Manufacturing the Future

Managing Operational Complexity and Reducing Waste by Thinking Inside the Box

"Very few people start businesses, fail, and then try the same business again. So I did and — knock on wood — it worked the second time around," says Marty Metro, Founder and CEO of UsedCardboardBoxes and UCBZeroWaste, in our newest podcast episode. It was a simple problem he was trying to solve: he didn't want to spend money on new boxes to move. As Metro drove around to find used, free boxes discarded by stores, he realized there was a business model there: gather used boxes and get them to companies who need them.
The first business he started that did this was a "colossal failure." But Metro tried again, this time launching UsedCardboardBoxes differently, with "funding and technology, and a focus and a management team and infrastructure." Today, they are the largest processor of used boxes in North America and their clients include Dole, General Mills, Kellogg's, McCormick Spice, Walmart, and Walgreens.
In This Episode…
Not only has UsedCardboardBoxes solved a waste problem for a number of companies, they've also created ways to handle internal complexities and reduce costs by building custom software — which is now being used to solve bigger sustainability challenges. Listen to our conversation with Marty Metro to learn more about how to solve operational challenges, and how an entrepreneur did it right the second time around.
Topics discussed:
Marty's journey from founding a business, failing at that business, and then relaunching the same business with a new vision, management, infrastructure, and operational plan.
The operational process of how UsedCarboardBoxes acquires its boxes, sorts them, inventories them, and ships them to customers who need them.
How UsedCarboardBoxes designed and built its own robust in-house software to track boxes, run matches "twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week," and connect boxes to the right people. 
The importance of viewing business decisions through the lens of ROI, and how to change a culture from "building cool stuff" to making decisions that will have an impact on revenue and cash flow.
The technology UsedCarboardBoxes implements to keep their team on the same page when it comes to projects and decision-making, and why everything is either a "to do" or an "issue."
Advice for business managers and entrepreneurs about what is most critical to measure in order to benchmark success.
How UCBZeroWaste is transforming waste management with its tracking software, allowing companies to see how much they're spending on waste so they can better manage their sustainability efforts and carbon footprint.
Resources Mention: 
UsedCardboardBoxes.com
UCBZeroWaste.com

Disrupting the Future of Ice with Better Processes and Great People

How can you improve on ice delivery? It's an industry that's been around for centuries, yet it hadn't changed much — then, it was chopped-up chunks of ice on the back of a buggy, and now, companies are manufacturing ice in a plant and putting it on a diesel truck with a heavy carbon footprint for delivery. "We believe that this is a space that can be easily disrupted," said Ben Gaskill, Director of Sales at Everest Ice and Water Systems, in our most recent podcast episode. "What we believe is that ice and water vending is the way that ice will be delivered to the consumer in the future. That we can make a better product, fresh and on demand at the point of use, where the customer is."
While ice vending machines have been around for twenty-three years, Everest Ice and Water Systems saw that they could make a better product with better technology, that's more sanitary and 30% more efficient than other machines. And customers are responding, as Everest Ice and Water has seen a three-year revenue growth of 850%.
But with growth at that scale, how can a business make sure that its operations remain efficient and its people connected? Ben Gaskill explains how in this episode of "Manufacturing the Future." 
In This Episode…
Not only has Everest Ice and Water innovated on fresher, more sanitary, and more efficient ice vending machines, they're innovating on their operational approaches as well to sustain their business growth. Listen to our conversation with Ben Gaskill to learn more about operations in a scaling company, and why hiring the right people can provide that foundation for growth.
Topics discussed:
 How Everest Ice and Water solves operational problems one step at a time, and uses technology to help create sustainable solutions.
The challenges and solutions to growing a manufacturing company, and why it's key to diversify your supply chain, to set expectations with suppliers, and to have a good purchasing team in place.
How Everest Ice and Water keeps their employees connected across teams and building through various chat apps, resource management tools, and even monthly lunches.
How Everest Ice and Water disrupted an old industry, and how they created ice vending machines that were more efficient, more sanitary, and offered a fresh product to customers.
Why it's key to hire well, and how hiring for gaps in your knowledge can help strengthen your operations.
Why you need to take risks in manufacturing, and how taking risks while surrounding yourself with great talent brings about change and growth.
Resources Mention: 
Everest Ice and Water Website: everesticeandwater.com

Reimagining Retail Manufacturing: Improving Supply Chains and Creating a More Sustainable World

"I started To the Market because I believe fundamentally that the retail manufacturing industry can and should be reimagined," states Jane Mosbacher Morris in our newest podcast episode. Morris is the Founder and CEO of To the Market, a turnkey solution for ethical manufacturing by democratizing access to the global supply chain. "But how I even discovered that that was an opportunity was a little bit of a winding road."
After spending time in the public sector in counterterrorism, Morris realized how impactful the private sector can be. She saw that if you could leverage market forces to drive change, an organization can have an impact on social and environmental opportunities. 
With that drive, Morris turned to retail manufacturing, an industry that was in need of reimagining, and created To the Market, which connects companies to a syndicated network of sustainable, story-rich suppliers, improving sustainability efforts and increasing ethical sourcing in their supply chain. To the Market recently ranked in the top 20% of the Inc. 5000 list of America's fastest growing private companies.
In This Episode…
Not only is To the Market looking at ways to improve supply chains and reimagine the retail manufacturing industry, they're also making the world a better place as well. Listen to our conversation with Jane Mosbacher Morris to learn more about the impact To the Market is having on companies around the globe.
Topics discussed:
 How To the Market supports their growth by setting team expectations, articulating what they want to achieve, and putting systems in place to measure progress.
Why establishing structures to keep in touch with each other and make every employee involved is key for growth — and how To the Market does it across their remote teams, distributed around the world.
The importance of sustainable growth and ethical sourcing, and how To the Market helps organizations both big and small evaluating better ways to do business.
The challenges of working in an analog industry where there's little visibility into processes, and how digital tools are making the industry more transparent.
Success stories of organizations who have made changes in their sourcing to significantly impact their sustainability.
How To the Market uses data to inform their customers of their impact, and how more information can empower organizations to make better decisions.
Advice for business leaders who want to improve their existing sustainability operations, and why it starts by looking at your raw materials.
Resources Mention: 
To the Market: tothemarket.com
To the Market social media: @letsgottm

Digitizing Manufacturing for Better Products and Future Growth

It's a common problem: someone's laptop or phone dies and they don't have a charger. Or they have a charger and need to find an outlet to plug it in to. Matt Buscher noticed this with colleagues and especially travelers needing access to outlets in an airport. He knew he could solve that problem with power station kiosks that could provide a charge. But those kiosks could do more, he realized, like rent laptops. Buscher saw a need in the market for this, especially at universities and public libraries, and LaptopsAnytime was born. Located in every continent except Antarctica, LaptopsAnytime has frequently appeared in Inc. 5000’s Most Successful Companies in America.
But how do you build and assemble products that are constantly changing?
One of the biggest challenges for LaptopsAnytime was being able to produce products when every product made is different. "Most people build a product, and they build it once. We build this product every day, and we build it different every single day. So the part may change by 50 thou or 100 thou, the part may get a little bit longer because your laptop gets a little bit bigger, or the device we're checking out is square, not rectangle. So all of those factors come into play," Matt explains in the episode.
Those challenges could only be solved through digital tools, yet Matt found that some of the manufacturers they worked with still did everything on paper. But once they moved manufacturing and assembly in-house, the challenge for digitalization still continued. "I have to have a vision for digitizing. Right? And if you don't know the tools, then how are you supposed to have a vision on how to bring all these digital parts into play in these assemblies? And how do you use them properly? And what are the latest tools?" — just some of the questions Matt had to ask when learning and adopting new technology to improve his company.
In This Episode…
What digital solutions did LaptopsAnytime put in place to solve their manufacturing challenges and position themselves for growth? Listen to our conversation with Matt Buscher to learn more about the evolution of LaptopsAnytime's operations, how digital tools are making that evolution possible, and what attributes manufacturing leaders should possess to bring their operations and employees into the future.
Topics include:
The role of technology at LaptopsAnytime and the necessity of digital assembly tools, especially as manufacturing their various products changes each day.
The challenges of working with "old school" manufacturing shops that have experience but don't rely on digital, and younger employees who are digital natives but don't yet have the experience.
What training is involved to get new employees up-and-running, and how manufacturing leaders themselves should continue to be students of new technology and approaches.
The evolution of LaptopsAnytime's manufacturing process, from having everything built off-site to building in-house operations, including manufacturing and assembly — and how technology ties it all together.
Why manufacturing companies should challenge themselves to be a different company year after year through continual iteration and upgrades.
How working in the restaurant industry and walking station to station made Matt a better manufacturing leader.
Actionable advice to manufacturing leaders about hard work, doing your own research, and continuing to be a learner.
Resources 
LaptopsAnytime: www.laptopsanytime.com/
Matt Buscher LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/thesmartkioskguy/

Scaling Your Manufacturing in a Capital-Intensive Industry

"I have to create opportunities for myself, right?" It was the thought Jordan Erskine had after years of working for other manufacturing companies, first for a cosmetics and skincare contract manufacturer, then for a large dental care manufacturer. But after 15 years in the industry and armed with an MBA, Jordan reached out to his co-founder Gavin Collier and proposed starting a business. With a space and some angel investments, they launched Dynamic Blending in 2015 as a small lab creating formulas for brands, with an outside manufacturer.
But Jordan, with his experience in manufacturing, knew he could do it better.
"Quickly we realized we need to do it all. We have to figure out a way to do it all because everybody's doing it wrong. Nobody's taking care of the small guys, or the startups, or people that could have good ideas," Jordan explains in our podcast episode. Today, Dynamic Blending offers not only formula creation and manufacturing, but branding, package design, marketing assistance, fulfillment, and more. They recently ranked seventeenth on Inc. 5000's list of America’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies.
But how do you go from an idea to competing against some of the biggest companies in the world in a low-margin, capital-intensive industry? Jordan explains how in our latest podcast episode.
In This Episode…
Not only has Dynamic Blending adopted a number of technologies to improve operations, but they look at how they can enhance the customer experience as well — not just deliver a product. Listen to our conversation with Jordan Erskine to learn more about how Dynamic Blending embraces innovation to stay competitive as a newcomer in a legacy industry.
Topics include:
The growing pains Jordan experienced breaking into a capital-intensive industry, and what strategies Dynamic Blending puts in place to hedge low margins, materials wait time, and cash flow.
What technology they use to bolster their operations in order to digitize workflows, track samples, and abide by regulatory requirements.
How they differentiate themselves from their competitors by improving the customer experience through technology and their new Experience Center for clients.
How Dynamic Blending scaled their operations, from their first single-head filling machine to lines that run 60,000 units in eight hours.
What the future of Dynamic Blending looks like, including its focus on green chemistry, sustainable packaging, and widespread robotics adoption.
Advice to entrepreneurs who want to modernize their manufacturing operations, and how working with marketing and advertising teams may be the key to new customers.
Resources 
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordanerskine/
Website: DynamicBlending.com

Escapod Founders on How They Became the Ninth Fastest Growing Manufacturing Company

Lifelong campers, Chris and Jen Hudak wanted to fit outdoor adventure into their busy lives. But they found that they were spending more time setting up camp than actually camping. There was the first problem they needed a solution for, and solved it by building an off-road teardrop trailer they could bring with them, giving them back more time to adventure.
They started Escapod in 2016, and today have scaled to over seventy employees. They were recently named the ninth fastest-growing manufacturing company by Inc. But with that kind of growth comes a whole new set of problems to solve, which Jen and Chris talk about in this podcast episode.
In this Episode…
Listen to our conversation with Chris and Jen Hudak to learn more about their journey to creating Escapod, their approach to operations, and their advice for people like them who had an idea that solved a problem, and now want to scale their business to sell to the world.
Topics include
Investments that small businesses can make to help scale their operations, like tracking products and work instructions, and freeing up time to focus on other business activities.
What Escapod's employee training program is like, and why knowledge fails without documentation.
How to evolve the customer experience through technology, like using the website for a customer one-stop shop, and the importance of partnering with others to build those services.
How Escapod measures success, and how they iterate if something isn't measuring up.
Why the most critical investment they make in their operations is investing in good people.
Actionable advice for small businesses looking to improve their operations through technological solutions. 
Resources 
Escapod.us
Insta: @escapodtrailers
Insta: @ChrisHudak
Insta: @JenHudak
Jen’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenhudak/