Game Changing Moves with Business Leader Scott Ellyson

Welcome to this episode of the Million Dollar Mastermind. I'm Larry Weddell. And before we get started, if you want to know exactly how to win again and again, go to Wydell on winning.com webinar now to watch something I've put together for you. Now let's get going into this episode of Million Dollar Mastermind.

I'm here talking with Scott Ellison, co founder, CEO of East West West Manufacturing. He's given me some insights into the big corporate world that a company that continues to be able to grow at astounding rates. And Scott, it's got to be the last five years you said you've been growing at 40% a year and up till that you were like, like with Diversitech or some of these other like 20% a year or something like that.

We did 15 years of organic growth at just over 20% a year. And then when we started doing acquisitions, our first One was in 2017. We started acquiring domestic manufacturers in the US with the intention of growing them. And in doing that, we've been able to, we've actually increased our organic growth rate now to 25%. With the acquisition revenue, we're now running at about 40% growth rate a year. And we don't see that slowing down. In fact, we see it accelerating.

You know, you were talking before about what to me I interpret as a game changing type move just in the electric motor arena. I mean that's, I mean that's a game changer. And it's exciting to be able to be in manufacturing where you can come up with a concept but you know, you can make it and you don't depend on anybody else to get it out in the marketplace. You've got those supply chains set up, you've got the manufacturing set up. Your experience is telling you the best. Like you said before, you know, earlier on, part of what you did was help companies find the best place in the world to build certain kinds of products. So probably, you know, if I'm looking at you as somebody want to compete with, I'm a little overwhelmed because I'm trying to find a weak link here.

You know, we've spent the last 20 years helping companies design, manufacture and distribute differentiated product so that they can become successful. And it's across, we don't just do circuit boards or plastics or rubber or metal part. We do fully integrated products across a wide range of manufacturing disciplines. And so we work with our customers to really develop solutions that will help them be successful. And so after doing that across a lot of different products in a lot of different industries. We've identified certain areas where we can develop solutions and then either bring them to market ourselves or go to our customers with that unique IP and help them be more successful.

Now do you do now let's just say coming up with the motor. Do you have an R&D department group or do you piggyback off of research and development going on at other companies? Or do you have a synergy where you work together, share ideas and information back and forth? How does that go?

So we've got, you know, in the company we probably have 130 plus engineers and they break into three main groups. There's the, what we call the NPI team new product introduction which is that they, once the product is to a point where it's been designed and specified, then the NPI team is responsible for getting into production at volume. And then there's the sustaining engineering teams which are responsible for dealing with changes and production issues and so forth. So the design, the product design team, those are, you know, it's a seasoned engineering team across a number of different disciplines. Electrical, mechanical, we do some firmware, programming and so on. And so their job is really, you know, back of the napkin. You know, they'll, they'll, you know, if a customer comes to us with an idea, we can go through all the prototyping and the design and the ideation to get that to a finished state. And then, and so that group, you know, there's, we have a PhD in thermodynamics on that team, heat management controls engineers and so on. And so they're very capable of creating products across, that would really fit across a number of different industries. But the ingredients that goes into those products, plastics, metals, electronics, those are kind of common across all the products we make.

And are these groups located in one location? Are your engineers scattered out in the different facilities?

Good question. No, the core group is here in Atlanta. We call it the Bunker.

They love.

The lab. And that's where all the 3D printers are and the lab testing equipment and all the circuitry stuff. All that's here in Atlanta. And then we've got, that's more the core ideation and management. And then we've got, just to keep our costs down, we've got folks in other places in the world that will help us do our drawing work and board layout and more the more rudimentary part of the design process.

And you have, when you have all of these products, probably you see unlimited opportunities for revolution, improvement and game changing. Breakthrough. How do you choose which one to go to next?

You know, a common thing. I'll just a simple example. So, you know, I don't know, 15 years ago or so, we started seeing, you know, electronics is getting smaller and smaller and smaller and the technology is getting more advanced and chipsets are coming out that, you know, when you step to have 50 parts on a circuit board, you can now buy a chip that replaces 40 of them. And so incorporating and all of that continues to drive down cost of manufacturing and cost of the product. And so often we're knocking on a customer's door and saying, hey, what do you think about what if we introduce this chip into your circuit and it allowed us to take 20% of the cost out and all of a sudden their eyes light up. That's great. We could, we can make your product smaller. And we could, we could. You know, while we're at it, why don't we add this, this communication device so it become. It can become a Bluetooth product, and that might allow you to get more market share and add some additional features. And so we want to be in that proactive creating mode where we're going to our customers and advising them of new technologies and things they might want to consider incorporating into the products that would then give them an advantage to help them sell more product, which in turn helps us, because then we get to make more product for them.

And I bet your engineers are having a field day now with the 3D printers and being able to put print chips inside all of these devices all at once.

I mean, 3D printing is. It's still not, you know, a great option for, for volume production. But in terms of, you know, if, if I've got an idea and I want to see if it works, I can, I can 3D print the part and, you know, wake up in the morning and there it is. And I can, I can try it out and see if it works for us. So in terms of spinning ideas and getting things moving quickly, you know, and it's so important. And this is one of the main reasons we've been buying domestic manufacturing across the US and that moving products from idea into production quickly is so important. And we were finding that when we were leveraging a lot of our offshore capabilities, it just took too long. And so we wanted to have strong domestic capabilities so that we can launch products very quickly for our customers and get them into the market.

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And how does it compare now from the idea stage, going to the idea stage to getting your model mocked up to where you, you're able to demo it and then get the order and then gear up your manufacturing and get that pipeline filled with product. How, how does that, that's got to be a revolution in your life. The way things and of course, new challenges.

I'm never satisfied. That's an area that we, you know, speed is king and it's speed is more important than cost at that point. You know, being able to turn around and get products in the market quickly, you know, having that as an advantage is we think is huge for us and something an area that we really want to excel at and separate ourselves from the competitors. And we're not really aware of, you know, a company out there that really there's, you know, of course there's product design firms, there's a whole array of manufacturers that are out there and typically those manufacturers specialize in certain areas from one company may just do wire and cable, another one do plastics and so on. But we want to be a company where we want to be partnered with our customers to help them not only design the best possible product for their, their need, but also be able to take it entirely, develop the entire supply chain for them to support the manufacturing of that product.

That leads me into how are, how do you manage yourself to keep yourself from getting overwhelmed with things to keep up with and real but also imagined problems. CEOs have got to look down the line and see problems coming and steer the company around it in advance. You know, there's so much you can do by empowering your people and having high quality people in place, having veterans that you trust yet. But the things that, that's good, but it also means the things that get to your desk are the absolute worst or toughest. And when you've got these things, I mean if only one a month comes in from each of these plants, that's seven a month. And so how do you keep yourself even keel and perspective? Because Scott, between me and you, I'm going to give you some advice. You cannot let yourself get burnt out. Okay? You have so much stinking potential. I just want to tell you, I talk to a lot of people and I'm like, super proud of what you've been able to do at this stage of your life, because you're still a young man and the people that you have empowered and excited and the industries that you are fueling for growth and innovation and everything, and you're just on. I can just see it. You're just on the beginning stages of the kinds of impact you can make. I just really like what I'm hearing from you, and I just want you to. I want you. I want you to keep your head together, young man.

I like riding my bike, so that's how. That's how I get my peace of mind when I'm riding my bike down the road.

I will tell you, I. I used to do that myself until I'm 14 years recovering from a cycling accident in the middle of the middle of Palm Beach. So I. I've sold my road bikes, but you gotta do something. But how do you keep yourself distanced from the tyranny of the urgent? Becoming the fireman is just rushing around, put out fires and things like that. How have you been able to make and basically keep this fun for you?

The things that get me excited, one is building. You know, I'm just always amazed at the team that we've been able to pull together. I mean, I look around me and it just. I'm bewildered at how talented folks are and what they're able to get done. And so. And I love seeing folks grow and develop and move into higher positions within the organization. And I take a lot of pride in that and having been part of that as a company and created a culture that allows for that, especially, you know, as company is as diverse as we are across so many different areas. And so to me, that's just great. And then, you know, a lot of times, of course, manufacturing the kinds of products that we do where we feel like we're making a difference in that regard, I think that that gets me very excited. And then really, it's just where this could go. I always love getting out of bed in the morning and saying, sky's the limit. There's nothing holding us back except ourselves. And I get a thrill when we're buying these companies. A lot of them have been beaten up pretty bad over the years with a lot of manufacturing going overseas and. And a lot of them haven't been that. Aren't terribly sophisticated relative to what's possible today in terms of lean manufacturing and systems. And so in a lot of cases, we're breathing new life into them. So we're, you know, in changing communities, you know, companies that we're really just struggling to get through, we're now investing capital in them, we're teaching them how to do things better, we're making them more competitive with our global capabilities and we're, we're moving business into them and adding jobs in communities that have been depressed. And so I get a lot of, you know, pride out of being part of that as well. So you put all that together, it's, I'm having a blast and I got it. You know, certainly there's always issues and things we're dealing with. And, and as a company growing as quickly as we've been, some folks can grow with that and some folks in the company struggle with it. That's just reality. And so understanding where in the company where the talent is and making it as a manager, making sure that we're challenging those folks and giving them opportunities to grow and advance is, you know, that, that, that's a lot of fun, but also something I see as kind of fundamental to, to my role in making sure that that's happening.

Well, it allows you to not only attract those high quality people, but keep them. Because when you've got that kind of growth happening, there's all kind of opportunities for advancement, you know, and if you've got the right kind of people, they want to advance, you know, they want to learn new things, do new things, but have different positions, have different challenges because that keeps them fresh too. And that's part of the role of a leader that I don't think a lot of leaders accept. You know, they'll, you know, you'll see it in organizations where people say, you know, the leaders will say, you know, my people just don't excite me anymore. And I say, well, guess what, you don't excite them either. And they say, where what my people come and they're not, they're not excited at the meeting. Well, yeah, maybe you're not excited. You know, who came first? And so it's great to see that you understand that. And you're creating part of creating the culture that will have positive values long term is to create an environment that's going to grow. Because I don't know how you have a stale environment and have happy, positive people, you know, and so congratulations on building that on the track record you've accumulated and the impact you personally are having in so many people's lives. I'm just, it's just been a lot of fun to get to know you and to hear you describe your company. And if, you know, people can't go out and buy, you know, they get excited about east west. Now they can't go out and buy a circuit board or a motors.

No, no, it's. Yeah, it's not.

They can see I love this company. I'm gonna go buy Motor.

We're not. We're not public, so you can't go out and buy our stock. Yeah, maybe one day. Who knows?

Maybe one day. We'll keep an eye on you. And when that time comes, be sure and let me know if I can help get the word out. So congratulations on a great company and a great story. Thanks for sharing.

If you enjoyed what you've heard and are dead serious about finding out for yourself exactly how this works in the real world, I've taken the most valuable business lessons I've learned over 40 years and put them into something for you to watch. Go to whiteellawinning.com webinar now in order to move up as fast as possible. I'm Larry Wydell and I run the Million Dollar Mastermind. Go.