Speaker 0 00:00:00 Automation has stepped up in a way in the last year and a half it's stepped up very well. And, um, and it continues to do so, but it also has shown these companies what is possible if they, you know, if they do automate and, um, and, and make their processes and supply lines very short.
Speaker 1 00:00:18 Hello everyone, and welcome to the robot industry podcast. We're glad you're here and thank you for subscribing my name's Jim Beretta, and I'm your host, and it's my pleasure to welcome Milton Gary from shrunk to the robot industry podcast today. Milton heads, the customer and industry focused shank USA team, and he's responsible for market driven input into the global Schunk organization. He's active in industry advancements in both automation and machining component, design development, marketing, and sales Milton serves on the robot industry association, RIA board of directors and its parent association. The association for advancing automation also known as a three in 2019. He was elected to the president of the international Federation of robotics. The IFR Milton joined chunk in 2000 and has held several leadership roles before assuming his current role as president in 2007 prior to joining shank, Milton began his career in the automotive industry in various engineering and technical roles. Milton, welcome to the podcast,
Speaker 0 00:01:25 Jim. Thank you. Thanks for such a great intro. Um, it's great to be here and I appreciate the opportunity to join the ranks of the mini automation innovators who shared the microphone with you.
Speaker 1 00:01:36 Hey, thank you. And can you tell our audience a bit about shank shanks, a really big interesting corporation. And, uh, I think that it's appropriate to talk a little bit about it,
Speaker 0 00:01:46 For sure. Thanks. Um, so Schunk, we're a component company and we focus on the automation and machine tool markets. You know, we innovate products to support manufacturers in a quest for more efficiency and productivity, you know, and I would venture to guess that most of our listeners, you know, here today know us for our end of arm tooling, our grippers, you know, in gripping and clamping is the area we are so passionate about. And, you know, for us, that's where the process meets the workpiece.
Speaker 1 00:02:16 And what are some of the big picture trends that you're seeing at Schunk
Speaker 0 00:02:22 Jim, you know, big picture trends is something we're all focused on right now. And I have to say, you know, for us it's automation, you know, in the past, you know, there's been a lot of different ways that automation has been seen out in the world, but for manufacturers today across the spectrum, they're all racing. And this is a big picture thing they're racing to implement, or they're heavily investigating, you know, robotics and automation. I can't say that me personally, in my last 20 years, I've ever seen a time where there was so much interest level in trying to get things automated at the moment. And, um, you know, and when you look over to, you know, you mentioned the a three before, when we look over to the, a three, their initial data this year and late last year is showing that, you know, with a 20% increase in the first quarter of this year, year, over year, but both Q4 of 2020 and Q1 of 2021, you know, we're reaching levels that we haven't seen experienced in the last five years.
Speaker 0 00:03:22 So to hone in a little bit, you know, to get to your questionnaire and what is the big picture trend, and that is the interest level on automation, in my opinion. And, uh, but the Y you know, we have to think about that. You know, it's brought on by a desire for increased productivity, you know, and shortened supply lines brought on, you know, maybe by the pandemic, but also worker safety and efficiency. And are there any industries that you're keeping you busiest? There is excitement, so many industries at the moment, Jim, and I think, um, you know, again, it's an unprecedented time, you know, and we look to the automotive that an automotive has historically been a leading industry for, for adoption of our types of technology. And the last two plus years have been quite turbulent, you know, um, before the pandemic, there was some changes in the automation and sorry, automotive industry where, um, where those guys were starting to see a change.
Speaker 0 00:04:20 And that change was brought on by a couple of different things. And it was brought on by EBV, but it was also brought on by some trade tensions with China. So the automation industry was, was seeing something driven by the automotive industry, um, before the, what we've currently experienced. And, um, but it, today that starting to mature and the automotive industry is actually starting to keep us busy. They're all trying to electrify their fleets. That means new supply of deferring materials and products. So that in itself is actually, uh, for us personally, for our company is doing quite well. But what may be more surprising for our listeners is that the first time in history non-automotive industries are outpacing automotive and the adoption of robotics. And I think that's really interesting because some of these other industries that we've all looked to in the past that have been, you know, maybe not quite as interested in automating, you know, machine tending for the metals industry, or maybe life sciences, where we talked about a few minutes ago, reassuring these industries are surging.
Speaker 0 00:05:30 And, um, for us, I think I'm proud of our team because we had to adapt and adopt to new ways of working, you know, to support some of these industry, then how many applications and how, how much, um, inquiries we're getting in order, you know, out of other areas where we weren't quite as comfortable before. And then, you know, as we look what other industries are keeping us busy as certainly food and consumer goods, you know, automation can afford companies a completely way to rethink their supply strategies. And an important point should not be overlooked. The fact that you know, that these companies can also do that and be more sustainable and also reduce their carbon footprints.
Speaker 1 00:06:13 Yeah. And these are all exciting trends and I, it's kind of, it's so surprising to me to see that automotive is paced off a little bit and that we're, we're getting these new industries. And I think, like you said, it's just a very, very exciting.
Speaker 0 00:06:26 Yeah. I think, I think it is Jim, and that's the thing, you know, we, we have to, we have to be ready for these industries, but they're there. And, um, having them looking at automation the way they are right now, it just shows. But I think one of the things that, um, you know, let's say we're close to coming out of the pandemic is also as the way automation was a law was affording these companies, the ability to do things through, you know, very, very turbulent times. So automation has stepped up in a way in the last year and a half it's stepped up very well. And, um, and it continues to do so, but it also has shown these companies, what is possible if they, you know, if they do automate and, um, and, and make their processes and supply lines very short.
Speaker 1 00:07:17 So what are you seeing from, uh, within shrunk? Um, our, our new technologies.
Speaker 0 00:07:23 Yeah. So, you know, we talked about the industries and the technologies themselves. Um, you know, when we look to what are these, you know, areas asking for, um, you know, with this increased interest in automation, they certainly have, um, they are asking for a lot of things. And, um, so new technologies wise, it's some of us brought on by the industries themselves. And some of us brought on by the fact that cobots and other things are, are really building interest in these robotics types are able to lower the barriers that may have been too high before for some process or, you know, to be automated. So both the industries that we mentioned before and the cobalt let's call it, uh, evolution, revolution, I don't know. Um, it's kind of bringing on, you know, a lot of new interest in new products. So if we look more towards the industry, as we talked about ed before, you know, the innovation that we're quite proud of is we've recently released and he's a gripper, and this gripper is using, you know, the van der Waals forces and principles in order to pick up a part.
Speaker 0 00:08:34 And if we look at that, simply put the face of the gripper is gently pressed into the workpiece. And by increasing that contact surface area, it holds apart and it locks the part into place and operation. There's no external energy needed for the gripping, you know, that's an advance. So, so things like advanced battery production semi-conductors and others, we feel technology is going to have a way to allow them to really automate other processes that may have been out of reach. Um, so, you know, that's one innovation that's being driven by the industries that we spoke about.
Speaker 1 00:09:10 And it's interesting because you, you at shank are in every industry, it can be hard to understand an industry that's, you're not involved in. Correct.
Speaker 0 00:09:20 Yeah. And, you know, it's the thing it's, it's, it's got a common thread through there for sure. And the common thread is either, you know, what we mentioned is the automation, or, you know, the machine tool parts, but yeah, there's a common thread through, but it actually goes through it's. It is hard, I think sometimes to figure an industry that we're not in. And maybe that's another thing, another way we can segue into another innovation because a lot of the innovation that comes along and we talked about a pretty exciting product, but it's also just the way to make automation easier for these industries. So maybe there's an industry out there that has not fully adopted, or is considering adopting certain automation types, but those barriers were just too high. So in another way, we're, we're trying to innovate is we're trying to come up with software products and things that can make the products go from a box to an operation, much more seamless. And in further, we would also like to bundle things, you know, in where you can choose either syncing and gripping, for example, and bundle those together with software. And we can jump start the implementation of the, of the, of the application.
Speaker 1 00:10:36 And I think that's very innovative, right, as being packaging up things that they're going to do anyway, if a robot integrator is going to put a sensor in, why don't we just do that for them and make it easier?
Speaker 0 00:10:48 And that's a good point because, you know, if it's something here's how sometimes how we look at it, if it's something that many of the implementers have to go through, how can we take some of that burden and innovate something that alleviates that that's not that step necessarily, but anyway, it just gives them like a fast forward for where they normally would be and the same customers or the same implementers don't have to go through that same pain.
Speaker 1 00:11:17 So how do you approach innovation? Is it, are you doing a lot of customer listening is a lot of it happened in Germany or is it happening here? Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:11:25 Yeah. So innovation, you know, there's so many ways, many angles. You can look at that, but you know, you had a couple of questions in there and it's great because we, we kind of focus in the beginning at the start. You know, we look to the market to show us the trends and here in the U S we have, you know, more than 50 people out in the field who are in contact with customers on their sites every day. And, um, and then we have another 50 or so who are backing them up and their support structure inside of this facility in Morrisville. And so we tap this into this resource and create quite often sub-teams to work on subjects. And, you know, some of them we mentioned before is like the pharmaceutical industry. We all have products for those things, but could we approach that industry and those customers, um, kind of collectively ready to talk to them about what their challenges would be.
Speaker 0 00:12:17 And so from there, you know, we get these ideas coming back and they're come back into our team. And then from there, we get our design teams and product groups to work together and apply those ideas. And come up with solutions could be software solutions that we mentioned for a products that we mentioned before with it he's and, um, bring those things back out into that industry. So a lot of that happens, you know, in our teams. And of course, a lot of it happens here in our Morrisville facility. And some of it happens also in Germany.
Speaker 1 00:12:48 And I love this idea of that because you're in so many different industries, you can take one thing from one industry and see if it'll work in the nuclear industry or, or in what you say in pharmaceutical.
Speaker 0 00:13:00 Yeah. And that's, you know, and that's that common thread we talked about. It goes through our products, through the industries and, um, you know, allows us to help many customers. And hopefully again, pull them forward in applying things from industries. As you mentioned there that are automation is quite mature, you know, auto automotive, for example, and then maybe taking that over to something and some other industry where it's much less mature. And, uh, hopefully that helps overall the bigger picture.
Speaker 1 00:13:33 Milton, you're a big believer in the next generation workforce, which to me means that like apprenticeships and partnerships, can you tell our audience a bit how you're doing this and, uh, how you even work with your competitors?
Speaker 0 00:13:48 I am Jim, I'm a big believer in the next generation. And, um, I think that there is, there's almost nothing more exciting in the day and more refreshing than when we get to work in these teams. And, you know, we have, uh, our younger generation coming up with these really novel ideas. It's, it's, it's truly a lot of fun. So, you know, we talk about manufacturing all the time. We talk about, you know, the skills gaps and, and just, is it the moment, you know, just the people in general. So, um, we do look to the future and we look to the future on many fronts and, uh, you mentioned apprenticeships and that's one thing we're very, very proud of. We have a program that, um, we feel is, is supporting us today and gonna support us far into the future with our talent funnel.
Speaker 0 00:14:39 And, um, you know, so the program that we have for trainees is, has got a couple different ways to look at, but worldwide we have about 8% of our workforce is currently in some kind of program, many of those of that 8%, our apprenticeship style. And then we kind of drill down more into this facility where we are here in Morrisville, North Carolina. And when we signed the next group of apprentices in August this year, we will be up to nearly 10%, um, of our employment will be in some kind of program furthering their education and their skill levels. So to give a very high level overview of the apprenticeship program is it is a four year program where the students are in training at the company four days a week. And then they go to the local technical college one day a week. And so it's a comprehensive on the job training style of program, something that we may know from the past, and then upon completion, the, the, um, the graduates achieve an engineering degree, they achieve a journeymen certificate.
Speaker 0 00:15:45 And I guess the other thing that is even more unique than if they would have gone straight to school is, you know, they have work experience. They, they come out really ready to go. Um, and quite often they're even working in creating a lot of value even before that graduation. So the other thing you asked there too, is you mentioned how we working with competitors and other companies. And so we are a relatively small company. So we typically have around five apprentices per year. And, um, so what we've done is we've come together with other companies and together we have quite a lot of, so we were 12 companies and together we have about 30 to 40 students per year. Some of those companies, as you mentioned, may be competitors. You know, we put there more than what they do. It's more interesting that they're local and that way we can take our resources from these 12 companies and we can pool them.
Speaker 0 00:16:44 We can recruit for new students, we can get the message out there, um, very clearly about what this program does and what it offers to, to, you know, interested parties. And, um, and we can also, you know, pull those resources to approach though the community college, where they are the, uh, technical college together, so that we'd go with 50 students instead of five, and then we can get the classes and the schedules that we want. So to do that, to do this thing, pulling all this together, we formed not a small group called NC tab. And, um, miss a nonprofit that's run by the companies in which are enrolled
Speaker 1 00:17:26 Well, that is a really creative and very cool. So I hats off to you and to, uh, NC tab that, uh, is very, very interesting. Um, uh, are there, is there anything else that we haven't talked about yet today on the podcast?
Speaker 0 00:17:43 Great question. I think we've covered a lot of things, uh, for sure. Um, and what I've enjoyed most is talking about the excitement automation, Jim, I think I'm very much appreciate your questions and for sure that excitement is, is, um, I hope in all of our, our listeners that they can feel it and they feel it already in their own work and their own companies, because it is a very special time.
Speaker 1 00:18:13 And I just wanted to ask you a kind of a personal question. Is there any hobbies that you have yourself,
Speaker 0 00:18:20 Do you want me to have for sure. You know, I'm a big hobby, hobbyist shrunk, but there's a, um, which is a very fun one by the way. But I do have, um, I do have a hobby. I enjoy biking both mountain and road, and, um, it's been a pretty cool year for me because my, I have a 13 year old son who's also taken a renewed interest of tried for the last several years to, uh, I always try to keep his interest level up for biking. And it was like, I think I had to talk him into, uh, to going on trips with me or are doing things where we were going biking a lot. And the other day he told me, he said, Hey, can we bike further today? And, uh, and that was a very proud moment.
Speaker 1 00:19:03 Isn't that fun? Hey, listen, thanks for coming on. I really appreciate it. And I appreciate all the things you do and all the commitments to the boards and especially your, your work with the international Federation robots. Um, how can people get ahold of you?
Speaker 0 00:19:18 Well, pretty easy. Um, Jim, for sure on all the typical social media platforms, or you can call me direct here at shrunk and that's schunk.com. And for sure you can always email me and, um, that's Milton dot
[email protected]. We'd love to talk about these or any other subjects related to our industry and Jim, from my side, I'd like to thank you. Thank the three, um, for forgiven us the time and allowing, uh, allowing me to talk about the things that I so much enjoy.
Speaker 1 00:19:52 Yeah, it's very exciting. Our sponsor for this episode is Earhart automation systems, Earhart builds and commissions turnkey 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. I'd like to thank and acknowledge our partner. Eight three, the association for advancing automation. They're the leading trade association in the world for robotics, vision and imaging motion control and motors and artificial intelligence technologies visit automate.org to learn more. I'd also thank the bank and recognize our partner painted robot painted robot built and integrates digital solutions. They're a web development firm that offers SEO and digital social marketing and can set up and connect CRM and other ERP tools to unify marketing sales and operations. And there are painted robot.com. And if you'd like to get in touch with us at the robot industry podcast, you can find me Jim Beretta on LinkedIn. We'll see you next time. Thanks for listening. 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 eight three painted robot and our sponsor Earhart automation systems.
