00:00:05:00 – 00:00:11:04
Unknown
Chad? Great to have you here. Welcome to the show and thanks for being on it.
00:00:11:05 – 00:00:15:12
Unknown
Yes, absolutely.
00:00:15:14 – 00:00:37:04
Unknown
I appreciate it. So, yes, you were on Machine Shop Mastery, where we just talked a little bit about the general journey of improvements to machine products. You’re background, but this one machine shop are used to manufacturing. Transformed is really, more about your pro shop journey, right? The other one is kind of arm’s length to pro shop.
00:00:37:06 – 00:00:56:17
Unknown
This one we can really dig in and talk about the transformation that you know, you’ve been through with hopefully pro shop being a part of that. So, for those that haven’t listened to the other episode, I’d love for you to share a little bit about your background and, and, and the business today, you know, what you specialize in kind of what the business looks like.
00:00:56:18 – 00:01:10:07
Unknown
And then we’ll get into the to the backstory.
00:01:10:08 – 00:01:28:09
Unknown
Yeah.
00:01:28:10 – 00:01:42:06
Unknown
Well.
00:02:12:16 – 00:02:18:02
Unknown
Well.
00:02:18:04 – 00:02:29:16
Unknown
Right.
00:02:29:18 – 00:02:45:05
Unknown
Okay.
00:02:45:06 – 00:02:49:19
Unknown
Wow.
00:03:01:17 – 00:03:08:01
Unknown
Okay.
00:03:08:02 – 00:03:12:00
Unknown
Got it.
00:03:12:01 – 00:03:19:16
Unknown
That’s a handful. That is a handful. And what? What industries do you serve?
00:03:19:17 – 00:03:34:11
Unknown
All of them. That’s a good answer. It’s well diversified I love it.
00:03:34:13 – 00:03:39:18
Unknown
Internal medical.
00:03:40:00 – 00:03:45:12
Unknown
Okay.
00:03:45:13 – 00:03:51:17
Unknown
Okay. Yeah. Yeah.
00:03:51:18 – 00:04:19:07
Unknown
Yeah. I love that because diversifying across industries and clients alike is a smart move for trying to stay as evenly, you know, full as possible, because you can ride the ebbs and flows of different industries at different times. So cool. So what makes, what makes the business unique? Sounds like you’re still using some of those, older machines, but probably still highly productive at cranking parts out.
00:04:19:09 – 00:04:29:11
Unknown
But what else? Yeah. What else makes, or stand out in the market?
00:04:34:17 – 00:04:40:12
Unknown
Yeah.
00:04:40:14 – 00:04:56:02
Unknown
Yeah. Critical. Okay.
00:05:28:10 – 00:05:36:09
Unknown
Yeah. I love that. I love it.
00:05:36:10 – 00:05:57:11
Unknown
Awesome. What. What did what drove your decision to look for an ERP. You, you know, I think you had one before. What was not working? Why did you. And what were the challenges you’re facing? And why did you decide you need some different.
00:05:57:12 – 00:06:08:07
Unknown
I did not. Okay. So spreadsheets and whiteboards and all that kind of stuff.
00:06:08:09 – 00:06:32:05
Unknown
Well, even companies with the ERPs. Yeah. Even companies with the RFPs often have a ton of spreadsheets. Anyway, so.
00:06:32:06 – 00:06:42:17
Unknown
Sure.
00:07:40:05 – 00:08:22:10
Unknown
And.
00:09:01:01 – 00:09:33:12
Unknown
Got it. Was it the lack that. The lack of it? Was it the lack of data that was. Or.
00:09:33:13 – 00:09:49:10
Unknown
Kind of.
00:09:56:11 – 00:10:20:14
Unknown
Yeah. I always love those calls. Yeah. What can you can. I’d love to love to dig in a little bit on why you, felt like you couldn’t make that decision for so long. Was it just the, the concern that it wasn’t going to be the right one, that it’s such a big expense or so complicated to take on while your team is trying to get jobs out the door?
00:10:20:15 – 00:10:41:14
Unknown
It’s really common that people delay and delay for a long time. But. Yeah. What was that for you? Okay.
00:10:41:15 – 00:10:56:10
Unknown
Right.
00:10:56:12 – 00:11:09:15
Unknown
Sure.
00:11:18:08 – 00:11:26:15
Unknown
Sure.
00:11:26:17 – 00:11:54:13
Unknown
Yeah. Well, they, you know that saying that hindsight is 2020 is so apt in a situation like this. But it’s the reality is that, you know, making a leap of faith, which is largely what it is that, you know, you can trust the company that’s selling something or saying how good it is or whatever, like, and the reputation, I think in general has the industry in general has a bad reputation.
00:11:54:15 – 00:12:20:07
Unknown
And a lot of, a lot of, I’ll call it sort of broken promises and failed implementations. And so being cautious and being concerned about it is completely valid. And, but yeah. Well, thanks for sharing. Sharing that. I’m sure many folks are in the same exact boat. So once you took that plunge,
00:12:20:09 – 00:12:45:18
Unknown
Do you remember the first time, like, a particular feature or a thing that, you know, started to make an impact and you were like an moment, like, wow, this is really going to be a game changer for us.
00:12:54:10 – 00:13:20:05
Unknown
Tell us about what. Yeah. Tell us about that.
00:13:23:18 – 00:13:32:17
Unknown
Yes. Absolutely.
00:13:57:07 – 00:14:11:14
Unknown
Right.
00:14:11:15 – 00:14:17:09
Unknown
Yeah.
00:14:26:08 – 00:14:48:19
Unknown
Got it. Yeah. That’s very cool. You also shared with me a story of, forgetting the details. Exactly. But a customer came to you, maybe with a, an aggressive price target and, you know, asking you to hit it, and you, you went back to them and actually said, in fact, we’re going to raise the price a bunch.
00:14:49:01 – 00:15:49:14
Unknown
Can you share that story with everybody?
00:15:49:16 – 00:16:12:15
Unknown
Oh, wow.
00:16:12:17 – 00:16:49:01
Unknown
Oh, wow.
00:16:49:02 – 00:17:11:12
Unknown
Yeah. Without it.
00:17:11:13 – 00:17:24:03
Unknown
But. Increased raising. Wow. Congrats. That’s a great feeling.
00:17:39:13 – 00:18:12:18
Unknown
That is such a good story. Yeah. And I’ve. I’ve heard similar things before. When you kind of lay your cards on the table and you show them hard facts about exactly what it costs and the labor and the material and the cutting tools and all that, they I think I think it I don’t know. Tell me what you think, but I think it makes them pause about maybe another vendor that’s offering a lower price and possibly that being a little bit, you know, not smoke mirrors, but like, they’re not going to be able to to hold that price and they’ll come back to them.
00:18:12:18 – 00:18:48:09
Unknown
Right. You know, soon after the first order and say, sorry, I misquoted this or whatever. And that risk of churning through suppliers and changing things and it’s just not worth it. And in a lot of cases, is that kind of how you feel, how you think about that?
00:19:06:19 – 00:19:14:13
Unknown
Yeah.
00:19:14:14 – 00:19:41:17
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah. So you talked about, cost savings. Can you elaborate on some of the maybe processes that have been streamlined or ways that you’ve cut costs out of your, your operations on a daily basis?
00:19:41:19 – 00:19:59:16
Unknown
Okay.
00:19:59:17 – 00:20:38:06
Unknown
Yep.
00:20:38:08 – 00:20:55:08
Unknown
Sure.
00:21:21:01 – 00:21:26:09
Unknown
Right.
00:21:33:17 – 00:22:01:12
Unknown
Right.
00:22:01:13 – 00:22:16:15
Unknown
That’s. That’s awesome.
00:22:16:17 – 00:22:29:07
Unknown
Yep.
00:22:49:13 – 00:22:55:16
Unknown
Right. Right.
00:22:55:18 – 00:23:22:15
Unknown
I love that. So I want to go back to the comments you made about the pre-processing checklist and the, you know, job cards and things like that. You know that those, of course, are features inside a pro shop. But what it sounds like the impact for you really is, is it’s those features driving, you know, workflow changes and like physical things that people are doing on the shop floor as sort of a best practice.
00:23:23:00 – 00:24:10:09
Unknown
It’s not just, you know, oh, this screen offers me, you know, an easier way to click through or whatever, like it’s actually changing the way you are running the shop or prepping things. Is that how you would, quantify that?
00:24:16:08 – 00:24:45:08
Unknown
Can you describe. Can you can, for those that don’t know what process development is, can you just describe what it is and how you’re starting to use it more.
00:24:56:07 – 00:25:13:12
Unknown
And.
00:25:13:14 – 00:25:31:03
Unknown
Yep.
00:26:04:14 – 00:26:16:10
Unknown
Right.
00:26:27:12 – 00:26:30:19
Unknown
Right.
00:26:31:01 – 00:27:03:07
Unknown
And I love it. Yeah. And I mean, that’s exactly the way we used it at Procyon C. You know, I estimated for almost the entire time we owned the business for 17 years. And, you know, I use that that estimating process development extensively and, you know, the the uses are different. The, the estimating side, I think of it as a great tool to, to head off problems before they even become problems.
00:27:03:09 – 00:27:32:06
Unknown
Right. To minimize scrap. To minimize emergency. Oh, no. We forgot about this thing or all of a sudden they came back from plating and they’re out of tolerance or whatever it might be, right? It’s a very proactive way to not have problems start in the first place. And then on the work order side, it’s just that sort of continuous improvement mindset of let’s either stop making the same mistakes over and over again, let’s fix the root cause or let’s just, you know, find a better way.
00:27:32:07 – 00:27:47:16
Unknown
Maybe it’s running okay, but, you know, let’s just find a better way to get more throughput, a scrap, you know, whatever it might be. And, but both very impactful to the bottom line.
00:27:47:18 – 00:28:00:17
Unknown
Yeah.
00:28:00:18 – 00:28:49:16
Unknown
I love it. Fantastic. Let’s talk about quality for a minute. How has, quality? The the tactical side of how you do it? Auditing side, the QMS. Yeah. How is that, made an impact there.
00:28:49:18 – 00:29:10:04
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah.
00:29:47:09 – 00:30:39:03
Unknown
Yeah.
00:30:48:07 – 00:31:31:19
Unknown
Got it.
00:32:43:13 – 00:33:03:09
Unknown
Man, I love that story. How is that? Just how is. What kind of impact does that had on you? Just, you know, as the as the as the president is the owner. Not just that, but the things that tie in to that, you know, that gives you that confidence. Is that is it less stressful?
00:33:03:10 – 00:33:15:10
Unknown
Are you able to just sleep better at night? I mean, I don’t know what the impact is, but, I’d love to hear you speak about that.
00:33:15:12 – 00:33:22:05
Unknown
Sure. First.
00:33:22:07 – 00:33:52:13
Unknown
Awesome.
00:33:52:15 – 00:34:42:06
Unknown
Right.
00:34:57:16 – 00:35:25:17
Unknown
Right. Right. Right. That’s cool. I love it. Have you used to work orders for other things besides, onboarding? You know, we used them in lots of creative ways at our shop, but.
00:35:57:19 – 00:36:04:03
Unknown
Yeah.
00:36:04:05 – 00:36:18:02
Unknown
Right. Yeah.
00:36:18:04 – 00:36:48:06
Unknown
Okay. Well, just a few. Yeah. Just a few ideas for you or anyone listening. We issued work orders, for Kaizen events. So if we were going to run an event like in the shipping department or somewhere, we would. We would schedule the entire thing out in a work order, all the different steps, you know, assign people to those tasks so they could see that come in and schedule it in to, you know, be down for or whatever, you know, whether that brought it down or not.
00:36:48:07 – 00:37:17:03
Unknown
We used it for buying new machines. So we had a template for the research, the scheduling of electricians, concrete workers, you know, like, you know, plumbing. The installation, the calibration, you know, an entire work order template, you know, part template for, for that. So every time we would buy a machine, we would issue a new work order and just follow the steps, all the way through to, to installation and getting up and running.
00:37:17:03 – 00:37:33:11
Unknown
So, yeah, lots of lots of creative ways to, to standardize a process to make it just sort of plug and play.
00:37:33:13 – 00:37:44:10
Unknown
Yeah. Great for that.
00:37:48:15 – 00:38:02:15
Unknown
Yeah.
00:38:02:17 – 00:38:48:15
Unknown
Okay.
00:38:48:17 – 00:38:59:05
Unknown
Okay.
00:38:59:06 – 00:39:08:01
Unknown
Yeah.
00:39:08:02 – 00:39:33:07
Unknown
That’s, Yeah. Even just those little things. It’s not a job related thing, but it’s, That’s that’s cool to hear. So you’ve already talked about if you could go back, talk to yourself when you first needed a system, you’d say, do it earlier. I’ve definitely had other clients, some that waited two years to pull the trigger and, you know, kicking themselves in hindsight.
00:39:33:09 – 00:39:58:07
Unknown
What would you tell? Well, I guess let me ask this one. With the cost savings, with the using it as a sales tool with, you know, all the things, can you put any kind of number on an ROI of, like, what the you know, what you’ve what the payback is of implementing pro shop.
00:39:58:08 – 00:40:14:16
Unknown
Wow. Stuff old. Similar. I mean, as your revenue increased a bunch as well, or is that similar volumes of work?
00:40:14:18 – 00:40:40:01
Unknown
Okay. That’s that’s, That’s meaningful. Yeah. Awesome. So what would you tell someone that was in the middle of ERP research? To to, make sure to, you know, do or not do.
00:40:45:01 – 00:40:51:17
Unknown
Right.
00:40:51:19 – 00:41:07:03
Unknown
Right.
00:41:07:05 – 00:41:12:14
Unknown
Right.
00:41:12:16 – 00:41:42:07
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We, we wrote a blog recently about, about, this fascinating, phenomenon where when there’s a snowstorm coming, cows will head the other direction. They’ll, like, try to run away from the snow storm, which, of course, always catches up with them. And then they find themselves in the snowstorm, running the same direction, extending how long it takes.
00:41:42:09 – 00:42:20:04
Unknown
Whereas Buffalo head directly into the snowstorm and they just put heads down and they persevere through it, and they actually get through it quite a bit faster because they’re, you know, they’re shortening the, the time that they’re in it. And that analogy of, just, you know, don’t don’t delay, push through hard times, you know, push through challenges and you’re going to come out the other side faster, better, stronger, you know, than, you would otherwise, I think is, a great metaphor analogy for, for so many things in life.
00:42:20:05 – 00:42:30:00
Unknown
That’s awesome.
00:42:30:01 – 00:43:17:18
Unknown
I’m glad. I. That’s fine. Yeah. I just learned that a few weeks ago, you know, a month or two ago. So it’s. It’s fascinating. Well. That’s fantastic. So, speaking of employees, how can you talk a little bit about the employee, concerns, reservations, hesitations. You know, when you were when you were describing to them what you’re what you’re about to do, getting rid of all the paper.
00:43:29:06 – 00:44:06:06
Unknown
Right.
00:44:06:08 – 00:44:23:18
Unknown
And it is. You know.
00:44:38:01 – 00:44:59:13
Unknown
I could I can imagine with a few extra steps in the office, they’re like, hey, this is actually a little more work for me. I could see why that, could be the case.
00:44:59:15 – 00:45:04:18
Unknown
So.
00:45:04:19 – 00:45:09:02
Unknown
Okay.
00:45:09:03 – 00:45:40:16
Unknown
So thank you for sharing that. So with the shop employees, especially the older ones. I know that some of the concerns that we hear is that people will either they just don’t want or like computers sometimes. But I think more importantly they have this thought that if they share everything they know and put it into a system, democratize it, if you will, that will make their jobs less secure and make them more potentially obsolete.
00:45:40:18 – 00:45:50:15
Unknown
How did you address that concern with your team?
00:45:50:17 – 00:46:08:12
Unknown
Okay.
00:46:08:14 – 00:46:24:07
Unknown
Right.
00:46:24:09 – 00:46:37:15
Unknown
Right.
00:46:55:10 – 00:47:03:19
Unknown
Yeah.
00:47:04:01 – 00:47:10:08
Unknown
Yeah.
00:47:10:10 – 00:47:39:15
Unknown
Yeah. I love it. That’s fantastic. Yeah. I’ve been on shop tours and taking pictures with, you know, 68 year old guys that are just. Yeah. The owners thought they were going to be the big curmudgeons. But they’re like, the biggest champions and they’re just, you know, smiling ear to ear and loving it. So,
00:47:39:16 – 00:47:52:01
Unknown
Okay.
00:48:10:18 – 00:48:31:16
Unknown
So does it. You sort of set it in recording mode, and it tracks the, the actions you’re doing on the screen and, and takes shots. Wow.
00:48:31:18 – 00:49:04:01
Unknown
That is very cool. I will definitely look into that. Seems very useful to our team for creating reconstructions and trainings. Well, kudos to you for kudos to you for having your team always have that mindset of sharing. Because I know that’s not the case in in many shops. So it’s clearly has to have been something you’ve done right over the years with the culture you built, with the way you run the business, with the hiring that you’ve done off of the individuals that fit with your culture or whatever.
00:49:04:01 – 00:50:09:12
Unknown
So so kudos to you on that. So would you feel like that, that your culture has actually changed at all? You mentioned the guys maybe getting more engaged. You know, maybe to contribute, is that had a bigger impact, sort of culturally in the whole on the whole business.
00:50:09:14 – 00:50:41:17
Unknown
That is very cool. That must feel good to feel like you have more supportive team doing that. Along with you.
00:50:41:18 – 00:50:53:16
Unknown
That’s got to be a good feeling. I hope you have a very relaxing vacation.
00:50:53:18 – 00:51:55:18
Unknown
Yeah. I would love for you to share 1 or 2 of your most memorable experiences being in your position. Owning, running this, leading this up. Yeah.
00:52:11:12 – 00:52:25:04
Unknown
Yeah.
00:52:56:17 – 00:53:17:18
Unknown
Yeah. Emerging leaders.
00:53:17:19 – 00:53:34:09
Unknown
Out of it.
00:53:53:14 – 00:54:05:01
Unknown
Right.
00:54:38:05 – 00:55:25:04
Unknown
Right. Oh, I love it.
00:55:30:00 – 00:55:38:17
Unknown
So good.
00:55:38:19 – 00:55:49:00
Unknown
Yeah.
00:55:49:01 – 00:56:00:08
Unknown
Okay.
00:56:00:10 – 00:56:56:08
Unknown
Yep.
00:56:56:09 – 00:57:35:14
Unknown
It’s different.
00:57:35:15 – 00:58:01:12
Unknown
Well, good for you for reaching outside your bubble, engaging with other leaders, learning, investing in yourself and your business. I know a lot of people feel that lonely at the top issue. And I know and I’ve, you know, joined organizations and had peer groups. It’s always been immensely helpful. So, That’s fantastic. That’s, you had such a good experience there.
00:58:01:13 – 00:58:37:02
Unknown
So what, just a couple more questions and we’ll wrap it up here, and. No, you need to. I don’t want to stand between you and vacation. What have been some of your best, best, biggest wins, best strategic moves you’ve made over the years, whether it’s pre pro shop or during or after whatever.
00:58:57:09 – 00:59:26:07
Unknown
Right.
00:59:48:15 – 01:00:08:08
Unknown
Got it.
01:00:18:13 – 01:00:51:12
Unknown
That’s cool. So you on the marketing side and kudos to you for that. You know that’s, that’s one of the most, whether you hire Ed or do it yourself, you know, focusing on sales and marketing is one of the biggest levers you can pull. And, you know, continuing to grow a business. So, so just to summarize, you feel like there’s been enough increase in throughput and capabilities or whatnot, whatever else that you now have opened, even though you’ve doubled your bottom line and probably means you’re ship more product as well.
01:00:51:14 – 01:01:07:16
Unknown
You have enough bandwidth and capacity now to backfill with new customers, new projects.
01:01:07:17 – 01:01:22:12
Unknown
Yeah.
01:01:22:13 – 01:02:02:07
Unknown
Yep.
01:02:02:08 – 01:02:12:04
Unknown
Right. I love that. Very cool.
01:02:12:06 – 01:02:38:06
Unknown
It’s awesome. So if you can go back a couple of years and imagine, not making that decision, just continuing with the spreadsheets and the way you’ve done it. What do you think the business would look like today?
01:02:38:08 – 01:02:58:06
Unknown
It’s not that. It’s not that long ago. May feel like. It may feel like a long time since you just went through an ERP implementation.
01:03:25:01 – 01:03:35:04
Unknown
And it sounds like it wouldn’t be the type of business you want to hand off to your kids.
01:03:35:06 – 01:03:41:06
Unknown
Right.
01:03:45:12 – 01:04:49:09
Unknown
Well, that’s. I hope that’s a great feeling. So the, the name of this that this podcast is manufacturing Transformed, I guess is a last and final question. Do you feel like there’s really been a real true transformation at Henchman Machine Products?
01:04:49:11 – 01:05:07:04
Unknown
Well, I love hearing that. Thank you for letting us be a part of that and help you along your journey. Building the kind of company you feel proud to hand off to your kids one day. I’m sure that’s a long ways off. And your kids are young, but, you can enjoy it. You can enjoy the fruits of it for all those years.
01:05:07:05 – 01:05:37:13
Unknown
And continue to grow it. So if people want to learn more, because they say, I want to work with this kind of company, how would they reach out and find out more about your company?
01:05:37:15 – 01:05:42:16
Unknown
We will share those links.
01:05:42:18 – 01:06:08:10
Unknown
Awesome.
01:06:08:11 – 01:06:17:13
Unknown
Right.
01:06:17:14 – 01:06:48:00
Unknown
Thank you for being with that person that gives back and pays it forward. I appreciate you sharing everything here today. It’s, obviously it’s pretty satisfying for me to to sit here and talk to you about all these awesome things that, that, that our product and team have helped you do in the company. So congrats. You know, I can I, I can, you know, candidly say, you know, many customers have a really big impact, but it all comes down to the work that you guys put in.
01:06:48:02 – 01:07:12:12
Unknown
You know, the way you, the way you spread the load to the team and come together and get alignment on change management and the the commitment to do this. And you’ve done it exceptionally well. So, yeah, kudos to you for an amazing job. Well done.
01:07:12:13 – 01:07:22:15
Unknown
Yeah. That’s right.
01:07:22:16 – 01:07:50:10
Unknown
Yes. I’ll make sure we link that in, the show notes as well, because that would be fun to. Yeah. See the journey progression. Well, I will let you go off on vacation confidently knowing you won’t need to get calls or call and check in and, enjoy your time off. Well-deserved. And thank you again for your time today, JB.
01:07:50:11 – 01:07:53:11
Unknown
All right. Cheers, my friend. We’ll see you soon.
