How Central Wisconsin Manufacturers Stopped Competing for Workers and Started Solving the Problem Together
Manufacturing Happy Hour
At a live recording of Manufacturing Happy Hour at Bull Falls Brewing in Wausau, Wisconsin, host Chris Luecke sat down with five board members of the Central Wisconsin Manufacturing Alliance (CWIMA). He asked how a region with a very mixed industrial base is preparing its manufacturing ecosystem for the future, and what other regions could take from its approach. The panelists make concrete products, silos and septic tanks, metal fabrications, commercial HVAC equipment, and bent tubing. They kept returning to one position: their products differ, but their core problem, finding and keeping skilled people, is the same. The alliance was built on the premise that manufacturers acting together can change things that no single company could.
Chris framed the evening for listeners outside the region. The show reaches manufacturers across the country and sometimes beyond, so he asked the panel to describe what works locally in a way others could apply. He noted that the audience in the brewery that Wednesday night represented roughly a hundred different manufacturers and ecosystem partners.
Five companies, five very different products
Each panelist introduced their business as if chatting over a drink, which set up how varied the membership is.
Jim Waldron, president of Wausau Tile and president of the CWIMA board, said the company's two largest product lines are pavers and precast concrete. His examples: Wausau Tile has made every red ball outside a Target store and every waste container outside McDonald's.
Laura, president of Imperial Industries and a CWIMA board member, described two divisions. One builds silos for non-food-grade bulk storage, often plastic pellets at manufacturing plants, so customers can produce more efficiently. The other makes septic tanks and upfits septic trucks. She said the company does enough of that work to be the number one vocational dealer in Wisconsin.
John Peterson, president and owner of Schuette Metals, runs a metal fabrication business serving agriculture, defense, construction, and architectural markets. He highlighted a sizable contract on the new US Postal Service delivery truck, which he called "the ugliest truck ever around." Schuette makes back shelves and trays for it and hopes to add the door. He said the volumes are high enough that the company is trying to use the automation now available.
Scott, vice president and general manager of a business unit within Greenheck Group, explained that Greenheck is privately held and headquartered in Schofield, Wisconsin. It designs, manufactures, and sells HVAC equipment for the commercial market: manufacturing facilities, warehouses, schools, hospitals, and similar buildings. He has been on the CWIMA board for about a year.
Tom of J&D Tube Benders corrected the program right away: he is no longer president. About two years ago the family completed the sale of the business to the third generation, his son and daughter, who were both in the room. The company has been in the area for 58 years. It mainly serves the off-road construction equipment industry, including John Deere, Caterpillar, Manitowoc cranes, and JLG Industries. He tells employees that on any vacation he can't drive an hour without passing a vehicle that carries one of their parts or a subcomponent they make for another supplier: cylinders, tires, grab rails, and so on.
How one alliance serves such different industries
Chris asked Jim how an organization like CWIMA can serve a region with so many different industries. Jim said its main strength has been connection: it links manufacturers with K-12 education, technical colleges, and universities. His example came from the alliance's early days. CWIMA started in 2012, and one of its first problems was that members didn't have enough welders to keep their machines and operations running. The manufacturers met with the technical colleges and asked for more training schedules. According to Jim, the colleges set up 24/7 welding training so people could learn after their day jobs and fill open positions. He said they did "an absolutely amazing job."
Laura emphasized what the alliance does for young people. When students tour member businesses, they see what these companies actually do, and she said the best part is watching them realize they have options. Some light up at particular kinds of work. They won't like every opportunity, but they learn that college is not the only path. She called college "a great option" but said it isn't for everyone.
Scott described what surprised him as a newer board member. Greenheck makes commercial fans and serves different customers than the other members do, yet "we actually all have the same challenges." Finding highly skilled trades people is a problem no matter what you produce, and he said solving that shared problem is CWIMA's purpose.
Jim added some history that shows this. The group started as the Central Wisconsin Metal Manufacturers Association. Early on, members realized they were "pigeonholing" themselves, because manufacturers across all sectors need the same trades and skills. They all need employees and ways to upskill them. Jim called the move to a general manufacturing alliance "a big step."
"Together we do more": the founding logic
John said the idea for the alliance started with him and Tom meeting at a bar over a beer. He argued that the key point is that all the companies share one problem. You can fight it individually, but coming together "as a mass" is what gets things to change. A company the size Schuette was at the time could not have gotten technical colleges and high schools to make the changes they made once manufacturers approached them jointly. He called treating it as a joint problem "the aha moment."
He contrasted this with what he hears about other regions, where manufacturers keep fighting each other for the same workers, and asked how that can change. Chris said that, from his travels to manufacturing communities around the country, a turnout like this one is what it takes to move things forward. The more companies facing similar problems work together, he said, the more successful they are.
What innovation looks like on the shop floor
Chris then turned to innovation. He said it is often imagined as a new widget or transformative technology but can be much subtler.
Laura described innovation at Imperial as a daily discipline: building better, designing better, and delivering better. Sometimes that means small changes to how a product is assembled, cut, or bent. The company wants to automate, but she said most innovation is "small tweaks every day to do better than we did yesterday."
Jim described a different situation at Wausau Tile. About 80% of what the company makes it has never made before; nearly every concrete product is custom in shape or color. Late last year the company brought in an AI-driven, camera-guided robot that adjusts to each piece to control grinding force. He said it has been fun to watch that technology in use.
Scott said Greenheck does a lot of product innovation, plus considerable manufacturing innovation and automation in its shops that helps with the challenges the panel described. What excites him most for the region is that this technology is becoming more accessible. Several years ago the barrier to entry was high, costs were steep, and only a few companies could afford it. Now costs have come down and the technology is more proven. CWIMA discusses how to broaden skill sets across the region in response. He pointed to AI: anyone can now access a large language model through a $20-a-month subscription. He said that kind of accessibility makes regions like central Wisconsin exciting places for manufacturing's future.
Tom agreed technology has changed his business a lot. He put equal weight on management practices, especially drawing on employees' creativity. In a shrinking labor force, he said, "the worst thing you can do" is have significant turnover. J&D tries to involve employees in decisions, including how new technology will be used and how it will improve the company. He added, laughing, that having money now compared with when he started also helps.
Sharing innovation among competitors
John has been in the business for 44 years and called the current pace of technological change "absolutely crazy." He tied innovation back to the alliance. The day after the recording, CWIMA was holding a webinar for members on a portable cobot welder suited to low-volume work. He said he'd like to get the vendor to bring it to Wausau so members could see it in person.
He addressed the obvious objection: why would he want to share that knowledge with companies that may be his competitors? His reasoning was about the regional labor pool. If such a tool is truly 100% more productive, meaning it doubles output, that halves the workforce the region needs to hire. So, in his view, CWIMA's innovation is the sharing itself. When members innovate and pass it on through the alliance's programs, it helps everyone.
Attracting talent: retention over recruitment
Chris turned to talent. (Along the way he admitted that, after more than 300 episodes, this was the first time he had spilled beer on himself mid-interview.) He asked Tom to start.
Tom said he has followed labor shortage data for years, since before CWIMA existed, and "the numbers have never changed." He described it as a battle that can't really be won, because nobody will change those demographics. State agencies and chambers run large programs to recruit people into communities, but he thinks retaining current employees and their families is the bigger lever.
He described what NTC, where he serves on the board of trustees, has done. The college reached out to northern Wisconsin communities such as Park Falls, Rib Lake, and Rhinelander, and a few years ago built dorms to give students from those areas a college experience. The aim is then to employ them locally, make them part of a company, and keep them in the area. He acknowledged "it's not real good for the northern part of the country, but it works pretty good for us." He said cooperation between manufacturers, K-12 schools, and higher education is stronger than ever. The shared goal is to interest students in manufacturing, get them jobs early enough that leaving becomes hard, and show them manufacturing offers a family-sustaining future.
Laura said Imperial works with a youth apprenticeship program to bring people in young. Once they see it's a good job and get excited, they tend to stay. The company is also working on marketing because, as she put it, "we're a little bit of a secret," and people won't apply to a company if they don't know what it does. For retention she emphasized benefits, especially a free clinic available at any time of day to anyone on the company's insurance, for example when a child is sick.
The inside of the factory has changed; the outside hasn't
Scott described a problem CWIMA is trying to solve. Many in the industry joke that factories look the same from the outside as they did 40 years ago, while the inside has changed completely. The work is now highly skilled and technical, with strong opportunities. But future workers who only see the outside don't know that. He said getting them inside can be hard, but once they see what's really happening, it clearly changes their view of manufacturing as a career.
Chris said he'd never heard that put so well, and asked whether anyone is changing what factories look like from outside. He shared his own background: his parents were teachers, and he didn't know what manufacturing looked like until a co-op job as an engineering student at Marquette.
The Heavy Metal Tour
Jim described the program he said CWIMA has run since day one: the Heavy Metal Tour. Every eighth grader in a 55-school-district area gets to tour two manufacturing facilities and technical colleges. Students see that manufacturing isn't what they assumed from the outside.
Jim said the more important effect may be on teachers, who also see the inside of the plants and change their impression of manufacturing. He said quite a few teachers have told him, in paraphrase, that if they had known they could work in an environment that isn't dark, dirty, or unsafe, but safe and clean, and could earn that kind of money, they might have become production workers instead of teachers.
A virtual welding competition and a nurse-turned-welder
John told a story he said he has used many times. Early on, the alliance took a virtual reality welding machine to high schools and exposed both male and female students to welding. It then organized a competition: top scorers from each school came into member businesses and were taught to weld for real. Some already knew how. The competition ended with an actual AWS welding test.
One participant was a young woman John described as weighing about 95 pounds, who planned to become a nurse. He noted nursing school is expensive and the hours are hard. She took first place. She still works for Schuette, calls welding "therapeutic," and in John's words is one of the company's best welders, beating the men on jobs "every single time." He said women have much better dexterity than men, and Chris noted a lot of women in the audience nodding.
Workforce development: from operator to technician
Chris then asked what keeps people once they've chosen to stay, and what develops them. John talked about reinvesting in facilities and automation. He said Schuette is probably one of the first to install two robotic press breaks, which will eventually be fed by a laser with automated part picking. The implication, he said, is that "operators will no longer be operators. They're going to become technicians," running multiple machines and paid well for it. He believes the industry needs to present that vision, and it becomes clearer with each automation step. Chris asked whether this amounts to an operator-to-technician career pipeline, and John said "absolutely." He noted a technical college program now teaches that pathway, which he cited as an example of how closely the alliance works with colleges.
Laura called her approach "a little less technical." Imperial has a training program to help people feel comfortable, which she thinks matters especially for younger workers. It is paired with mentorship: when a tank is being built, two people work on it, an experienced tank welder and a newer one. They become friends, and as the newer worker moves through each stage with a different experienced partner, they learn the whole process and build friendships with every expert along the way. That makes them comfortable asking questions, which she said can be hard for this generation. She named the training and mentorship program as the most important element, along with a clean environment and strong benefits. Chris singled out the friendships between mentors and mentees as an important human element.
A family approach, flexible schedules, and long tenure
Tom said J&D has adopted technology and trained employees in-house for years, but its biggest asset is a personal approach. He credited his wife and daughter with working from the start to make new hires part of the company, pairing them with trainers and building a family atmosphere. He said some employees are currently facing serious medical issues, and it has been moving to see coworkers come together as family.
J&D adopted flexible scheduling years ago. Tom candidly called it "almost like a nightmare" to administer, but said it works. Parents can come and go and take time off when their kids are sick. He said not every company could do it, but it works for them.
He described the youth apprenticeship path in detail. Students start as high school juniors, then attend technical college full-time while employed. By the time they finish, they've been with the company three years, have two weeks of vacation, and have moved up the pay scale, which makes leaving a hard decision. Some have stayed 10 to 15 years and now run two of the company's shifts. Tom also flagged a looming challenge. The company hired heavily in the late 1980s and early 1990s, perhaps a third or more of its current workforce, and many of those employees are approaching 30 years of service. That group will need to be replaced, though he took their tenure as a sign the company is doing something right.
Jim said his experience was similar. He joined a business the family had owned since 1953, and whenever an employee had a problem, the family worked with them. He called the number of employees with over 20 years of experience "unbelievable," and said that creates a strong training ground for new hires. He also mentioned that Laura recently helped Wausau Tile implement a program for extra medical care that made care easier and less expensive for employees' families. This is an example of members sharing practices through the alliance.
Scott summarized the common thread: companies have to show team members progressive career tracks. He tied it back to CWIMA. Members are doing a lot on their own, but the gap the alliance tries to close is connecting companies with educators, including NTC and K-12 partners, so the region has the right pipeline of development opportunities. Greenheck sends several team members to NTC for various trainings, which he said provides tremendous value. He described CWIMA as the conduit for those partnerships.
Lessons from other regions and associations
Chris asked what the panel had learned from other companies, regions, or associations. Jim said several similar organizations exist elsewhere in Wisconsin, and early on CWIMA spent a lot of time sharing best practices with them. From that it learned better ways to manage the group, handle members, and work with partners, and it learned from others' mistakes, particularly on legal structure when setting up. He emphasized associate members such as law firms, banks, insurance companies, and staffing firms, which he said are "huge" in keeping the alliance going.
Laura, calling herself "the nerd of the group," pointed to operational lessons: software for marketing, accounting, and back-office work; event planning; and even which type of IRS filing to use. She said learning from other groups has helped CWIMA get the most out of its scholarships and support for participants, because it wants to reward students going through technical schools.
John said he hadn't spent much time studying other groups. From what he hears, they struggle with the same things, especially getting resources and volunteers. CWIMA has done its own strategic planning and relies on associate members to fill some of those gaps. He said the question he hears most from other alliances is simply how to make it work.
Scott said the communities doing this well have everyone aligned: manufacturers, the broader community, educators, and the chamber. When everyone pulls the rope in the same direction at the same time, he said, a community can move with tremendous power and speed, and that alignment is CWIMA's goal.
"The only thing we can't build or buy is a workforce"
Tom gave the most pointed account of why the alliance exists. For years, he said, the labor shortage was discussed in meetings, such as quarterly sessions at WMC, where people had coffee and a donut, heard the numbers, and came back three months later to hear the same numbers with no solution. He had the same experience at technical colleges and chambers. Everyone knew the problem, and the numbers "scared the hell out of you," but nothing changed.
What changed, he said, was the conversation he and John had around Bull Falls Brewing: they were done "having coffee and donuts and not having any answers." They concluded the problem belonged not to the colleges or the chambers but to business owners, "because the only thing that we can't build or buy is a workforce. We can get technology. We can put new buildings up, but we can't get employees."
He said the Northeast Wisconsin Manufacturing Alliance in the Fox Valley was a prototype for them, but CWIMA differs by bringing in the colleges and pushing members to be active parts of the solution. He does not expect the labor shortage to be cured. He expects it to be managed through technology, training, and upskilling, because "we have no choice."
John added that the New North organization was the model he had in mind, and was ahead of them in some ways. But in his view it focused mostly on economic development rather than workforce development, and workforce development was "the glue" that held CWIMA together. His main lesson was that manufacturers have to be participants themselves: "You can't just hire somebody to run it for you."
Advice for other manufacturers
For the closing question, Chris asked each panelist for one practice other leaders could apply in their companies or communities.
Tom: build relationships with every K-12 district and technical college in your area, because their resources for upskilling employees will carry you into the next generation of technology. Engage high schools early, get involved in technical education classes as a mentor, host tours, give students hands-on experience, and even show pay scales. He said youth apprenticeship has worked well if you take apprentices all the way through and truly bring them into the company, so a high school student can one day become one of your leaders.
Scott: quality over quantity, in talent development and across the business. He said many companies try to be something they're not. His advice was to find the few things you're very good at and do more of them. He believes that is also what talent looks for, since candidates know no company can be everything to everybody.
John repeated his earlier point: if you want something like CWIMA, call each of your competitors about your shared employee problem and say, "Let's get together. Let's have a conversation about how we can fix our problem versus how we're going to fight each other."
Laura urged leaders to get involved in their communities. Beyond schools and youth apprenticeships, reputation spreads informally. When a company is part of the community and gives back, "parents tell their kids that's a great company. Their friends tell each other."
Jim closed by thanking the CWIMA board and summarizing what he sees as the region's main success: K-12 schools, technical colleges, universities, manufacturers, and associate members working together on the Heavy Metal Tour. He reported that, as a result, technical education enrollment in local K-12 schools is 50% higher than in Green Bay and Appleton. He said he is "certain" the programs and early exposure to manufacturing explain the difference. He ended by quoting John's refrain about what the region can accomplish together.
Chris added that Mike White of Saelig, a former podcast guest, tells him every time he visits Wausau that he should move there. The evening ended with the panel's shared conclusion: the labor shortage won't be solved outright, but manufacturers who stop competing for the same people, work with educators, and stay personally involved can manage it better together than any of them could alone.
...is you should build a relationship with all your K-12s in your area and your technical colleges, because the resources that they have for upskilling your employees, that's going to be what takes you into the next generation.
Being a part of the community is a big deal because parents tell their kids that's a great company. Their friends tell each other.
We've seen a lot of companies try to be something that they're not, right? Right. And I think the biggest thing for us is find the few things that you're very good at and do more of those things.
What are manufacturers in Central Wisconsin doing to futureproof their manufacturing ecosystem, and what can you learn from that? That's exactly what we're covering in today's episode. Manufacturing Happy Hour recently traveled to Wausau, Wisconsin for a collaboration with CWIMA, the Central Wisconsin Manufacturing Alliance. Some of the things you can expect us to cover include their workforce strategies for the region and why having an organization like the Central Wisconsin Manufacturing Alliance is so important.
We have five manufacturing leaders included in this interview. Specifically, Jim Waldron, president of Wausau Tile; John Peterson, owner and CEO of Schuette Metals; Scott Matt Miller at Greenheck Group; Laura Steek, president of Imperial Industries; and Tom Felch, president of J&D Tube Benders. That's a big range of applications. After you listen, make sure to connect with all our guests and look up other resources by visiting the show notes page at manufacturinghappyhour.com.
And by the way, if you're watching this video, don't judge us. The sun was setting right when we started recording this conversation. So, we might be getting blinded a little bit as things are getting rolling, but that will be over with quickly. Now, let's jump in to learn how an organization like CWIMA best serves their region when they have a diverse array of manufacturing industries represented.
All right, check check one two. Check check one two. Hey everyone, can I get a thumbs up? How's the volume out there? Can you all hear pretty clearly? Excellent. All right, I'm going to turn it up just a little bit and then we're going to get ready to roll. We're recording on all fronts. Hey, first of all, let's raise our glasses. Cheers to CWIMA. Cheers to all of you for being out here tonight. Cheers, everyone. Excited to have you here for this special recording of Manufacturing Happy Hour.
Before we officially get rolling with tonight's panel discussion, really celebrating the successes and what's working here in Central Wisconsin, a couple quick things. If you're not familiar with Manufacturing Happy Hour, it is the show where we talk about the latest trends and technologies impacting manufacturers the way you would as if you were having a conversation over a beer. So, that's going to be the spirit of tonight's conversation. What a better setting than doing this in Bull Falls Brewing here in Wausau, Wisconsin.
And before I introduce our panelists, or I'm going to have them introduce themselves in a very Manufacturing Happy Hour-centric way, one more thank you goes out to Brent and Michaela from KFI Staffing. Everyone give them a hand. Raise your glasses to them.
We could not be doing this party without their support tonight. So, if you haven't gotten a chance to talk to them, they're awesome. Make sure to chat with them after the podcast, at the bar, wherever you may have that opportunity.
So, with that, let's get tonight's party started with some introductions. And the last thing I'll say about Manufacturing Happy Hour: tonight, we're recording this within a community of folks that are very familiar with what's going on in Central Wisconsin in the industrial space in a lot of ways. But the Manufacturing Happy Hour audience listens to this podcast across the country and in some cases across the world. So we're going to be talking about the things that are working here at your organizations in a way that helps educate other manufacturers to be successful at their businesses within their communities, etc.
So to kick things off, Jim, we're going to start with you and then we'll go down the line. The first question is, and I'd like you to answer this as if you're casually chatting with someone over a drink: introduce yourself and describe what you do in your specific segment of the manufacturing industry as if you're having a beverage with someone.
Well, good evening everybody. I am Jim Waldron. My daytime job is president of Wausau Tile. Honored to have that role. In my spare time, I'm president of the board of CWIMA. So, really excited to be here and excited to have this group. Wausau Tile is really a fun company. We manufacture pavers and we manufacture precast concrete; those are the two largest pieces of the puzzle that we make. If you've ever seen a Target ball outside of a Target store, we've made every single one of those. If you've seen a waste container outside of McDonald's, we've made every one of those. But yeah, really fun place to work.
Excellent. Laura.
Hi, I'm Laura Strek, the president of Imperial Industries and also on the board of CWIMA. Very exciting group to be a part of. We have a very interesting business. We have one division that builds silos. And so if you look at a silo outside of a manufacturing plant that is filled with... we do non-food grade. So a lot of times plastic pellets in a manufacturing plant, so we have bulk storage so that they can manufacture more efficiently. And the other side of our business, we make septic tanks and upfit septic trucks. And the interesting part is we do so many of those that we are the number one vocational dealer in Wisconsin.
Hi everybody. John Peterson, president, owner of Schuette Metals. We're a metal fabrication business that serves the ag, defense, construction industry as well as architectural and some other miscellaneous things. Probably something that would be kind of cool to talk about is that currently we've got a pretty good-sized contract for the US postal truck. And so if you see Donald Duck running around on the street, the ugliest truck ever around, that's it. And we're doing some back shelves for that, trays and shelves, and then hopefully the door. So, we're picking up a fair amount of business in that sector. So, it's been a lot of fun to see that, and it's volumes that are pretty high. So, we're trying to take advantage of some of the automation that's out there.
Well, good evening everybody. I am Scott Mler. I'm the vice president and general manager for one of the business units within Greenheck Group. For those not familiar with Greenheck, we are a privately held company headquartered right here in Schofield, Wisconsin. We design, manufacture, and sell HVAC equipment into the commercial HVAC market. So if you think of manufacturing facilities, warehouses, schools, hospitals, and everything in between, we manufacture the HVAC equipment for those spaces. So glad to be here. I also have the privilege of serving on the board with these local leaders as well on CWIMA. So, thanks for coming out tonight.
Hi there, Tom Phelps with J&D Tube Benders. I'll make a correction right away from the program. I'm no longer president of the company. Fortunate that we're a third-generation business, and my son is standing in the back somewhere way up. He's doing a job. And our daughter is standing right over here behind my wife. About two years ago, we completed a sale of our business to the third generation. We're a business that's been in our area for 58 years. Started small. The products we build primarily serve the off-road construction industry business: your John Deeres, your Caterpillars, your Manitowoc cranes, JLG Industries. I typically tell people and our employees when I come back that if I go on a vacation, I can't travel an hour on the road without coming across a vehicle that we either know that we have parts on or a subcomponent that we build a part for someone else for. Cylinders, tires, whatever, grab rails, and that's what we kind of do. But very proud to be a third-generation business, and they've been established here for 20 years already. So very good.
Yeah. So my observation as someone that lives in Wisconsin but in the southeast part of the state: I mean, you have a very diverse array of industries in this space, and that kind of brings about the second question. And Jim, since you're leading CWIMA here right now, you're probably the best person to lead this off. How does an organization like CWIMA best serve a region that has such varied industries across the board? I mean, we just heard basically five different ones up here, and I know for a fact there are other industries out there as well.
It is amazing the diversity of industry, and I'd say from a CWIMA perspective, what we've done very well is we've connected the education, we've connected the manufacturing, we've connected the universities, and we've connected the technical colleges. Just as a quick example, we started in 2012 and one of our biggest challenges was we didn't have enough welders to keep our welding machines running, to keep the operations running. And so we sat down with the technical colleges and told them that we needed more training schedules. They set up 24/7 training schedules for welders so that people after their daytime jobs could learn how to be welders to help fill our positions. They did an absolutely amazing job.
Yeah. Any other thoughts from the other panelists on this? Let's see, reaching for the mic. Laura, you were first.
So, you know, CWIMA really connects the youth of our generation and gives them a chance to see these opportunities, and they get to see what we do. And when we bring the students to the businesses and we tour them, the best part is they see the options that they have. And it's very exciting because you'll see these kids light up with the things that they like. You know, they're not going to like every opportunity that they have, but they see that they have options, and it's just not college. And college is a great option, but not everybody is meant for college. So, it's a very good insight for them to see what they can do outside of that.
And Scott, what's your take? I saw you go for the mic just a second there.
Yeah, the only thing I would add would be, you know, I'm fairly new to CWIMA. I've been on the board for about a year. I produce fans, right? Commercial fans. What I think is interesting as a CWIMA organization, what I was kind of amazed by, is even though we produce different products, right, and we're serving different end customers, we actually all have the same challenges, right? So, finding people, finding highly skilled people in the trades, it doesn't matter what product you produce, we all have the same challenges. And so, that's what we're trying to solve as a CWIMA organization. But that was the common theme across all of us: different products, but similar challenges.
I think we actually addressed that when we first started. It was the Central Wisconsin Metal Manufacturers Association. We weren't in existence very long before we realized that... my mic's up. Thank you. We realized that we're kind of pigeonholing ourselves if we're just going to go after metal manufacturing, when actually the trades and the skills that we need across the board in all manufacturing are the same. First of all, we need employees. We need a way to upskill those employees. So that prompted us to just go to being a manufacturing association, which I think was a big step for us.
One of the things that actually is kind of interesting, and I just want to say this, is that Tom and I actually, when we thought about this idea, we met at a bar having a beer. Brings it back right around. But I think the one thing that is extremely important to understand is that we all have the same problem, and you can try to fight it on an individual basis, but if you get together and you start coming as a mass, then you can get things to change. I as a business, Schuette Metals, the size that we were, would not be able to get some of the changes that the technical colleges and the high schools were willing to make. And when we got together and started talking about it as a joint problem, that was really kind of the aha moment that really made the big difference in that part of it. I hear all the time about other manufacturers in other areas, and they are continually fighting amongst themselves for the same people.
Yeah.
How do we make that change?
Well, John, I think that's a great point, because I'll share something I'm observing here, right? I travel across the country quite a bit and get to experience what it's like to be in different manufacturing communities. To see everyone showing up here at a bar on a Wednesday night... and I mean, for the people that aren't watching the video podcast or can't see the crowd behind us, we're probably talking about a hundred different manufacturers that are out here, people across the ecosystem right now. I mean, that's what I see it takes to really move things across the finish line. John, like you were talking about, you're all experiencing similar issues. So the more that you can all come together and work together to solve those, the more success you're going to have. So, kudos to CWIMA on the work you're doing there. We're going to get back to the talent conversation. I'm sure a lot of our conversations will go back to the talent discussion tonight, but next I want to talk about innovation, right? And really, what does innovation look like to you here in Central Wisconsin? Because I think a lot of times we think of innovation as some new widget, new transformative technology, but innovation can take a lot more subtle forms. So I'm curious if anyone has a thought to lead off this conversation. Laura.
Really, on a daily basis, it's that we build better, design better, and deliver better. And sometimes that's just tweaking how we put a product together, or really how we're cutting it out and bending. But, you know, we want to do automation, but I will say mostly it's day-to-day, just small tweaks every day to do better than we did yesterday.
Awesome start. Other thoughts to add?
Yeah, at Wausau Tile, about 80% of what we make we've never made before, right? We do a lot of concrete products, but almost everything is special. It's a different shape. It's a different color. Late last year, and my VP of operations is in here, we brought in a robot that is AI-driven, camera-driven, and it modifies to every different piece to do grinding force. And so it's really fun to see that technology in place.
All right, talking about it on a daily basis, talking about automation and robotics. Let's go to the opposite end of the barrels right now. Scott, Tom, John, what do you guys got?
Yeah, I mean, you know, at Greenheck, we're obviously doing product innovation, but since we're talking manufacturing, lots of manufacturing innovation and automation going on in our shops today. It's helping solve some of the challenges that I think we all acknowledged up here. But I would say, as a technology for this area, what I'm most excited about is a lot of this innovation is becoming more accessible to more companies. You know, several years ago, it was a high barrier to entry. It was very expensive. Only a few companies could do it, but the costs have started to come down, it's more accessible, and it's more proven technology today too. So as I look to the future of this area, one of the things that we talk about on CWIMA is how do we broaden that skill set across this region, right? Because a lot of this technology is becoming more accessible. Obviously AI is a big topic now. Today somebody can access the power of a large language model from a $20-a-month subscription, right? So it's becoming more accessible. It makes regions like this
very exciting about what the future could be for manufacturing.
Well, definitely in our business, the technology made a big change. But I think some of the things the way we manage and some, I want to say, some different ways that we work with our people as far as in kind of pulling in on their creativity, things we do to keep that workforce current, because the worst thing you can do in a shrinking labor force is have significant turnover. So, what we do is we try to get our employees involved in some of the decision-making processes and some of the new technology when it comes, as far as how we're going to use it, how it's going to better our company, you know, and some of those types of things. The technology is a big thing. John, it's unbelievable what's happened in a few years. Having money at this time versus when I started it is a good [laughter] thing to have too, but we're doing a great job with that.
John, take it home.
Yeah. So, technology. Wow. I mean, what's going on today is absolutely crazy. You know, been in the business for 44 years and you look at where we were and where we are today is absolutely amazing. And I think again I'm going to go back to together we do more. You know, tomorrow we have a webinar in regards to a cobot welder that is portable and can be used in a low volume type situation, and we're going to have that, you know, to talk through as our members. But what I'd love to be able to do is get that vendor to bring it to Wausau, right? And to share that knowledge. Now, why would I, with maybe some of my competitors, want to share that? Well, because if you think about it, long haul, if it really is 100% productive, in other words, it doubles the output, that's half the amount of workforce that we're going to need to hire as part of that process. So again, I think the innovation is the innovation. In other words, with CWIMA, if we innovate that way and we pass it on, which we're doing in a lot of our programs that we have, it's going to help us all as part of that process.
Yeah. I appreciate you bringing up the workforce, and we talked about talent, some of the things you're doing, 24/7 welding training. Let's get back into the talent discussion. First, I do need to call myself out really quickly. We've done over 300 episodes of Manufacturing Happy Hour and this was the first time I've spilled a beer on myself mid-interview. So I know some of you caught that, so I figured I'd just make it apparent to the whole room. So history being made here in Wausau tonight. [laughter] But it was just a little too, like, I didn't spill it all over me. It was just a little too full, so I tipped it a little too early.
Anyway, aside from that, let's get back to the talent conversation, shall we? And Tom, I feel like you're the right person to start this off because you're running a third generation company, or just handed over the reins on a third generation company recently, but I'm curious to hear what actions your companies in CWIMA are taking, in a little more detail, to either attract or retain talent. And I have a feeling we're going to be talking quite a bit about retaining talent, but I would be very curious if anyone has thoughts on attracting it to this region, and that would be a great way to go as well. So Tom, can you kick us off on this one?
Definitely. I've been following the labor shortage for years, long before CWIMA started, and the numbers have never changed, and I think we're fighting a battle that really can't be won because we're not going to change those numbers. And a lot of times when you hear the state level, or the chambers, they'll have huge recruitment programs to bring people into our community. Without a doubt, I think retention of our current employees and their families is huge. I'm on the board of trustees up at NTC. What they've done up there is they tried to reach out to Park Falls, Rib Lake, Rhinelander. A few years back they put a set of dorms in, trying to give that college experience to those students from northern Wisconsin. And what we do then is get them employed in this area, get them actively employed, become part of your company, and try to get that where we retain them and they don't leave our area. It's not real good for the northern part of the country, but it works pretty good for us.
I'd say the close cooperation with the technical college is a huge part of it, working with the K-12s; that's stronger than it's ever been before. Our group, manufacturing, the K-12s, the K-14s and 16s, that group is tight. So, we're all working for that common goal, trying to get those students interested in manufacturing as a career and then getting them jobs at an early enough age and making it very difficult for them to leave, and trying to show that there really is a life-sustaining future in manufacturing.
Yeah. As other people start to answer it, if you have stories of people that you've seen go through these programs, stick around, maybe folks that thought they were going to leave but stuck around, feel free to share those as well. Anyone have any thoughts to piggyback off of what Tom started just a moment ago?
We're currently working with a youth apprenticeship program to bring in, you know, getting them in and training them young. They see that it's a good job and they're excited and that really does keep them. We're also working on some marketing because, you know, we're a little bit of a secret. So marketing to that: what do we actually do? When people don't know what you do in your company, they're not going to apply. So those are the two things that we're currently doing. And for retention, again, our benefits are top bar, right? Like you have to have good benefits. We have a free clinic for anyone on our insurance, that any time of day, if your kid's sick, whatever, you can go to the clinic and it's free. And so those are the things that we've done for retention.
Yeah, I would just add on to what they mentioned. One of the challenges we're trying to solve at CWIMA is getting future talent exposed to what's going on inside the factory. A lot of us joke sometimes that the outside of factories look the same as they did 40 years ago, but the inside of factories look totally different, right? These are now highly skilled, highly technical, great opportunities, but if we don't get some of our future talent exposed to what's going on on the inside, all they see is the outside, and it's changed dramatically. So, one of our goals within CWIMA is to get those folks exposed to what's going on in the inside. And that can be a challenge, too, right? Because, you know, the Heavy Metal Tour, for those that are familiar, that's an effort to get folks on the inside of the factory to see what's really going on. But we've experienced once we can get them exposed to what's going on in the inside, it definitely changes their perspective on whether or not that's a good career for them.
That's a great point. Is anyone doing anything to change what the outside looks like as well? Because I've thought about that before, right? But I've never heard it so eloquently put, right? The inside has changed a lot. The outside still kind of looks the same. A little bit about my personal background: my parents were teachers. I didn't really know what manufacturing looked like until I got into my first co-op job as an engineering student at Marquette. So, great point there, Scott. Jim?
You know, we talk about attracting students to manufacturing. One of the things we've done since day one is called the Heavy Metal Tour. So every eighth grader in a 55 school district area gets a chance to tour two manufacturing facilities and technical colleges. And so for the students, it's a chance to see that it's not what they thought it was from the outside. They get a chance to see the inside. But to me, more importantly, the teachers get a chance to see what it's like on the inside. So it's really changing the impression of the teachers of what manufacturing is all about. In fact, there's quite a few teachers that have said, "If I would have known I could have worked in this environment, you know, it's not dark, it's not dirty, it's not unsafe, right? It's very safe, it's very clean, and I would have known I could have made that money, I might have become a production worker instead of a teacher." And so, that program has been incredible.
You had talked about a specific example, and I've used this one many times. Early in the process we had a virtual reality welding machine that we went to the high schools with, and we were exposing both males and females to welding in a virtual reality type situation. And from there what we did is we actually then created a competition where we took those top class scorers of each individual school and we brought them back into our businesses and we taught them actually how to weld. Some of them knew how to weld. There was one young gal, probably weighed all of about 95 pounds, who was planning on going on to nursing. And we taught her how to weld, and the competition in the end was that we actually did an actual AWS test to see how well it was done. She took first place. And she saw it as an opportunity because she was planning on going into nursing, which, as you know, is a very expensive educational process, and oh by the way, it's not the best hours, right? She's still working for us and it's just amazing, and she loves it, and she calls it, welding is therapeutic, you know. And gals have much better dexterity than guys do, and so, awesome. And she's one of our best welders and she kicks the guys' butts every single time on chops.
I just saw a bunch of ladies in the audience nodding along with the dexterity comment. So, excellent story there. Let's keep going. Let's talk workforce development a little bit, right? You know, I think you got us going on the right path there talking about some of the things you're doing to keep people in and then get them trained as they're there. Let's talk about what happens when they've decided to stay, or the things you're doing that get them to decide to stay. What's been working well? Before we started recording, I told everyone, "Hey, if you've got a good leadoff answer, raise the mic to your mouth." So, I'm looking to see who's chomping at the bit right now. So, all right. You know, John, you've been batting cleanup quite a bit tonight. Why don't you lead off on this one, and then Laura, you can take it from there. [laughter]
I like a lot of companies reinvesting in your facility and automation. And I think the future is going to be changing in what it's going to look like, and to give them that opportunity. So we are probably one of the first to incorporate two robotic press brakes that eventually will be fed by a laser that will have automated parts picking. Why I bring that up is the fact that operators will no longer be operators. They're going to become technicians. And I think the future of our business and industry, if you look at it from that perspective, where it's going, if you can offer that kind of a career where they are running multiple pieces of equipment and being paid very well because they can, right? That is where I think the vision needs to start to be stated. And as you make that step each time into that automation, it's going to be clearer and clearer.
So is it fair to say that's an operator to technician pipeline as a career?
Absolutely. Absolutely. So you change it, and we have a program at the technical college right now that's teaching them that same pathway, which again is so cool, because that's the kind of connections that we have with our technical colleges, to say we're going to need to teach these people how to be a technician.
All right, Laura, I know you had a great answer as well.
Right, a little less technical, but we have a training program so people feel comfortable. You know, younger generations need to feel comfortable in their environments. But then on top of that we have a mentorship. So, if you're building a tank, we put two people on it, an experienced tank welder and then a lesser or new tank person, and they become friends, and then they go to the next step and they're with again an experienced and less experienced, and as they go down the line and they learn the entire process, they've become friends with every expert along the way, and then they feel very comfortable asking those questions. And again, in this generation, I think having questions and being uncomfortable is not as easy, and so we want to make our environment as comfortable as possible, along with being clean, and then the benefits you can't pass up, of course, which is what everyone does. But the biggest part is our training/mentorship program.
Yeah. No, you brought up a lot of different elements in there, but you definitely emphasized training and mentorship, I think, is a great word, a great program to use in there. I also like that you talked about how the mentors and mentees become friends as they go on over time. I think that's a very important human aspect to everything we're talking about here. So, Tom, Scott, and Jim, still want to get some answers from you. Scott? Oh, Scott's handing over the microphone to Tom.
For our company, for years we've adapted technology and we train our employees in house. But probably the biggest thing that we have going is we really take the personal approach to our employees. Our daughter and my wife have been great on that from day one. When they get in, we try to get them to become part of the company. Again, we'll match them up with someone to train them. But it's more about what we do as a company. It truly is that family atmosphere. We've got a couple individuals now that are going through some very serious medical issues, and it's amazing after these years to see those employees come together as a family, because that's pretty much how they've been taught since day one at the company.
You know, we probably adopted flexible scheduling years ago, and now we've created where it's almost like a nightmare, but it seems to work. We have families that could come and go. The wife could take off when her kids are sick. It's an absolute nightmare. Not everybody can do it, but for us it works. Those types of things make those employees actual family members. Our youth apprentices, they come on as a junior in high school. [clears throat] They'll go to technical college. They'll go through the college full-time as an employee. By the time they get back, they've been with the company for three years. They've got two weeks vacation. They're up on the pay scale. So, it's kind of a tough decision. That's why we keep them. They're there 10, 15 years, and now they're running two of our shifts.
Whatever we're doing from a retention standpoint has got to be good, because with the labor shortage, one of the biggest issues we're going to face is when the hiring was very, very strong in the late 80s, early 90s, and we hired probably a third to maybe more than that of our workforce. A lot of those employees are all approaching 30 years. So that's the part of the labor force that we're going to have to track. But we're doing something right to keep them there that long.
Yeah. And very similar to Tom, right? I was lucky enough to come into a business that the family had owned since 1953, and every time an employee had an issue, the family was there to work with them and help them out. So the number of employees that we have with over 20 years of experience is absolutely unbelievable. And so that provides a great training ground for the people coming in. Laura also mentioned that recently; it was actually Laura that helped us implement a program with some extra medical care that made it a lot easier and a lot less expensive for our families to go there.
So, there's a number of things that we're working on.
Yeah.
Covered a good smorgasbord, Scott. Yeah, I just underscore what they said. You have to be able to show your team members progressive tracks of options, right? Which is kind of what we're all hitting on.
I'd be remiss if I didn't tie this back to CWIMA somehow, which is really we can't do this without our educator partners within this community either. So there's lots of great things going on developmentally in all of our organizations, but collectively the gap we're trying to close with CWIMA is there's a lot of tie-ins with educating partners. NTC is one of them. Our K through 12 partners is another one to make sure that collectively we have the right pipeline of development opportunities for our team members as well.
So I can tell you Greenheck, we send several team members to NTC for different trainings that provides a tremendous value to us that we all benefit from as well. So that's really the conduit that CWIMA is playing, cuz we're doing a lot of great things independently and we need to continue to do that, but we also want to continue to invest in partnerships that we have with our educator partners as well that we can all benefit from in this region, too.
Yeah, I appreciate you bringing up CWIMA there. I'm gonna bring it back to CWIMA, and just for an acronym check for people listening to the podcast outside of here, Central Wisconsin Manufacturing Alliance. Perfect. Just to remind, I called it association earlier today, but I have not done that while recording. Alliance is what it is.
But nevertheless, I want to talk, like, let's look outward a little bit. What are some things you've all learned from other companies, other regions, other associations? I'm really interested to hear maybe some things you've picked up that maybe someone in a neighboring state like Minnesota or Iowa is doing, or maybe a completely different part of the country. You know, Jim, it's been a while since you've kicked us off. I'll have you lead us off on this one again and maybe we'll go straight down the line again after.
Thank you, Chris. You know, there's a number of similar type organizations in other geographic regions in Wisconsin. And so, particularly early on, we spent a lot of time with those groups sharing best practices. And so, as we did that, we learned better ways to manage the group, better ways to handle members, other ways to work with the different partnerships, right?
And we've talked about our education partners. We also have quite a few associate members that keep us afloat, right? We've got some law firms, we've got bankers, we've got insurance companies that are huge, huge members for us that really help make things go for us. So all of that's good, staffing companies as well. But we've learned sort of from their mistakes. So as we started up with associations legally, from a legal perspective, that really helped us go forward.
Yeah. Excellent way to start. Laura,
I'll be the nerd of the group. You know, I haven't been as in the CWIMA as long as the rest of the group, but I will say even the software we use to market what we do and do the accounting and do the back end of the house has been really helpful. How we plan events. We've even, like, what type of IRS filings we should be, we've learned from other partners to make sure that we're making the maximum benefit to our scholarships and our participants, because we very much want to reward the students that are going through the tech schools.
John,
You know, I can't say that I spent a lot of time in that and really investigating what others are doing. I mean, I am aware of some, and I think they're all struggling with some of the same things, that is, you know, getting the resources, you know, I mean people, you know, the volunteers that are here and that are part of that program is always a big deal, and trying to get that to happen is what we're always hearing.
And I think the, so we've done our own strategic planning. I think we have a great association, associated members that are helping us as part of, to bridge some of that gap. But that's probably the one thing that we're always hearing from a lot of the other manufacturing alliances or associations, is just how do you make it work?
Scott or Tom. Tom, you can go if you [laughter] little microphone negotiation going on.
Yeah, I would just say one thing we noticed is that the communities that are doing it really well, it sounds simple, but everybody is aligned, right? And when everybody's pulling the rope at the same time in the same direction, the power and speed that your community can work is tremendous. So when your manufacturers, your community, your educators, your chamber, when everybody's on the same page and aligned, it's amazing what we can accomplish, and that's really our goal within CWIMA. So the folks that are doing it really well, I would say everybody throughout that chain is aligned on the future goals that they have in mind for that region.
Well, I would say one thing. The goal doesn't change: the labor force for the future. Having been involved with this for many, many years, I'll go back, and it used to be you'd go and say the labor shortage was an issue. So you'd go down to WMC once a quarter and you'd have a cup of coffee and a donut and they would tell you the numbers, and you would come back, and you'd come back maybe three more months later and have another coffee and a cup of donuts. The numbers were the same and no solution in place. I went through that at the technical colleges and I went through it at the chambers, the same thing. Everybody knew that the issue was there, but the numbers scared the hell out of you, without a doubt. They just absolutely, that they're real.
And it wasn't until, you know, I wouldn't say we did it, but that conversation when John and I were coming and going from Bruise Brothers, the issue was we were done having coffee and donuts and not having any answers. And the problem was not the college's problem. It was not the chamber's problem. It was our problem as business owners, because the only thing that we can't build or buy is a workforce. We can get technology. We can put new buildings up, but we can't get employees. So, we have to find a way to manage this. So, I think that's where we started up.
NEW MA, Northeast Wisconsin Manufacturing Alliance, was out of the Fox Valley. They were kind of a prototype for us. But we, you know, we fed off of them, but we're a little different. What we've really tried to do is get involved so that we bring in the colleges, and we really try to get our members to be active members, part of the solution. And it's not my solution or John's, it's everybody's sitting out here. The labor force, we're never going to cure it, but we have to find, I would say, ways that we can manage it, because it's not going to get any bigger. But through technology and training and upskilling our employees, we're going to be able to get through it. I mean, we have no choice. So,
I'm going to add to that a little bit. I think, you know, going back to what I said before, I think maybe locally or Wisconsin-wise, New North was probably our model, is our model. They were ahead of us on that curve, but they spent a fair amount of time on economic development, not much on the workforce development side. And I think that was the glue that kind of kept us together. And again, I'll make the comment that I think it's extremely important to understand that manufacturers have to be a player. They have to be a participant. You can't just hire somebody to run it for you. That's probably the thing that we learned. We have to be a big part of that.
So, this is probably a good opportunity to segue into the last question of our discussion tonight. And Jim, since you've led off a bunch of them, we're actually going to go the opposite. Tom, you'll lead us off, and we'll have Jim, you as our closer here. But I want to ask about, this is like the actionable piece of advice for the audience here as well as the audience listening to this on the podcast afterwards. What's a best practice within your individual companies or within CWIMA that you feel manufacturing leaders listening to this could apply to their own companies? Or you could take this more broadly. What's something that the leaders listening could apply to their manufacturing ecosystems, their manufacturing communities? So you can go micro or macro on this.
Well, I'm going to go the easy route. I don't have to hit it out of the box. I would say what any manufacturing, any company should do is you should build a relationship with all your K12s in your area and your technical colleges, because the resources that they have for upskilling your employees, that's going to be what takes you into the next generation of technology. You want to get those high schools early. Get involved in the technical ed classes, either as a mentor, tours, bringing all those classes into your facility, get them hands-on, try to show them the fact that, you know, even if you have to show what job pay scales are.
We've had good luck with youth apprentice. Once you get a youth apprentice in, take them all the way through it. You can actually influence that individual, but you have to be willing to take his knowledge and employ him and get him to become part of your company. So one day that high school student's one of your leaders and he stays with your company a long time. But definitely those ties with the K12 and the technical colleges.
That's a great point coming from someone that, as a reminder, especially for the folks just listening to the podcast, is running a third generation business right now.
I mean, I guess I'm the oldest guy. [laughter]
Don't be so certain. We have a lot of experience on this stage. Let's put it that way. Scott, what about you?
Yeah, I mean, one of the things that we focus on is quality over quantity. And I think that carries through talent development, carries through the business, everything. We've seen a lot of companies try to be something that they're not, right? And I think the biggest thing for us is find the few things that you're very good at and do more of those things. And I think that'll proliferate throughout the rest of your business. And personally, I think that's what talent wants to see, right? Because I think when talent looks at companies, they know you can't be everything to everybody, right? Find what you're really good at. Focus on quality over quantity. I think that'll proliferate through the business.
Excellent point. John.
I'll go back to the point that I made earlier. My message to the listeners is, if you're interested in doing something like this, literally call up each one of your competitors in regards to your employees and say, let's get together. Let's have a conversation about how we can fix our problem versus how we're going to fight each other.
Awesome point.
I would say broader, get in your community. You know, everybody knows everybody. There's a message, getting to know your schools and bringing the youth apprenticeship, but not to dwell on that, but that really is beneficial to our business, to get them in and see what we can offer. But being a part of the community is a big deal, because parents tell their kids that's a great company. Their friends tell each other. And just being a part of the community and giving back really helps.
Yeah. Excellent advice. Jim, take us on home.
Yeah. So, I'm going to move it up a level here for just a second, right. First, I want to say thank you to the CWIMA board of directors, right. We've got an amazing group that works very, very hard. [applause]
And to really summarize what the group's talked about, there's a couple of things that our community has done very well by coming together, and I'll repeat it, right? The K through 12s, the technical colleges, the universities, the manufacturers, the associate members have all worked together to do an amazing job on what I call the heavy metal tour, which is where the eighth graders go through manufacturing facilities. What's happened as a result of that is our enrollment in the technical education in the K through 12 is 50% higher than Green Bay and Appleton in our schools here. And I'm certain it's because of these programs and the exposure to manufacturing that these kids have gotten. So absolutely amazing. I'm going to quote John, what we can do together, right? It's unbelievable what we can do.
Yeah. And I'll throw one thing out there. I was actually talking to an alumni of the Manufacturing Happy Hour podcast, Mike White from Saki. Gosh, it's been over two years since he's been on the show, but he was saying every time he comes up here, he's like, gosh, I got to move to Wausau. So, hey, you guys are doing some things that are getting folks that are living down in the city in southeast Wisconsin right now thinking they got to move up here as well, too. I'll say I'm biased coming up here in the middle of March as well, too. I'm like, I'm going to go snowboarding tomorrow before I head back home. So, I'll be at Granite Peak tomorrow. So, you guys got a lot going for you here in the center of the state.
And Mike, you're welcome to move up here anytime. [laughter]
That might be news to Mike's family if they're listening to this. But no, seriously, shout out to everyone that's been a part of tonight. I want to give one more round of applause to KFI Staffing, Michaela, Brent. Thank you for making tonight possible. Keep that applause going for yourselves as well. This is a heck of a community up here. You guys are doing a great job. So kudos to CWIMA as well.
And as we end any Manufacturing Happy Hour podcast, the podcast is ending, the party is not. But I want to raise a glass to all of you. One final cheers. Our sign-out line is stay innovative, stay thirsty. We'll see you again soon. Cheers, everyone.
Thanks, everyone. Cheers.
[music]
Article published