The Manufacturing Come Up

From sales and estimating, to design, project management and even purchasing, Jay has seen every side of custom machine building and automation. 

Jays’ passion for building things came early. What started as a hobby building things with his dad in the garage carried over to tech classes in high school, and finally solidifying during his university summer job at label application company.  From there, his love of building things, especially unique things, spawned a 20+ year career.  He’s been a part of creating equipment for the food and pharmaceutical sectors, steel and automotive, and even crazy under water lift systems put into pools on cruise ships.

Throughout this journey, Jay learned how important it is to ensure the concept and design is carried on throughout the manufacturing process. His experience with smaller companies, particularly using spreadsheets and knowledge locked away in peoples' brains instead of a proper unified system, gave Jay an inside look at the struggles many organizations face. He decided there had to be a better way; fortunately, he found it. After implementing a system in his last automation company that was specifically designed for custom machine builders, he loved and believed in it so much, it created a whole new adventure. 

Jay’s new mission: help Automate the Automator and bring connected processes to machine builders of all sizes and around the world.

A proven, seasoned business executive since 2009, that grew up in the manufacturing industry and knows all the ins and outs of HM Manufacturing. Has a passion to provide the highest quality products along with exceptional customer service. A lean thinker determined to solve business challenges and propositions, with a competitive edge through strategic production in manufacturing. A mindset to excel in this industry, certified in CAD, 3D modeling, and NIMS in CNC, as well as being a leader and communicator with the ability to develop long lasting partnerships and motivate team members toward a common goal.

Kevin Cranker is CEO; Cranker’s son Nathan is the co-Operations manager.

When asked how they came up with the idea for the Gorilla Mill brand, Cranker replied, “We were a local grind shop custom making tools and wanted to take the company and its products national. We wanted new branding that would be edgy, but not too over the top.”

Management tried out various concepts and names over a three to four-day period. At some point, Cranker said, “Gorilla Mill” and the name clicked. (While employing similar branding elements, the company is not associated with the consumer brands Gorilla Tape and Gorilla Glue.)

According to Cranker, the team isn’t afraid to make fun of themselves in order to make their marketing stand out.

The product names, for example, play up on the gorilla / primate theme, with names such as Chimps, Silverback, and Baboon. To add fun and a bit of spice, the company uses bananas as a rating scale for their tools in its catalog.

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#TheManufacturingComeUp #Podcast #EliteAutomation #Manufacturing #Life #Success #Knowledge #Learn

Elite Automation SI & Services:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrNyjnTm6VM

Elite Automation Affiliate Program:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87hHQEe9JTI&t=23s

Find us on social media:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EliteAutomationUSA/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elite_automation_usa/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/elite-automation-usa/

Website: https://eliteautomationusa.com/

System Design - Engineering - Integration - Programming

[email protected]

EliteAutomationUSA.com

812-223-7692

Evansville, In

Elite Automation specializes in robot cells with vision, line tracking, and other advanced features. Our primary business model is focused on capital projects. Our projects can include just about any automated system. We also provide services such as plc, robot, vision programming, troubleshooting, panel building, electrical engineering, etc.

Capabilities can be found on our website at the following link:

https://eliteautomationusa.com/capabilities

Often referred to as the leader of The New American Manufacturing Renaissance, Andrew Crowe is one of the most influential people in manufacturing today. Andrew, or Drew as he prefers, strives to ignite and energize American manufacturing by exposing youth, community, political leaders, and underserved communities to this industry. His mission is to ensure that we put our best innovators, creators, and thinkers in spaces where they can thrive and grow.

From teenage father and two-time felon to college graduate, Drew realized the potential of a career path in the manufacturing industry. To support this vital work has taken a multi-faceted approach. In 2022, he embarked on the American Manufacturing Renaissance Tour across the country. He is the former lead professor at Ranken Technical College in St. Louis, Missouri, where he taught Advanced Manufacturing Technology, and is now developing a digital curriculum to spread these skills to a global audience.

He is also the co-host of TV's "Project MFG" an exciting program for students and schools across the United States to advance skilled trades through world-class competitions.

Drew’s impressive resume includes addressing the White House and Pentagon on industrial policy, a feature in Forbes Magazine in April 2022, and was voted Aerospace & Aviation Man of the Year twice. Above all, he is well-positioned to lead minds and movers on the front lines in the critical battle to close the workforce and skills gap in manufacturing, making him a highly sought-after speaker and consultant in the field by teaching industry leaders how to reach, hire, and retain the next generation of the manufacturing!

Stay Sharp!

Stay Elite!

DON'T FORGET TO LIKE, SHARE AND OF COURSE, TURN ON THE NOTIFICATION BELL FOR Y'ALL TO BE UPDATED ON OUR CHANNEL!

Stay Elite Everyone!

#TheManufacturingComeUp #Podcast #EliteAutomation #Manufacturing #Life #Success #Knowledge #Learn

Elite Automation SI & Services:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrNyjnTm6VM

Elite Automation Affiliate Program:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87hHQEe9JTI&t=23s

Find us on social media:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EliteAutomationUSA/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elite_automation_usa/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/elite-automation-usa/

Website: https://eliteautomationusa.com/

System Design - Engineering - Integration - Programming

[email protected]

EliteAutomationUSA.com

812-223-7692

Evansville, In

Elite Automation specializes in robot cells with vision, line tracking, and other advanced features. Our primary business model is focused on capital projects. Our projects can include just about any automated system. We also provide services such as plc, robot, vision programming, troubleshooting, panel building, electrical engineering, etc.

Capabilities can be found on our website at the following link:

https://eliteautomationusa.com/capabilities

Relevant Search Terms:

Watch our third episode with Nikki Gonzales!

Nikki Gonzales was born in Iceland and by middle school ended up in Houston, TX after a short stop in England. She interned for her engineer turned entrepreneur dad all throughout school which led to a career as a sales engineer for machine vision systems and mechatronics. She spent 10 years in the field implementing and supporting factory automation solutions. She then transitioned to the design side of engineering with multi-physics simulation for virtual prototyping and data analytics in the supply chain such as forecasting and inventory optimization. Today she is building an online marketplace and workflow automation platform for industrial automation distributors and their customers to collaborate and bring some sanity to the procurement process at Quotebeam.

Stay Sharp!

Stay Elite!

DON'T FORGET TO LIKE, SHARE AND OF COURSE, TURN ON THE NOTIFICATION BELL FOR Y'ALL TO BE UPDATED ON OUR CHANNEL!

Stay Elite Everyone!

#TheManufacturingComeUp #Podcast #EliteAutomation #Manufacturing #Life #Success #Knowledge #Learn

Elite Automation SI & Services:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrNyjnTm6VM

Elite Automation Affiliate Program:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87hHQEe9JTI&t=23s

Find us on social media:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EliteAutomationUSA/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elite_automation_usa/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/elite-automation-usa/

Website: https://eliteautomationusa.com/

System Design - Engineering - Integration - Programming

[email protected]

EliteAutomationUSA.com

812-223-7692

Evansville, In

Elite Automation specializes in robot cells with vision, line tracking, and other advanced features. Our primary business model is focused on capital projects. Our projects can include just about any automated system. We also provide services such as plc, robot, vision programming, troubleshooting, panel building, electrical engineering, etc.

Capabilities can be found on our website at the following link:

https://eliteautomationusa.com/capabilities

She is the imagineer behind Marketing Metal, the “anti-agency” designed to help small manufacturing business leaders create Real positive impact in their communities and the world at large. Her Radical process gives these trailblazers exactly what they need to skyrocket, IN JUST FEW DAYS!

With an engineering background and over a decade of experience being the “ONE-WOMAN MARKETING SHOW” behind a handful of small job shops, Emily saw how painful it was for them to market themselves and work with marketing agencies. She also saw a greater opportunity for these small shops to leverage their marketing efforts for team building, engagement, and recruiting.

Using her sharp wit and shiny disposition, Emily starts by uncovering the “metal” in your business, the magic “stuff” that makes you, your team, and your service offering Magnetic to the humans you want to attract. She and her team then turn that raw material into the marketing strategy, plan, and content that you can be excited about and that will truly make you truly stand out from your competition.

She explains why the world needs you to be Radical, why you should be the one directing your marketing content, and how you can do it in a way that doesn’t suck. Whether you want to attract awesome customers, killer vendors, rockstar talent, or the undying support of your community, Emily believes you have to get Radical or get lost.

Watch our first episode tomorrow with Jacob Sanchez

At the age of 23, Jacob is one of the youngest content creators in our industry. Over the past few decades, technology has slowly been enmeshing itself into our lives.

Pretty much everything from retail to education has become dependent on technology and specifically, the internet. The same goes for business and marketing.

Digital marketing strategies have taken the world by storm. Marketing is an art and digital marketing is no different. It requires creativity to be able to stand out in a crowd, and you probably already know that if you don’t stand out in a crowd, your products and services aren’t going to sell.

That is why we need someone like Jacob in our industry.Watch the full episode on Elite's YouTube Channel, 12PM

DON'T FORGET TO LIKE, SHARE AND OF COURSE, TURN ON THE NOTIFICATION BELL FOR Y'ALL TO BE UPDATED ON OUR CHANNEL!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afrw6TPM7RI

Stay Elite Everyone!

#TheManufacturingComeUp #Podcast #EliteAutomation #Manufacturing #Life #Success #Knowledge #Learn