Speaker 0 00:00:00 At Ballah we believe in partnering as a trusted advisor to reduce downtime, improve efficiency, and innovate the way our customers automate with sensors, RFID, vision, networking, connectivity, and software solutions. We help customers create the foundation for a smart factory. We are dedicated to improving the competitive position of our customers by sharing our passion for automation.
Speaker 1 00:00:24 Hello everyone. And welcome to the eighty-three the robot industry podcast. I'd like to welcome listeners from all over the world as far away as Moscow and Chicago, Illinois, and St. Thomas Ontario. Thank you for subscribing to our podcast. I'm glad that you're here today. My guest is, will Healey the third and he's the marketing manager for the Americas for battle. And we met at one of informants virtual conferences. So we met online. So those people that don't believe in virtual conferences work well. I've got news for you and welcome to the podcast. Well,
Speaker 0 00:00:55 I'm really glad to be here, Jim.
Speaker 1 00:00:57 Hey, listen, I just want to just talk a little bit about you will Healy. The third is enthusiastic about smart manufacturing, IOT and workforce development, a Purdue university mechanical engineer who loves to share his passion for automation. Will's a leader at Balad worldwide and with the advanced manufacturing industry partnership, the a M I P in Cincinnati, he speaks from personal experience about the industrial revolution, managing culture change in organizations, bridging the manufacturing skills gap and creating value through automation. And he is on Twitter at will w I L L than the word automate. So we'll w I thought what we do is talk a little bit about, um, uptime and downtime since that's one of your value propositions what's happening out there.
Speaker 0 00:01:46 Yeah, I mean, it's, uh, you know, downtime is really killing manufacturers. Uh, there, there are a lot of studies out there, but, um, I read a recent article from industry week that said each downtime in, uh, incident cost $17,000 for, for each incident. I mean, that is a serious amount of money, right? I mean, you could, you could buy a nice used car for $17,000. And speaking of cars, um, Thomas net had a recent article that talked about downtime in the automotive industry, averaging $22,000 per minute, per minute, $22,000 per minute. And at first I thought that number was bogus, but if you think about it, um, I took a tour of Toyota TMK in, in Kentucky, and they make, um, a Toyota Camry every 50 seconds. So, so, you know, just in our introduction, in our discussion here, they've made four Toyota Camrys while we're sitting here. So like, um, you can see where $22,000 a minute actually seems like a low price of downtime in, in some of the costs of, of cars these days. So, um, you know, really downtime is the thing that's that, that can really us improve our costs and our margins and, and help make our organizations more efficient. So we really focus on not just, um, selling sensors for automation, but how do we get the right automation technology to improve downtime and, and stop downtime from happening? It's, uh, it's really shocking how much downtime is out there.
Speaker 1 00:03:21 It's amazing. And I think, you know, we're coming into this era where we hope to eliminate downtime. And of course, one of the things that we're going to use to eliminate downtime is, is everything that we're going to talk about today. So what trends are you seeing out there? Cause you're kind of on the ground floor, right?
Speaker 0 00:03:35 Yeah. You know, it's, it's interesting. I, I love this question. What, what trends do you see in a lot of times you talk about trends or you hear people talk about smart manufacturing or internet of things. And as, as a manufacturer, a lot of you might think, uh, great, they're going to talk about that again, but people are investing in this. And so there are really three like business trends that I really see and three technical trends that I see. So the three business trends I see are really, um, cultural transformations, you know, uh, I'll call it the silver tsunami. The baby boomers are retiring. And so you have a lot of millennials coming in and becoming managers and organizations and leaders in organizations, which we never really had before. So you've got cultural transformation with those millennial managers. They want to do more e-commerce.
Speaker 0 00:04:21 So you're seeing more business to business e-commerce than you've ever seen before. And, uh, then you are seeing investment in automation and smart technology, and then the technologies people are investing in. We are literally, I'm going to, I'm going to quote our VP of sales in the U S we are seeing condition monitoring devices fly off the shelf, why off the shelf, and everyone is, is seeing that condition monitoring is an easy way to start doing smart manufacturing applications and dramatically reduce downtime, um, with, with simple devices. So, um, we're seeing that we're seeing more machine vision than ever before. And honestly, Jim, um, the investment in sensors is, is really dramatic as well. Uh, there was a recent, uh, control engineering report that talked about IOT budgets and people spend $328,000 a year on average on their, on their IOT budgets. And, uh, sensors is the fastest, biggest part of that budget.
Speaker 1 00:05:24 Unbelievable. Like, like you say that the number of things that are changing, how rapidly they're all changing,
Speaker 0 00:05:30 It's, it's really crazy.
Speaker 1 00:05:33 So one of the things that we talked about in our warm-up was kind of the culture of automation and some of the things that you're seeing when it comes to people bringing automation in, or maybe it's a new robot or a collaborative robot, what are you seeing from your perspective on the culture of automation changing?
Speaker 0 00:05:50 Yeah. You know, um, there's a lot of rhetoric out there about how automation takes jobs and, um, what the research is actually showing. And what's really interesting to me is people aren't investing in automation to get rid of jobs. They're investing automation because they can't fill the positions. They have. Um, you know, there was a recent jobs report that, that had over 400,000 unfillable openings in manufacturing currently. So we have this kind of disparity between, um, the millions of people out of work from, from our current recession and, and, uh, coronavirus situation. But, um, we also have a situation in manufacturing where we have jobs we can't fill. Um, so it's, it's really an interesting time where automation is helping us actually, um, do the work we need to do with the people we have because we can't fill the positions we have, there are a number of executive surveys in manufacturing that show, the reason executives are investing in automation is not to eliminate jobs, but to actually fill jobs they can't fill. So, um, I, I think that's really an interesting statement of, of why people are investing in manufacturing and in automation and a surprising one, actually.
Speaker 1 00:07:10 And do you see to where, uh, companies, uh, maybe introducing robotics into a, into a place they'd never had robotics before, how that affects the culture too?
Speaker 0 00:07:20 Yeah. I mean, you, you definitely have to, you know, everything is, is changed. So technology management change management, you know, I mentioned cultural transformation is, is a big, uh, business trend. You know, the cultural transformation is coming from two things. Of course, it's coming from generational shifts in the workforce, but it's also coming from bringing in new technology, like robots into, uh, into manufacturing. So, um, you have to manage that you have to make it a partnership between the workers and, um, and the maintenance people and the engineers, uh, accompany doing that really well here in Cincinnati that, uh, I've just seen really impressive things is <inaudible>, they're doing really great things. There's some good stories and, and, uh, they'd happily share their story. I'm sure with, with other people, they made the, the collaborative robots, they brought into their facility, they use those and they made those, um, part of their culture. And even the workers have nicknames for the robots. Each of the robots has a name. They, they made the robots part of the culture and part of the people. And so that the employees really embrace it there and have a positive attitude about the automation. They made it very clear, the automation wasn't replacing people. The automation was to help them do their jobs better, to help them lift things or to help them assemble things. So they didn't get as tired as quickly. And I think the people saw the value from that.
Speaker 1 00:08:40 I remember in the early days of collaborative robots and even automation, oftentimes this is pre Corona, of course, uh, you come to the front desk and you'd sign in and they'd say, Hey, don't put your company name or don't, don't, you know, don't wear jackets, the name of your robot company on there. So, because people were really afraid of in factories or funny places, like they rumors start at the, and they just kept buying lunch. Everybody knows that there's a robot company. Right.
Speaker 0 00:09:07 Right. Yeah. And, and, you know, if you have a culture where we're with a fear of automation, that that can be really a challenge. So before you bring the technology and you really have to address why you're bringing the technology and with the workers, you know, it's an all levels of the organization. You have to work at all levels of the organization. When you bring in new technology, whether it's a robot or it's, um, uh, an augmented reality application, or it's even sensors and, and, you know, pneumatics and basic automation, even without a robot, um, basic automation can be intimidating to workers if they don't know why the company's investing in it. So
Speaker 1 00:09:46 Here communication is really key, right. Is that, is that, is that making sure that everybody kind of gets a feel for why, what are the goals? What are the objectives and what are we thinking?
Speaker 0 00:09:56 Yeah. Yeah. It's really, it's really funny. It all comes back to that basic premise of, of good business management and good change management communicate, communicate, communicate.
Speaker 1 00:10:07 What do you think are some of the effects that automation has on the workforce from kind of your experience? Because you're in a lot of, uh, uh, plants I assume.
Speaker 0 00:10:16 Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Um, you know, what's really nice about the automation is if we do it right, it makes the worker's job easier and it helps the, the line supervisor and it helps the maintenance technicians. Um, we, we talk a lot about application specificity. So, uh, when we select automation equipment picking the right materials for the right application. So for example, if you have a welding, a work cell where you have a robot doing the welding, you know, robotic welding, um, like, uh, automotive tier supplier structural, you know, if you put a basic plastic automation proxy in there and you have weld spatter going everywhere, if weld spatter gets on that prox, that dies, or if you have, um, you know, an air cylinder that's not protected or coated to resist the weld spatter, it builds up on the, on the rod and then the rod sticks, and then you can't do anything.
Speaker 0 00:11:08 So picking the right components and the right automation components for the right application, um, can, can really improve the application and make it, uh, survive longer, you know, less, we started this whole thing, talking about downtime and how do we improve downtime application specificity? You may pay a little more for those products, but they will last significantly longer when the right products are applied in the, in, in the right application. And that's true, not just of sensors like I talk about, but that's true for all the components that are in a work cell like that as even the robots, right. Protecting the robots the proper way. So,
Speaker 1 00:11:44 Absolutely I've, I've done a webinar on protecting the robots with a robot industry association, and it's fascinating the number of tools that we need and we have to protect robots. And so in your case, protecting sensors or protecting cables is really, really important. I mean, you'll sell more sensors if they're not protected, but really what it does is it, it just causes a lot of, um, anger,
Speaker 0 00:12:06 Right. And, and for me, that's really, you know, my very first sales call ever was in a, uh, structural tier supplier and, and, um, Maryland, they're not there anymore, but, um, it was like the bowels of hell to me. It was really shocking. There was weld spatter everywhere. There was dirt and dust and smoke and it was dark and it was really shocking, but the, it doesn't have to necessarily be like that. And they had sensors failing everywhere. They had a sensor that failed three times a shift, Jim. So think, think about that three times a shift three shifts a day, that's nine sensors a day. If you're operating, let's say 360 days a year, maybe you're off a couple of days, you're talking thousands of sensors in one location, and there could be thousands of sensors in the plant. So, you know, they were spending, they were spending tens of thousands of dollars on one location for one sensor application because they weren't using the right thing in that application. And that was just, that was the norm to them. They didn't really think that they could change that paradigm. So, um, we really, um, we really believe in how can we really improve that and how do we work with people to, to improve their processes and their decision-making process so that they, that they select the right application specific technologies. So they don't have that downtime. So
Speaker 1 00:13:31 What are the things that we, that kind of has been a constant theme? It seems in this podcast is attracting talent with automation. Is that something that you are seeing?
Speaker 0 00:13:41 Yeah, for sure. I think, um, I mean, attracting talent in any way possible, um, just for example, you know, bailiffs in Northern Kentucky, just outside of Cincinnati and, um, uh, there are tons and tons of manufacturers there. There are tons of warehouses there it's, uh, you can, you can get one day to basically, and most of the United States, most of the manufacturing base is one day shipment away from Cincinnati. So it's a, it's a prime location to, to have a distribution or warehousing facility. And so what that means is there's a lot of, of demand for workforce. And so how do you attract people? And automation is one of those things. And the reason automation is attractive is because of that silver tsunami. I talked about earlier, right? That transition from, um, from baby boomers to, uh, generation Z, which is like 1991 and, and, or 1997 and younger.
Speaker 0 00:14:41 And then the millennials, you know, gen X, uh, if you're a gen X or out there, I'm not overlooking you, but a gen X is wildly underrepresented in the workforce. And so, um, really the dominant, uh, generations that are coming in are the millennials and the generation Z. And the reason I bring the generations up is because gen Z wants to work with technology. If you don't have automation in your plant, they're not going to be as excited to work there. They're not going to be interested in staying there. Long-term unless you're investing in new technology, right. Gen Z has had a cell phone in their hand, their whole life. Sure. They've had internet their whole life. They've had YouTube their whole life. I mean, they, they just think and act and interface with technology differently. So if we're not advancing in our technology, then it's really hard to attract, uh, attract that workforce. So
Speaker 1 00:15:32 I think things like clean, organized factories are really, really important. And like you say, looking under the hood, because these kids are smart and they, that you can't fool.
Speaker 0 00:15:43 Yeah. And they, and they expect technology, like why in their mind, why wouldn't you use better technology? It's making life better for the workers. It's making life better for your production. It's reducing your downtime. It's improving your visibility. It's improving your flexibility. It's improving your, your efficiency. So why wouldn't you use technology in their mind? That's really what they're thinking. And so, um, they're concerned about the longevity of your organization if you're not investing in automation. So, um, it's something to really think about as we, as we work towards all of this, you know, how are we investing in, how are we attracting people? Technology is a, is a big component of that. But, but even then, it's hard to get kids to think about manufacturing, gym. It's hard to get them to consider manufacturing as a career. Um, so w uh, you know, there's, uh, I'm happy to talk about that too. There's, there's really, we always think of traditional talent pipelines. Like what, what would you consider a traditional talent pipeline? Where, where people hire.
Speaker 1 00:16:44 Yeah. You know what, it's kind of a tricky place because with the internet, now, everybody, everybody is everywhere and you can look on a job within minutes and find a whole bunch, right? Like LinkedIn is a huge area for people to work for, for employment, seeing what's happening out there.
Speaker 0 00:17:00 Yep. And I mean, you know, like you've got college students, you could, you're trying to hire you're out recruiting at job fairs at colleges, you're, you know, hiring co-ops or interns, maybe, uh, maybe you have an apprentice program. You know, these are, these are the more kind of traditional places where we're, we're getting people. Right. But, but we're not getting enough people. So we need to start thinking about under utilized pipelines. And we need to start thinking about expanded pipelines and places where we could get people that, that aren't traditional for us. So, you know, one of the underutilized pipelines that I see is, you know, 20% of high school graduates are non-college, they don't go to college. I did not know that. Right. So where are they going? How can we secure them? We've got good jobs with good pay with benefits. And they don't know that we're an option for them in manufacturing.
Speaker 0 00:17:53 Uh, did you know, 41% of kids who go to college, don't finish a college degree in six years. So they're 41% of the kids that are coming out with some college. What's interesting about the, some college kids is, you know, they probably can do math so they can do shop math. They probably can read and read fairly well because they made it through some college. And so these kids are ripe for some of our skilled positions where maybe you just need a certificate, you know, uh, or, or they need some basic training. So 41% of the kids that go to college don't finish. So they should be a target for us. How do we find them and how do we work towards them? That's something that I spent a lot of time thinking about is how do we get those kids that don't go to college? And how do we get those kids that got some college, um, because they would really be choice individuals for our manufacturing positions.
Speaker 1 00:18:51 So we have to get innovative, right? We have to, uh, get in, uh, into the community. We have to communicate better to these people. We have to talk to guidance counselors, or, or we have to hang out where they hang out. Right. And I think we have to be a bit more, um, uh, creative in our approaches to saying, Hey, this, this is a manufacturing is a great industry. It's a great career. But, uh, unless you kind of see the inside of a plant where a guy who's delivering food or something, isn't going to see that,
Speaker 0 00:19:20 Right. Yeah, absolutely. Jim and like, we have to engage the schools. Every manufacturer has a school. I bet within 10 miles of their office, it's probably a fair assumption. So unless you're a real rural, and there's only one school in the County or something, but most manufacturers probably have a school that's in range, right? Your, your workers have kids and their kids go to school someplace. So how do we engage the teachers? You know, a lot of manufacturers are offering, what's called a teacher externship where they invite the teacher in, in the summer to job shadow for a week in the factory and learn about how awesome manufacturing is. They, you know, they offer, uh, tours to the local schools or interviews of engineers or, or, uh, maintenance people so that the kids school kids can learn about the types of jobs in manufacturing, uh, you know, job shadows or even high school jobs, uh, you know, allowing kids to help on some of the simpler tasks in the factory to get exposure, to manufacturing as a job. And then, you know, manufacturing day run by, um, uh, uh, run by the national association of manufacturers, manufacturing days, a great way for manufacturers to participate and share, um, about how awesome manufacturing is with schools and with the community. And so we have to think about how we engage schools better and create a positive experience. Just like what those guidance counselors you talked about.
Speaker 1 00:20:45 And it's almost like a push into STEM pipeline. So you're looking at things like getting involved with first robotics and doing those tours, or even an open house. I can just imagine all the parents going, Hey, there's an open house at X, Y, Z company. Why don't you go in there? So, well, it's almost like we have to reach the marketing department and the human resources department and the plant manager and, and, and the CEO and say, Hey guys, we should start spending some money on this. So let's, let's sponsor a couple of buses. Let's get a couple of tours, let's do this. And let's do this program magically, like let's do this every year.
Speaker 0 00:21:23 Yep. Yeah. And you know, it may feel overwhelming, Jim, you know, most manufacturers have less than a hundred employees, so it may feel overwhelming for you to get involved with that. But what I will tell you is just like in Cincinnati, I'm part of the MIP you mentioned in my bio, um, we are a, a regional industry partnership where we partner, we're a group of manufacturers that work with schools and we help coordinate these kinds of events and these kinds of interfaces for manufacturers that are too small to try to figure it out on their own. So getting involved with your local industry partnership, they're all over the country. There are hundreds of them organized. Um, Nam actually is a really great site for finding those organizations in Ohio. Uh, you know, every state pretty much has one of these manufacturer organizations. If you get involved with them, they make it easy for you to do this kind of local engagement with your schools. They help you and give you resources and support you and, and how to do it effectively and efficiently.
Speaker 1 00:22:24 I wrote a blog and this reminds me of this kind of grow your own right. Where a lot of companies had, I think in the old days, and this happened at a company I used to work with, we had a great apprenticeship program and it's just, was, it was something where you actually didn't actually have to hire very much, because guess what your, uh, pre your, your new employees are already working for you.
Speaker 0 00:22:44 Yeah, definitely. And you know, the local tech schools and the local, um, uh, community colleges, they are wildly interested in partnering with you to create curriculums and, and support you with a pipeline like you're talking about Jim.
Speaker 1 00:23:00 And are you seeing one of the things that I I'm very interested in, and I think you might be too, is this whole idea of mentorship, uh, at a, at a facility, because like you say, you've got, um, all the baby boomers retiring and how do we handle that transfer of knowledge? And I think, uh, millennials would be very interested to S to, to be partnered with a mentor on the shop floor. What are your thoughts?
Speaker 0 00:23:23 Oh, absolutely. Jim, um, you know, when, when you do research about how to create millennial leaders, um, I've done a decent amount of research of that. How do you create successful millennial leaders? One of the major things they want, and one of the major things they need to be honest is, um, a mentor and someone who can advise them and help direct them. Uh, they need someone provide immediate feedback, you know, their whole life they've, um, they've had immediate feedback, you know, their whole, life's been learning through games, you know, uh, we could talk a whole podcast about gamification of work, but, you know, their whole, life's been through immediate feedback and games and mentoring. And so they, they need that. And they want that as, as they get formed until leaders in the organization, they want someone to bounce ideas against. And I mean, I, as a millennial myself, I want that too. So, um, having that, uh, helps you and makes you more powerful as a leader, when you have someone to, to sound your ideas off of,
Speaker 1 00:24:24 I really liked the way this is going. And I think that there's a, there's a kind of a continuing conversation that we should have on attracting and retaining workers for manufacturers. And I think it is that table grows, right. I think it is human resources, and maybe we need to go after everybody for a bit of budget money. Any other thoughts on that that you have?
Speaker 0 00:24:44 Yeah, I think there's one last thought. Uh, I'm going to steal too, if you don't mind. Um, I've got two thoughts and the first one is, is short, but very powerful and something we need to take seriously is women. You know, the Deloitte, uh, just came out with a study of women in manufacturing and only 29% of the manufacturing workforce is women. But the us labor force, 47% is women. So women are wildly underrepresented in manufacturing. And so as we're looking for employees and we're looking for workforce manufacturers really should be considering women and working towards getting more women into their workforce, because that is a wildly underutilized, um, segment of the workforce that, that we're not using in, in manufacturing. And the second, um, uh, thing that we should be thinking about, and we could spend a whole podcast talking about this gym is what I would like to call the expanded pipeline.
Speaker 0 00:25:41 And that's things like veterans. And, you know, there are a lot of veteran advocate partners out there. Um, second chance and returning citizens, uh, disabled advocates. There's an awesome company in Wisconsin that I learned about that makes parts for the automotive industry called beyond vision, where they hire entirely people with vision disabilities. And that is, uh, really impressive and, and cool company, uh, to, to look at at how can we take that idea and expand on it, and then even minority advocate partners or, um, legal immigrants, uh, partners in communities. Uh, we have some manufacturers in Cincinnati that they, they hired some supervisors, even if English, isn't a strong language for the workers. When they have supervisors that can speak the language of the immigrant community. There are some of their most reliable and steadfast workers in their manufacturing plant now, and they have a community inside their factory that even recruits its own to, to work in the factory.
Speaker 0 00:26:41 And so they have way less workforce issues because the community's recruiting its own. Um, and, and they support each other. You know, a lot of times the workforce troubles we have in manufacturing are people being able to get to work every day and, you know, breaking down of cars or transportation plans. Um, so by having a community like that, um, we've actually found that the community supports the people to be able to get to work on time and get to work everyday. So that that's really an interesting one as well. So, uh, in summary of all of that, you know, we have the traditional pipelines, but there are under utilized pipelines like women and some college kids. And, and then all these expanded talent pipelines that, that I just mentioned. So there's, there's a lot more than just going to a college career fair to get your employees, um, to, to be thinking about,
Speaker 2 00:27:32 You know, what, and this is not rocket science, right? It's putting a plan together, it's executing the plan and it's measuring the plan and, you know, getting a bit of budget money and, and making these connections where you're, you, you are reaching out to unique communities and it's not just a feel good thing. These people are actually going to work. They're actually going to show up to their jobs, which is a big problem today in manufacturing. So, no, I think those are awesome, awesome points. And I can feel a blog or another podcast coming up.
Speaker 0 00:28:01 Definitely.
Speaker 2 00:28:03 Hey, listen, I wanted to thank you for coming on the robot industry podcast. How can people get ahold of you if they'd like to find more?
Speaker 0 00:28:10 Yeah, absolutely. If you find me on LinkedIn, that's really the best way. So I'm on there as will Healy the third III. Um, if you find me on LinkedIn there, you can also tweet at me at we'll automate or, um, you're welcome to send me a text message. Uh, (859) 496-6627 or an email is, is probably the worst way to get ahold of me.
Speaker 2 00:28:34 You know what I know, because I tried to get ahold of you and you responded first on LinkedIn. So the kudos to LinkedIn. Anyway, thanks again.
Speaker 0 00:28:42 Yup. Thank you, Jim. I really appreciate the time today.
Speaker 2 00:28:46 Our sponsor for this episode is Earhart automation systems, Earhart builds and commissions turnkey automation solutions for their worldwide clients. With over 80 years of precision manufacturing, they understand the complex world of robotics, automated manufacturing and project management, delivering world class custom automation on time and on budget contact one of their sales engineers to see what Earhart can build for you and their
[email protected]. I'd like to thank and acknowledge our partner. Eight three, the association for advancing automation. Eight three is the umbrella association for the RIA AIA, M MCMA and 83 Mexico. And these four associations combined represent almost 1300 automation manufacturers, components, suppliers, systems, integrators, and users, research groups, and consulting firms throughout the world that are driving automation forward. I'd like to thank our partner painted robot painted robot builds and integrates digital solutions. They're a web development firm that offers S E O and digital social marketing, and can set up and connect CRM and other ERP tools to unify marketing sales and operations. And you can find
[email protected]. And if you'd like to get in touch with me at the robot industry podcast, like we'll, you can find me Jim Beretta on LinkedIn and Beretta is spelled B E R E T T a. We'll see you next time. Thanks for listening and be safe out there. Today's podcast was produced by customer attraction, industrial marketing, and I'd like to thank my nephew, Chris gray for the music, Chris Colvin for audio production, my partner, Janet, and our partners, a three and painted robot and our sponsor Earhart automation systems.
Speaker 3 00:30:28 <inaudible>.
