Last week I was approached by some of my manufacturing leader friends about a panel they just recorded on the MakingChips podcast about a critical issue that's likely familiar to many of you by now. And that is:

Defunding of the MEPs or Manufacturing Extension Partnerships.

In case you're not familiar, the MEPSs are public-private partnerships that exist in every state throughout the US. These organizations exist to help small manufacturers with everything from securing grants for training and upskilling to lean manufacturing to ERP implementation to cyber security and more.

Now – despite all the talk from our current administration about bolstering the American manufacturing sector, 10 MEPs had already been defunded at the time of this recording. And plans for this to continue are looming in the weeks and months ahead.

Here's the problem:

For the US manufacturing to grow, we NEED our small manufacturers who represent such an overwhelmingly large percentage of our manufacturing economy to thrive. And we need to support them more right now than ever before.

I've been asked to syndicate this conversation to bring attention to the issue with THIS audience of The Manufacturing Executive, in hopes of activating YOU to speak up and to take action.

So in this panel, you'll hear from five manufacturing leaders – most of which you'll likely recognize. They'll get you up to speed and most importantly, they'll tell you what YOU can do to help:

– Paul Van Metre of ProShop ERP

– Nick Goellner of Advanced Machine & Engineering and MakingChips

– Meaghan Ziemba of Mavens of Manufacturing

– Mike Payne of Hill Manufacturing and MakingChips

– Jim Mayer of The Manufacturing Connector

Whether you're packing up shop and moving to a new location or you're expanding your manufacturing operation, opening up a new facility is no small deal.

From planning the timeline of events to scouting a new geographic location to assuring the on-site requirements meet your needs to mitigating downtime during a move, there's a lot to account for.

Pat Reilly, Executive Vice President and industrial real estate broker at JLL, has spent his career helping industrial sector organizations navigate these waters. And today, he'll be sharing his knowledge with you.

From COVID (and the labor and supply chain obstacles that came along with it) to the recent challenges we're now facing with tariffs, the current generation of manufacturing leaders has fought through quite a bit in just a short period of time.

My guest today, Melanie White, will talk about the current manufacturing landscape specifically, but in the context of her 79-year old family-owned business, Hellwig Products, where she serves as the fourth-generation CEO.

A handful of years ago, we started to see primitive forms of chat bots on company websites.

Fast forward to today and not only is this kind of AI technology more advanced, but it's learning how to replicate human behaviors.

In this episode, Naresh Ram, Chief Science Officer at AAXIS, will talk about the emerging power of AI "agents". And if that's a term you and those around you are NOT familiar with right now, it certainly will be soon.

As he'll tell you, AI agents have the ability to ask the question, "What would a human do next?"

Things like:

– Check inventory

– Place an order

– Call frontline workers to check availability

– Or start scheduling production

For 250 consecutive Tuesdays, I've published a new episode of this podcast.

In this short-and-sweet retrospective – episode #251 – I'll talk about six ways this show has helped change the trajectory of our business at Gorilla 76 over roughly the past five years in hopes that you might find some inspiration.

They are:

1. Direct and indirect impact on new customer acquisition

2. Direct financial impact through sponsorships

3. Elevation of brand perception – both for my company and for me personally

4. Doors opened in the manufacturing sector

5. The content machine

6. Market research

Jim Mayer, Founder of The Manufacturing Connector, has coined a term that he calls "The Industrial Brand Death Cycle", which he describes as follows:

Weak leadership leads to weak culture, which leads to employee disengagement, which leads to fake branding, which leads to failed marketing, which leads to customer distrust, which leads to the company's struggles.

Then, leaders get replaced and more often than not, the cycle repeats.

In today conversation, Jim will talk about how authentic culture, as well as authentic marketing begins with the leader.

More specifically, he'll explain why leadership in manufacturing today means being visible – not only out there on the shop floor – but also publicly, as the face of the organization.

I've often compared building a website to building a house.

You can tear it down and rebuild from the ground up. You can gut it to the studs, putting in all new plumbing, electric and HVAC. You can renovate a few rooms. Or you can simply put on a fresh coat of paint.

But how you do which approach makes sense for your website? What are the signals that tell you it's time to at least do something?

And how do you plan for a website that's not just a digital brochure, but instead a tool that drives meaningful, measurable impact for your business?

My two guests today, Gorilla 76 Digital Creative Director Randall Zaitz and Gorilla 76 Head of Performance Marketing Kevin McClary, have collectively been a part of countless website projects for B2B manufacturers. And they're here to break all of this down.

As Garrett Partridge and Dan Wyatt of ARC Technology Solutions will tell you, everyone wants the perfect product, but very few companies invest in testing that product throughout the manufacturing process to make perfection a reality.

In this conversation, we'll explore why testing needs to be approached not as a compliance checkbox at the end of your production process, but instead as a strategic lever for improving quality, reducing waste, driving operational efficiency and ultimately, giving you a competitive advantage.

Daniel Doderer of Flack Global Metals is an economist living inside of the steel industry.

And he'll tell you that here in the first quarter of 2025, less than two months after the Trump administration has taken back the reins, the industrial sector landscape is nothing short of dynamic.

In our conversation, we'll dive into the potential impact of the President's plans for tariffs on the US manufacturing sector.

We'll touch on everything from inflation to wages to commodity pricing to buyer behavior, as we all try to figure out the state of our economy, and where things may be headed.

Mike Payne, Owner of Hill Manufacturing & Fabrication, will tell you that somewhere between 60 and 75% of machinists want to own their own businesses some day. But owning a business can sound scary.

He'll also tell you that on the flip side, so many small manufacturing business owners don't necessarily understand their options when the time comes to exit.

In our conversation today, we're talking about buying and selling manufacturing businesses – from both angles. And Mike is no stranger to the topic.