Howard Hauser and Mike Berns wrote the new book Value Creation is Everything -- the first book for each of the co-authors, who have been consulting and coaching together for the last 23 years in Northeast Wisconsin. 

Howard tells co-hosts Kate Bruns and Ann Franz on this week's episode that the pair felt the time was right to distill 40 years of industry experience into "something that was simple and easy for people to understand." He and Mike use the book, as well as this week's podcast, to share their wisdom about how to become a value creation company -- and why that's important to businesses everywhere.

Learn more about the book and order online at https://valuecreationiseverything.com/

Thank you to Werner Electric Supply for sponsoring this episode of NEW Manufacturing Insights, and all July episodes of the podcast. Learn more at wernerelectric.com.

Lindsay Blumer is the president and CEO of WRTP | BIG STEP, a Milwaukee-based organization that is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year and is currently working under its sectoral partnership model to expand its mission into Northeast Wisconsin. 

BIG STEP, which was created in the 1970s, merged with the Wisconsin Regional Training Partnership (WRTP) after it was created in the 1990s. Today it works on the ground to help create and sustain pathways to family-supporting careers like manufacturing. 

Lindsay joins Kate and Ann on today's show to dive deeper into WRTP | BIG STEP's mission and vision, as well as share her best leadership insight.

Steve Trautman of The Steve Trautman Co. has decades of experience in the fields of talent risk and knowledge transfer, which he shares with listeners on this week's episode. And the timing for this advice is right for Northeast Wisconsin manufacturers, according to podcast co-host Ann Franz: At the Northeast Wisconsin Manufacturing Alliance's May 2 "Future of Work" Summit, it was revealed that a full three-quarters of companies in our region are concerned about succession planning but only 37% say they have a plan in place to address it.

On this episode, Steve dives deeper into the knowledge transfer process he created through his consulting business and explains some of the roadblocks that exist in executing successful knowledge transfer.

You can learn more about his work at stevetrautman.com.

Terry Brei, president and owner of Sure Controls in Greenville, joins Kate and Ann on this week's podcast to talk about digital manufacturing, Industry 4.0 and the future of manufacturing technology.

Automation and artificial intelligence are hot topics in the manufacturing world, and Sure Controls' work is at the forefront of these technologies. Terry says the mission at Sure Controls is to "keep manufacturers running, growing and smiling in the Midwest." This includes helping to understand the impact, necessity and residual effects of the technologies -- not just the seemingly limitless possibilities, but the solutions that match your business and the time and effort it takes to implement them.

"You have to understand that you're improving operations -- it doesn't always mean that you're simplifying," Terry tells the co-hosts on episode 80. "You can fully automate something, but there's a lot of work involved when you make changes to a fully automated process or if you're automating something that's not fully understood how the process is done."

Listen to all of Terry Brei's insights, including what's next for Industry 4.0 and what he considers his best leadership insight, by listening to the full episode.

Get a preview of Thursday's NEW Manufacturing Alliance quarterly meeting keynote when you listen to this week's conversation with Mike Lee of Mindshift Labs, who shares his insights about living in the present moment and how it connects to leadership in today's distracted world.

A Wisconsin native, Mike spent a significant portion of his career playing and coaching basketball, even working one-on-one with NBA legends like Steph Curry and Joel Embiid, but he shares that in the last 10 years his life transformation has taken him somewhat away from basketball as he has developed his business as a motivational speaker, mindfulness coach and author of the book "New Rules for the Future of Leadership."

Learn more about Mike's work online at mindshiftlabs.com.

Jennifer Rome, who graces the cover of the 2025 NEW Manufacturing Alliance All Stars magazine, is Kate's and Ann's guest this week on NEW Manufacturing Insights. Find out more about Jennifer's career journey and why learning a trade and working in the manufacturing sector has been the right career move for her. 

Jennifer took the wood manufacturing course at Fox Valley Technical College and worked for a historical floor manufacturer before coming to Burger Boat four years ago. As an "art kid" growing up, Jennifer says wood manufacturing was a natural fit. She hasn't regretted the decision a bit, and she tells us why on this week's episode.

Read this year's All Stars magazine featuring Jennifer Rome online: 2025 NEW Manufacturing Alliance – All Stars

David Gordon, director of career and technical education with Wisconsin's Cooperative Educational Service Agency (CESA) 7, joins Kate and Ann on this week's episode to talk about youth apprenticeship and connecting the Northeast Wisconsin business community with young talent and our region's school districts.

David was honored as NEWMA's Career Pathmaker Award recipient at last year's Excellence in Manufacturing K-12 Partnership Awards. He says he sees his role as helping students have a-ha moments around the relevance of their education in the real world, as well as helping companies connect to the talent pipeline in meaningful ways.

Stoke RGA (Revenue Growth Accelerator), formerly known as Imaginasium, has officially launched its new brand with a sharp focus on helping manufacturers drive double-digit, scalable revenue growth. Built on years of hands-on experience with Midwest manufacturing companies, Stoke RGA partners with $75M+ manufacturers to align strategy, sales, marketing and operations and execute with precision.


Jen Fietz, a Wisconsin-born manufacturing leader, leads Stoke RGA, and she joins co-hosts Kate Bruns of Insight on Manufacturing and Ann Franz of the NEW Manufacturing Alliance on today's new episode of the NEW Manufacturing Insights podcast to share more about Imaginasium's evolution to Stoke RGA, as well as her latest insights on the industry.

Learn more at www.stokerga.com. 

Buckley Brinkman, executive director and CEO of the Wisconsin Center for Manufacturing Productivity, joins Kate and Ann on this week's episode to help unpack the 2024-2025 Wisconsin Manufacturing Report, which WCMP has produced for the past four years in order to take the pulse of manufacturers across the state. He also notes how some of the results (including supply chain falling off respondents' list of top worries) may already need updating since the Trump administration has announced tariffs on China, Mexico, Canada and other key trade partners.

Buckley also gives his perspective on the federal government's recent defunding of 10 MEP programs in the U.S., and then reversal of the action -- what it means, what comes next, how worried we should be and how manufacturers from across the state have mobilized to help advocate for the preservation of WMEP, which WCMP oversees.

Learn more about the latest WCMP Wisconsin Manufacturing Report online at https://www.wicmp.org/wisconsin-manufacturing-report/.

On the eve of the NEW Manufacturing Alliance's "Future of Work" Summit on succession planning, featured speaker Mel Butcher of the organization Lead to Soar, which is working to close the leadership gender gap, joins Kate and Ann on the podcast to share more about the Madison-based organization, her personal background and passions and why closing the leadership gender gap is key to creating successful succession plans.

She also helps identify and explain the "missing link" in women's career advice.

Learn more about Lead to Soar at www.leadtosoar.com.