Manufacturing Talks

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It should be job one for everyone, but especially for manufacturers, to ensure the people who work for us go home every night in at least as good condition as they were in when they showed up for the job.

Among other offeringss, Vector Solutions focuses on providing training that helps make that happen every single day. Clare Epstein, Vector's General Manager, Commercial Business Sector, joined us for Episode 107 to tell us all about it.

This one's important, folks - tune in the for the whole thing!

Link to the study Clare mentioned: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_QFsPHT5LUpb9CW9TTckMBxkZty2VBm-/view

Vector Solutions homepage: www.vectorsolutions.com

** My apologies for the echo on my audio! Fortunately I was smart enough to let our awesome guest do most of the talking.

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Nothing like throwing yourself a challenge! Los Angeles Brands has its production of skin care and beauty products right there in the LA area, just to make things interesting. Then they launch their products against some of the biggest, best-known, and best-funded brands there are!

Lori Waiser and Brian Hollowaty joined us to tell us how they do all that successfully. There are a couple of big reasons we learn along the way, like how the two of them make a very powerful team by each bringing very different strengths to the mix, and how having a foot on both coasts (Brad and the HQ are out west, while Lori and her product expertise are in the New York City area) is a huge advantage.

Other highlights:
13:00 - ask a lot of questions
14:40 - in this area of corner of business, manufacturing in the US is critical
16:00 - cost and regulatory challenges
20:30 - finding areas of white space to go after, and their innovative business model
24:50 - product advantages and creating differentiation

It's one heck of a great story, and Lori and Brian tell it extremely well! Check out the whole show - you'll be glad you did!

Oh, and here's their business link: https://losangelesbrands.com/

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This is the most important episode we've done so far. That's because, if we don't heed the call to action from author Paul Tice in his book, *The Race to Zero: How ESG Investing Will Crater the Global Financial System,* our economy and our way of life are doomed. He joined us for Episode 105 to tell us why.

According to Tice, ESG - standing for environmental, social, and governance - investment mandates that were put together by a host of bad actors in the environmental activism and global governance realm are now being put into action by national regulatory bodies. And what they essentially do is commandeer everyone's investment dollars to serve their impossible net-zero agenda.

Here are some of the main points from the episode:
6:20 – ESG is “the corporate equivalent of inviting a vampire into your house.”
9:15 – ESG is the funding mechanism for the climate change agenda
10:30 – the illuminating example of the Dakota Access Pipeline story
17:00 – the lackluster response from the energy companies about the assault on their existence
23:30 – IEA says by 2025, no more investment in oil and gas
29:25 – the case for optimism
35:00 – aggressively going after the crowd who are destroying finance – antitrust and the Sherman act, RICO, and the like
40:55 – why logic won’t work

It's vital you learn all about Tice's warnings, because time is short and your future depends on it. Check out the whole episode, and do also check out the links for his books and his new place of research "residence" at the links below.

Book link: https://www.amazon.com/Sustainable-Investment-Scam-Progressive-Financial/dp/1641773472/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
National Center for Energy Analytics: https://energyanalytics.org/

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The terrible headlines of recalls and foodborne illnesses can have people thinking our food supply is a disaster. But the fact is that while it's safer now than at almost any time in the past, there are always places where our producers can improve. Michelle Brydalski, VP of Food Safety, Quality, and Regulatory at Charcuterie Artisans, joined us to tell us all the latest when it comes to the safety of the food we buy and eat. Your host can vouch for her personally - he had the great pleasure of working with her at General Mills some years back!

Tune in to hear what our food processors do to make sure what they make is safe, and where there are some challenges to be addressed. Michelle tells it like it is, whether it's celebrating the great work our manufacturers do, or highlighting the areas that still need more work.

Oh, and if you've got a food-oriented startup or small company that needs help to make sure you have all your bases covered, you should give Michelle a call!

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Having just founded Always On Energy Research, Isaac Orr and Mitch Rolling -experts on power generation and our creaky grids - joined us to give us their unique perspectives on America's electricity situation. They publish routinely on the subject on their Substack, "Energy Bad Boys."

Isaac is the VP of Research and Mitch is the Director of Research at their new outfit, and they bring incredible depth to this critical discussion. Here are some highlights:
7:00 - why the levelized cost of electricity measure is misleading
10:50 - MISO and the shutdown of its coal-fired power plants
16:45 - the closure of the Metal Technologies Northern Foundry in Hibbing, Minnesota, because of high electricity prices
19:00 - our need to build reliable power generating plants, particularly nuclear

Tune in and learn a whole lot more about this vital topic!

Isaac and Mitch's Substack: https://energybadboys.substack.com/
Always On Energy Research website (not active as of this show's date, but keep checking back!): aoenergy.org

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For our 102nd episode, your host is joined by his pal who helped him with a Forbes article about mining a year ago, and who has been his go-to guy for metals intelligence ever since.

Konstantin Christoulakis is a senior manager of procurement and risk for a metals trading company, and has oodles of experience in supply chains in general. He talks about the coming demand for metals, especially copper, and how today's mining isn't positioned to fill that demand. He offers his thoughts on why that is and what we should do to start fixing it.

Konstantin's in-laws were miners, so in addition to his intensive career experience in the metals world, he also has some close contacts who have helped shape his understanding of that side of our critical supply chains.

Tune in and get ready for some serious learning!

Additional resources:

The Forbes article Konstantin helped with - https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimvinoski/2023/04/28/theres-not-enough-copper-for-our-electrification-plansand-biden-is-making-it-worse/

The slides Konstantin refers to near the end - https://ln5.sync.com/dl/7f317fb40/vafuzx3k-hh7dp8ke-kv3tr3xy-6u3dxzgf

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In a recent Forbes article, your host explained how Germany was undergoing the beginnings of deindustrialization as a result of its horrible energy policies, and how that should be a warning to America.

Unfortunately the current administration's regulatory policies now have the US on an even worse path than Germany. This is an existential threat to all of American industry, and it's past time for manufacturing leaders to start doing what the farmers have been doing in Europe.

Tune in and hear Jim Vinoski explain it all, and please comments, share, and subscribe.

Here are some links to what Jim talks about:
German deindustrialization Forbes article: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimvinoski/2024/02/29/german-deindustrialization-is-a-wake-up-call-for-us-manufacturers/?sh=781e22dc7c0c
Biden regulatory blitz: https://www.wsj.com/articles/biden-congress-regulation-administrative-state-democrats-republicans-government-agencies-1c40da77
John Hinderaker's piece at the Powerline blog on the recent EPA power plant insanity: https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2024/04/us-set-to-regress-from-modernity.php
Explanation of the ongoing Supreme Court review of the Chevron case: https://www.scotusblog.com/2024/01/supreme-court-likely-to-discard-chevron/

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Yes indeed, Episode 100 is upon us! We could have a celebrity or a head of state as a guest, but it was obvious the right choice was a guy that fans of the show have heard from many times before! John Farabee, our intro and outro voice-over guy, is also one of the most knowledgeable and insightful supply chain gurus we know. So as the only other guy besides our host whose voice has appeared on every episode, it only made sense to finally have him share his thoughts on that topic that has had pretty much everyone's attention since the dark days of Covid.

Tune in and hear first his Lou Holtz quote that is his guiding supply chain principle, then stay tuned for the whole thing as John shares his deep wisdom about the state of our supply chains now, the lessons we should have learned from the drama of the past few years, and where things are headed.

And be sure to stay till the end when John and our host, both tremendous believers and and supporters of the Boy Scouts of America, share their thoughts on why that program is more crucial than ever for our young people.

One last note: John mentions another old friend of the show, Dean Wegner, whose company Authentically American is a story John is particularly fond of. You can find Dean's stuff here: https://www.authenticallyamerican.us/

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Augury got its start using a unique way to monitor manufacturing machine health: the sound of the equipment! It's one of those ideas that, once you hear it, seems so blindingly obvious - except you didn't think of it!

Now they have over 150 of the largest manufacturers as customers, and they continue to grow.

The company uses AI to reduce waste and downtime and to improve processes in all kinds of industries. Their VP of Strategy, Artem Kroupenev, joined us for Episode 99 to tell us all about it.

Tune in and learn about the whole story, and how they might help you!

Augury website: https://www.augury.com/

Link to your host's 2019 Forbes article about Augury: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimvinoski/2019/09/30/the-machine-whisperers-this-startup-improves-machine-health-through-digital-transformation/

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Like too much of American manufacturing, our domestic production capacity for printed circuit boards - the things on which the computer chips that power so much of our world anymore reside - departed decades ago for other lands.

Now we're too dependent on foreign nations for that supply, and especially worrying is how much we're dependent on a potential geopolitical adversary.

David is executive director at the Printed Circuit Board Association of America, and he joined us for Episode 98 to tell us how we lost this vital industrial capability and what he thinks we need to do to get at least some of it back.

Tune in and check out the whole story!