S5:E2 - Creatively Tackling Workforce Challenges in Manufacturing

You are listening to the Growing Small Towns Show, a podcast dedicated to supporting you, the person who really cares about the future of your small town. We believe when people get better, everything gets better, and our episodes offer the ideas and actions that prioritize people and small communities. Thank you for listening. We're so glad you're here. Our guests on today's podcast are Amanda Gregory and Joe House. These two awesome humans are the co-founders of MAKE, and that stands for Manufacturing a Kids Experience, which was started as a function, kind of, we'll talk about how this organization came to be in the episode, but Joe and Amanda both work for a manufacturing company out of the Twin Cities. In Minneapolis or in Minnesota called Design Ready Controls. And they were like a lot of manufacturing, you know, across the United States, workforce and the concerns over future workforce or running out of workforce was present in their company and on their minds. And so they together came up with this idea to create an organization to engage young kids about manufacturing. And their first, the first thing that they did, this platform began with the book called Blake Explores Manufacturing. So now they have a monthly newsletter, they've got some programming that people can tap into. And I met them at an event and listened to their story and just knew that this was a unique, innovative, and truly creative approach to something that a lot of people in our communities are struggling with. So what's great about this is that when you listen to their story and in the show notes, Make as an organization has resources and tips and advice for people in manufacturing, for educators, and for parents. Just thinking about how do we connect this big important thing, right? Making things, that we all use every single day, how do we connect that work to kids in a way that they'll understand? Super excited to have these two on the show. The story is phenomenal. And again, I just think it speaks to the creativity that lives inside all of us. And if we're willing to tap into that, we can really come up with some unusual and different ways to solve the problems that we're facing. Enjoy this episode. Well, hey, Joe and Amanda, welcome to the show, guys.

Thanks for having us.

Thank you. It's an honor to be here.

Oh my goodness. So it's always so much fun getting to, you know, go to different events. And I happened to meet the two of you at an event in Minneapolis. And so we'll make sure that we shout out the Community Venture Network for bringing us together because that's always, always a good thing to do. But the moment I met the two of you, enjoyed your conversation, which, you know, I really like people. So you're winners in my book as far as that goes. You were warm and it was, it was really great right away. Then I was in the audience listening to your 15-minute Q&A and you were talking about your manufacturing company. So I'll let you tell a little bit about you know, your daytime work. But then we want to talk about MAKE. Is it MAKE Publishing? Is that what it's called?

It is. Yep. Yeah. MAKE stands for Manufacturing a Kids Experience.

Right. And just, you know, on the show, we've got a lot of people that listen to this. And one of the things that we talk a lot about is just how do we, how do we help, especially local employers and most of the communities that we work with, a lot of the people that will be listening to this have manufacturing in their in their backyard, right? And I hear over and over and over again, you know, we can't— nobody wants to work anymore. We can't get any employees. And I know that it's challenging. You knew that it was challenging, and this is one of the ways that you decided to address that, not just for you, but for all manufacturers. So there's a lot to unpack with you two. Why don't we just start with a bit of an overview of digital— I keep saying digital, sorry, design -ready controls. So whichever one of you wants to start, kick us off.

Yeah, I'll kick us off. Rebecca, thanks again for having us. Uh, we're thrilled to be on here. You know, while we met in Minnesota, I understand that, you know, all good things start and end in Oaks, North Dakota. So we're sorry we can't be there with you. We're sorry we can't be there with you in person, but thrilled to talk to you virtually. Um, so I'll summarize design-ready controls, and then Amanda will come over the top and correct anything I mixed up or— perfect.

It's always good to have somebody to do that. Yeah, yeah, that's right. Real-time fact-checking, it's great.

That's right. Uh, so Design Ready Controls, we are a manufacturer of electrical control panels. Uh, the best way to think about that is, uh, electrical control panels are the brains of a larger piece of equipment. So we manufacture these particular control panels exclusively for other manufacturers Some big business or some big industries we participate in are things like heating, ventilation, and air conditioning, building management, or power generation.

Okay.

The end use of our product is almost always in a large-scale commercial or industrial setting, no residential, and in general, no, you know, apartment buildings or shopping malls or things like that. And for us, what makes DesignReady Controls unique as far as the product we build is it's both high volume. We built around 70,000 control panels last year across our 5 production facilities, but it's also extremely high variability in that the lot size is 1.1. So essentially we built, you know, 63,000 custom control panels last year. We do all that using software technology and a really talented team. And, uh, you know, each and every day we are on a mission to be the world's best control panel builder. For original equipment manufacturers who require excellence and scale. Cool.

Yeah, I think the only thing to add—

yeah, go ahead, Amanda.

No, I was just gonna say the only thing to add to that is our talented team is across the US. So we're headquartered in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, with manufacturing facilities in Albert Lea, Minnesota, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and Richmond, Virginia. And, you know, we're all operating as one company, multiple locations, building control panels for our customers, both here in the US, but then also shipping out of the country as well.

Yeah, that's kind of amazing. So I'm going to say something that's— I'll just speak the truth. It was interesting to me as I listened to you two in Minneapolis the first time, you talked a lot about the fact that— and I think this is an important maybe nuance to manufacturing even to note— is just that you're talking about building something Customized, right? You said 63,000 of your 70,000 were customized. So I think there's potentially what even your presence, the way you're speaking this episode, for sure your book, it can maybe dispel some of the traditional myths of what manufacturing is, you know, in the sense that it's not all rote and routine. Now, there is a lot, there is a lot, just depends on what's being manufactured, right? Whether there's this assembly line kind of, workflow or not. But I just thought you— I remember, I think, Joe, you were the one that called that out. I can't remember which one of you called that out, you know, that the work, it really, it is interesting and it's varied. And that can be true in other manufacturers as well.

Yeah, we're all authentically involved. And like control panels, you know, we all have different backgrounds, which I think builds that strong team in being creative and innovative and continuing to, you know, be the world's best. But yeah, Joe has a good explanation that he always tells people.

Yeah, that— I mean, whether it's good is up to you in the audience, but what we say all the time is at Design Ready Controls, you have a unique opportunity to work with both your hands and your minds. Yeah, because there's so much variation in the product. And don't get me wrong, we have systems and processes and we follow those systems and processes in order to scale. But when you work here, you're working inside a, you know, set of operations or on a type of control panels, right? And there's enormous variation in it. So key skills like communication, problem solving, you know, even down to tool identification are just absolutely critical to success. And we find really creates when you allow the talented people who work on the team to build into it, creates just an unbeatable culture of, again, people who work with both their hands and their minds.

Yeah, so that was the statement that I remember hearing that I was like, oh, that is so beautifully put. Because I do, I think that there's mistaken ideas maybe about what manufacturing even is, what it looks like, and it might be deterring especially students, young people, whether we're talking, you know, K-12 education or even, you know, post-secondary education. It might be deterring people because they actually don't know enough about all of the different opportunities related to manufacturing that exist. Right. So, so on that note, let's just real quick talk a little bit about the culture because you just touched on it, Joe. You said that you at— in your organization, you guys take really seriously letting people's talents come forward in a way. If you're, if you're able to steward their talents towards work and let them shine where they want to shine— and again, I'm putting, I'm putting words in your mouth, you didn't say all of that, but that's the, that's the connector that I'm making, um, as an org development person, um, that is, that is a really special way to help people feel engagement. And, you know, Gallup is like the, the premier group that manages or like does all the data and research about engagement. And this is just like a random aside, but as of the date that we're recording this, they just released their findings that engagement across like it's across industries, it's across sectors, it's at a 10-year low. Engagement— you don't want engagement levels to be low, right? Because that just means that people aren't really in it. They're there and they're punching a clock, right? And they're doing their thing, but it's— they're not full mind, body, spirit, soul, all the things committed to the organization. And I feel like you guys might be— you— I feel like you'd be far outpacing that engagement rate. So what is kind of your approach to culture, specifically at your organization? And then we'll get into the book because it's a key piece of it, I think.

Yeah, yeah. I'll give a short but practical answer then. Amanda, you know, many people call her the heart and soul of the company. So she'll give you a lot more detail on how it works. But I look at it pretty simple and it's, you know, we need 3 R's: the right people in the right roles with the right opportunities. And it's our job as a company to make sure we stack all 3 of those Rs up on top of each other, right? You know, selecting the right people comes down to us— us as an employer qualifying them as an employee just as much as is them as an employee qualifying us as an employer. And then the right role is, hey, we have almost 600 employees today that are spread out across 18 departments and then multiple levels inside each department. It's really possible we can have an excellent performer but have them in the wrong job, right? We have to find out that they get into the right job by asking questions and being very transparent about what opportunities exist today, tomorrow, and maybe further in the future, and helping retain that employee by showing them the path. And then finally, the right opportunities. You know, we are a growth-oriented company. We believe really firmly in the end markets we service. In the way we go to market, focusing on top-tier manufacturing companies as customers only. And what we find is growth is opportunity, you know, growth equals opportunity. So it's up to us as an employer to present those opportunities for growth to each and every one of our employees. Okay, Amanda, what do you have there?

Yeah, like, Amanda, so tell me, how do you do that? Um, 600 employees is a fairly— is a fairly robust workforce. So just from a practicality standpoint, like, how do you do that? What's your approach?

Yeah, I think, I mean, really it all comes down to how and who we were founded by and ingraining that into, we all care about each other, we all want to be the best, and everybody wants to show up and do a good job. So how can we collaboratively work together to accomplish that, but then also recognize that We're all human beings. We need to just have that relationship in conversation and just feel the support from, from everybody. And the thing that I have appreciated the most since being here for just over 9 years that just really made me fall in love with this place is that I can go literally to anyone. When the first day that I started, I could go to anybody and ask anybody a question if I didn't understand, you know, a task that I had or a like, I don't know, literally anything. And everybody was willing to stop what they were doing and support that new person and welcome them into the Design Ready Controls community. And so as we welcome new people in, we have a specific process to make sure that they feel informed, they feel involved, and they know what their purpose is and that where they start today is not where they need to always be within their career. And exposing them to the different opportunities, the 18 different departments that we have, and involving them where you can see that light go off inside them. You know, like, okay, that sparked some interest with that individual. Let's bring them in on that project or ask them more questions about that to just learn more about them and kind of what, what makes them tick, what motivates them. And it's, it's being intentional and treating people with the, which is the kindness and grace, and then the, the push to drive them. And, you know, some people show up and that is the career that they want. They, they've been in it for the last 10 years, great, like they're masters at it, they're really good at it. But then some people have that drive where they're like, okay, what's my next step? Where can I go? What can I continue to learn? And so it's recognizing the individual, you know, what their drive is, and then letting them take the, the driving factor of continuing to develop and grow and learn and being there to support them along the way.

The Growing Small Towns show is recorded locally at the Growing Small Towns podcast studio located in Oakes, North Dakota. It's produced by Pheasant Canteen Studio in Aberdeen, South Dakota, with marketing support from Cassidy Johnston. In Canyon City, Colorado. Our intro music was created and produced exclusively for Growing Small Towns by James Bergman, singer and songwriter from Fargo, North Dakota. Local and small, it's what we support and it's who we love. Get your community a shout out on the podcast. Call 701-203-3337 and share your small town success that you just don't feel is being celebrated quite enough and let us shout you out. You can also share your biggest people challenge and we'll dedicate an episode to offering ideas to help. Hell, you can basically tell us anything and we'll do what we can to answer. We can't wait to hear from you. So you're describing, um, the kind of culture that I would love. Like, if I could wave a magic wand, I would be like, every employer And especially a community like mine, right, a town of 1,800 people, having— so one of the things that we're really trying to remind communities of is that your employers drive culture and more broadly than just the four walls of your business, right? Like if you, you know, you— so Elbertley is your smallest Albert Lea community, right, that you're, that you're in?

Yep.

Um, how many employees do you have there?

80, roughly 80.

So, so this— and how big is Albert Lea population-wise? And this is just to put some context around this. Do you know even roughly?

18,000.

Okay, yeah, so that's, that's a small community right now. Obviously I'm 1,800, doesn't matter, it's a small community. So that— the reason I'm bringing this up is because, um Helping people understand the impact that your 80 employees have on the community of 18,000 people. When they are, when they feel the way that you've just described at work, where they feel truly valued, like they matter to their employer, they are not just a number. I'm not like number 3 of 80. Like, my name is Rebecca. If I work for you, you know me, you know what I care about, you know. That feeling, that sense of empowerment, confidence, kind of hope, engagement, that follows out onto the street. I mean, and I think if people— because there's not a single human that actually compartmentalizes work and home at all anymore. I mean, there was a time, right? Like leadership has shifted, I think hopefully enough to where people understand that nobody actually checks their personal stuff at the door. Like we're humans. So we bring it with us, right? But that also means a good company culture. They bring that home with them. They're happier probably at home. They're happier in their community involvement. Like, that's why this matters so much. So coming back to kind of the brass tacks of this, Amanda, because it's so important and what you're talking about, you said the word intentional. What a lot of people hear is time. Like, well, that sounds time-consuming. You know, like, how do I actually get to know all of these people? So I'm actually curious, you know, at, in your organization, is this when you've got leaders that are actually supervising people and that are kind of maybe responsible, and I don't know if this is a question, are they responsible for driving that conversation forward, that, that really getting to know people? Is that baked into your leadership development or what does that look like? You know, in practicality, how, how at your organization do you get to know everybody like that?

So there's a lot of different things that we do from an employee engagement standpoint. We have a committee that is represented across all the facilities, and we make sure that there's different activities and opportunities for our team members to come together and get to know each other outside of their core team. And it's literally, the activities are so wide ranged. I like, we just had a team event where everybody came together and they had to accomplish building this kind of structure out of paper and then drop it from a ladder. And the one that took the longest to hit the ground won, right across the whole entire company. And it does take time. It does take away people from the production floor, but it also creates a bond and a sense of getting to know somebody on a different level than just building a control panel with them, right? And then they can take that bond outside. So then if there is, you know, something they're trying to tackle together, or they have a question about supply chain and they met our supply chain manager at this event, they already started that rapport. But I think it truly comes down to the leadership team in knowing what we need to do and being intentional. And I make sure that I go out to the production floor and I'm meeting everybody, right? It does take time. You just chunk it out. Time management is a very important thing to know how to utilize in manufacturing. And you get to know them throughout that process. And then if you're— they're building a control panel for your customer, you know who to go and talk to, or they know who to come and talk to if they have a question. And It's like you said, it does take time, but it's a mindset, it's a culture. It's something that really will make us continue to feel small, act small, but be growing at the rate that Joe had explained. And it's incredibly important for us to keep that culture going.

Yeah, it's just listening to you, it's like, again, I just You're like the poster children. Like the way you're talking about this is just exactly what I would hope. And I hope that as we've got people listening to this, especially if you're a business owner, right, that you just take away one little nugget of some of this that you could do with a bit more intention. Because I think the mistake is this idea that just because you know each other, that's enough. And that's not enough, right? It takes a little bit extra effort. And I do know that it's time-consuming. But they're people and you can't, and I've said this before too, but there's like not a, there's not, you can't, there's not a shortcut to caring, right? And there's not a way to outsource caring. Like this is leadership, what you're talking about. So it's very, very cool to hear your culture and thank you for sharing all of that. I might take a bit more of a geek out on my end, but it's just because this is the thing. You know, I think about it like if we, if there was a way that we could easily create a community culture we'd all be doing it. But that's hard to do because there's not a boss and there's not leadership dictating and you can't fire people in a community. And so it's really looking at where the majority of people gathering and employers are often it. And it just makes a huge, huge difference. So with that, let's talk about this book and how Make came to be. And I love this because, Joe, I think when you talked about it, you have a very different lens through, you know, through which you viewed this idea, which is cool, and I love it. And it's okay that it's not feelsy because Amanda's gonna round out the feelsy part, I have a feeling. So talk to us a little bit, talk to me a little bit about the Blake. So it's called Blake Explores Manufacturing, is what you're— and this is your first book, right, with Make Publishing?

That's right.

Okay, so tell us about how that idea came to be.

Yeah, so we'll stick with kind of the theme. I'll give the practical summary and then Amanda will, you know, round it out with the feelings and the details that support it.

Please stay in your lane, Joe.

Yes, yeah, I do well in this lane, don't worry. I do poorly in the other. But the— so the practical reason behind this is pretty simple. I mean, first, Make, or Manufacturing a Kids Experience, is a separate organization from Design Ready controls, right? And it's separate because Design Ready Controls, we value staying incredibly focused on what we're doing. We're focused on building control panels. And yeah, some things become related to that, but writing children's books isn't one of them. So Amanda and I started this, uh, on the side, and you know, it's classic night and weekend endeavor that has a lot of relation to what we've learned at Design Ready Controls but is really intended to be more broadly applicable to manufacturers. But the genesis behind it for me was pretty simple. In 2023, we as Design Ready Controls were growing really quickly and we had to find a way in each and every one of our facilities, both the, you know, more rural markets like Albert Lea as well as more metropolitan markets like Brooklyn Park where we are today, to dip into different or access different parts of the labor pool and have the chance to sell our story of what it means to work with your hands and your mind, what it means to have career opportunity in manufacturing and all of the things we just talked about. Yeah. So we did what many people do. We doubled down on the existing relationships we had with colleges, with universities, with technical colleges, and then we kept our pipeline developing through, you know, different chambers of commerce and economic development context and even down into high schools. But the reality was we were not hiring enough or we were not attracting enough people to keep up with the end market demand that we had created. So one day, you know, I was frustrated, admittedly, coming off of a manufacturing facility tour and I said, hey, you know what, Amanda, we gotta solve this problem for the next 20 years. Like, I'm sick of doing it in 2-year increments. Let's start recruiting kindergartners. And while I said it as a joke, it occurred to me while we were standing together in Amanda's office, like, hey, We should write a kids' book and then use that kids' book.

So did you say that? You actually said that?

I did.

Yeah. I, well, okay. So there's more feelings in there than you—

There is. You better give yourself a little bit of credit. Yeah. And then I put my nose in the pot. Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah. I love, I love that though. I mean, I love that you're like, we should recruit kindergartners. Then you said it kind of tongue in cheek and then you're like, but maybe we really should. And how would we reach them? We should write a kids' book.

Yes, but see, that's, you know, Rebecca, you're dragging me back into this logical, like, process-driven chain of thought that I'm known for. And, and, you know, before I turn over to Amanda for the better part of the story, is, uh, it became really evident quickly that the book was going to be able to serve two purposes. One is kind of fulfilling that tongue-in-cheek need of recruiting the next generation and working on this labor challenge we had for the next 20 years. But the second, a little bit more tangible, is it turns out manufacturing is kind of a hard thing to explain to young kids. You know, I have young children. Explaining what manufacturing is is complicated, right? So what this book has done is it's enabled young parents to more confidently explain to their kids what they do every day through the story that teases out what manufacturing is in the light of things that children see Daily, right?

Okay. So I want to pause there because you just, you just said it and I, you said it so casually. I really want people to hear that because we're going to link to the, to the book, right? And so if people are in economic development, community development, think about your manufacturers. If you're in a small town and you know somebody, or maybe somebody listening to this actually works in manufacturing, the two audiences, it's not just the students, but you said it, that it gives people that work in manufacturing, you said young family, young parents, right, that work in manufacturing, a way to describe their work, you know, and in short of being like it's bring your kid to work day, which isn't really that much of a thing anymore. I don't, I don't think very much. That's, that's really, it's really, really cool because it is. And I, you know, I've obviously read the book. It's a very quick read, but the point of how it explains in really simple terms what manufacturing is And then also just for people that obviously can't see me looking at the book, there is a, there's a QR code in here that has some ideas for additional parent-led activities, which is really rad. You know, just ways to help people use the book. That's really cool, Joe. I mean, it is, it's really cool. And it is, manufacturing isn't something I think, like I said at the kind of the start of our, of our episode here, I think there's people have an idea in their head potentially. About what it is, but that's not all it is. And so this is a really cool way to introduce it to an entirely different population of people. It's really cool. So Amanda, how about you? Yeah. When he said we should write a kids' book, what did you say?

Well, I just got super excited because I'm like, I've always wanted to write a kids' book. Let's do it. And so with the passion and the drive that, uh, we both shared in our mission of finding Make and writing the kids book. We came up with the idea in June and wrote and self-published it and launched it in October for Manufacturing Month. And that's all along the way. Yes. I mean, we were going and we had a mission to make sure that we were educating, we were inspiring, and we were equipping. That next generation to win in manufacturing. And win can be explained and defined by a lot of different ways, right? Like win as they see themselves working in manufacturing, win to have a better understanding and appreciation for— everybody had to build, you know, the water bottle that they're using or the phone that they have. And, you know, we need doctors and lawyers, but we also need the people that make the stethoscopes. That have the doctor's ability to then hear our hearts and our bodies. And so if somebody has a passion for building with their hands and, you know, they don't want to go to a 4-year college, you know, they don't fit that societal route, don't discredit yourself. Like, there are absolutely incredible career opportunities. And so let's inspire these kids that, you know, love to take things apart and build them back together or work on cars and, you know, wire up speakers and things like that, that when you can merge your passion to then your career, it is— you are going to be absolutely incredible. And the company that you work for is gonna honor that, and they're gonna see it, and it's just gonna make everybody around you just even more successful. And so if you can inspire that into a kindergartner to start dreaming up what it, what it means to be in manufacturing or just have appreciation for it is a huge win. And so I think the book definitely, when we wrote it, it was, you know, to reach manufacturers and the families within it. But then also we've been connecting more with educators as well, you know, right, in elementary schools. And they're like, oh, this is great, we want to incorporate STEM in a different way into our classroom. And a book is a very— like Joe had said— a very easy way to explain something that is a little bit more complicated. And, you know, we don't get into the technical terms of during Blake Explores Manufacturing because it's about Blake and he's exploring manufacturing, and the things around them have to be built by somebody. Um, and so on top of the education part of it, then we're also meeting with parents and making sure, like you said, equipping them with activities and a blog that coaches them through the activities and why there's a a purpose for building with your hands and the things that can develop, you know, their children as they get older. And so it's been a, it's been a really awesome experience in how we're connecting with manufacturers, parents, and educators to just live out our mission, you know, to educate, inspire, and equip that next generation.

Well, I, that's just, I'm super, I'm like seriously super excited about this episode coming out so that because we have a, I think I'd said we've got a technical education, you know, for our high school. There's kind of a consortium of those folks and even technical colleges in the area. And you just think about the opportunity and you said it, what really, like what really struck me is, you know, there was a time when the path for a kid that liked to build with their hands, the path seemed pretty narrow. And maybe not all that exciting. And it certainly wasn't something that was really positioned in light of a truly fulfilling life, career, and with growth and career development. That's not what technical and trade, you know, in air quotes, the trades used to be positioned as at all. And that's what's so neat about this. It's like the idea of a little kid, a really little kid the sooner they recognize that they like to build with their hands and that there's a ton of opportunity for that, the faster they'll stop wishing they could be different, right? Wishing that they need— or believing they needed to be different so that they could actually have something fulfilling for work. Like, it's a really, it's a really big deal because, yeah, for the rest of our lives, there's always going to need— we're always going to need people that want to work with their hands and their minds, right? To build whatever we need. So it's just really neat. So talk to me a little bit. I would love to know, like, what's your favorite— do you have a favorite moment with the book so far? Whether it was like something— what have you guys, what have you guys been doing? Have you been actively going out into schools? And maybe another question, so that's— you weren't prepped for that, so that might be hard to answer, but what has— oh, awesome. Okay, so, and then the other thing is just what, what have you actually done, or how have you used this book at Design Ready Controls? Like, what So if a manufacturer is listening to this or an economic development person's listening to this, how can they help their manufacturers use this book?

Yeah, I'll go first with the biggest, like, moment of it. I think— well, not think. So the biggest moment for me with Make is getting to see the impact that we have on the kids. Like, I have a very large heart and passion for supporting kids, especially in focusing on what they love to do and just exposing them to things. But you don't know, you don't know. And so for the book to be an opportunity for somebody to be inspired, that is so moving. And you can see that when we've done reading events and just getting feedback from people about how their kid loved it, or, you know, you get to see some of the building activities and the kids that have gone over the top in building different things. Um, it's very fulfilling in that, and it's what motivates us to keep on going. What is the next thing for Make and how can we continue to, you know, showcase this not just in the, you know, community that we're in, but sharing it across all communities that, you know, have manufacturing within it and can inspire others.

Yeah, love it.

Yeah, I'd say for me, the best moments so far have been really seeing kind of the second part of the thesis on this is seeing parents connect with the book because they can read it to their children at night and explain in a better way what they can do or what they do in manufacturing. And we just had so many conversations with parents of young children whose, you know, maybe their neighbors work in more defined professions, if you will, like being a doctor or a lawyer or banker or whatever the case is. But to give them something where they can confidently describe what they do as a manufacturer to their children, it puts a lot of pride into the work. And we see, you know, just that having incredible kind of impact beyond measure, if you will, in them, their company, the lives of their communities. And then addressing your second question, Rebecca, on how do we use it at Design Ready Controls, Amanda and I were both, you know, very intentional about this to say, hey, We are employed by Design Ready Controls, and we are working every day to execute Design Ready Controls' mission. We're not going to take advantage of that position in order to over-leverage Make or create Make in the shadow of Design Ready Controls. So how we engage with this company is the exact same way we engage with everybody else.

Great answer, by the way.

We offer students the opportunity, if there's interest, to tour at local manufacturers. We've done that at Design Ready Controls. We've also done it at many other companies. And then, you know, we hope that the newsletter and other ways we engage with the community offer some, you know, positive opportunities and kind of uplifting long-term career development to companies like Design Ready Controls. But we very intentionally intend to continue doing it, kind of run them in a separate path, recognizing a lot of the ends are common. But we had to do this in a way that's general in order to serve a big population of people.

Yeah, yeah, that's a great answer. So, okay, so on that note, how do people— and we'll link it, but in case sometimes there's people that listen to these and they never like read the show notes, which is totally fine— so where do people go to get a copy of this book and then all the resources? So can I answer that first and then I'll ask my follow-up question? Sorry, go ahead.

Yeah, so you can go to our website, uh, makepublishing.com, and you can purchase the book there. And then we also have different ways of how individuals can connect with us, and it breaks down into different buckets. If you're a manufacturer, if you're a parent, if you're an educator.

Awesome.

And really, we're open for even if you don't fit inside that bucket to have the conversation, because our mission doesn't specify— specify— sorry, our mission doesn't specify you have to be a manufacturer, you have to be a parent, you have to be an educator. It's about that next generation and reaching them and where they're at. And so we've also had a handful of different, like, summer programs and other nonprofits reach out and ask for our help in starting a STEM program. How can we get this in front of kids so that maybe they're joining to, you know, learn music, but also let's, let's tie in STEM and see if there's any spark and interest there and other things like that.

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. And you, you, I think you had alluded to a newsletter. So is that one of the resources, one of the ways, like, depending on who I am or what my interest is in this, I can kind of opt in to certain newsletters that you've created to, to kind of send some content to them as necessary or as it comes up for you?

Exactly. So inside the book, there's an activity at the end, a kids manufacturing activity. What the newsletter started as is just the monthly continuation of that. We release every month a manufacturing activity for children. And then over time, what it's morphed into after some feedback from, from our readers is really highlighting our three pillars: Read, you know, give a story or some more detail behind the book. Uh, Build, which is the news— or is, excuse me, is the activity section. And then Experience is different things we're doing in the community, you know, be it a tour of a manufacturing facility a podcast episode like this or some other way that the community can engage with us outside of buying the book or subscribing to the newsletter.

Sure. And I'm just going to say, as a— I'm not— I don't do our local economic development anymore, but I really care about this community. What I'm going to do as soon as we, we end this episode here, I'm— I want to get my hands on a copy of this book for every single manufacturer in my community. And if nothing else, just say this is a resource that's available to you, go check it out. And so that's something anybody listening to this can do too. Because again, like, it's interesting, I've spent a lot of time even talking with our school. Our school, there was a time, I mean, even, I mean, let's be real, like even a couple of decades ago where what was absolutely expected when people graduated was that they either go to college or they go straight to the workforce. And there was absolutely a different tone attributed to that, right? And even now, our school, our small local school, we've got a little under 500 census K-12, right? So it's a small school. All we talk about is choice readiness. That's what our school is promoting, is what does it mean to be choice ready? And so this just literally earlier on in the educational experience, right? It makes it very clear to kids that if this is what you're already geared towards doing, And those kids know who they are. Yes. And so it's, it's giving them a sense of like belonging. And that's so important. They see early on that, like what you're naturally geared to do, there's a path for you. And then, you know, in addition to that, it might actually spark that in a kid that never really believed or knew that that was something they could do. And that's what STEM, that's what STEM education is all about too. So it's just a very, it's a very, very cool thing that you guys have done. And I think It also just speaks to— I'm gonna say this, I'm gonna make a core— it's not causation, it's correlation. But I think the fact that you, you work in a, in a place where who you each are as people is, is seen, is noted, is valued, and you're empowered. And when cultures are like that, ideas like this can spark. Like this is a really creative and innovative idea. If you hadn't been nurtured and encouraged the way that you were, I'm not sure that this would have been born out of your work. And so it's just a really cool testament to the culture of where you work too.

It's really, really cool. Well said. I think that's— we see it the same way. I think now for Amanda and I, you know, there's been— this company's existed for long before us. It'll exist, you know, long after us. We have the responsibility to provide that same culture so other people around us can come up with the same cool ideas and better, even way better cool ideas than this one.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, it has been a pleasure having you on the show. It was wonderful to meet you in person, and I hope everybody listening to this, I hope it— I hope this conversation just shifted, either shifted something in their minds about manufacturing as an industry or as a sector. But also just then thinking about that whole idea of cultivating what comes next. It's just such an important conversation to have, and it's been really cool to hear more about how this started, where it's going. And we'll be sure to share the ways to connect with you in the show notes and hope to see you guys again soon. Thank you so much for taking time out of your day.

Thank you, Rebecca.

Yes, ma'am. Thank you.

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