00:00:05:00 – 00:00:30:18
Unknown
Tom, my friend. Welcome to the Manufacturing Transformed podcast. How are you doing today?
00:00:30:20 – 00:00:50:11
Unknown
It was. We actually got, the show organizers. They got a complaint that we were so busy, we were overfilling over, spilling into the into the aisle ways too much. So it’s a good problem to have. Yeah.
00:00:50:14 – 00:01:17:17
Unknown
Yeah. Just. Yeah, we asked for one, but we’ll definitely make sure we get one for next year. Next time. So anyway, thank you so much for. Yeah, for coming by the booth last week, chatting and for being willing to be on the show now. You have a different story than the one we often tell. Usually this is a story of, you know, tell us about what was going poorly about your old ERP and why you decided to switch.
00:01:17:17 – 00:01:44:07
Unknown
But you have a different story to tell. So let’s start with the background of, our industries. A bit of a snapshot of what looks like today. Your own background as well. For those that haven’t, listen to your episode of Machine Shop Mastery, which I would highly recommend people go check out. But, this is this is, a different podcast, and we can liberally talk about, the pro shop, impact, you know, on your business.
00:01:44:07 – 00:02:22:03
Unknown
So let’s start with, with you in the background.
00:02:22:05 – 00:02:54:20
Unknown
The hook. Yeah.
00:03:13:22 – 00:03:32:19
Unknown
Yeah.
00:03:32:22 – 00:03:56:01
Unknown
Yeah.
00:03:56:04 – 00:04:15:05
Unknown
No, I’m sure that’s not. That’s sure. That’s not an exaggeration. Yeah.
00:04:15:07 – 00:05:04:00
Unknown
Yeah. As you should be. Yeah.
00:05:37:17 – 00:06:13:11
Unknown
Oh, yeah. No, it’s. Yeah, it’s at the DNA level for sure. So that sounded like a pretty, impactful meeting between you and I. And, I will apologize in advance. People can know new prospects can no longer get a three hour conversation with me. So unless maybe they’re a couple hundred employees, then maybe. But, yeah, I was doing I was on the front lines of sales back then.
00:06:13:14 – 00:06:36:20
Unknown
That’s right. That’s right.
00:06:42:02 – 00:06:48:19
Unknown
Got it.
00:06:48:21 – 00:06:53:05
Unknown
Sure.
00:06:53:07 – 00:06:56:17
Unknown
So I.
00:06:56:20 – 00:07:25:20
Unknown
Yeah. So before we get into what, what our industries looks like today, I would love to have you share, because I think it’s a bit of an uncommon, idea that you should have in Europe even before you open your doors. Really? It’s not how most people think.
00:07:25:22 – 00:08:39:18
Unknown
Yeah.
00:08:41:00 – 00:09:09:19
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah. I have, I have definitely, long sort of stood on my, soapbox and said that I think a company’s business systems quality system is the selling tool that you need to instill a confidence in a company, in a, in a customer, that you are the business they should be doing business with. Right. And, I was just, prepping for, a webinar with a customer.
00:09:10:25 – 00:09:53:26
Unknown
Who said exactly that? He said they have, you know, pro shops, one of their best sales tools. They had a new prospect, $100 million business, very large business. They had them in for, you know, a tour and a demo. And they almost immediately gave them 12 part numbers. You know, about 1.5% top line revenue, by those 12 part numbers, just because they were so confident and in the quality system that this company had and, and they even took it from their internal, this company’s internal shop where they weren’t nearly as well, you know, set up and process driven as, as, this other customer that, demonstrated, you know,
00:09:53:28 – 00:10:20:27
Unknown
that they just were just so dialed in and quality and process and so, yeah, it’s, I’m I’m, Yeah, I, I couldn’t agree with you more about the haves and have nots. So.
00:10:21:00 – 00:10:25:20
Unknown
That’s right.
00:10:25:22 – 00:10:53:17
Unknown
Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
00:10:53:19 – 00:11:23:03
Unknown
Yeah.
00:11:23:05 – 00:12:12:06
Unknown
Yep.
00:12:12:09 – 00:12:17:09
Unknown
I love it.
00:12:27:04 – 00:12:35:00
Unknown
Right. Yeah. Yeah.
00:12:35:03 – 00:12:52:01
Unknown
Wow. Huge! Yeah. Congratulations. That’s fantastic.
00:12:52:03 – 00:13:41:24
Unknown
Yeah. Wow. So let’s, I think we understand why you strongly believe all shops should have an even when they’re tiny. And I think it’s compelling. What does our industries look like today? You’ve grown really fast over the last four years. Yeah. Just paint the picture of who you serve and the size of the business.
00:14:11:11 – 00:14:55:11
Unknown
Right. Yeah. Yeah.
00:14:55:14 – 00:15:15:02
Unknown
I love it so much. Cool. Well, yeah. Up to 15 people and, you know, bigger facility. It’s been. And I’ve got to visit both facilities, so. But the second one, you hadn’t moved into yet, you were just. You’re like, let’s go see where we’re going. And it was still the old the old business before it. So I’m excited to come visit you.
00:15:16:08 – 00:15:43:16
Unknown
I’ll moved in. So some of the, some of the, you know, customary questions that I would ask of someone that has switched from one ERP to the next. You know, don’t really apply how many other systems and spreadsheets and databases did you replace with Pro Shop and, but, maybe. Maybe you can. You know, you said, you know, after our conversation, pro shop was too good to be true.
00:15:43:27 – 00:16:07:01
Unknown
Once you got into the training and maybe you can even talk about the training and implementation process, how did, how did pro shop sort of reveal itself to you as you learned more and really dug in beyond just a sales demo?
00:16:07:03 – 00:17:10:19
Unknown
Okay. Sure.
00:17:27:19 – 00:17:53:10
Unknown
Yep.
00:17:53:13 – 00:18:16:05
Unknown
Sure.
00:18:16:08 – 00:19:01:26
Unknown
Yeah, I would say that’s, That’s probably a pretty accurate statement. There are, certainly aspects about it that that I don’t know how after having used it for 24 years. And, or some because some of them are brand new. You know, we keep making new stuff all the time. And, but, one thing, which is not on my typical list, but I might ask you, so, you know, people sometimes describe pro shop is not just a program that they use, not just a software product with, you know, screens and buttons and fields, but more like an operating system for how to run, you know, an effective precision manufacturer in
00:19:01:26 – 00:19:30:16
Unknown
a regulated industry. Right? That’s sort of what we say our sweet spot is. And, one of my other customers, actually, I think second pod, second machine manufacturing transfer podcast, we did. My good friend Jamie Marcella, who had been a machinist for many years and had owned his shop for ten years. Prior to pro shop, said pro shop taught me how to properly run a business.
00:19:30:16 – 00:19:53:05
Unknown
Right? Properly run my company. And he realized only after the fact that he was just kind of winging it the whole time with, you know, with his old ERP and his old way of running his business. And, and, you know, I’ll also give some credit, a lot of credit to, to his implementation person.
00:19:53:16 – 00:20:15:22
Unknown
Luke, on our team. Who was a was a shop owner himself. Prior to, working with with Procyon C because he actually we bought his car. We bought his shop. He became a part of Procyon C for years. And, and then, of course, he’s now worked for pro shop for, for many years, but,
00:20:15:24 – 00:20:37:16
Unknown
Yeah. It just I’d love to hear your thoughts on the idea of it as an operating system for how to how to run a business. Whether it’s the actual workflows that, you know, you start with the estimate of flows to this and that, to that which drives your ultimately your document package. Right. And it’s like if you just follow the process, you’re going to have a good outcome.
00:20:39:00 – 00:20:50:28
Unknown
Yeah. Any thoughts on that?
00:20:51:01 – 00:21:53:08
Unknown
I sure have. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah.
00:22:14:14 – 00:22:35:23
Unknown
Yep.
00:22:41:29 – 00:23:37:16
Unknown
Right.
00:24:07:21 – 00:24:32:20
Unknown
Yeah. It’s interesting because companies that are unaccustomed to those workflows and maybe have run shops that are a little bit more shoot from the hip, you know, just sort of like quick and dirty to get it done. Yeah. We got the order. Okay. Throw it over to programing. Sometimes they look at, you know, even on the demo and they’re like, oh, that’s way too much work.
00:24:32:23 – 00:24:54:05
Unknown
Like, we can’t do that. You know, I’d like that would slow down putting that much upfront work would slow down my whole company. Right. Like we wouldn’t be able to ship jobs. And, it’s funny because it’s like, you know, it’s. I guess it’s that, you know, what is that? That ounce of prevention, pound of cure.
00:24:54:07 – 00:25:23:01
Unknown
I forget the exact phrasing of it, but, like, yeah, that the return on investment of being a little bit more thoughtful at the beginning. And quite honestly, not I don’t think we ask people to do anything at all that really isn’t necessary. Right. And that’s why like that checklist is configurable. Right. So if you have a repeat job, we drop all sorts of things off the list because he already did it last time.
00:25:23:02 – 00:26:04:17
Unknown
You don’t need to do it again. Right. So really just the bare essentials but the bare essentials to hopefully have, you know, a great outcome. Which, you know, in. Good.
00:26:04:19 – 00:26:30:21
Unknown
Right.
00:26:30:23 – 00:26:48:01
Unknown
Yeah.
00:26:48:03 – 00:26:55:08
Unknown
Right.
00:26:55:10 – 00:27:11:29
Unknown
Right. Yeah.
00:27:12:02 – 00:27:40:01
Unknown
That.
00:27:40:03 – 00:27:59:27
Unknown
What.
00:28:00:17 – 00:28:22:08
Unknown
Guys.
00:28:33:10 – 00:28:41:13
Unknown
Right.
00:28:41:15 – 00:29:00:29
Unknown
Yeah. And even if he didn’t, even if he did have the material laying around, it could place it. They get that price one time until that material is used up. And then it’s the next time it’s, it’s, it’s up to 19 because, you know, they need to buy material and do all the other stuff. They realize they under underbid.
00:29:01:01 – 00:29:16:12
Unknown
Kind of thing. So interesting.
00:29:20:04 – 00:29:44:13
Unknown
The other shop. The other shop did. Yeah. You know. Yeah.
00:29:56:20 – 00:29:59:15
Unknown
Sure.
00:29:59:17 – 00:30:30:08
Unknown
Sure. So that that brings me maybe to a segue to another question. I know that back when we were running our shop, there were periods of time where our years, there were years and periods in our growth where we grew really quickly, like, you know, almost triple digit like hundred percent a year kind of revenue growth. And, and there’s no way that we could have done that without pro shop being the backbone of everything we were doing.
00:30:30:08 – 00:31:23:20
Unknown
It would have just gotten way out of hand to chaotic to many balls in the air. Things would have dropped. Customers would have been unhappy. Parts would have been late. And, you know, given the growth that you’ve seen in for years, do you feel like you could have grown, you know, just as quick, without pro shop or on spreadsheets or if you’d chosen one of their competitors.
00:31:23:23 – 00:31:45:00
Unknown
Yeah. You do.
00:32:35:22 – 00:33:05:04
Unknown
Okay. Oh. Man. That’s funny. So if you were, you know, hopefully there’s there’ll be many, many shop owners that listen to this. Some might be on the fence. Or not even have an ERP or doing research or, you know, at some phase, pre, pre pro shop pre powered by pro shop, I’ll call it.
00:33:06:14 – 00:33:33:00
Unknown
What. Yeah. What would your advice be? Especially for those that, you know, do have established systems. Do have a big investment in some others in some other software. You know, I mean, just last week at Amdocs, you know, there was, you know, any number of shops that came by the booths and shower them for a little bit and they’re like, wow, this is all amazing.
00:33:33:00 – 00:33:54:24
Unknown
But we’re we’ve been 20 years with job, boss. There’s no way we’re switching right? Like, and the idea of sunk costs and, you know, I don’t know, it just it’s, it’s hard to to wrap my head around. I mean, I can understand it, you know, because it’s especially, you know, with a well-established business with dozens of people.
00:33:56:19 – 00:35:34:02
Unknown
That’s a lot of change management. That’s a lot of ripping the, you know, ripping the spinal cord out of a business and doing a surgery to put a new one in.
00:35:43:11 – 00:36:08:06
Unknown
Yeah. Well, let’s. Yeah. No. You’re right. I mean there’s this you know, people often say, you know, if you’re not, if you’re not evolving, you’re, you’re dying, right. You’re, you’re not, because. Yeah. You’re evolving. Yeah. Because the industry for sure is moving really quick. And, yeah, I think that’s the mindset. How are you going to lead that change?
00:36:08:07 – 00:36:43:21
Unknown
Are you going to are you going to resist that change? Right. And a lot of our clients. Yeah. Go ahead.
00:37:26:10 – 00:38:08:16
Unknown
If.
00:38:11:16 – 00:38:16:02
Unknown
Right.
00:38:16:05 – 00:38:45:18
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah. The the gentleman that I was telling you about earlier in our talk, who had that customer that gave him 12 part numbers. The, the webinar that we were prepping for is called How to Build a Business that your kids won’t run away from. And he really, you know, he’s second generation. He wants to prepare the business to be really solid for the third generation.
00:38:45:18 – 00:39:15:07
Unknown
And he realized that he was not doing that right. He had a business that he was not willing or proud to hand off to his kids. And, and, and during our talk, he’s like, I, you know, I’m not sure the kids are still pretty young. He’s like, I’m not sure the business would still be around in ten, 15, 20 years, you know, if and when they take it over, if we didn’t evolve and, you know, digitize and then, you know, and they’ve done lots of other wonderful things upgrading equipment and but, yeah, you’re right.
00:39:15:08 – 00:39:30:19
Unknown
I mean, there may not be someone behind you if you don’t do the right things. Yeah.
00:41:56:19 – 00:42:04:13
Unknown
Well.
00:42:04:16 – 00:42:25:14
Unknown
Kindness is one of our kindness is one of our primary core values. So I will say that. But we hire a lot of, we hire a lot of our support team is, is Canadian, and they are famous for being unfailingly polite. As a culture, as a country. So I think the combination of the two works out pretty well in our favor.
00:42:25:17 – 00:42:46:08
Unknown
But no, Luke is not. Luke is not. Although actually, you know what? I think he might, you know what? Actually, he might actually have been born there. I don’t know for sure. I know he lived there for a long time, but but no, our actual support support desk staff. Yeah, they are the best. Our whole team is amazing.
00:42:48:02 – 00:43:16:02
Unknown
That was on full display last week at I. EMTs where? Kind of like you, you know, we got the feedback, people, you know, we’re making the rounds, going to different booths, and they’re like, when we finally, you know, got around to the pro shop booth and could dig in with a super in-depth, very nuanced conversation with Luke or with Jason or with Brian or with JC or with Vince or with Michael.
00:43:16:05 – 00:43:44:18
Unknown
Right. About how to run a business, how to run a machine shop using pro shop. It was such a stark contrast between, like, you know, the sales staff at some of the other booths that really don’t know what they’re talking about. And so, yeah, we just feel incredibly lucky and blessed to have folks like them, you know, on our team and.
00:43:44:21 – 00:43:51:28
Unknown
Yeah, you did, you did.
00:43:52:00 – 00:44:04:02
Unknown
Yes.
00:44:04:04 – 00:44:29:29
Unknown
Yeah. We had our we had our yeah, we had our whole customer ambassador program running for the second time in a row, where, you know, in, in advance of the show, like two months out, you know, we said, hey, we would love to have volunteers to come to our booth, put on a pro shop, a powered by pro shop shirt and help us, you know, spread the gospel about pro shop.
00:44:29:29 – 00:44:58:08
Unknown
And we had more than 30 people. Clients, you know. So, yeah. Sign me up, you know. And, that was one of the most heartwarming parts of the show. And, it was. Yeah. Because you just don’t see that at other and other booths at other companies. Actually, I heard about a company.
00:44:58:10 – 00:45:34:19
Unknown
Oh, I heard about another software company in our space that, saw us do it in 22 and decided to try to do that themselves this year. And put out the call, and no one said yes. So they had to cancel the whole idea. And ours was twice the size of 22. Oh, it’s all good. I know you.
00:45:34:21 – 00:45:58:02
Unknown
They are, they are they? Yeah, they are fabulous. But yeah, them and 28 other, you know, clients said said yes. I’m happy to come. So, but you have been an unfailing advocate for us. Yeah. Thank you for for this, this this episode. Thanks for all the other things you’ve done with us and for us over the years.
00:45:59:13 – 00:46:17:12
Unknown
The way that you give back both to us and I think to the industry in general. And I see you, in a lot of those forums and, you know, places where people ask questions and you whether it’s about pro shop, whether it’s about machines, whether it’s about whatever, you are just paying it forward to the industry.
00:46:17:12 – 00:46:45:02
Unknown
And that’s one of the things I love about you and a lot of the people in this industry, it’s it’s very collaborative. People are more than willing to, you know, share pretty much anything. And, and we need that. We need everyone to do that because our industry needs every shop to be operating at peak efficiency to to support the country, to support our economy, to be competitive on a global basis.
00:46:45:19 – 00:46:58:24
Unknown
Here in North America. So it’s, it’s really important. And thank you for everything you do.
00:46:58:26 – 00:47:22:12
Unknown
Oh, undoubtedly. Yeah. Yep. Thank you. Tom. So if people want to reach out and, connect with you, about your services, that our industries or anything else, how would they, how would you suggest they do that?
00:47:22:15 – 00:47:40:24
Unknown
It’s a lovely place to visit.
00:47:40:26 – 00:47:54:24
Unknown
Okay. Yep.
00:47:54:26 – 00:48:03:06
Unknown
Right.
00:48:03:09 – 00:48:21:25
Unknown
Awesome. Tom. Well, thank you again so much. This has been a very fun conversation. I appreciate you sharing everything that you did share. And, congratulations on all the wild success. I can’t wait to see what you look like in another four years, or what our industries looks like. It’s going to be a force to be reckoned with.
00:48:21:28 – 00:48:33:22
Unknown
So congrats.
00:48:33:24 – 00:48:35:06
Unknown
Appreciate you, Tom.
