EECO Asks Why Podcast

Daniel Vaughan loves the family atmosphere he found at EECO and has a passion for serving others.  Whether he's at home, church, hanging out with friends or with the customers he supports his heart is happiest when he's helping others.  Daniel shares about his journey and how he is able to support so many industries in Virginia.  He's seeing a big increase in how vendor managed inventory is being utilized and recognizes that many industrials will be adopting more partnerships around this space in the future.

Daniel also shares some of the challenges he sees for industry around workforce attrition and how industry is trying to respond.  As a front line supporter of many businesses he has a unique perspective and offers tremendous insight.

He is a family man and shares about his first year of marriage where he got married, bought a house and had his first child!  Daniel has a ton of energy and enthusiasm for industry and you'll quickly hear why he is one of our heroes!

Guest: Daniel Vaughan, Product Service Specialist at EECO.
Host: Chris Grainger
Executive Producer: Adam Sheets
Audio/Video Editing: Andi Thrower

Wonderful quotes from Daniel:

My key focuses is to really find what you love to do and what you love to read about and study about.

I love being creative. I love finding problems and be able to try to find solutions.

Paul Van Metre is the Co-Founder of ProShop ERP and offers insight to areas that make a significant impact for those supporting industries.  Paul specializes in helping machine and fabrication shops grow and support the changing market needs around them.  Many of these businesses begin through the industry knowledge that the owners themselves have and bring to the table.  Scaling that is where it can get tricky, and Paul unpacks many areas to consider to get past this headwind and onto the road of success.

He speaks to what indicators and data are important for businesses to understand and how to use that information to make better decisions in the future.  Tying areas such as quality, sales and customer service together can be challenging, and Paul covers areas to focus on that could move the ball down the field.  Those are areas that most shop owners aren’t trained in and creating a way to support these items are critical for future growth. 

 Think about this – how can a shop know its profitability on every job?  This is a common struggle area and in Paul’s recipe he uncovers how with the right processes and platforms in place every shop can have accurate and to the minute data available to be successful.  Helping others see how a system could improve their process and help in business growth are all areas that Paul expands upon.  

This is a thought-provoking recipe for differentiation and one that we feel could help many out there that are supporting the growing world of manufacturing.

Guest: Paul Van Metre, Co-Founder of ProSoft ERP
Host: Chris Grainger
Executive Producer: Adam Sheets
Audio/Video Editing: Andi Thrower

ProShop Resources:
LinkedIn
YouTube
Making Chips Podcast

What an exciting season for EECO Asks Why.  It had multiple series, brand new heroes and ideas that are cutting edge.  In season 3 we began releasing 3 episodes per week due to your wonderful feedback and enthusiasm.  The idea episodes covered many new areas and highlighted several discussions with innovators of industry.  We started releasing all episodes on our YouTube channel and started and Instagram account to find new ways to reach others with the wonderful world of industry that we are proud to support.

Season 4 will continue to focus on the heroes and ideas that make this country great. You can expect more direct manufacturing feedback as we want to take you inside many of the different industries that make up this exciting world.  As always we would love your feedback on what you like and areas we can modify to bring you the most impactful information. 

Thank you for taking the time to listen to these powerful conversations and if you know someone who has an amazing story and/or a cutting edge topic that could help others please reach out.  Remember - keep asking why!!!

Host: Chris Grainger
Executive Producer: Adam Sheets
Video Editing: Andi Thrower

EECO Asks Why YouTube Channel
EECO Asks Why Instagram Account

TW Controls is an innovative panel builder with a heart for teaching others about the exciting world of automation. Tim Wilborne is taking his passion for industry and is creating quite an impact.  He and his wife Amber began creating outstanding how to videos on various industrial automation topics and posting them weekly.  Together they have grown to over 25K subscribers on YouTube and are reaching people all over the world.  Tim talks about how he determines the topics that will help people the most and how their focus is on helping the technicians understand these topics in such a way to immediately support industry.  

He speaks to the importance of working with middle and high school aged kids to introduce this exciting world to them early.  Their son competed in the “You Make It Challenge” and he speaks to the lessons learned through that experience and how it made such an impression on his life.  Tim’s approach to supporting industry is fun, impactful and is creating true value for those new to industry.  This is an action-packed episode and one we feel that could help so many people on their personal journey’s in life.  Automation is fun and Tim brings it all together.

Guest: Tim Wilborne - Industrial Sorcerer at TW Controls
Host: Chris Grainger
Executive Producer: Adam Sheets
Video Editing: Andi Thrower

Resources

• http://www.plctalk.net/qanda/forumdisplay.php?f=2
• https://www.reddit.com/r/PLC/
• twcontrols.com
• https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_YccYdH0DBFp2ah0QuJ1lQ
• https://www.linkedin.com/company/twcontrols/

Santa Thangavel is one of the sharpest minds in industrial networking.  He's accomplished great things in his career and shares about his journey to industry.  He attended the University of Texas and after graduation has served in several roles supporting the evolution of technology in industry.  He offers great advice to others around not limiting your thinking about your career.  As he puts it if you have the skills and experiences you can land wherever you desire.

He is an avid outdoorsman and a bit of an adrenaline junkie!  Santa once zip lined over 150 live alligators and is always trying to find ways to get in the great outdoors.  He is a proud new father to a beautiful baby girl and is a dedicated family man. 

Check out this episode to hear why Santa is one of our heroes! 

Guest: Santa Thangavel - Automation Network Engineer at ABB
Host: Chris Grainger
Executive Producer: Adam Sheets

Special Note* -  Since recording this episode, Santa took a new position as an Automation Network Engineer at ABB. We wish him the best in his future endeavors.

Dan Carnovale is the Power Systems Experience Center (PSEC) at Eaton and he has been taking a unique approach to helping others learn about the exciting world of power.  On an average year Dan hosts 7000-8000 people at the PSEC and the engagement with others is what he loves.  Through these interactions he noticed consistent themes around power topics and began addressing these areas with outstanding videos.  The topics can be complex, and their team has been extremely creative in developing ways to explain these areas in fun and meaningful ways.  

He's been able to work with an amazing team at the PSEC and even found ways to have his daughter involved with several of the videos.  Dan shares lessons learned along the way and provided practical advice for those that want to learn about sharing their industry knowledge with others through videos.  These days it’s about meeting others where they’re at and as the skills gap and workforce attrition continues to be an issue its support from industry experts like Dan that will make a tremendous impact for the next generation of industry leaders.  

We highly encourage a trip to the PSEC and checking out the great videos Dan and his team are generating to expand industry knowledge.  Who knows you may even find a Jurassic Park scene or two along the way!

Guest: Dan Carnovale - Power Systems Experience Center Manager at Eaton
Host: Chris Grainger
Executive Producer: Adam Sheets
Video Editing: Andi Thrower

Connect with Dan: [email protected]

Resources:

• www.eaton.com
• www.linkedin.com/in/dancarnovale
• www.eaton.com/experience
• PSEC on YouTube 
• Harmonic FAQ’s YouTube Harmonics
• False energy savings is here:  (Full version) https://youtu.be/P4WGOQ_Qlj4
• Short version (capacitor only):  https://youtu.be/VPJDmtzCXGY

Our hero Brandon Mendoza has a passion for engineering and helping people. He found a great intersection to be the exciting world of sales engineering. He first got exposure to this world working with Rockwell and now leads Oden Technologies as their director of sales.  Brandon offers up many areas of advice for those wanting to pursue their passions and practical tips for making those dreams a reality.   He emphasizes how important it is to find mentors that care about your success.  He refers to his personal board of directors and those are the individuals that he trusts to speak truth into his life and help guide his path.

Brandon loves to get his adrenaline rushing outdoors and spends quite a bit of time mountain biking whenever he can in the beautiful state of Utah.  He has a personal passion around technology and innovation which you'll hear in his story.  You'll quickly hear why Brandon is one of our heroes!

Guest:  Brandon Mendoza - Director of Sales at Oden Technologies
Host: Chris Grainger
Executive Producer: Adam Sheets

Books
The Compelling Communicator
How to Win Friends and Influence People
Aligned to Achieve

Podcasts
Joe Rogan podcast
Manufacturing Happy Hour

Quote
That's what puts a smile on my face...helping people innovate and take their manufacturing operations to the next level is fun for me.

If the topic of Machine-as-a-Service (MaaS) is new to you this conversation covers the model in detail. Michael Cromheecke is the CEO of Steamchain and he unpacks this exciting new approach to industry. Essentially it is a business model that uses the data from the machinery to establish a contractual relationship.  In traditional business models OEM's build equipment to a designed set of standards and once the solution is running the manufacturer owns it from there. In the MaaS model end users are funding desirable outcomes of the asset. 

OEM's benefit in this model also as they can establish recurring revenue streams tied directly to machine performance. Their partnerships strengthen with the businesses they support as they have monetary incentives to reach premium efficiency of a given asset throughout the life of the equipment.  When improvements are found and implemented both the manufacturer and OEM will reap the rewards.

Mike is extremely passionate about this topic and feels it could be a new way for manufacturers and OEM's to grow in the future.  This is an exciting idea and one that we hope will help business owners and leadership as they think about the future of capital assets and meeting market demands.

Guest: Michael Cromheecke - CEO & Co-Founder of Steamchain
Host: Chris Grainger
Executive Producer: Adam Sheets
Video Editing: Andi Thrower

Steamchain.io Website

K Sorsenginh has a powerful story and shares his journey as one of our heroes. K has supported industry in many ways and has worked in the pharmaceutical industry and is skilled in many areas such as welding, HVAC and mechanical services.  As a solution architect he is on the front lines and living out Industry 4.0 and Smart Manufacturing every day for the clients he supports. He's constantly building new  solutions that help industrial end users grow.

He has great advice for young engineers and encourages listening with intent to grow.  If you focus on learning what people are actually saying you'll be in a better position to help them achieve their overall goal.  He gets great joy by solving problems for others and helping them realize the power of technology in real world applications.

K is a busy guy away from work and has many hobbies that keep him busy.  He loves working on import race cars, snowboarding, camping and fishing just to name a few.  But not just regular fishing - K really enjoys ice fishing and loves to experience that whenever he can. 

This is a powerful conversation from a leader in industry and we are proud to have him as part of the EECO Team.  K is a visionary leader and you'll quickly hear why he is one of our heroes!

Guest: K Sorsenginh Solution Architect at EECO
Host: Chris Grainger
Executive Producer: Adam Sheets

Don't get trapped in your own head.  Referencing how things used to be done doesn't always work and that stops progress. Ray Ziganto is the Manufacturing Unicorn and he has a passion for helping those in manufacturing get unstuck and move forward in their pursuits to be the best in their industry.  Engineers learn from other engineers and Ray speaks to how embracing others can help you grow personally and create meaningful relationships that your career will benefit from in the future.

Organizations that structure around process are leading the way in manufacturing today. Ray breaks down how businesses that embrace the process to lead the way will make significant impacts in the future.  Breaking down traditional org charts and shifts in culture are areas he unpacks around this innovative way of structuring businesses.

Ray closes with a discussion around adaptive capacity. This speaks to how comfortable or open you are to a new environment.  His "why" is that by asking for help enables and builds up each person in industry with heightened levels of adaptive capacity which will make a significant impact on industry in the future. 

This conversation is packed with great wisdom and insight to how manufacturers can get better and steps they can take today to begin moving forward. 

Guest: Ray Ziganto - Manufacturing Unicorn at Linara International
Host: Chris Grainger
Executive Producer: Adam Sheets
Video Editing: Andi Thrower

Resources from Ray's conversation:

Podcasts
EECO Ask Why
The Happiness Lab
Revisionist History
Akimbo
Making Chips
MFG OutLoud!

Books
Emotional Agility:  Dr. Susan David
Creativity Inc.:  Edwin Catmull
Freedom's Forge:  Arthur Herman
American Icon:  Bryce G. Hoffman
The Fifth Discipline:  Peter Senge

Linara International Website