After a full work week and four back-to-back business dinners, I was exhausted. I questioned how anyone could handle a schedule like that. It prompted me to think about the importance of time management, which we tackle in episode #313 of MakingChips. Here are five things you can do to better manage your life so you don’t find yourself a complete zombie by the end of every week:
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The movie, “King Richard,” shares how Richard Williams coached his daughters, Venus and Serena, to become the greatest female tennis players in history. It’s an unusual story that changed the trajectory of everyone’s lives. I wanted to share the takeaways I learned throughout the movie that can be applied to manufacturing businesses and leaders.
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In episode #311 of the MakingChips podcast, we cover how I implemented 5S at Carr Machine & Tool. So what is it? Why does it matter? How can it make your shop more efficient?
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Jason was surprised when his dad retired. He showed up and served clients every single day. He never thought he’d retire. Jason even offered him a job doing outside sales, solely paid on commission and he hasn’t taken the bait. He’s fully retired. But before he retired, Jason tried to pick his dad’s brain to learn everything he could. The median age of machinists is 45. Shops need to aim to hire...
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Steve Courchane got his start in manufacturing when his best friend—an office manager at a machine shop—got him a job. Steve quickly realized that programming and machining could become his career. At the time, the shop he worked at couldn’t add another programmer. But Steve kept his ear to the ground. He found out they needed to upgrade their software. Before they purchased it, Steve bought the...
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Matthew Nix’s great great grandfather emigrated from Germany in the 1880s and became a blacksmith in southern Illinois. Around the turn of the century, he moved to Cozyville, IN, and started Nix Company. Matthews’ great-grandpa acquired their first welding machine in 1941. Nix Company evolved into a mom-and-pop welding shop, primarily a heavy equipment repair business. Matthew’s dad joined the...
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We recently had the pleasure to travel to a Tri-State Manufacturing Alliance (TSMA) event in conjunction with the Evansville Regional Economic Partnership. At this event, three panelists from area companies shared how they hire and retain top talent, the processes they follow to meet customer demand, and what they do to incentivize performance. Leah Curry: The President at Toyota Motor...
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It’s extremely important to humanize your customers by visiting them physically. There’s no substitute for it. While Zoom meetings won’t disappear and you’ll use them, they need to be paired with in-person communication. Why is it so important? How does it serve to strengthen your customer relationships?
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How do you handle a team member resigning? Do you have a formal exit interview process in place? What if you have to let an employee go—how would you handle the situation differently? These are all of the questions we processed in episode #305 of MakingChips.
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How do you create a bonus incentive program that drives action? If you want your employees to behave one way—but you’re paying them another way—there’s likely a disconnect, right? That’s why I implemented a bonus incentive program for my team at ZENGERS. The goal of the program is to: Promote and incentivize desired behaviors Drive specific results Reward those results Create an easy-to-manage...
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The Carr Machine & Tool team is growing and we are ready to hire for a middle management role. So I started researching what middle management is and what our role should look like. In a recent episode of MakingChips, Jason helped me walk through the process of determining if we need middle management and how to hire for the role.
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Corporate culture is the personality of a company. As a business leader, you get to define what the values are in your company. Just as each culture has its own uniqueness—defined by different factors such as food, history, scenery, and more—each company has its own unique identity. Company culture isn’t just about creating a cool atmosphere with ping-pong tables and beer & wine in a fridge....
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