72: Exploring Wisconsin's Manufacturing Legacy and Future- with Eric Decker

You know, I am having so much FOMO this year because the celestial happenings have been off the hook. What do we have? We had an eclipse. The Aurora Borealis is just, like, flaring on a nightly basis. I don't know how many comets have been wizzing around. There was a supermoon recently. I have had zero encounters with the cosmos because I'm in bed.

[: 00:01:01

[00:01:06] Lori Highby: I've been, I tried, I tried and you know, Milwaukee has too much light pollution. And if I was really serious, I could have driven an hour North or West and I didn't because it was approaching past my bedtime.

But I, I'm definitely feeling the FOMO.

[: 00:01:24

When that happened, I was actually with a customer in the room and we all got up and got out of the building and they had glasses and everything ready for us. That's cool. You know, we'll always have that solar eclipse moment together. But yeah, that's it for me. I'm in bed too early.

[: 00:01:50

[00:02:02] Lori Highby: Okay. Yeah. Today we've got Eric Decker with us. He is WMEP's Business Development Manager for Southeastern Wisconsin. He works with small and midsize manufacturers to help them understand opportunities to improve operations, profitability, and develop their employees.

During his career, Eric has spent considerable time serving small and midsize manufacturers in Southeastern Wisconsin. Before working at WMEP, where he's been for about eight years now, he's worked with organizations such as GPS Education Partners and BizTimes Milwaukee. He lives in Wauwatosa and enjoys the outdoors, cooking, fitness, and skateboarding.

Wow. Oh my God. Eric, welcome to the show.

[: 00:02:51

[00:02:54] Lori Highby: Absolutely. I'm sure we're going to have a great conversation. But why don't you just tell us a little bit about what W M E P is and why manufacturers in Wisconsin need to know about it.

[: 00:03:08

So WMEP is a unique organization in that we are a mission based non profit consulting firm dedicated to working with small and mid sized manufacturers in Wisconsin. And those first three words are kind of different. Because in a normal world, mission based nonprofit and consulting don't really go together.

But like I said, this is kind of a unique entity. The W stands for Wisconsin. MEP stands for Manufacturing Extension Partnership. And the important thing if, if I were to be one of you or a small to mid sized manufacturer, the important thing to think about is there is at least one MEP center in every state around the nation.

Each one is a little different and is built to serve the unique manufacturing landscape that exists in every state. Here, in the great state of Wisconsin, we have, you know, a few 800 pound gorillas, as I would sort of say, big manufacturers. You got your Generics and your Mercury Marines and so on and so forth.

And those are great companies and we can certainly serve those if they need us. But we at WMEP are really built to serve those job shop companies that are really dedicated to producing components that are in the supply chain for those large manufacturers, whether they're here or around the country.

And the types of things that we get into are ranging from operational excellence to sales and business development and training and automation and technology and certifications and standards. There's all kinds of stuff that we get into, but it's really about how can we help these small to midsize manufacturers improve their operations, become more profitable to save money. To be more sustainable so that the business is thriving and growing and employing more people and the economy in Wisconsin is vibrant.

[: 00:05:09

[00:05:17] Eric Decker: It's really fun. It's, it's, I feel so lucky every day because, you know, from a feel good standpoint, this work is great because it's dedicated to helping people and helping companies and helping the state of Wisconsin.

And the really fun thing about this is, I get to see different shops every day. I'm moving. I'm going and grooving all over the state. I'm in an injection molder. I'm in a foundry. I'm in a bakery. I'm doing this. I'm doing that. And it's, you, you see a lot, you meet a lot of fun people. You see a lot of fun places.

[: 00:05:49

[00:06:07] Eric Decker: 100%.

[: 00:06:09

[00:06:36] Eric Decker: Well, first they have to pick up the phone. I mean, the first step is always starting a dialogue. And, you know, half of that, a good chunk of that is on me, too. Is reaching out and being out there. That's, you know, brass tacks, business development, feet on the street, all that good stuff. Really, it all starts with a conversation.

And that's really part of the, Kris, this is part of the fun thing about my job is when I walk into a, a small to mid-size shop and you know, the ideal client profile is somewhere, someone who, who's got a, a manufacturing business with between 25 and 350 employees, which when you cut through everything, that's like 85, 90% of the manufacturers in the state of Wisconsin sort of fit somewhere in those, within those bookends.

And you have an open ended conversation with them, you know, just asking simple questions about where are you today? Where would you like to be in the future? What are the obstacles or roadblocks that you're struggling? What are the problems that you're either not able to solve on your own or you'd love outside assistance with?

Which of those is the most important for the business that would move the needle the most? Chances are that's the thing we should be chasing. And if I do a reasonable job of that, they usually ask us to take the next step.

[: 00:08:00

And I'd be curious if, you know, if we look broadly at manufacturers, but then we look in internal to Wisconsin, are they the same things? Are they different? If you could just touch on that too, that would be great.

[: 00:08:17

And I mean, that makes a lot of sense when you think about Wisconsin is in, it moves up and down, but Wisconsin is, per capita, either the first, the number one or the number two state in the nation, in terms of per capita manufacturing, importance of manufacturing per capita in, in our workplace participation.

And we all recognize how vital it is to our economy in the state of Wisconsin. So the issues that we face around the country always land right here in our state. So first and this actually is backed up by the most recent Wisconsin Manufacturing Report that was put out by our corporate parent, the WCMP, the Wisconsin Center for Manufacturing Progress.

And I'm sorry, you're in alphabet soup land here. I just listened to our, our, the the executive director, Buckley Brinkman of the WCMP just put out this year's study and it showcases the same thing we've seen every year for the last four or five years. People, people, people, people, people. I tell when I'm working with manufacturers, I always tell them, please don't fire your poor HR people.

They're getting their butts kicked every single day. They're doing, I mean, painting in broad strokes, they're doing all the right things, but there are no more people. If you look like, look at basic workplace population demographics, we're in a dip right now and we're going to be for the next six, seven, eight years.

So people are a huge challenge. So how do you find the right people? How do you keep your people? How do you take the people that you can find? How do you onboard, train, develop them into the highest, best use? How do you honor the people? How do you take care of the people?

That's a huge area of need. Second and right behind it is this topic of continuous and you can call it whatever you want. Continuous improvement or operational excellence or lean manufacturing or you talk to the folks, the good folks over at UW Madison, they'll call it QRM, quick response manufacturing.

It's all the same stuff. How do you get the most? How do you eliminate waste? But if you really dig deeply into lean or continuous improvement, you'll get to the Toyota Production System. And the central tenant of the Toyota production system is go to the place where the work happens and honor the people who do the work.

So, I mean, you're talking about the same kind of stuff again, it's people. I mean, the central wild card and the biggest source for improvement and the biggest source for headaches is people. How do you find the right people? How do you take care of the right people? How do you nurture the people? How do you keep the people?

Because without the people, you got no business.

[: 00:11:23

[00:11:25] Eric Decker: So Kris, I think it was giving you a long winded answer there, but if I remember the initial question, what are the things that are sort of really popular? What are the areas of need today? People, continuous improvement. Automation follows right behind that.

There's a tremendous, I mean, and it's all playing on the same sort of thing. Equal scarcity, operational excellence. How do you how do you figure out where does, does automation make sense for our environment? What opportunities produce the least amount of risk, the best source of return on investment?

That's a huge topic. And then how do you pay for the dang thing?

[: 00:12:06

[00:12:08] Lori Highby: Yeah. For sure.

[: 00:12:09

So certainly our listeners can go back and listen to that one. I'm curious, is there anything that people who aren't part of the industry should know related to all of this?

[: 00:12:37

Manufacturing has not always done a good job of marketing itself. Not just from a customer's...

And this is, this is something that's, this is not a new topic. This is something that we've, we've all seen for years, decades, et cetera. And, and the lens that I view this in is not, not really from a customer facing perspective, but if you are, are you talking about Chris Zarnik that you were mentioning just before?

[: 00:13:20

[00:13:21] Eric Decker: So we know Chris really well. We've worked, Chris is one of our external partners. We've worked with him for many years. He's got a phenomenal message. His book, Winning the War for Talent. If you're in manufacturing, if you're in HR, you need a copy of this book. You need to, Chris got, Chris has got good stuff.

I can't tell you anything more about that topic than Chris can, Winning the War for Talent. But if I'm going back to your question, thinking about what do folks that are outside of manufacturing need to know about manufacturing, and manufacturing hasn't always done a great job of representing itself externally, but manufacturing is vital of vital importance to our economy in the state of Wisconsin. That's topic number one. Number two, it's not a bad place. These are really interesting and fun places to be, to visit, to spend time. There's fascinating stuff that happens there. I mean, yes, if you go into a foundry, it can be a little wild at times. You know, you got molten metal and stuff, and it can be a little hot. And it's not the job for every person, including yours truly. However, it's really a neat place to visit. And a tannery or a slaughterhouse is not always the nicest place to visit or to spend time. But if you think about Chris's message, right person, right profile, right place, it is the right place for a certain type of person.

People do have really specific interests that align with that type of work and manufacturing can be a great place to spend time, to visit, to work and there are great careers and there's phenomenal opportunity waiting for people in those environments. So I guess cutting through all that, Kris, that's the message that I would really want folks outside of manufacturing to know.

[: 00:15:13

I start to learn about the incredible legacy of manufacturing in Wisconsin that isn't specific to manufacturing wonks and dorks. Like, it's to every, you know, citizen of the U. S. Absolutely. You know, things have changed over time, but that the way manufacturing is embedded in Wisconsin, I think is timeless.

And so I was wondering, I'm going to put you on the spot a little bit. Are there any family or long, like, have you come across any manufacturers that have been here a long time that are kind of just a great example of like how manufacturing is woven into the fabric of Wisconsin?

What are some of the products or the companies that you've come across that you think that's just a great example?

[: 00:17:14

[00:17:36] Erin Courtenay: Oh, right.

[: 00:17:37

I mean, they're doing the power gem sets with giant power generators. And then the whole separate entertainment and hospitality division, they're making golf courses now. It's wild. Right down the road from them Johnsonville sausage, multi-generation family business, doing something very, very different. You come back down here into Metro Milwaukee. Usinger's is in the same sort of business, but a very, very different company, multi-generation, wonderful people that I've met from the Usinger's family over the years. I mean, and it goes way, way, way deeper. Companies that are deep into the supply chain. So you think of, you know, off the top of my head, a company like Attico metal stamping in Cedarburg.

If you're on highway 60, traveling from Grafton over to Jackson and you're in that weird little pocket of Cedarburg, that's on the very North end highway 60, you'll pass right past Attico. Then they're in their second generation of family ownership, great metal stamping business.

And the list goes on and on and on. I mean, there's a ton of companies just like that that are really the backbone of manufacturing here.

[: 00:19:21

[00:19:46] Eric Decker: Well, they're not that, they're not that tiny.

[: 00:19:48

[00:19:57] Eric Decker: Well, so now I'm thinking about that geography. So one more that pops off right off the top of my head is a great multi generation family company called Ram Tool Precision Metal Cutting Shop in Grafton. So you're, if you're coming from the highway, you're going this way, a little industrial park over there. Shelly and the family, the Pollen family at Ram. Cool, phenomenal, phenomenal little business. And that's not a little, that's not being nice. That's not a little business. They've got a nice big facility. They make big stuff and they do a phenomenal job. And they're wonderful people.

[: 00:20:34

And we're going to feature all of these businesses. And we're going to show people how fun, interesting, and historic and important to Wisconsin these, these businesses are, I really appreciate you sharing all of those stories with us. And I look forward to hearing more over time.

[: 00:20:59

[00:21:00] Lori Highby: Yeah, totally.

[: 00:21:02

[00:21:07] Lori Highby: Yeah. I, I kind of want to do another show that goes really deeper into these stories. It sounds like you've got so many of them, which is amazing.

[: 00:21:17

So I got a...

[: 00:21:24

[00:21:28] Eric Decker: Mentally scrubbed certain.

[: 00:21:32

[00:21:36] Lori Highby: Why don't we pivot to the, the second half of the show, which is, I just learned that. So, Kris, what is something you just learned?

[: 00:21:44

I did not know that.

[: 00:21:53

[00:22:04] Kris Harrington: I mean, I was you know, always told to quiet down or, yeah, I'm slurping, right. And you know how fun it is, but you know, it's actually a sign to the chef that you're enjoying what you're eating and it's appreciation of good food.

So, yeah. Wow. Wow.

[: 00:22:22

[00:22:36] Kris Harrington: Adult listening only here.

What did you just learn?

[: 00:22:46

It wasn't the sort of, you know, belly, belly dancing. Any case, I was looking something up and I learned belly dancing is considered the oldest form of dance. It's over 6, 000 years old. So, yeah, so it's not just a new, like, cabaret opportunity. It's something, you know, really special that's been around for a long time.

[: 00:23:27

[00:23:30] Erin Courtenay: Oh, it was fantastic. And I think I learned more about just like club dancing from that belly dancing class. Yeah, I can shake. You guys have seen me.

[: 00:23:44

[00:23:47] Erin Courtenay: Or is it a video that we didn't know was running? I'm in trouble.

Am I right? Like, oh, Becky, okay, now that's content. I thought I would just be a dork.

[: 00:23:57

[00:24:01] Erin Courtenay: Lori, whatcha doing? Oh,

[: 00:24:02

Oh! So, it's really fun. Cool. Super fun. So I attended and when my other friends actually presented in this and she's super smart, but we never really talk about work stuff. This is the first time I got to see her like present smart things. But so she did this researchwhen she was working on her PhD or master's, whatever.

But basically openness to new experiences helps to maintain and reserve your cognitive state in your older adulthood. So as opposed to not just learning and, and you know, like doing math and crossword puzzles, but like really doing something different and new because there's like I'm gonna totally say this wrong But like the weird neurons are like connecting and creating new connections in your brain, which is keeping you like thriving as opposed to, you know, a lot of people when they as they age tend to get into these routines And like this is the same thing I do every single day. And that kind of leads down that dementia path as opposed to like travel or new food, you know, just new experiences overall.

I just thought that was really fascinating. So she's got a whole study and there's a big PDF document that's like not words I'm really comfortable reading all the time because they're like really big. But I, I'm, I'm trying to like really soak it in and I want to pick her brain about this further because I think it's fascinating.

So. Her name is Emilie Franchow. You can Google her name and find it, but I'll throw a link in the show notes for it.

[: 00:25:51

[00:26:09] Lori Highby: Oh, goodness gracious. Okay, okay. Eric, what have you just learned?

[: 00:26:14

But I will tell you that there are people from all over the world that look at our state, particularly southeastern Wisconsin, as a phenomenal place to invest. And they want to be here and they want to establish new significant manufacturing operations here because, and this is, you know, one of the, one of Milwaukee's old slogans was Machine Tool Shop of the world.

And that was something that they, you know, You can find these old, if you go like the Milwaukee County Historical Society, they still got the old posters and stuff that have this stuff on it. Guess what? It's still true. Companies want and need to be here because the stuff that is possible here, the skills, the machinery, the know how is here.

And that doesn't exist. A lot of other places.

[: 00:28:01

[00:28:06] Eric Decker: Machine Tool Shop of the World.

[: 00:28:09

[00:28:23] Erin Courtenay: I know. I love that poster. I love that poster right here. Yeah. Yeah. Great. You.

[: 00:28:31

[00:28:40] Eric Decker: Well, the easiest place to find a ton of, there's a ton of information on our website, which is W M E P dot O R G.

And that's got a ton of info about who we are, our mission, the types of things that we do. It also has a, a full listing of the staff. So you can see all of my lovely colleagues out there. My contact information is out there, but also the direct contact information. So if you would like to speak to someone like, I don't know, Carol Crawford, who leads our talent and culture service line, her email, her phone number is right there too.

I'm out there on LinkedIn. You can find me there. I exist out in the world. And so if you're at manufacturing related networking events, chances are you're probably going to bump into me sooner or later. And I, if, if you're interested, if you have questions, we are here to serve.

[: 00:29:39

We will include all that information in our show notes. Eric, it was an absolute pleasure having you on the show today.

[: 00:29:48

[00:29:56] Lori Highby: Awesome. All right. Thank you. This is three broads wrapping up. Go out there and make something awesome.