Connect with Hector Diaz-Stringel: hector.diazstringel@gmail.comTranscript from the show:Lisa Ryan: Hey, it's Lisa Ryan from the Manufacturers' Network Podcast. I'm excited today to introduce you to our guest, Hector Diaz-Stringel. Hector has spent most of his career in manufacturing. He's currently the President of ATA tools, and he's also been involved with chemicals, plastics, composites cutting tools in both Mexico and the United States and with companies working with companies both large and small. So, you're going to hear lots of different insights from different types of companies. So Hector, welcome to the show.Hector Diaz-Stringel: Thanks for having me.Lisa Ryan: Well, share with us a little bit about your journey and your career and how you ended up where you're at now.Hector Diaz-Stringel: Well, without boring everybody with many details, I did start in Mexico, where I'm originally from, as an engineer. I was there for a couple of years, and then the company was looking to expand in Mexico. The company based out of Indiana went to Mexico to look for an engineer to train and send back down to open the market. It was a chemical company, and the plan was I was going to come here for a couple of years and then go back to Mexico, and 20 years later, here I am, so that never actually happened, which has worked out very well. The company was doing well. But they saw more opportunity in the US than in Mexico. So I help them build our plant in Ohio. That's how I ended up in Ohio.I went there was a small privately held company. A larger organization acquired us. And then I moved to other places. I worked in companies public and private, tiny and huge, so I have different perspectives, including private equity at some point. So I got to a point about five years ago, an Irish company was looking for somebody to run their US business. We got connected, and I like what they were doing and where they want it to go. And here we are. Five years later.Lisa Ryan: Awesome. What are some of the things working right now, whether it be with your employees or your processes? Before the podcast, we talked about the toll that the pandemic has taken and how you've rebuilt your business. Why were you able to do that? Take us through that journey and what's been working for you.Hector Diaz-Stringel: Many different things. Fortunately, again, we went through the lows of the pandemic, like every other business in the US, We were coming out of it, but many things that helped us get through that one is our employees. The 75-80 people who work with ATA are committed to seeing us succeed from a safety and health point of view and a customer service point of view and make sure that customers were not going to see a service disruption.But we also have the product side of things. When the pandemic started and we realized it is a health issue, it will quickly become an economic issue. Having gone through the 2000-2009 collapses, we looked back to learn from what happened ten years ago and what we could apply to the situation we did. We put our plan together. It was clear to us that if we had a strong product and have a strong track record with our customers' quality and service, we were in an excellent position to make it through the crisis. We are also fortunate that we have a good financial footing. Not that 2020 was easy to get through with a drop in business. But we were on a solid footing, so we didn't have to worry about whether we would be able to pay our bills or have the cash flow to manage our business.That allowed us to get down to basics. It was about quality tools and software. Let's make sure that whatever orders we have coming in that we are servicing them.And let's make sure that we're ready for any other opportunities because companies that we compete against that may not be in that same situation where they may have a weaker position to begin with.We were bound to make their customers nervous, and we saw some of those opportunities coming our way. We generated a lot of new business opportunities that are in play. In 2021, we will see a full year effect because we were ready to take on that new business. Many things had to come together, but we didn't put them together in 2020; they were already there. We just needed to be mindful of where our priorities needed to be.Lisa Ryan: So in a market where you're talking about your competition and from a sales standpoint, it's hard because you weren't allowed in the plants. You know it wasn't easy to maintain those customer relationships that you had. So what were some of the things that you did or your sales team did your service team did to take care of the customers you had and put in those processes to attract new customers to you.Hector Diaz-Stringel: Yeah, I think it started back in 2016-2017 after I joined the business. A new Director of Sales came on board, about a year later, and we spend those first couple of years putting a sales team together. We have salespeople dispersed throughout the US and Mexico. But then we have a network of manufacturer representatives as well as an extensive distribution network. So we spent a couple of years, putting all of that in place, making sure that we have the right people in the right places. And we're aligned with the right external partners. It all came to fruition. As you point out, even though our salespeople haven't been able to travel and see customers, other than those that they can go and drive to see if those customers are seeing vendors.They had such good relationships that technology helps: zoom and cell phones help us stay close to those customers. So we were ready to start doing many webinars that we were already going to do in 2020, but this accelerated the effort for us. So we were able to reach many people that our salespeople had a hard time getting in touch with in the past. But, but now nobody could go anywhere. Everybody was staying home and doing these types of interactions over zoom or the same kind of technologies, so we found that we could reach many more people than we would likely have been able to get have we've been traveling all over the US. So we generated a lot of business. The highlights for ATA, especially for the US business for 2020, were the number of new opportunities we could identify. Still, we were able to close business while being remote. I kept telling this to the Salesforce throughout the year, "I don't know how you're doing it. Keep doing it."Lisa Ryan: Many positive things came out of this whole thing. It's not only the amount of money saved in time, in not getting on airplanes and traveling over the country and all over the world. But you now had the opportunity to connect with new customers that maybe it wouldn't have been worth your time to get on a plane and see and make that effort. So it sounds like you and your salespeople were buying into that and weren't afraid of the technology. So what a positive that was for you.Hector Diaz-Stringel: Yeah, and I give them a lot of credit because they are salespeople. They want to be out there. They want to be talking to customers, and they want to see how the product works and troubleshoot issues that a potential new customer may be having. They can physically do any of these things, but they found a way to do it remotely and succeed. So that was one of the highlights of our business last year.Lisa Ryan: Now, you mentioned that when you assembled the sales team five years ago when you came on board, you were looking for the right people. That's so important when it comes to culture. But what helped you determine who was the right person and getting that right fit for your company. So you do have those long term dedicated salespeople.Hector Diaz-Stringel: Yeah, we had a Salesforce, and some of them were good individuals, but they were thinking more about retirement than what the next step in their career was going to be. So when you were going to have openings, regardless. But I was new to the business. I have to learn what type of business we had and what the opportunities were. But it was clear that we needed dynamic people - people who were hunting for new opportunities. We looked for motivated and incentivized people by finding a new opportunity and closing the business while maintaining the current business. We already had relationships with those customers and found opportunities for those customers as well. So it was more about driven individuals, not individuals that could be good at maintaining a sales territory.We needed somebody that can maintain our territory. But more importantly, that was dynamic enough to learn whatever new products we keep introducing. We added a lot of new products to our portfolio. They needed to learn those products and become experts at them, but then go out and find opportunities where we can close sales, and it was a unique set of skills that we're looking for. It took us a few tries to find the right individuals, and we found them by going out and hiring people external people. We also took flyers on internal individuals. For example, we have a marketing coordinator that wasn't in the commercial area, but a man sales at all. But we saw potential in here, and we will do the challenge of her, and she was very reluctant at the beginning because, again, sales can be scary. She's been very successful over the last three years, so it took a lot of experimenting and taking calculated risks. So far, it's worked out.Lisa Ryan: Yeah, it sounds like it was something that has still kind of there that's keeping you up at night, what are, what are some of the things may be struggling with?Hector Diaz-Stringel: Well, it definitely that the pandemic. I mean, we're struggling with it. We've been able to manage it successfully so far. And we're going to continue to be very vigilant about it, but it's all around us. And if that were to come into the facility. Of course, I'm going to be concerned about our employees and making sure that they can get through it without any significant issues, but their families and what that effect is going to have in our business and how we serve as a business. We have to manage and potential outbreak. So that has kept me up at night for the last ten months or so.And the economy that the resulting economic issues that have come because of the pandemic. We are much more optimistic now than we have been over the last few months. We believe that in 2021 especially with the vaccines being available and the vaccination rates, things will start opening up, and the business will get back to normal levels. The new administration coming in, hopefully, will have some infrastructure, a plan put in place that will help our business. So there's a lot of things that we're hopeful are going to happen. These things do keep me up at night because the US economy needs these things.Lisa Ryan: Right, exactly. And when we look at this podcast from a networking standpoint of just connecting manufacturers, what would be something that maybe you would either like support or ideas from your manufacturing colleagues to share with you.Hector Diaz-Stringel:  One of the things that we learned as we went through the pandemic was how our network helped us. Hopefully, we also help other companies figure out how to deal with something that nobody has seen since 1918. Nobody in the world was ready for something like this. So are we doing the right things? Are we overdoing it, or we're not doing enough? All we had was ourselves, and we're an Irish based company. So we have, I have counterparts in Ireland, Germany, and the UK. We have the facilities that we could bounce ideas off each other. But again, it's all within the ATA world.But we reached out to our network and just tried to have a call. We can have a beer with the President of our company. What are you doing here, and what have you done that generated more connections with other companies? I probably have met somebody in the company, but never had any interactions, but found out that they were open because they were also trying to figure it out. So, those, those type of it. They were quasi-informal networks that became more formal out of necessity but had those interactions in place. I like what you're doing with this podcast in connecting companies. The next time any of us has any challenge that we have never seen before, having that network to reach out to and being comfortable doing that is another thing that I thought to tell somebody that we don't know what to do. Well, sometimes, you have to be vulnerable. It was very valuable to talk to our companies and, in some cases, validate that we're on the right track. In all cases, we get new ideas that we can think of and, in other cases, provide them with ideas. I think it made for a better situation for all.Lisa Ryan: Awesome. When it comes to your areas of expertise or insight regarding sharing with your manufacturing colleagues, what would be a good tip or a good reason to connect with you?Hector Diaz-Stringel: I have been in chemicals and plastics and cutting tools now. I like going into manufacturing facilities, even if it's something that I have never seen before, because you never know what kind of ideas you're going to extract from that that could apply to your own business or your own life. You don't know what you're going to find out.Anyone who wants to connect is more than welcome to bring them over to see what we're doing. And, you know, maybe we'll give those people an idea that they didn't think of before that that I find valuable.Lisa Ryan: Because sometimes we get so focused on just our industry where you could learn something from somebody in a completely different industry that's like, ooh, that's transferable, and that's the whole point of making those connections. If somebody wants to reach out and connect with you, what's the best way to do that?Hector Diaz-Stringel: hector.diazstringel@gmail.com Lisa Ryan: Alright. Awesome. Well, Hector. It was an absolute pleasure having you on the show today. Thank you for being here. I'm Lisa Ryan from the Manufacturers' Network podcast, and we'll see you next time. Thank you.

Contact Jay Foran at jforan@teamneo.org Show Transcript:Lisa Ryan: Hey, it's Lisa Ryan. Welcome to this episode of the Manufacturers' Network Podcast. I'm excited to introduce you to our guest today. Jay Foran. Jay helps businesses discover exciting growth opportunities in the Northeast Ohio region, which is why I chose him because, of course, I'm from northeast Ohio. He works with corporate clients and site consultants to navigate the Regional Economic Development Framework, connecting them with state and local resources and emerging technologies.Before joining Team NEO, Jay was vice president of business development for the Lake West Group, a management consulting firm. He also served in a variety of key leadership positions with Procter and Gamble. So Jay. First of all, welcome to the show. It's great to have you here.Jay Foran: Thanks so much; I appreciate the invitation.Lisa Ryan: Good. So, share with us a little bit about your journey and what ultimately led you to serve the people of northeast Ohio as well as you do.Jay Foran: Sure. So, as you mentioned in my bio, I had spent a lot of time with Procter and Gamble, 25 years to be exact, and 20 of those years were on the west coast. But I am a native of Cleveland, Ohio area Northeast Ohio and my wife and I were in California for years. So then we started having children and decided we wanted to be closer to family. So we came back to the region. In 2000, as you mentioned, I joined a consulting firm but upon re-entry into the region. I connected with two good high school friends and others in key leadership positions in the community. And through that those connections, I found myself getting involved in some of the school rehabilitation programs and the city of Lakewood. They were looking at their school buildings and how they could get those buildings in better shape. More conducive to education, etc., ultimately ended up leading the effort to convince the taxpayers that it's worthy of a $200 million investment. So that was a great experience. Along the same timeline, I got involved again locally with the formation of a Community Development Corporation called Lakewood Alive. It's all about engaging citizens in the health and well-being and betterment of their local community. That organization is still thriving here 15 years later.Well, I was consulting. I was traveling a lot. And basically, it came to a point where I said, "Wait a minute, I moved back to northeast Ohio to be involved." I find myself on an airplane, leaving the region, and I certainly enjoy what I call the Community and Economic Development aspects of the things I was doing on a volunteer basis.So when the position of Team NEO came open in 2007, I thought it was a great match with my interest and how I wanted to create that Capstone situation for myself in the latter part of my career. And so that's how I found my way to Team NEO. I've been there since again 2007 - now beginning my 15th year.Lisa Ryan: Wow. Tell us a little bit, for those people outside of our region who may not be familiar with Team Neo, your mission.Jay Foran: Sure. Well, Team NEOs stands for Team Northeast Ohio, and we are a private nonprofit Regional Economic Development Organization serving the 18 counties of Northeast Ohio - basically going from the Pennsylvania border west to Cedar Point or Erie County and then south to Mansfield and Richland county and then back over to Pennsylvania. So this area makes up about 20 to 25% of the state's geography but about 35 to 40% of the state's economy. So Team Neo's been private and the nonprofit was stood up by the major Chambers of Commerce across the region. Back in the early 2000s, but in 2011 we became the network affiliate of Jobs Ohio. Our organization's role is to help companies and the economy grow. So we work with companies in the region to assist them with those impediments that may hold back the growth, or if they've got expansion plans, we can assist that way, tying them into jobs, Ohio, and the state as well as local incentive programs. But we can also provide services in talent development technology adoption, helping them find a site that sort of thing. We don't just restrict ourselves to companies in the region. We're interested in bringing greater business investment into the region as well. So we work to attract companies, so we travel around the world and tell the Northeast Ohio story. It's a very compelling story of why they want to have an operation here and how that will best serve their business and help their company succeed.Lisa Ryan: So, and as you're doing that and trying to help companies relocate to Northeast Ohio? What are these companies looking for when they're determining where to relocate their business?Jay Foran: Well, they all have different requirements. They all have different things, to some degree, that they're looking for, but they can boil down into what I call three areas. One is, "Can I make money?" And that's what companies are supposed to do, right, is to make money. And so what are the things that are assisting them here. Is this a good location for that from a logistics standpoint? Is there access to customers or access to a supply chain - all things that contribute to money?And then there's risk. Is there a lot of risk with this site versus another site in another state or another part of the country?And finally - time. How long is it going to take? How much capacity is required of their organization? So again, I think it kind of boils down to money, can I make money. Is there an opportunity there? Or can I save money by operating there, how much time will it take, can I do it faster there or with less capacity?What's the risk involved - downward or upward risk - that I had to consider as I think about my location. So usually, that's where companies start to weigh these regions of the country against each other and start to score them against their more individual requirements, but they all tend to fall into time, money, or risk.Lisa Ryan: I also think you've probably seen this a lot more than me when it comes to people being surprised when they come to Cleveland. We see this when other sports fans come in to watch games in Cleveland. They are much more surprised than they originally thought they would be about what a great location, it is. I'm sure that that also plays a part in willing people to come here.Jay Foran: Right. It's incredibly valuable and is actually a requirement to be successful. We have to find a way to get leaders of organizations to come to the market to be here, to see what's available, and to see how easy it is to drive across the region, from a transportation standpoint. The options that are available, the sites that are available, etc. - I think once we get them on the ground, our success rate grows, you know, threefold, fourfold, and this is just as true when it comes to talent.Many companies here will tell you, "Our biggest challenge is getting people to think about relocating here. But once we get them to relocate here, we asked him, maybe five years later to relocate somewhere else. They don't want to leave." Yes, they're enjoying that not only are they enjoying a rich career, but their families are also enjoying a great quality of life. So that combination is what we're all looking for a good career, great opportunities, and enrichment, but at the same time, we want our families, the people we love, to be successful, too. And so that's where it all works for Northeast Ohio.Lisa Ryan: Yeah. And as somebody who is a native Clevelander, I've actually never lived outside Cuyahoga County - completely by choice. I like to joke about the fact that my husband has lived in both Cuyahoga AND Summit Counties.Jay Foran: So he's a man of the world.Lisa Ryan: Yeah, my whole family has flown the coop and lives across the country. But, for my husband, Scott and me, it's such a pleasure to see the expansion of people discovering the secret gem that we have here in Cleveland.Jay Foran: Some of our best, most loyal residents have lived in New York or Boston, San Francisco, Atlanta, all these exciting places they're exciting. I love San Francisco. How could you not, right. Right, like I was traveling the west coast in great cities, but at the same time, I thought about what is offered here. It called me home. I think about how much house I can get from my money, how far my dollar goes, how many things my family can enjoy due to being here are just greater than any of the other places that I played.Lisa Ryan: So what do you think about what you've seen the economic development future looks like for Northeast Ohio?Jay Foran: I think it's incredibly bright. I'm very encouraged. I am in the latter stages of my career; I won't be doing this for that many more years but in many ways. I wish I could be part of it 10 years from now. Because I've been at it for almost 15 years, when I first went out to talk to companies in Silicon Valley or Japan or other parts of the world. I spoke about Northeast Ohio or Cleveland Akron and there was a little concern because of what they had heard about the area. Well, I have seen over those 15 years that change dramatically.I'm not saying that the world knows everything they need to know about Northeast Ohio; there's still a huge opportunity there. And that's where a lot of our emphasis going to be is helping people understand the narrative. But I can tell you that the shade is much further up than it needs to be to bring Cleveland Northeast Ohio.And again, I think there's a lot of things going on on the ground. Whether it's University Circle or what's happening in Akron Canton and Youngstown, there's a lot of activity. Companies are succeeding.We're just in a great location that's always going to serve as well. And some of the movement towards remote workforce as a result of the pandemic, I think we're going to serve this region. Well, when it comes to attracting and retaining talent, which is usually for most companies' minds.Lisa Ryan: So when it comes aside the fact of picking up your business and moving to northeast Ohio to increase business or have a more successful business. What are some of the things that you're seeing with the manufacturers you're working with that they're doing really well?Jay Foran: Well, there are many manufacturers in Northeast Ohio - 7700 to be exact - 97% of them would be what we consider a small or medium-sized enterprise. I see them doing exceptionally well in providing a workplace that allows for additional responsibility and personal growth. Training. Most of these organizations have strong, very solid processes in place. A strong example is just how Northeast Ohio responded to the pandemic's onset back in March of 2020. It was determined that manufacturing was essential. And you saw leadership from these companies that were so impressive and the response of the workforce. The employees were providing our society at a critical time.I think in many ways, it was somewhat of a renaissance for manufacturing. It really brought to the surface just how critical, how valuable manufacturing is, and just how strong our region is. Again, in this region, we're about 20 25% of the geography and about 35 40% of the economy. Well, that's because of in factoring. That's because of the multiplier effect and the supply chains and the fact that we're feeding the region's supply chains and worldwide. I think because of the pandemic, we answered the call and continue to answer the call. That's a strong endorsement for the manufacturing community.Lisa Ryan: In the pandemic, employees had the opportunity to contribute to that mission. One day they're making beer, the next day, they're making hand sanitizers. One day they're making plastics. The next day, they're making shields. I shouldn't have been surprised, but it was really cool to see the changes that just flipped overnight, and we're able to be that flexible, which we offer here.Jay Foran: Right. No doubt about it. The company, the employees, the personal investment in the solution was so obvious. There are so many success stories. We could go on and on and on about these companies. Lisa Ryan: So if it was to come down to your best tip or hint that you would like to share with other manufacturers, or the best reason for them to come to northeast Ohio, what would that be?Jay Foran: Okay, well, for manufacturers in particular, I think there's still opportunity, lots of opportunity in the area of what it called technology adoption, you know, Internet of Things. Some of these new applications of advanced AI, artificial intelligence, other technologies, etc. The global marketplace is very competitive, and it's going to be imperative for our companies to begin to bring on these technologies to automate to a greater degree to remain connected. We want to be a leading-edge community. The good news is on two fronts: one is that there's strong movement afoot, and the region much of which Team NEO is involved. And if anybody wants to learn more. I'm happy to chat with them. But there's a big movement in the region to begin to take on these technologies to adapt them to incorporate them to integrate them to be successful in them.And the good news, relative to technology adoption is that you don't have to take on this monstrous project. You can begin small, and as you are successful, you can add on to it, reinvest some of those savings and then continue ratcheting up your organization to be more technically proficient.Going forward, there's an opportunity. I also think there's a reasonable pathway for companies to employ without disrupting their business or, you know, bringing a lot of risk to their business by incorporating these technologies.Lisa Ryan: Awesome. Well, Jay. It has been an absolute pleasure having you on the show today. What's the best way for people to get ahold of you if they'd like to continue the conversation?Jay Foran: Best way is through my email, jforan@teamneo.org Lisa Ryan: All right. Well, again, Jay. Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom and insight and really giving props to our wonderful city of Cleveland and Northeast Ohio. So thank you for being here. I'm Lisa Ryan, and this is the Manufacturers' Network podcast. See you next time.

Connect with Scott Mackenzie, Host of the Industrial Talk podcastScott@IndustrialTalk.comwww.IndustrialTalk.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/%F0%9F%8E%99%EF%B8%8Fscott-mackenzie-mba-l-i-o-n-98846625/Program Transcript:Lisa Ryan: Hey, I'm Lisa Ryan and welcome to the manufacturers' network podcast, I'm excited to bring you my guest today. Scott McKenzie, the host of the industrial talk podcast and one of my very favorite people on the planet, and he will soon be one of yours as well. Scott, welcome to the show.Scott MacKenzie: Well absolutely honored to be part of this particular podcast. I love it. I love what you're doing. I love what you stand for. I love your purpose and your passion and everything's associated with it, you are adding value to a lot of people right now. I love it.Lisa Ryan: Well, we actually got together because I was on your podcast, which I know you've been doing for a number of years. I'd like for you to just kind of share your journey. And where were you were in your career and what got you to what you're doing today.Scott MacKenzie: Yeah, I have a strong industry background. I was with Price Waterhouse - did a lot of work there. And then I also then went into a terminal company took it public, retired and then I started my own maintenance company. I spent a lot of money on print from a marketing perspective and the attention perspective got nothing out of it. I was just coming back from a client. And I was listening to a podcast and for whatever reason, I decided I can do that. And all I wanted to do was just be able to open up a dialogue with companies that I could never get in through the door. Nobody wants to talk about industrial maintenance, but if they have something going on, I'd always say, “Hey, get on the podcast.  I think the listeners would love to hear about what's going on in your company,” and for the most part people would say “yes.” And that's how the door was open and it turned out to be just an absolutely incredible journey. And podcasting has just been a wonderful experience because I get to meet people like you and others around the world just because of this. It's good. It's cool. That's, that's it.Lisa Ryan: We actually met on the podcasts, of course, so we didn't meet live until a couple of months ago when you got to come to my lovely city of Cleveland to show us off and work with some of the manufacturing leaders in Cleveland, so just yeah props to you number one for showcasing one of the best cities in the world.Scott MacKenzie: Without a doubt, and, and boy that manufacturing base in that whole area Northeast Ohio - Team NEO, Manufacturing Works, Magnet. It takes incredible passion for that area to be successful, especially where we're going in this COVID. I don't have an answer. I don't have a crystal ball on that. However, you guys have got tremendous skills in that area manufacturing skills. Good stuff.Lisa Ryan: So what are some of the things that you're seeing right now that have just been some highlights some of the things that manufacturers are doing really well. As far as keeping up with the times and moving forward into the next year and into the next decade.Scott MacKenzie: Yeah, that's an interesting question because nobody in their business continuity plan had a global pandemic. So from a manufacturing perspective, what I saw was really positive versus some of the challenges which we all know. The challenges included how nimble manufacturers can be. They had to keep the lights on. They had to survive. Now I hope they're at a point where they can begin to rebuild it and then begin to prosper in whatever this next normal is, but what I really saw was that these leaders these manufacturing leaders figure out how to survive because when you start looking at their business, it wasn't just “here's the business” because that definitely got hammered, but “where is my supply chain? Where do I, where do I source my feedstock. What do I how it's it's been decimated? I was in Asia, and I was putting in and bolts and now that's all messed up. How do I reach or near-shore onshore what it, what are my strategies around that? And then once again what does the market look like? How do I manufacturer to those that the demands of the market? It was just absolutely all new and it just demonstrated a tremendous amount of leadership on the part of manufacturers.Lisa Ryan: Well, and just being able to see manufacturers that yeah one day they're brewing beer and the next day they're making hand sanitizer. Or one day they're making clothing and the next day they're making masks. So, not only to be able to turn on a dime like that but also to let their employees know that hey you're contributing to something that’s part of the solution in this pandemic that we're all facing. For lots of people, not only in my industry, but lots of other people I talked to this was going to be the best year ever. Everything was going so well and then March came and the bottom fell out. So it's been definitely an interesting year.Scott MacKenzie: I think one of the positives and I'm always gonna try to gravitate to the positive is that I think pre-pandemic. We were lazy. We were just, sort of, just going through the motion and economy and all of that stuff during the pandemic. I think that there were meaningful conversations, the realization that people - it's a people conversation. And so many of these manufacturers sat down with their team and said, “I need your help.” And there was a level of vulnerability that exists. You didn't have the answers you know why? Because you've never been through it and you needed that ability to collaborate, not just internally. Which is a good thing where you're creating that dialogue and you're valuable, but also externally and saying, “I don't have the answers, either.” So I need to collaborate with other individuals outside and there was this need to help everybody tried to survive. And that was a beautiful thing. And I hope going forward, that that is not lost. And that we continue to collaborate in a way that helps everybody succeed.Lisa Ryan: Well, also, it really helped us speed up technology because when we look at who runs a lot of the manufacturing companies, it’s like, “We've been doing it this way for 40 years, man. We don't need those apps. We don't need that video, and we're not going to do the zoom thing, whatever that is.” But you were forced into it. So from a technology standpoint, it seems that we just blasted five or 10 years into the future. Further than if we had just stayed put.And that level of communicating, especially with your millennial and Gen Z employees who are used to communicating this way. It's like, now we just really expanded our options as far as doing that which is super cool.Scott MacKenzie: So this is an interesting point that you bring up Lisa one there's that digital transformation and pre-virus. There were companies saying, “I hear this industry 4.0, I hear IoT, edge, cloud, jet - all of the things that are associated with industry 4.0  and they put it on their plan two to five years. We’re gonna start to deploy it right. Then there were companies that said, hey, this is important to us and so we're going to begin to deploy our digital transformation strategy, whatever that might look like.  The ones that did it right beforehand or in a better position today than the ones that right just sort of planned it out. That's one. The other challenge that exists because of the pandemic, because of the challenges and the focus on digital transformation is the education gap that exists now so what used to be something that, “hey we're planning, we're going to have a grand time and we're going to learn a little bit this and little edge of this and really just sort of meander on into digital transformation.”Now we've realized that there is a necessity and in any of your young listeners out there anything that deals with IoT digital transformation AI. Edge robots get into it because now there's this major gap and the speed of technology is demanding that there's an educated workforce that can respond to that. You’re not going to go down the world of digital transformation if you don't have the resources, the people, the human element in doing that. It just, you're not so that education components massive especially now mess.Lisa Ryan: Well, and that also helps us to change the conversation because, for a lot of parents, a lot of guidance school counselors think of manufacturing the way it was back in the day when it was loud and dirty and greasy grimy and the technology that's taken over. I mean, you walk into some of these plants and it's clean. They're bright. It's exciting. You're seeing all these robots and just cool stuff around and a lot of people don't know that. So it's just really, how are you getting the word out. How are you showing off what you're doing? How are you, attracting people to your industry who may have never considered manufacturing before?Scott MacKenzie: Isn't that an interesting challenge because that is more of marketing into an attention type of strategy outside of the fact that you gotta educate - that's sophisticated stuff. It's cool stuff. And if you're in the game. If you're doing it. And if that's your profession, you're writing because technology is moving so fast. Version one is yesterday's news now is wearing version two. I'm already hearing about 6G and it's just so fast. But if you're in the game. You're in it, you get to hear it, you get in your learning curve is not a steep get in the game. And then secondly, you're right. You know, there's this preconceived notion that manufacturing is dirty, filthy, whatever. Now it's a sophisticated profession that is only getting more demanding when it comes to technology sophistication data analytics because there's gold in that skill set. Big time.Lisa Ryan: Yeah, and I think that COVID has also helped us to look at business and look at production differently. My husband just went back to work after being furloughed for eight months and they are actually basing their production on who shows up that day because they don't know if one of their workers has been exposed to COVID. They don't know if they have to be in quarantine because a family member was exposed.So, a year ago, you would have never thought, no, this is the production schedule this or what they're running but like you said to have that flexibility of being able to turn and say, okay, well, instead of making 100 units today. Maybe we can only make 75 because that's who we have- and it’s being okay with that because nobody knows what's what,  where we're going, and how these things are when we're going to get back to whatever that next normal is.Scott MacKenzie: Yeah it. See you bring up another good point. It's when we first started the conversation. One of the things that I was very fascinated with is the ability of manufacturers to be nimble. Because my understanding, prior to the pandemic is that manufacturers, they just they're into doing things in and honing that process over and over and over again. That's what they do. Right.And now you throw in a pandemic you throw in that. And then all of a sudden, they realize they need to be nimble. Here's the benefit - they're able to say, okay, “Been there, it’s been a pain.” This is how we've adjusted it only benefits them going forward. Now we have 100 people in today, tomorrow, we have 75. This is what we can do and we're still staying alive and moving forward and turning the wheels. That's a great thing. And going forward, people talk about the ability to be able to take a lot of things for granted in the manufacturing process. I about died when I went to the store and there was nothing on the shelves like toilet paper. And then I realized the importance of manufacturing, I realized the importance of the Supply Chain. I always knew it was, but I'm living it and everybody else is living it. But what's great about it is that there's this cafeteria type of mindset. If I can modify my manufacturing process to manipulate it and satisfy my customer even better. Instead of a red car, I want that green car. I want it now, you know, and it's just being able to do that real-time.Manipulation of your manufacturing process that's the data analytics, that is a Iot. That is a technology solution, but that's where we're going. And it only benefits us from a manual from a consumer perspective, it's, it's cool.Lisa Ryan: So what are you seeing as far as some of the main things that are keeping manufacturers up at night.Scott MacKenzie: I just think that the market. It's too squiffy right now. I don't know what the answer is. You know, you see the news out there is the demand up, have we seen the impact on business, the economy. It's just before the pandemic, you're really honing in on that data and how you're manufacturing, it's like, you get it. Your idea you're looking at it, you're seeing it. The pandemic hits and all things are just off the table.One of the biggest challenges is, “how do I make my capital investment when I don't know what the market looks like. I don't even know where I'm going. I'm having a hard time sourcing this. I'm not getting paid because they're having a problem and that's where that collaboration. It's a human solution. You're just going to have to collaborate with people, you're going to have to innovate and you're going to have to educate all the time. And you're going to have to make that commitment. So the biggest challenges. I don't know what the future looks like I don't know what that means when everybody gets the vaccine does business. Go back to usual, I don't know. If you come across somebody that does know, well question them because I just don't know. But you can have a conversation about what do you do here. Well, we had that problem and we did it this way. Thank you very much. That's helpful and being about each other. We've got to be we're all in this boat together. You've got to be about the other and helping them succeed if they succeed, you succeed. Bottom line, that's all about industrial talk that's all about what you do you want people to succeed. And if they succeed you succeed.We can sit there and piss and moan about the pandemic, but it really has opened up the opportunity to have meaningful conversations and people have to take that vulnerable position to say, “Yeah, I don't have all the answers. I used to, but I have now and that's a good thing to be.” I like that.Lisa Ryan: And I know from just from knowing you, one of your superpowers, is the fact that you are a connector. So as far as, you know, just really helping manufacturers to network to get together with each other. What are some of the ways that you have found to do that? If somebody struggling with a question and looking for that right person – how do you make those introductions and how have you been so successful connecting people?Scott MacKenzie: Oh, that's a great question. Outside of the fact that I've been doing this for about two and a half, three years, right, and I've had a really fortunate opportunity to be able to interview. I think the class of 2020 industrial top class of 2020 was far greater than, let's say 200 plus industry professionals industry heroes. Right. And so for me, I get the opportunity to interview and I do it intentionally to figure out what the challenges are and then I think there was like, oh, I know who it is you need to talk to Lisa. I do this quite frequently.I'll just say, stay on the line. So, and then I'll call the individual and say you need to do this right now, here, and I'll pull up my cell phone and I'll stick it on the mic and say you need to connect and then I'll do it. And then I'll create it and then I back away because, again, if we're not about the necessity to collaborate. We can't just hold our cards close to our chest. We just can't. We've got to be open. It's got to be an open kimono type of interaction. And so I do that real-time, because I'll get distracted. I'll contact that person and I will get them on the phone and I say that you got to contact them and that's how it works. I can't help facilitate the next step, but I will be a pain in the ass and I will always be it's like hey did you contact them. Did you contact them? Yes. You got to be that way. You got to follow up, you gotta do it.Lisa Ryan: That and that human connection. Yeah, that's the one thing that we really kind of took for granted and we're getting back to realizing how important that is.Scott MacKenzie: It, it, it is. And I agree with you, 100% it is at the top of that heap. It's that collaboration and being vulnerable and then always learning and educating. I think education is always up there too. That's leadership, you know, and you're big into leadership, you're big into the gratitude stuff, which is pretty damn cool. Lisa Ryan: So what is the best way for people to connect with you.Scott MacKenzie: Go to IndustrialTalk.com and you can see all of the podcast episodes there.Lisa Ryan: Thanks for being on the show, Scott!