What do system integrators of the future look like?  What better way than to hear directly from an integrator that is leading the way in this space. Bobby Cole is the president and founder of Think PLC and let's just say that Bobby is shaking up things in his industry.  He focuses on helping OEM's see the future that could exist and then takes ownership of designing and supporting new solutions to give them a competitive advantage.

Think PLC has been embracing remote monitoring technologies before the pandemic and gives real world examples of how that has impacted their ability to support clients in a fast, efficient manner.  They are even tying IoT devices on the equipment they design back to reporting KPI's that help the end users make in the moment decisions. Talk about where the rubber meets the road!

Finally Bobby discusses how he's embracing outside experts and digital marketing to help his company grow. He recognizes the importance of learning from others and shares tips on how utilizing digital marketing is a great way for SI's to evangelize for their industry and attract the next generation of talent that everyone is searching for.

This is a packed conversation full of wisdom and inspiration on how system integrators are evolving to support the ever growing need for technology implementation and design in the future. 

Guest: Bobby Cole - President at Think PLC
Host: Chris Grainger
Executive Producer: Adam Sheets
Video Editing: Andi Thrower

Resources:
Think PLC LinkedIn Page
Think PLC Website 

Solving problems and helping people - that is what drives our hero Mike Tricario.  He serves as the Plant Electrical Engineer at CertainTeed and gives us an inside look at his journey.  After completing his degree at State University of New York at Binghamton he found his way to the largest shingle manufacturer in the world (possibly universe per Mike)! He's worked his way to the plant engineer and is loving every minute of his career.

Working at an aging facility provides Mike opportunities for modernization projects and he's learning where to act and balancing that with production demands.  He debunks the myth that manufacturing in America is dead and loves how much his career impacts so many people.

Mike has a wonderful family and has two young children at home who keep him and his wife busy. They love the state of North Carolina and how it offers many opportunities for families to grow and explore together. He gives so cool insight to his favorite items in the lightning round and wraps up with his personal why.  After hearing Mike's story you'll quickly hear why he is one of our heroes!  

Guest:  Michael Tricario - Plant Electrical Engineer at CertainTeed
Host: Chris Grainger
Executive Producer: Adam Sheets

Resources:

St. Gobain Early Career Development Program

Lifecycle services is a comprehensive approach to professional services that provides long-term partnership to end users, their needs and how others can support them meeting needs. This applies to whatever stage of the life cycle journey they're in. It's really providing end users a simplified approach at solving their problems.

End User needs are changing the way they want product is shifting to more of an on demand requirement. Lisa Scanlon unpacks how partnering for lifecycle services can help manufacturers continue to grow in the future.  She discusses how the aging infrastructure of products in many manufacturing facilities and the workforce skills gap are headwinds that services can support.  It all comes down to trust and understanding for lifecycle services.  As those areas are established true partnerships and growth for the future can occur.  

All of these areas help manufacturers stay relevant in today's environment by reducing risk. Being able to support the customer, whether they are in an innovation, design, build, or maintain phase, lifecycle services supports them at every step of the way.

Guest:  Lisa Scanlon - North America Partner Services Manager at Rockwell Automation
Host: Chris Grainger
Executive Producer: Adam Sheets

Dr. Travis Hodge shared his impactful journey and opened up his world in this conversation.  From his childhood days of working at the family True Value he was intrigued at how business works. He attended Virginia Tech and has a Sugar Bowl ring as one of his prized possessions.  At Vulcan Materials he is a proven leader and is leading several projects that will continue to keep Vulcan as a leader in the aggregate industry.

Dr. Hodge attended Liberty University and endured a rigorous curriculum while working full time at Vulcan. What began as 600 applicants dwindled down to 2 actually completing the program.  He speaks about how faith guides his life and how he's always trying to serve others in everything he does. He speaks to the importance of wise counsel and how that has guided him along his journey. 

He debunks the myth that procurement is a downstream activity. Having a seat at the table with operations, engineering, sales and safety allows him to collaborate with all the stakeholders and keep alignment on overall company goals as they grow in the future. 

Dr. Hodge's family loves the lake and he shares some of his favorite spots they enjoy frequenting.  He's been blessed with 25 years of marriage and has four amazing children.  He gives an inside look at some of his favorite items during the lightning round and was an absolute delight to talk with.

You'll quickly hear in this episode why Dr. Hodge is one of our heroes and his humility and heart for serving others is sure to impact others in the future.

Guest:  Dr. Travis Hodge - Strategic Sourcing Manager at Vulcan Materials Automation
Host: Chris Grainger
Executive Producer: Adam Sheets

BluePrint Automation is leading the way as a premier OEM of packaging solutions.  Chung-Chee Tai is an innovative thinker and is on the cutting edge of a rapidly changing industry.  He discusses how OEM's are focusing on making their solutions easy to implement with new automation technologies. Operator to machine interface is evolving and Chung-Chee is creating new design criteria to help their solutions continue to be an industry leader.

As OEM's grow and their equipment is deployed across the world having the ability to remotely access for troubleshooting is critical.  BluePrint recognized this need and began implementing technologies that are safe and reliable to be able to support end users whenever the need arises.

Chung-Chee debunks the myth that OEM's are cookie cutters and how being flexible and constantly thinking of new solutions is critical.  Having the spirit of intuitiveness and never settling is what makes OEM's special and our heroes at BluePrint Automation have these qualities at their core.

Sit back and hear first hand how this industry leader is building a better tomorrow, today!

Guest: Chung-Chee Tai - VP Engineering at BluePrint Automation
Host: Chris Grainger
Executive Producer: Adam Sheets
Video Editing: Andi Thrower

Resources for BluePrint Automation:
Facebook Page
LinkedIn Page
Twitter Account
YouTube Channel

Growing up in Chicago our hero Andrew Hastert had an early passion for learning how things worked. He took that passion to the next level and after completing a degree in mechanical engineering he pursued a career where he helps businesses solve their biggest challenges. He speaks to how staying curious and understanding your own personal values are critical in life. 

Andrew recognizes the talent gap in industry and is passionate to help mentor and support others in their journeys. He is a huge advocate for driving diversity and equality in the workplace. His heart is built to serve others and he gives several examples of how he's been able to mentor and coach people and how that is such an important part of who he is as a leader.

He has a wonderful family and shares some of his personal passions outside of his career.  He was featured on HGTV's House Hunters and shared that experience. You'll quickly hear why Andrew is our hero! 

Guest:  Andrew Hastert - Director of Channel Partnerships at Rockwell Automation
Host: Chris Grainger
Executive Producer: Adam Sheets

Resources

• White Men as Full Diversity Partners: https://wmfdp.com/case-studies/rockwell-automation/
• Catalyst and Rockwell’s Culture of Inclusion Journey: https://www.catalyst.org/spotlight-story/rockwell-automation-a-decade-of-courageous-change/
• It Starts With You: What Being an Ally at Work Really Looks Like: https://www.rockwellautomation.com/en-us/support/documentation/overview/it-starts-with-you--what-being-an-ally-at-work-really-looks-like.html

Books:

• Digital Transformation by Tom Siebel: https://digitaltransformation.ai/
• Hit Refresh by Satya Nadella: https://news.microsoft.com/hitrefresh/
• Drive by Dan Pink: https://www.danpink.com/drive./
• TSIA Technology as a Service Playbook: https://www.tsia.com/books
• Four Days to Change: https://www.amazon.com/Four-Days-Change-Radical-Overcome/dp/099734220X
• Blue Ocean Strategy: https://www.blueoceanstrategy.com/

 Podcasts:

• A16Z: https://a16z.com/podcasts/
• Manufacturing Happy Hour: https://manufacturinghappyhour.com/podcast/
• How I Built This: https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510313/how-i-built-this
• The Investor Podcast, Millennial Investing: https://www.theinvestorspodcast.com/millennial-investing/

House Hunter Episode that Andrew was featured on

Inspirational Quotes:

If I look at the end of my day and see that most of it was spent with others, helping them, coaching them, supporting them, listening to them, I call that a win.

A world of opportunity can be opened when humans are enabled with technology, but technology on its own will not solve all our problems.

How do you build an engaged team?  It can be extremely difficult especially in today's business climate as everyone learns how to move forward with COVID.  The game is changing and Nirpal Sihota brings wonderful insight and wisdom on how he is addressing this and seeing amazing results. He defines an engaged team as when people feel comfortable and confident in bringing their best self to work on everything they do.  As a leader that doesn't happen over night and Nirpal unpacks areas to consider to begin changing the game for all team members, like taking ownership and creating alignment.

Sometimes there simply isn't alignment between parties and he walks through how not addressing that creates friction and at the end of the day sometimes making the decisions to find alternative paths may be best for overall growth. Nirpal is a big basketball fan and connects the dots on how his Golden State Warriors team approaches building synergy in their team and how that has a direct correlation to business. 

This is an information packed episode that will challenge your thinking and taking notes along the way.  Remember you are only as good as your team and being intentional about building the best team possible is critical for success in the future.

Guest: Nirpal Sihota - Director of Industry Sales at Rockwell Automation
Host: Chris Grainger
Executive Producer: Adam Sheets

Resources:

• The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni 
• Silos, Politics and Turf Wars by Patrick Lencioni 
• Death by Meeting by Patrick Lencioni 
• The Ideal Team Player by Patrick Lencioni 

Great quotes from Nirpal:

• "A good manager would actually help get the fire issue resolved and then pull that person's head back up and say, okay, now let's get above those forest trees again."
• "Worrying oftentimes is just planning for the worst."
• "People have to be willing to go ask that question and say, can I learn from you? Can you help me on this?"

Jason Simon is making big waves by helping those wanting to begin a career in industry learn the skills necessary to hit the ground running.  After serving his country as a United States Marine, he transitioned to a role in education and fell in love with training others.  He had the opportunity to lead AMTEC and develop cutting edge training solutions. Workforce attrition is a major issue in industry and Jason is helping the rubber meet the road by truly bridging the education/industry gap. 

He is an avid outdoorsman and fitness plays a big role in his life.  He began competing in ultra marathons - imagine 50 miles without stopping!  On his last run he burned approximately 21,000 calories and walks us through some of the planning it took to pull that off.  He shares about the farm he has where they grow the majority of the food for his family of six children and how faith plays a huge part in his life.

Jason Simon is a family man with a heart for serving others. After hearing his story you'll quickly realize why he is one of our heroes!

Guest: Jason Simon - Director at AMTEC
Host: Chris Grainger
Executive Producer: Adam Sheets

Resources:

• Joe Rogan Podcast
• Dave Ramsey Podcast
• Catholic in a Small Town Podcast
• The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday 
• EECO's Inspire Blog: Closing the Industrial Skills Gap
• FAME - Federation for Advanced Manufacturing Education
• AMTEC Website
• Jason's contact information: [email protected]. Phone (270) 686-4616

Wonderful quotes from Jason:

• "If I can raise my children in a way that they go out and make the world a better place, then I feel like I've left my mark."
• "I personally believe that the biggest difference I can make in this world is within my four walls."

With so many metrics out there in industry OEE stands out as important for all manufacturers to understand.  Mike Caccia walks through the different components of OEE and how that can be impacted in the industrial environment. He discusses production, event and fault data and how that affects the important KPI's that management focuses on.  An analogy of a three legged stool is discussed and shows the importance of each factor of OEE and how they affect each other.  In order to have maximum availability, performance and quality each must have an intense focus in order for all three areas to improve to desired operation metrics.

It is quite the juggling act for manufacturers to manage and when done correctly can make significant impact to meeting market demand and overall business bottom lines.  Mike also discusses who is typically involved in the OEE management and steps they can take to better understand this critical metric.  Thank you Mike for unpacking the crucial topic of OEE for the EECO Asks Why listeners.

Guest: Mike Caccia - Product Manager at EECO
Host: Chris Grainger
Executive Producer: Adam Sheets

Resources:
EECO Inspire Blog - OEE and Cascading Objectives

Zach White is an amazing coach for engineers and shares his story on this hero episode. After graduating from Purdue he had a great opportunity at Whirlpool and from there found that his passion was helping others grow in their careers.  He took a leap of faith and created OACO and has never looked back.  Zach shares about his passion for serving others and some of the innovative items he's pursuing.  He has a great way of getting others to realize the potential that exists within and helps them build the confidence needed to keep moving forward.

He loves spending time outdoors and riding horses with his wife is always high on his list.  He shares an interesting hobby of acrobatic yoga and how he highly recommends that for all couples wanting to connect at a deeper level.  Zach is making such an impact in many peoples lives and we are proud to call him one of our Heroes!

Guest: Zach White, CEO at OACO
Host: Chris Grainger
Executive Producer: Adam Sheets

Resources:

• Lifestyle Engineering Blueprint 30 Day Challenge
• How to Win Friends and Influence People
• The 48 Laws of Power
• Mastery
• Awaken the Giant Within
• The Tim Ferriss Show

Wonderful quotes from Zach:

• If you want to change someone's life, believe in them more than they believe in themselves.
• Life's Purpose Statement: I am an Oasis along life's journey that gives you courage to walk on.