Leaders In Industry

When siblings Gretchen Hoffer-Farb, Alex Hoffer, and Charlotte Hoffer-Canning became co-CEOs of Hoffer Plastics Corp. on Jan. 1, 2020, they had less than 90 days before COVID-19 tested their shared leadership model. Host Christina Fuges talks with the three leaders of the third-generation, family-owned custom injection molder in South Elgin, Illinois, about how they divide responsibilities. Gretchen oversees finance and supply chain, Charlotte leads HR, culture, and marketing, and Alex runs operations. They also explain how years of intentional work with a leadership coach prepared them to lead together.

The siblings describe how the company’s core values of family, integrity, service, and trust guided their toughest decisions. Those decisions included cutting their own pay to save every job during the pandemic and keeping customers running through the 2021 resin and supply chain crisis. They also cover how they handle disagreement with a “disagree and commit” approach, keep family time separate from business, and build future leaders through peer-selected leadership development groups.

The episode closes with each co-CEO’s advice for anyone attempting shared leadership: start early, be intentional, seek counsel, stay humble, and know what matters more than the business.

Can manufacturers advance environmental, social and governance goals without slowing growth? Dave Hemink, CEO of contract manufacturer Velosity, says yes. In this episode of Leaders in Industry, he tells host Christina Fuges how Velosity has made ESG part of everyday decision-making. Topics include:

• Employee buy-in: Hemink's "self-directed ESG" approach encourages floor employees to suggest and lead improvements.
• Certification as a business advantage: Velosity's EcoVadis rating has helped the company win new work.
• Measurable wins: On-site recycling recovered 33,000 pounds of metal and 5,000 gallons of cutting oil in one year.
• A practical roadmap: The SASB framework helps Velosity decide where to focus.

Hemink also explains how ESG helps attract and keep employees, and he offers advice for leaders just getting started: start small, measure results, and build momentum.

Manufacturing Connected, a platform from Gardner Business Media, produces leaders in Industry. Subscribe wherever you listen, and visit mfgconnected.com to sign up for the newsletter.

Atomic Industries CEO Aaron Slodov joins Leaders in Industry to break down how AI-powered tooling is helping U.S. manufacturers outcompete low-cost rivals — plus a firsthand account of U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Greer's visit to Atomic's factory floor, why durable trade policy matters more than any single administration, and how the Reindustrialize Summit and New American Industrial Alliance are pushing to rebuild American manufacturing capacity.

Manufacturing Connected, a platform from Gardner Business Media, produces leaders in Industry. Subscribe wherever you listen, and visit mfgconnected.com to sign up for the newsletter.

Roger Hargens has a rule: don't complain about something you're not willing to help fix. He's followed it long enough to rack up two decades on Iowa's Innovation Council, a board seat on the Association of Business and Industry, and eventually a call asking if Accumold would host a vice presidential site visit.

Christina Fuges sits down with Hargens, CEO and President of Accumold, to talk about how that visit came together, the R&D tax credit and other state policies he points to as proof advocacy pays off, and how Accumold's high school senior apprenticeship program gets kids real shop floor experience alongside college credit. Accumold builds precision micro-molded components in Ankeny, Iowa — nearly 350 employees, pushing 40 years in business.

They get into:

• What pushed Hargens to start showing up at the statehouse instead of just complaining about it
• The tax and workforce policies he credits with Iowa's manufacturing growth
• How Accumold's senior apprenticeship program pairs shop floor work with high school and college credit
• Why the company also reaches kids as early as junior high, just to make manufacturing look like a real option
• The full story behind the VP site visit and how Accumold ended up hosting it
• How manufacturing leaders can get started with policy advocacy