you know, like, these are words that you hear a lot now. And maybe I don’t know if COVID really inspired this. And like, you know, when I saw the video with you, and the story that you share with what what’s going on with your family, and what you bring to manufacturing, you know, oh, my goodness, what do you say great grandfather? Yeah, you know, like, it’s just it’s in your DNA, it’s in your blood, just share a little bit about like, you know, what, this whole mission where everything manufacturing this new business, this legacy to yourself, your son, your family, just share a little bit about what this means to you? Yeah,

Shane Barber  42:31

I think there’s a distinct difference of, of character people that surround themselves in a manufacturing environment. Right? Again, they when they run up against an obstacle, there’s no option not to deal with it. And it’s just in your fundamental belief system that we don’t just go, oh, man, we just had a tool go down. And we got to call that manufacturer and tell them that we can ship it. No, man, you burn the midnight oil and you get it, you get it across the finish line. And that is a certain character that transcends industry transcends employers transcends companies. It’s life lessons. And it’s like I mentioned the best, biggest magnet on my refrigerator is the, you know, my kindergarten magnet that says I worked it into, and I soaked everything up for a rainy day. And, and some cultures are for people, some cultures aren’t. And that culture was matched my ATD, ADHD, my energy level, my intensity, and I was able to run free and you know, sometimes I went into the darkness to blow stuff up, right. But at the end of the day, you know, I just love the people in manufacturing, love the impact, love to see you walk in last year, this time and walked into a plant, they hadn’t been profitable in 67 years, three generations, right? They paid themselves all that great stuff. And in two months, we had our first profitable month, second month, next profitable month, and we tuned them up to sell them and they sold four months later. And they are happily retired and have a very different life, but a lifestyle they built with their generations, as my grandfather did. And so it’s just, it’s what we do. And and it’s what we do. And it’s what we do different. You know, there’s tons of process control experts out there, they’re amazing at what they do. You need a glossary of terms and a rule book, what is a Kaizen? And what is this? What does that, you know, our field is if you’ve got to invent a definition and a glossary, to, you know, run side by side with them, oops, we’re simple or easy, we can get down on the concrete and we can deliver to the to the people that work the hardest there because those are the people on the concrete that get that product across. So its culture, its dynamic, its DNA, its people its character. And I think once you’re bitten by that, you know, it doesn’t leave and so that’s, that’s why that’s my wife. changing people’s lives one process improvement and people improvement at a time.

Curt Anderson  45:10

So, if you guys are new to the show, we do these little things called moments of silence. So like when just somebody just drops like a massive bomb, we just need to like savor that for a moment changed. So thank you for sharing that wisdom, that brilliance. That inspiration. So speaking of inspiration, I want to be mindful of everybody’s time I first off, thank you, thank you, thank you both. It’s just such an honor and privilege to connect with you guys. Honor privilege to hear your story, your passion, everything that you guys are doing. Some I’m hitting you with one last quote, I was Damon, I always say last question. I have like 10 more, but I could talk with these guys. So summer, as we were now in 2023. And just you know, you took me through your processes, went through the whole thing, absolutely love it. If you’re a manufacturer out there, you need to connect with these guys, contact your local MEP, they’ll get you connected to these guys, or vice versa. So summer as we’re in 2023, I asked you who your hero was, and it was mom. Yep. Who is your inspiration? Coming into 2023? Who or what is your inspiration coming in? 2023?

Sumer Sorensen-Bain  46:19

You know, I think for me, it’s transition from the past generation to the future generation. I’m a parent myself. I have a 17 year old that’s going off to college next year. And so helping think about that future. I have a 13 year old that’s going to start high school next year. And so I think for me, it’s taking what I’ve learned in the past from the past generations and all their wealth, knowledge and experiences, and helping my kids figure out their course.

Curt Anderson  46:53

dropped the mic there. Yeah, that was the next generation. Yeah, gosh, I don’t know if we’ve had that one. That was no great answer. Shane and lemenager. Brother, same question. Dude, you are just such an inspiration on so many levels. 2023 I know we just we were just introduced to your family, your beautiful wife grandkids. Who What is your inspiration for 2023.

Shane Barber  47:18

The same sentiment summer said about how do we span generations manufacturing’s a dying art? Let’s be honest, walk in a plant. See if you find anybody it’s 23. Right? Yeah, there’s a huge disparity, young people coming in. And then salty, old, crusty dogs like myself, right. And you got to get those together. And everybody complains about Gen Y, Z LMNOP QRS. But at the end of the day, it’s time to drop that difference that’s trying to hand down those generations, I got a four year old granddaughter, a two year old grandson. And when I’m breaking out tools, they’re right there with me. If we don’t work side by side, three, buddy, we are not going to feel the skilled labor at the skilled labor gap. It’s not going away. It started happening in the 80s. You know, and I was in high school in the 80s. And that I walked back into that classroom where my mentor taught me how to weld and sew and everything else. And that was an English class when my my youngest son went there. And so the trades were plucked and pooled. And so that’s part of it. Another one is disruptors. disrupt the norm, man, we had a major disrupter two years ago, it hasn’t gone it’s just changed. And it’s and We’re disrupting. And today things cannot be done the same way they were done tomorrow. And that’s what plagues manufacturing as well. Right? Hey, let’s do the same process over and over expect a different result. That’s called insanity loop. Right? So you know, blow it up, put it back together. If you can do it yourself, go for it. If you can’t ask for help peers and partners, whoever that is, but at the end of the day, we got to look at things differently with the skills we have today with the generations to come but we cannot replicate and if even if we could why would you want to do that? Blow it up cut holes in it build it they will come kind of deal right

Curt Anderson  49:13

Mike Trout drop Yep. All right. So let’s we’ll wind down so guys put a drop your website connect with these guys on LinkedIn boy, if you’re catching this on replay, please go back man. Watch the video. And so again, we’ve got CEO summer, just doing amazing work at the Business Excellence group. We’ve got carbon dwell, chain, thank you for sharing your inspirational story and just you know how you’ve turned us into just a I can’t express my respect my admiration to you, your family what you’re doing. So God bless your brother. So, guys, how about if you guys, thank you for sticking with us? If you’ve been sitting down for the past, what do we Daymond 15 minutes So right now on the spot, I invite you welcome you encourage you to stand up get a little stretch and let’s give a big roaring round of applause to Shane and summer summer and Shane these two rock stars. We’re going to talk about starting their band as soon as we get off here connect with them on LinkedIn check out their website go to both or websites that’s in the chat box and so we wish you man Damon this year like I think like things like what we just had on Friday with Allison to forge she’s a big advocate for them EP network. We’ve got these guys we’ve got a big advocate for them up on this coming Friday on our upcoming so guys, this is going to be an amazing incredible year. Go out and be someone’s inspiration man if like boy, this is exactly what summer chain are doing.

Damon Pistulka  50:47

They learn from things up. That was that was the phrase of the day for me. Awesome things up.

Curt Anderson  50:53

Blow some things up. Thank you all for a great session time. Thank you guys next time we’re gonna wind down summer Shane hanging out with us for one second. God bless everybody. Wish you an amazing, incredible week. Have a great week and have boy fire man we’re just blowing things up. So

Shane Barber  51:08

fuel the fire. Thanks everybody. All right.