Paul at 0:03:good morning Daniel welcome to the show I’m so glad to have you here today
Daniel at 0:06:Good morning. Good morning, Paul. It’s good to see you.
Paul at 0:23: so let’s give a little background here so you work at Hibshman Screw Machine products and you and I were talking at an NTMA meeting 2 weeks ago and you told me an amazing story of working at Hibshman
Paul at 0:35: and I just was you actually brought me to tears quite honestly and I was there with my wife and we were you know having that sort of fun evening at the
Daniel at 0:41:Yes.
Paul at 1:17: at the what it was at the country music or Music Hall of Fame in Nashville there and the story you told of how your job at Hibshman and moving into you know the Precision Machining world and the background and job you came from prior was really a transformation of your life and you know this podcast is called manufacturing transformed which as I said to you is typically about the story of pro shop helping to make a digital transformation with our customers but for you this transformation which Pro Shop has been a part of for the last couple years but but for many years prior
Paul at 1:25: like manufacturing this manufacturing job in the industry has really transformed your life so I would love for you to have you share your story
Paul at 1:38: I think it probably resonate with so many people and be really inspiring so if you’re willing let’s let’s go back and kind of share how you got into the industry and and the impacts that it’s had on your life
Daniel at 1:59:I started manufacturing probably back in high school. We had a wood shop and a metal shop there in high school. And, you know, it was something I, you know, gravitated to, you know, like, so I was really good at reading Mike’s. My math isn’t so bad, so is kind of.
Paul at 2:14:sure
Daniel at 2:16:OK. And I liked working on the machines, you know, you got a manual lays and mill and stuff. That’s what I started on, started welding and you know all my friends that I had kind of were some type of manufacturing. They do something in that field or something welding.
Daniel at 2:21:Our mechanic or some so I’ve always been good with my hands on, but you know, that started when I was young.
Paul at 2:24: okay
Paul at 2:28: okay and where did you grow up where did you grow up for
Paul at 2:30: okay
Daniel at 2:36:I grew up as a twin and me and him ran all over. You know, we didn’t, we didn’t. Constantine, Michigan, but kind of right here where Hibshman is, is my home.
Daniel at 2:53:Uh, I played in the backyard more or less. You know, I knew the owner here, a Hibshman, Mike Hitchman and Gary, um, you know, even before Chad started working here 19 years ago or so, but I’ve always been around it so.
Paul at 3:04: it’s your 12 wow
Paul at 3:09: okay
Daniel at 3:09:Yeah, and, you know, so, and then in when I, I worked on a hog farm for since I was 12, because, you know, I always, yeah, I always start picking racks early. You know, I’m a Michigan rock farmer or hillbilly, you’d say.
Daniel at 3:29:But you know, it, it kept me out of trouble. You know, I had a my teen years, my dad wasn’t really in it much, you know, dealing with their drug abuse and whatnot, which everybody’s their own. You know, I have great parents. They’re awesome people, great hearted people, just.
Daniel at 3:48:Decisions were in the right place, but it gave, you know, kind of gave me the resilience growing up to be able to, you know, find my way. It’s my choice. Nobody elses choice. You know, I see people make excuses, you know, they’re excuses. You know, you do have a choice in life. You don’t have to follow.
Paul at 4:01:yeah
Daniel at 4:07:Though same pass I got an older brother that you know, he went to prison for drugs, you know, when I was young and you know he’s doing great now. Glad he got out of it. But you know, I could have easily fell down that same path. Um, but I always wanted to. I don’t know what it is my brothers more like my dad. So he kind of.
Daniel at 4:26:You know, falls down that line, he falls down quite often, but you know, he’s lucky he’s got a brother like me to pick him up. But it’s been like that ever since we were little. He was, you know, even though we’re twins, um, I kind of coached been coaching him through life and everything and.
Paul at 4:32: yeah
Daniel at 4:46:Uh, it, it’s, it’s great having a twin, you know, you always have somebody to play with, you know, but seeing somebody go down that same path and, but you know, you grew up seeing all these bad things in life and it’s like, man, why, why do people let themselves get that way? You know, like I, I’ve never been one.
Daniel at 5:02:Want to be like that, you know, I wanted to be successful in life, you know, I want my kid to be successful in life and, you know, I’m, I’m so glad I’m here at where I’m at to give my child the opportunities I’ve, you know, I never had. But hard work pays off and.
Paul at 5:10:wow
Paul at 5:14: okay
Paul at 5:16: okay
Daniel at 5:20:I, you know, started working at a hog farm when I was 12, making 5 bucks an hour, and I made that until I was 18 and then I went in the hog farming. That’s what my dad did for 30 years. He was a hog farmer. So, you know, I had to do a little bit of it, but.
Paul at 5:31: sure
Daniel at 5:39:I thought about going into the Marines when I turned about 20 and I was doing all the tests and stuff going to get my physical because I, you know, I just wanted to do better in life and I thought the Marines was going to be it. And my grandpa gets ahold of me. I’m still working at the farm and he’s like, oh, come work part time over here at.
Paul at 5:43: okay
Daniel at 5:46:Manufacturing another machine shop down here in Elkhart, just 20 minutes away.
Daniel at 6:04:And he’s my, I’m a fourth generation machinist really is what I, you know, my great grandfather got my grandpa into it, my grandpa got my uncle into it. And then here I am doing the same things, running the same old machines they did back in the 1920s, You know, I know I grew up on.
Daniel at 6:11:Acme grid leads multi spindles, so I love those machines. I could tear them apart, put them back together it you know it’s.
Paul at 6:15:yeah
Daniel at 6:31:Umm, I, I just love digging into them. You know, it’s kind of hard being a manager now and I don’t get to dig into them every day, you know, So it’s, it’s hard for me. And they’re like, you got to step back a little bit. I’m like, I just want to go dig in one, you know, I like, I like, I’m going to be the guy at the end of the day that, you know, I, I might do the least amount of work or something, but I’m the dirtiest person out there.
Paul at 6:34: right
Daniel at 6:49:Look like I’d done rolled around, but my grandpa got me into it. He was he was he worked 2nd shift all his life. You know that that you know, you could definitely tell the absentee for a father not being there with for his kids after school and stuff.
Paul at 6:49: sure
Paul at 7:00: right
Daniel at 7:04:Umm, because it, you know, a lot of my family, if they’ve done, they fell into bad times and done some stuff that just you shouldn’t do. But you live and learn, I guess. But sometimes it takes a lot longer to learn it.
Daniel at 7:20:Umm but we we are always a real close family for the most part it’s just they all just kind of went the same ways every time. But my grandpa think thank God he got me in the machining here I am.
Daniel at 7:29:Umm, worked with him for four years and he just had the other company. Yeah, but he.
Paul at 7:32: at the other company you work with him for 4 years okay and then when did you make the transition to to him and tell us that part
Daniel at 7:39:In 2016, I’ve been here for eight years, I would say coming up.
Daniel at 7:42:Yup.
Paul at 7:44: okay so did you go to the other shop around 2012 or so and then for 4 years there and then moved over
Paul at 7:46: okay
Paul at 7:50: okay
Paul at 7:53: oh really
Daniel at 7:56:It was 2010 when I went there. And then I, I, you know, I fell on bad times and I actually got let go of that job. But that’s, yeah, you know.
Paul at 7:56: there’s the economy or the company wasn’t doing well or
Paul at 8:01: women okay so self-inflicted bad times
Daniel at 8:11:God, women, women. You know that. Yeah, you know, it’s self-inflicted bad times, you know, and but I got out of that and I went and worked at another farm down the road for my parents because I moved back in with my parents.
Paul at 8:12: okay
Paul at 8:15: yeah
Paul at 8:19: sure
Paul at 8:27: oh wow
Daniel at 8:31:And you know, they’ve always been there to help me. It’s just, I just don’t, you know, I don’t try to hang around too much. But my mom, thank the Lord, she divorced my dad and she’s doing great. She works here at the shop with me. I got her a job here. She’s doing fantastic. So, you know, it just took 35 years, but.
Paul at 8:37: that’s awesome
Paul at 8:42: well
Daniel at 8:42:Here, here she is. She’s doing great. So I I enjoy seeing her every day. You know, you know, I see her more now than I did when I was a kid. So.
Daniel at 9:01:But yeah, and then I worked at a farm for two years and I got with my wife and she’s drove in, you know, driven the bus for me this whole time because she just drives me to do better every day. She’s continuous improvement consultant and she.
Daniel at 9:10:All about lean all the time. And that’s what drives me to do what I do here, do here at a Hitchman and I.
Daniel at 9:11:Yeah.
Paul at 9:13: yeah I’ve seen her post on LinkedIn they’re they’re fantastic she really looks like she lives it and loves it
Paul at 9:21: yeah
Daniel at 9:26:You know that, and that’s what you do when you teach it. You got to show the passion. Because if you show the passion, then other people will get passionate about it, you know? But that’s what you know. That’s what Coach M would say anyways.
Paul at 9:29: yeah
Daniel at 9:29:I loved all those little things with the NTMA.
Daniel at 9:31:And stuff. Umm.
Paul at 9:39: so then tell us what so you work to the hog for him again and the Antilles of the process of applying and choosing to come to work at Hitchman
Daniel at 10:01:Where I drove by one day, I wasn’t, you know, we were. Me and the wife are barely making ends meet. We live below a restaurant. You know, it wasn’t making very much money. And I had all this experience in Acme Gridley’s and machining from my old job at Justin’s. And the wife’s like, why don’t you get back into that, ’cause you know, I made good money when I did that.
Paul at 10:01:
Paul at 10:13: oh well
Daniel at 10:16:And I said I could, I just got to find a place I want to. Well, Hitchens is right here. And I was 2 minutes down the road and I drove by one day and I seen that they had a sign up that said hiring and and I just walked in the door and was like.
Paul at 10:27: okay
Daniel at 10:31:Looking for a job would like to see what you guys got going on and you know the first time that was the first time I walked in this shop since I was 16 and you know the shop was it was.
Daniel at 10:35:Dirty and dingy, you know, not very bright.
Daniel at 10:54:The the guys that they had running for him, they, they weren’t good people. I’m real good at picking them out. So I’m like, you know, these guys are going to run the shop in the ground. That’s all there is to it. I felt like my kitchman was like a grandfather to me. I called him Gramps, you know, grew up with this.
Daniel at 11:13:Grandson and for years and so, you know, I feel like I’m a part of this shop. You know, I went and worked on the cow farm down the road that Chad talks about. So you know, I’m I love this place. It’s a I’m you know, I I couldn’t believe can’t I don’t want to be anywhere else.
Paul at 11:13:yeah
Daniel at 11:16:So we can’t.
Daniel at 11:19:MMM ya.
Paul at 11:26: so clearly you walked in they hired you now was it a coincidence that you had experience with Acme Gridley machines or at this other shop just Justin I think he said is called
Daniel at 11:28:Yup.
Paul at 11:31: so or did you know that hipsman already had these kind of machines that you were really good at
Paul at 11:34: okay
Daniel at 11:48:They had the machines, so I was like, I’ll just go in there and I walked around with their manager at the time, the plant foreman, and he walked me around and I’m looking at these machines and I’m like, I’ve seen a good machine and these ones need a lot of work.
Paul at 12:01:sort of preventative maintenance and rebuilding them and keep them in tuned up
Daniel at 12:07:’Cause I, when I left Justin’s, all I ever did was set up and operate. I never dug into a machine like like I have, I have here, you know. Yeah, yeah. So we, so I came in here and I was supervisor within a year.
Paul at 12:07: cool
Daniel at 12:26:Umm, we, we started getting rid of some of this, the bladder bad, uh, eggs around that were in the shop and you’d have guys come in here and they just tinker around with stuff that’s already running. Like what what do you come on? It’s running. Leave, leave it alone, you know, let the guys run it. Well, I just felt like there was something wrong with it, but it was, you know, but we got rid of all.
Paul at 12:28: okay
Daniel at 12:42:People and we started cleaning and organizing and we have done our whole secondary department. I’ve done RIP the whole thing apart and moved everything in it. So you know, I like I don’t like cells.
Daniel at 12:48:Umm, I like a straight streamline, you know, I like to be able to see the front of the shop to the back of the shop.
Daniel at 13:08:And see everybody. I want everybody to see everybody. You know, it’s we’ve, we’ve been working on our culture here. You know, if you see everybody, you talk to everybody. You know, I like, you know, my brother, me and him, we, he worked for me for a little bit. And that was some fun times, you know, ’cause you can only imagine the pranks we pulled on.
Daniel at 13:11:Each other.
Paul at 13:14:did he work if he work with you here at ibmen or at okay
Daniel at 13:18:Yeah, I got he. He climbs trees now, so he’s a tree climber.
Paul at 13:20: okay like arborist cutting trees and stuff oh cool
Daniel at 13:27:Ya, ya, ya, he’s really good at it, really good at it. I’ve I’ve done it a couple times and it’s like it’s really high up here.
Paul at 13:29: it’s not a job I would want that’s for sure
Daniel at 13:44:No, no. But yeah, he worked with me, you know, so everything was greased all the time. So it was his hammers every time he’d come and try to grab one grease hand as if put the tape up in the doorways, you know, let him walk into it, you know?
Paul at 13:45: it’s hilarious
Daniel at 13:59:Uh oh, yeah. We were mean to each other. But I, you know, I as I’m grateful for Chad letting me bring him in, letting him work with us ’cause he’s a hard worker, you know, so, but now he owns his own business, so he’s doing a lot better.
Daniel at 14:03:So, but then I got my mom here, so that’s fun.
Paul at 14:06: so and what is your what kind of work does your mom do there
Paul at 14:10: okay
Paul at 14:12: okay
Paul at 14:15: right
Daniel at 14:21:She’s just, umm, light assembly. She assembles all the brackets here and stuff because we make millions of brackets and we machine the ball studs and make the brackets all and then she assembles them all.
Paul at 14:21: very cool
Paul at 14:23: very cool
Daniel at 14:25:So Yep, right here in house. So hmm.
Paul at 14:32: and I think you even said to me you know a few weeks back that did your grandpa come and work at hibsman as well
Paul at 14:34: and you were his and you were his boss
Paul at 14:37: tell us about that
Daniel at 14:40:Yep, he did for about a Yeah, yeah, I it’s it’s fun.
Daniel at 14:55:It’s interesting because, you know, but my grandpa, he’s rolled down the earth. He, he listens, you know, but you know, the thing that I got from it was he came here worked for about a year. I had him training the guy on 2nd shift because.
Paul at 15:03: oh wow
Paul at 15:09: sure but
Daniel at 15:10:It gave him somebody to work with that was knowledgeable and stuff. But, you know, and he was 81. He turned 81 this year. Yeah. So he, he’s retired about five Times Now. I’d say he just and.
Daniel at 15:18:He, he told me the other day he’s like, uh, let me know when you want me to come back to work. I’m getting pretty bored so.
Paul at 15:20: I was going to say sounds like the kind of guy that needs to stay busy doing something
Paul at 15:27: I love it
Daniel at 15:38:Yeah, I just, I, you know, he’s one of those he’s an 81 year old that’ll go have a squirt gun fight with your kid. You know, it, it, it’s just, you know, he’s a big inspiration for me in life. You know, I always wanted to be like him, you know, the work worth ethics and, you know.
Paul at 15:42: yeah
Paul at 15:49: sure
Paul at 15:53: wow
Daniel at 15:54:If he, if he can do it at 81, I’d love to be able to do it until I’m 81. So you know, it tells you he’s gave me my little hints about don’t use my hand as a hammer, you know, but I was a pro fighter, so I used my my hand as a hammer a lot and so.
Daniel at 15:55:Yeah.
Paul at 15:59: interesting so
Paul at 16:02: so obviously
Paul at 16:14: for your personally you know coming to work at hipsman was a nice pay bump at least initially from from the hog farm now you you told me you were able to buy a home
Paul at 16:20: you know what other what other impacts have has you know working there had personally on you
Daniel at 16:24:Umm I TH.
Paul at 16:25: you’re now in management obviously so you’ve continued to move your way up the company
Daniel at 16:37:Yeah, I tell Chad my five year plan every time. You know, like I told him, Oh yeah, my five year plan is plant manager, more or less, you know, and you know, my next five year plan is the vice president.
Paul at 16:37: there you go
Daniel at 16:55:You know, I, I like, you know, I, I like driving forward all the time. You know, I don’t, there’s always a position you can get up to, you know, never, never settle, you know, and you know, let yourself be heard. You know, I think that’s what this company’s helped me. You know, I’m I.
Paul at 17:08:
Daniel at 17:14:I’ve never really been a real quiet person, but I’m, I wasn’t a very sociable person. So, you know, it’s helped me learn how to talk to people. You know, I wouldn’t mind to get into little bit of sales and stuff like that. Um, it’s, it’s helped me with my home life because, you know, I’ve learned to be more patient.
Daniel at 17:32:Umm, And you know, all these little thing, you know, Chad puts me in coaching classes, management classes. So it it’s helped me in the deal with people so much better, you know, and let the people be heard.
Paul at 17:32:yeah
Daniel at 17:51:I’m, I’m big on that, you know, they have a process. They know how to do it. Let them do their process. And I’ve learned that, you know, it ain’t my way. It’s, it’s their way. So, and don’t try to tell them any different, you know, because they, they know the right way. So especially in management now, ’cause you know, I was out on the floor forever.
Paul at 17:52: sure
Daniel at 17:57:But now that our management, you know, you gotta step back and just watch and learn.
Paul at 18:00: yeah I’m curious how do you balance I mean I I
Daniel at 18:21:Yes.
Paul at 18:40: totally resonates you know the people on the front line of manufacturing they’re the ones experiencing you know the issues and the problems all day everyday more than anyone else but sometimes and I’m sure you can understand this from you know the work your wife does there’s you know there’s leaner ways to do something right there’s ways that you can remove waste out of the process and get more you know more optimized less motion less Transportation less scrap or whatever so how do you balance trying to instill those best practices and lean out the process with what you said before where you’re really just trying to you know listen to the people doing the work
Daniel at 18:47:You know, I’m, I’m not not trying to push, you know?
Daniel at 18:49:Umm, and.
Paul at 18:52: you try to get them to buy in and like it’s their idea that let’s you know
Paul at 18:59: okay let’s talk about that Bo there you go there you go I like
Daniel at 19:10:I, I don’t, I don’t like the buy in Word. I, I, I want you to be in. I want you to be in. But yeah, don’t don’t buy in. I want you to be in because you know, I’m not, I’m not trying to sell you something. I I want you to be in it. So if you know, bringing your ideal in, letting you be a part of it is making you be in it, then that’s.
Daniel at 19:30:That’s the way we’re going to do it. You know it. Yeah. I’ve learned that there’s people that just want to be told what to do, and there’s just people that want to be heard, but they don’t want to take the responsibility to do it. So my guys, every time they come up, they know it as soon as they come up and they’re like, hey.
Daniel at 19:51:I got an idea. Watch yourself because you’re gonna be doing something here in a minute, you know, because that is a great idea. We’ll see you execute it. You know, I, I want the power to be in the people to be able to do what you know, they think is best. Because 90% of time is what is best. You know, it makes your job a little easier, makes you want to come.
Daniel at 20:11:The next day, you know you ain’t I don’t want you to be that driver coming to work and going. I don’t want to do this today. I’m going to turn around. You know, I want I want you to come to work and be excited about it. You know that I want to come to work and learn something today or we we change something. So it’s going to make my life easier. So I’m excited about.
Daniel at 20:23:So, you know, maybe, maybe we made this a little faster, just a little easier. So my day so dreadful, you know? So, yeah.
Paul at 20:23:I love that sentiment so it sounds like
Paul at 20:41: to me just from the outside and listening to you say that you’ve really gotten you and the team have gotten the culture of continuous Improvement like embedded deep and so people are excited about that they’re driving for it they want it and when they get it that energizes them is that is that a fair statement
Paul at 20:53: right
Daniel at 21:02:I think that’s where pros, you know, pro shop was a big part of our lean journey and stuff because now I’m like, well, what can we do with it for lean? And so I, I look at all the audits and I’m going through and I’m like, oh, they got a 5S thing perfect. You know, let’s dig into that, you know, and everything on pro shop.
Paul at 21:19: right
Daniel at 21:22:You know, I can, I can make it my way. You know, you guys got me 80% of the way there and now I got the rest of the 20% to tweak things and, and I think that’s great. You know, it makes everything, everybody sees it, everybody sees the things that are happening, you know, and.
Daniel at 21:28:It’s helped with people being OK with change, because nobody’s OK with change.
Daniel at 21:48:And they have a hard time with it. And, you know, this is the way it’s always been done. Yeah, but let’s change it a little bit. Let’s try it, try something new, you know. And I think that’s where pro shops kinda helped a lot of people, you know? And our group here ain’t a real old group either, so it ain’t like.
Daniel at 22:06:There, you know, I’m not dealing with 60 year old, like we got a couple 60 year olds, but not, not too many. A lot of people. I, I, you know, I get it all the time that our shop is either really clean or this is a young group of machinists here because everybody’s either early 40s or younger.
Paul at 22:08: that’s a
Paul at 22:14: yeah
Daniel at 22:25:Here, so and that’s the team I built, you know, because they’re but they’re more acceptable to change too. So it’s made everything a lot easier, you know, because you think, oh office people are going to be the easy ones to train on pro shop. No, it was the operators, you know, just because they they had more commun.
Daniel at 22:30:You know, I helped with the communication. They were seeing stuff in real time.
Daniel at 22:48:You know, they didn’t have to go search for a work order. I don’t know how many times I’ve, you know, you get an order in and it’s like, this is hot. Really. It’s like, you know, did you charge that customer extra? No, it was, it was underneath my folder and I didn’t see it for two weeks.
Daniel at 22:55:You know, like wah, very pro shop, yeah.
Daniel at 23:07:Yeah.
Paul at 23:08:oh okay so this is pre pro shop yeah I just I did want to ask you you know you’ve been there many years now can you kind of summarize you know the difference between working in a shop that had paper-based you know Travelers and drawings and inspection sheets versus what you’re doing today all digital
Paul at 23:22: sure
Daniel at 23:30:You’re chasing your tail more or less when you don’t have all this stuff that’s digital now, you know, I still print off a print and hang it up and I still write on it. You know, I still, I still do those type of things. But you know, I’m not going to look for that guy for that print or that traveler, you know?
Daniel at 23:48:Looking for that work order. It’s right there and it’s just a little click of a button away. And that’s made my life so much easier. I, you know, I can, I can be out in my tree stand and be like, what are they getting done today? You know, that’s, that’s, that’s nice.
Daniel at 23:50:Yeah.
Paul at 23:53: I remembered I remember seeing a picture or Chad shared that you’re out hunting and checking and checking in on the shop
Daniel at 23:57:I was doing it this morning too, so.
Paul at 23:57: were you out in the tree stand this morning
Daniel at 24:00:Yeah, I got him up right behind the shop.
Paul at 24:03: okay oh wow you’re really good okay
Daniel at 24:20:I I got it made. I got it made. Like I like I said, it ain’t money about being rich. I’m rich, you know so, but is it is it just it changed everything. It made our lives easier. It made my life wait like I come to work like what am I?
Daniel at 24:36:Gonna do today, you know, because everybody’s doing what they’re supposed to be doing. You know, I don’t have to. You know, It’s all right there in front of their face. They know what the next setup is. Go look at the schedule. Oh, there it is. That’s my next task.
Daniel at 24:48:So and you know, a lot of self starters here. So now now I’m just here to, you know, solve some well that burst too bad. You probably should fix that or you know.
Daniel at 25:05:Umm, just given a little bit of directions here. I need to, I need something else to do because we’re done with this, you know, like orders are getting done faster. You know, we’re, we’re able to see when they’re going to be done. That’s, that’s the key thing is we can see when they’re going to be done.
Paul at 25:10: that’s cool
Daniel at 25:13:And you know, 90% of the time it’s done before that. So because we can push it.
Paul at 25:17: yeah so let me see if I can interpret what you said there
Paul at 25:24: it sounds like prior to Pro Shop you were spending a lot more of your time
Paul at 25:47: problem solving triaging things telling people what to do playing catch up I don’t know it’s just things in that sort of Realm of of category and now things are just running more smoothly more according to plan you’re not out there like you know trying to help people solve problems besides maybe more strategic things or just like refinements to the process
Daniel at 25:50:Yup.
Paul at 25:51: does that sound like I’m characterizing that right
Daniel at 26:11:Yes, yes, Because, you know, like when we come in the morning, it used to be put out of fire, put out a fire every morning, you know, somebody come in, they’d see, ’cause we run a second shift, something wrecked and they come in in the morning and they didn’t know all night that that wrecked. You know, before I come into work, I checked my messages. I look and see what.
Daniel at 26:31:Going on the So when I get to work, I’m not caught off guard, you know, so it helps me game playing on the way in. Like OK, I got, I got this going on. I’m expecting this person to come to me and say something about this. 90% of time I can write them a message back real fast so they see it first thing in the morning. They know I’m on top of it.
Daniel at 26:33:Because they just want.
Paul at 26:34: and you’re talking about the Pro Shop messaging system
Paul at 26:35: that right okay
Daniel at 26:36:Yup, Yup.
Paul at 26:40: so when you would come in I just wanted to
Paul at 26:48: come back to something you said you know putting out a fire like you know a second shift something happened and you had a bunch of scrap or something
Paul at 27:04: is that specifically because you’ve now been doing a better job on like in process QC checking and making sure you’re making good parts in the in the Machining process is stable and prior to that you weren’t as much and so you might come into a pile of scrap parts
Paul at 27:12: okay yeah
Daniel at 27:24:Y yeah, oh, that that happened quite often. You know, I, I used to do everything on Excel so nobody would see nobody. You know, if you didn’t know about it, you weren’t seeing it. You know, like with the efficiencies and stuff, ’cause we, we use a value added numbers a lot and stuff so people know what.
Paul at 27:35: that’s awesome
Daniel at 27:41:Doing now, I got people trying to beat it all the time, you know, like I got 90% this week. I’m going to try to do 95, you know, so they’re all they’re trying to beat it now. So and that’s what I I love it when they say it’s going to be a game.
Paul at 27:42: right
Daniel at 27:49:Perfect, perfect. I want you to win that game every day. You know, you might not, but that’s a learning experience, so.
Paul at 27:50:I love that so much
Daniel at 27:52:Ya.
Paul at 27:58: so one of the things I’d love to hear your perspective on this you know one of the things that
Paul at 28:14: starting several years ago we would get a customer in front of a camera and just do like a testimonial you know video and one of the default questions I would ask them is you know have you seen your throughput increase since you put Pro Shop in
Paul at 28:16: and
Paul at 28:55: or what percentage of increase you know that’s a question and I you know I swear that the most common response that we would get would be oh yeah we’ve seen throughput increase by like 25% and I’m like well did you you know hire a bunch more people or add a bunch more machines you know no it’s just the same people pretty much same machines more or less but 25% more throughput just on the shop and I’m like how you know how is that happening you know and there’s question you know there’s answers like well you know our setup times are lower and this or that but I’d love to hear from your perspective cuz it sounds like you guys have seen a lot of actual throughput improvements
Paul at 29:07: maybe a list of the top five or whatever of just like the things that Pro Shop has helped with throughput you know the actual sort of tactical things very real world on the shop floor that that’s helped with
Paul at 29:17: okay
Daniel at 29:23:You know, like we, we have all these old machines here and you know you they would say we got a 32nd cycle time. Well, now we see the cycle time and it’s like you were never hitting that. How can we improve that?
Daniel at 29:31:Now. So now you know we’re right there. We know exactly what how many pieces we’re running per hour now.
Daniel at 29:41:So it helps you know, everybody understand like you know, we, we need to improve this process some way or another just.
Paul at 29:42: just by tracking the the rate you’re making parts
Paul at 29:43: okay
Daniel at 29:56:Yup, Yup. And that’s that’s helped us a ton, but that helps with you know, our on time delivery. We went from 76% up to we rerun probably an even 94% now.
Paul at 29:56: awesome
Paul at 29:59: right
Daniel at 30:06:Since we since the day we started with you, it’s just you watched it, but that’s because you know, we’re seeing the actual times for these machines.
Paul at 30:18: got it
Daniel at 30:24:Umm, the you know, and that everybody sees it are set up times are faster because, you know, like we can see when we set up a new job, how slow we are. Well, now we got all the information there. So now the next time it but you see it gradually going up. It’s just having the stuff in front of us to see.
Daniel at 30:37:All these numbers from everything that you know, like with what jobs are we actually winning on and which ones are we losing on so.
Paul at 30:37: so job costing and profitability
Daniel at 30:55:Yeah, yeah, Oh yeah, definitely we see that would like me and Matt here, we dig on that all the time as you know, what do what are we winning at and what are we losing at? So we’ve definitely seen those numbers. You know, you, you, you go to the profit breakdown, you see all these these big negative numbers we.
Paul at 30:57: sure
Daniel at 31:08:Little negative numbers. Now we don’t see a real big negative number and that’s, you know, helped us a ton with our setup and our costing when it comes to that.
Paul at 31:20: yeah can you give us an example if you can remember one a part number that was maybe really unprofitable that you didn’t realize until you saw the data and then what you did about it to make it either positive or you know closer to closer to break even
Daniel at 31:37:We make this little ball stud that goes on our brackets is for gas spring brackets. So they snap on and we were, I went say we were losing on it, but we weren’t winning. We didn’t see the downtime in it.
Paul at 31:41: got it okay
Paul at 31:45: okay
Paul at 31:53: got it
Daniel at 31:56:How much downtime we were having. So it, it’s helped us upgrade our tooling now and it showed us that, you know, we were, we are breaking even, but we weren’t making a bunch of money. So we went from like, you know, you’re making.
Paul at 32:06: got it
Daniel at 32:11:A $500 profit on order. Now we’re making thousands of dollars profit on an order just because we’ve seen that and knew that we need to improve it. And it was, you know.
Daniel at 32:16:Yeah, umm, I know. When I started, we weren’t, we weren’t making nearly as much as we do now.
Paul at 32:23: right right
Daniel at 32:36:And we are doing it with more people, you know, now that we now that we see the work orders and when they’re due and how these machines are running these parts because we, we have 4 CNCS, 3 Swiss machines.
Daniel at 32:42:A lathe machine in a mill and justice seeing how much it was costing for.
Paul at 32:55:okay
Paul at 32:59: sure
Daniel at 33:02:Like our we, we make a arm pin for campers and we would, we’d have the two op it we, you don’t make, you don’t make no money to open things, you know, so that’s really, really like we make thousands of them a year.
Paul at 33:12: got it
Daniel at 33:17:And we’re like, OK, we got, we got to invest in a Swiss machine now. So we get the Swiss machine. Now we run these arm pins off complete and now we’re now we’re making money. So those are.
Paul at 33:18: yeah plus I can run more intended I’m sure as well
Daniel at 33:30:Oh yeah. And then, you know, there’s some our cycle times, we had a 101, we quoted it at 10 seconds. This whole for years where you’re run.
Paul at 33:31: you could at 10 seconds and you’re making it one minute one second
Paul at 33:33: sorry
Paul at 33:39: okay okay
Daniel at 33:47:No, no, we’re, we’re, we’re, we’re 10 second. We quoted that 10 seconds. We’re running it like 14 seconds the whole time. But we we never seen that number. So when we started pro shop, we started seeing a number and you noticed right away it’s a loser.
Paul at 33:47: got it
Paul at 33:51: sure
Daniel at 34:06:Like we make thousands of them, but we’re losing on it. Like it shouldn’t be that way, but it’s like, well, what’s it running at now? Now we see a real number and we’re like, oh, OK, it was running good at that time. So we we either need to go quoted different or get to where it needs to be. And most of the time it’s get it where it needs to be.
Daniel at 34:09:Because.
Paul at 34:10: just making improvements to the process and dial it in better yeah
Daniel at 34:23:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It was crazy when I started here though. It was. We had nine machines down in the Acme multi spindle department and probably two or three of them didn’t run for years and had.
Paul at 34:23: okay out of 9 out of how many
Daniel at 34:26:25 At the time we had.
Paul at 34:29: oh well okay so the third of them more than a third
Daniel at 34:34:Yeah, yeah. And it finally got them all running. And that was.
Paul at 34:37: you dug into him get in there elbows deep and fix them and got them running again
Paul at 34:44: that’s cool
Daniel at 34:53:Ya, ya, ya, I, I had a guy at Detroit Automatic. He scolded me a lot on stuff. You know, a guy I could call every day, had years of experience, taught me a lot of things, sent me books and stuff. Now he’s lucky if he hears from me every couple months. You know, I, I’ll call him every.
Daniel at 34:56:A while to ask him how fishing’s going.
Daniel at 34:57:Never mind.
Daniel at 35:02:But I’m real grateful for that guy. He’s a, he’s a great guy.
Paul at 35:11: that’s awesome so sounds like just bringing visibility to things allowed the company to focus it’s Improvement efforts in the right areas
Daniel at 35:14:Yes.
Paul at 35:21: and that’s turned into Dollars you know of profit which can be put back into the business for buying new machines giving better raises you know all the things I know Chad
Paul at 35:23: puts back so much into the business
Daniel at 35:43:Oh, yeah, that’s a, you know, we never even think about, you know, three years ago we would have never even thought about, you know, giving people a bonus every quarter or every, you know, every half a year or whatever, you know, like never. Now we’re bringing it up, You know, it’s getting brought up now, so.
Paul at 35:51: that’s fantastic
Daniel at 36:03:I see in the next year or so will be, you know, being able to give people bonuses and stuff for how many parts they run and stuff and try to, you know, get, you know, give them award, you know, for how good they’re doing. I’m all about awards. You know, I want to give everybody a belt. I want them all to be champion, so.
Paul at 36:06: yeah
Daniel at 36:19:You know, they can get better at it great, but we can see it so that the visibility is just as you know, any shop it. I, I hate it when I I hear of a place where, like my wife, where she’s working now, they don’t have an ERP system.
Paul at 36:35: sure
Daniel at 36:35:And I hear the complications they’re having with, you know, having work orders and losing things or not having the parts. Where are the parts, you know? And it’s like, you guys need an ERP system, you know?
Daniel at 36:55:You need pro shop, you know, because I it’s just it drives me nuts when you know, you hear about all these things and all these efficiencies that just aren’t the greatest because I sat down with her and I figure out their efficiencies for stuff and it’s like you, you could be doing so much better if you just.
Paul at 36:56: sure
Daniel at 37:00:Seen these things, You know, because nobody, nobody’s going to believe it until they see it.
Paul at 37:04: yeah for sure
Daniel at 37:10:That’s that’s the nature of people, you know, So that’s why you know, pro shops is a great thing that it’s a visual thing.
Paul at 37:12: yeah
Paul at 37:15: yeah do you feel like there was some
Paul at 37:26: more of a disconnect between the shop before in the office in terms of communication or information flow which is now just more sort of seamlessly connected
Daniel at 37:32:100% definitely, you know.
Daniel at 37:46:Umm, you know, I know you know you you were you’re somebody from the office trying to tell tell an operator what to do. OK, You you’ve never done this job. Who are you to come out here and tell me what to do? You know, but now that the now that.
Daniel at 38:01:Like the people can see what they need to do so they ain’t getting caught off guard with something, you know, you ain’t coming out and telling them what to do. They already know what to do. So you know the office and the operator stuff connects so much better now.
Paul at 38:14:right right
Daniel at 38:19:Because you’re both improving, you know, the communications there, you ain’t shocked by hearing something because you’ve already seen it, you know, you know, hey, this, this got moved up on the list. Okay, all right, now we can talk about it. You know it ain’t me. Hey, this guy moved up the list.
Paul at 38:30: sure
Daniel at 38:33:You know, are they going to believe you half the time? Maybe. But now that they can see it, you know, it’s like now, you know, it’s moved up on the list. Get it done, you know, and they don’t argue about it most of the time.
Paul at 38:35: most of the time
Paul at 38:39: sure
Paul at 38:44: yeah yeah
Daniel at 38:46:Well, you know, they bicker. They bicker often, but, you know, like you’re still gonna go do it, you know, you still wanna do a great job. So yeah.
Paul at 38:51: how I guess if you could kind of summarize
Paul at 39:03: we already talked a little bit about you know the kind of activities you you were doing prior and you can now Focus your energy on different things today how is that just had an impact on you personally you know
Paul at 39:06: and doing this digital transformation of the company
Daniel at 39:17:It’s made me more of an organized person. A more organized. I would say I’m way more savvy with a computer.
Paul at 39:17: that’s cool
Daniel at 39:20:But.
Daniel at 39:34:Umm, it’s just, you know, it’s just a great feeling that knowing that you’re going to sleep and everything is taken care of. You know, you, you, you, you laying everything out on out there for everybody to see. So you know, you don’t.
Daniel at 39:48:You don’t have to worry as much, you know, and people can trust you more. So, you know, I, I’m a big person in trust. I like to feel that I’m a trusted person. I want them to feel like they can trust me so.
Daniel at 39:59:You know, personally it’s just made me feel more secure and I’m, I’m not fighting to be heard anymore, you know, so.
Paul at 40:01: so it sounds like
Paul at 40:08: if you said you know going you said going to bed and let you sleep easier less sort of stress less things just kind of occupying your brain
Daniel at 40:28:Yeah, I, you know, I can go home and I don’t have to think about work, you know, I, I, you know, once I, once I leave work, I know it’s OK and I can leave, you know, I’m not taking it home with me, which is great. I’m not I’m not a person that sits there and thinks long on something because.
Paul at 40:35: right and dwell on it yeah
Daniel at 40:44:I don’t you know, I want I’m getting past it. You know, we’re we’re done with it. We did it. Tomorrow’s a new day. I’m a new day type of person. You know, as I wake up great, I feel great. Let’s let’s just go tackle the day and.
Paul at 40:48: yeah
Daniel at 41:03:Uh, get **** done, you know, and that that’s, you know, that’s, that’s how you know, that’s what Chad says all the time. He’s he’s like, if I want something done, I just ask you because you’ll go out and do it. I said, yeah, yeah, well, I’ll make somebody else do it. That’s why they, they hate coming up to me and saying, hey, I got an.
Daniel at 41:11:Idea who, Man, I can’t wait to hear it because we’re going to do something great. And I. Yeah.
Paul at 41:12: I love that so much
Daniel at 41:13:Yeah, yeah.
Paul at 41:23: well cool any other thoughts you want to share about what the impact of you know working with Pro Shop has been on you or the company over the last couple years
Daniel at 41:31:Pull the trigger. Don’t wait. You know, pull the trigger.
Paul at 41:31: oh okay so advice to others do it
Daniel at 41:45:Yeah, that’s all I want to do is give advice to others. You know, that guy, there ain’t nothing, you know, I I just want to pass on knowledge and, you know, make, make everybody feel like they’re being heard and they’re wanted, you know?
Daniel at 41:50:If you’re in a company where you’re not wanted, get out. There’s a place that does want you.
Paul at 41:53: that’s Sage advice absolutely
Daniel at 41:54:Yeah.
Daniel at 42:12:No, you’re welcome.
Daniel at 42:19:I, I try to be, uh, yeah.
Daniel at 42:39:Yeah, it does happen. It happens. It’s a, it’s a, it’s a good feeling. You know, I, you know, I like to, I like to feel like I got opportunities. You know, I’ve never, I’ve never, I always hear out the opportunities, but the opportunity I have here just beats them all, you know?
Daniel at 42:54:I’m, I’m at home right here, you know, my uncle lives across the street. So like, I can walk, my car breaks down, I can walk home while I’m not walking home. I’m not walking that far because somebody knows me and they’re going to stop and see me so.
Paul at 43:07:yeah
Daniel at 43:14:You know, and I, everybody here is family, you know, Chad’s family. I love that guy. He’s, you know, I’ve never met somebody that’s so giving in my life. So it’s pretty great to have him as a coach and a friend, you know, I guess a boss too. He, I don’t know, I don’t like using that boss word. I like using leader. He’s a leader.
Paul at 43:15: yeah
Daniel at 43:17:You know so.
Daniel at 43:21:Yup.
Paul at 43:23: well it sounds like he’s investing a lot in you to be a leader as well so I think that’s the Hallmark of a great leader is investing in others to do the same
Paul at 43:25: yeah
Daniel at 43:26:Definitely, definitely.
Paul at 43:56: well Daniel thank you for sharing everything I’m so glad we got to talk you know a few weeks back and decide to get you on the show do a little bit of a different perspective with manufacturing transformed I know as you’ve said that you know getting involved in Machining is is really been a life transformation for you and I’m so grateful that Pro Shop is at least a small part of helping him succeed and win and and You by
Paul at 44:00: yeah you as well so thanks for sharing your story I really appreciate it
Daniel at 44:08:You and you’re not a small part, you’re a pretty big part in here. So you know I.
Paul at 44:09: well that makes the honor even even better so
Daniel at 44:20:I, I got the, I got the big pro shop flyer out there and everything so everybody can see it. And so, yeah, definitely I, I appreciate it.
Paul at 44:25: I love it well Daniel thank you for yeah thanks for joining us today and sharing your story I know a lot of people will be inspired and yeah just we’ll see you around and thanks again
Daniel at 44:28:Yeah, yeah. Thank you.
Paul at 44:29: all right have a good one bye-bye
Daniel at 44:30:Alright, you too and bye.
Paul at 44:34: that was awesome great work
Daniel at 44:37:Thank you.
Paul at 44:49:yeah just very relatable is yeah seriously I’m not just blowing smoke you know you’re you’re clearly such a passionate passionate guy
Paul at 44:53: I know Chad’s super super lucky to have you
Paul at 44:55: so very cool
Paul at 45:08: right
Daniel at 45:09:Yeah, You know, I just want, I just want these kids, you know, nowadays to be able to, you know, know that, hey, you don’t have to go to college. Your home life isn’t what dictates, you know, when you grow up, you know, ’cause like I said.
Paul at 45:24:you can hear me
Daniel at 45:24:You know, I went to school and people, I couldn’t date some girls, ’cause they’re like, my parents don’t like your parents, you know, ’cause they feel like I was somebody that was doing things, you know, bad things and.
Daniel at 45:28:It’s just it, it sucked, you know, but.
Paul at 45:29: can you hear me
Paul at 45:35: you can’t hear me
Daniel at 45:40:I can hear you now.
Paul at 45:41: hold on
Paul at 45:56: the world is going on here
Daniel at 46:01:I don’t know, It says please run Camera Hub. Yeah, I can hear you.
Paul at 46:02: can you hear me Daniel hold on a second hold on hold on hold on hold on
Paul at 46:10: nope
Paul at 46:13: okay sorry
Daniel at 46:13:Hear you? Can you hear me? Yep.
Daniel at 46:16:No.
Daniel at 46:21:OK.
Paul at 46:22: awesome well thank you again I got to jump to my next call but I really appreciate spending time with you it was really great
Paul at 46:24: all right
Paul at 46:30: okay see you around thanks again yep bye you’re welcome bye
Daniel at 46:30:Yeah, it was great. So anytime. I’ll talk to you later. Alright, See ya. Thank you. Bye.
Paul at 47:07:I am going good happy Friday how’s it going for you Friday it’s going good
