Mensor Products Beyond the Lab

In this episode of Measure Matters, Sally Pittman sits down with Mensor Director of Sales, John Rosenwald. John shares clear, practical insights that help cut through common misconceptions about where Mensor products actually live in the pressure measurement and control landscape.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome back to Measure Matters, the podcast where we dive into all things metrology and calibration. I'm your host, Sally Pittman, and today I'm joined by John Rosenwald, Mencer's Director of Sales. John's experience spans a wide range of industries, and here at Mencer he wears many hats: sales, customer relations, international support, and even employee morale. Today he's here in full party shirt Friday attire to clear up a common misconception about Mencer's product line and explain where our products truly fit in the pressure measurement, generation, and control landscape. You're listening to Measure Matters, a podcast by Mencer. All right, John, we have had you a few times on the podcast now, and we're so glad to have you back. You're a recurring a recurring character here. Um, so how has the celebrity status changed? How often people ask you to calibrate things at parties?

SPEAKER_00 0:52

You know, that we do use our equipment at parties. The there's you need to test the temperature of the ice chest, you need to make sure the pressure and the temperature are combined so that the ice chest is perfectly cooling, whatever beverage that you were uh happen to be drinking at the party. So uh can be used in punch bowls, can be used in ice chests, can be used in many different party configurations, as well as maybe sneaking it into a manufacturing site or two uh around the world.

SPEAKER_01 1:18

Just one or two.

SPEAKER_00 1:19

Just one or two. Everyone's just one or two. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:22

So as I mentioned in the intro, you have a very diverse background. Um, do you think that that diverse background has helped you get a more well-rounded perspective in your role as the director of sales here at Menster?

SPEAKER_00 1:33

I I think so, because globally we deal with everybody. We deal with uh defense, commercial, public uh spaces like NASA or NIST, um, education. So I've touched that in some way all in the manufacturing throughout my career. And have the battle, I think, is just being able to speak a customer's language and being able to come over that uh overcome that language difference and understand what they need helps us match our stuff uh to uh what they're actually trying to do.

SPEAKER_01 2:04

So when you talk about speaking a customer's language, uh applying that to Menser, what do you think comes to mind when people think about the company of Mencer?

SPEAKER_00 2:13

So Mentcer's been around for a while. Um and I I think the they they logically go to pressure control, um, high reliability. There are customers that have two or three generations of our equipment running right next to each other. So uh, and then I think also the interaction with our engineers. We put our engineers on the phone with our customers so that the techie guys can get the stinky sales guys out of the out of the mix and be able to get right down to what they're trying to do.

SPEAKER_01 2:44

And do you think that customers are surprised to learn that uh a lot of our instruments don't just live inside the walls of a Cal Lab?

SPEAKER_00 2:53

Yeah, so so I don't like to blame marketing on things, but um our good uh friend, you know, and poet from Texas, uh Billy Shakespeare, used to say what's in a name. And so they bundle all of our equipment into calibration technology. So that that name in itself brings people to kind of skip over maybe a lot of the uh potential and go to the calibration lab, right, which is where high accuracy stuff lives. But there is a high demand for that type of accuracy in a wide variety of ranges outside that that wall.

SPEAKER_01 3:30

Right. And so when you talk about that those ranges outside of that wall, can you kind of set the record straight about where our instruments truly live?

SPEAKER_00 3:39

So our biggest customers are in sensor manufacturers. So sensor manufacturers need pressure, they need accurate pressure to either functionally test or even calibate their products on the manufacturing floor before it goes out to their customers. When you think of high accuracy, yeah, Cal Labs certainly need that, but our customers don't necessarily need a high accuracy, or they're not creating high accuracy products, but they still need a higher accuracy machine like a 6050 on their production line to make sure their stuff works right.

SPEAKER_01 4:14

Right. So the importance of that really comes down, it's it's is it about efficiency, would you say, when it comes to using a more accurate um instrument as opposed to just using one that kind of gets the job done?

SPEAKER_00 4:25

Uh efficiency is certainly part of it, but I think it goes more to their design of their product because they're devo designing products that are be more that are more and more accurate. Right. So in order to test those and make sure they're working, the machines on the production line need to be even more accurate than that. Right. Um, so those in the manufacturing space, um, they're looking for speed, which uh a controller provides, but they're also looking for higher accuracy because their customers are demanding a higher accuracy product.

SPEAKER_01 4:57

Right. Um, so what kinds of risks do production and manufacturers make or or take when they rely on those lower accuracy? I think you kind of touched on it, but what are some more of those risks that they can take?

SPEAKER_00 5:10

I so it I it's probably cost risk at the most. Is it the efficiencies in being able to produce products faster and more efficiently on the production line doesn't necessarily tie to the accuracy of a controller uh as much as it is the ability to integrate it into a process to allow more automation and more uh throughput in their production line. So the risk is really not necessarily the accuracy risk as much as it is the uh risk to efficiencies.

SPEAKER_01 5:43

Okay, okay. And just to kind of drive that point home, if you could say or talk to engineers who kind of think that the lab grade accuracy is a bit of overkill, what would you say to them?

SPEAKER_00 5:53

So I'd step out of the manufacturing space for a little bit. Okay, because there's a couple of reasons to to need more accuracy. One is your product has to be, or the what's testing your product has to be four times better approximately. But there are also situations where if you're using our standalone transducers, where you may not need a high accuracy component, but you may want to float it out into the ocean for two years, and you can't afford to be going to repair it or change it or calibrate it every year. Right. So that high accuracy product expands your ability to leave a low accuracy requirement out in the field. Um, so there it's yes, you got to test higher specs, but also there may be a time component of a higher accuracy gives you a better drift um management.

SPEAKER_01 6:44

Right. And is that does that kind of touch on the uncertainty too? Like when you're leaving a product out in a field somewhere, that uncertainty is really important when it comes to being able to kind of leave it and trust that it's gonna do its job.

SPEAKER_00 6:56

Oh, uncertainty. Yeah. You're gonna go have to talk to Philip about the uncertainty. That's a whole bunch of math. And I passed that class and left that go. But the the idea that all silicon transducers drift, just a natural progression. Right. Um, we've characterized our products to understand that drift. And so it's not necessarily the uncertainty, but it's the drift pattern of the natural silicon that the customer's managing.

SPEAKER_01 7:21

Okay. Okay, gotcha. Um, so in certain industries, do you see or notice people pushing for these higher accuracy controllers?

SPEAKER_00 7:31

Um, yes. So medical space, space space.

SPEAKER_01 7:36

Space space.

SPEAKER_00 7:37

Um, even chemical processing. Um, there's there's a need for very precise things. You don't want a heart catheter to be approximately uh the right pressure when it when they're trying to take care of your heart. You don't want your equipment to be um approximately measuring that extremely high valuable uh chemical, right? So you have to that you have to track that. And sometimes in space you only get one launch. So you want to make sure that that equipment's working properly. Um, so that the end users are demanding that accuracy more, which drives manufacturers like ourselves to produce those products to be to be ready for that.

SPEAKER_01 8:16

Definitely. And you've been here, you've seen customers, I'm assuming, make kind of the switch to the more high accuracy. Do you notice that their feedback is always John was right?

SPEAKER_00 8:28

Nobody ever, ever says the sales guy's right.

SPEAKER_01 8:31

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 8:32

They they compliment our engineering, they compliment our production facility, they enjoy our reliability, they love the interaction in developing their uh solution, but nobody says thanks to the sales guy.

SPEAKER_01 8:44

You heard it here first. You you gotta thank your sales guys.

SPEAKER_00 8:47

Yeah, yes, because we we have hearts too.

SPEAKER_01 8:49

Yes, believe it or not. Um, so is there a certain product that comes to mind when you think about a more high accuracy instrument thriving outside of a Callab?

SPEAKER_00 8:59

I uh we obviously brought this here for a reason. 6050 is our star. It's uh very flexible in range, very flexible in pressure types, um, and it provides the customers um a lot of opportunity to do uh different things in one box so they can establish an infrastructure, say around a 6050. Right. But within that infrastructure, have multiple configurations for different production lines or different product needs, or they can even take it into their Cal Lab and use that in the calibration lab uh in certain situations where that accuracy level of the end product that they're testing, you know, can be calibrated in the lab.

SPEAKER_01 9:40

So gotcha.

SPEAKER_00 9:41

Don't exclude the cow lab that we sell many, many more controllers and transducers outside the calibration lab and production.

SPEAKER_01 9:51

And do you do you think that's because it's highly accurate, but it's also fast, like you mentioned before?

SPEAKER_00 9:59

Yes. And I also like to take a little bit of pride in, you know, all the mints are all over my shirt. Is that we have a bit of a reputation out in the world because of our reliability. And as I touched on before, you'll see two or three generations of our machines running next to each other.

SPEAKER_01 10:14

Right.

SPEAKER_00 10:15

That that's stinky for a sales guy because he wants to sell more and more items, but it's also rewarding to understand that the reliability of Mentcer and Mencer's name is something that builds recurring business and recurring trust and has customers coming back asking for more.

SPEAKER_01 10:32

So, touching on that reputation of reliability, um, I you almost kind of mentioned it, but can you add one more word that you would want customers to know about Mencer as a company? We've got reliability. Is there something else you would add to that stellar reputation?

SPEAKER_00 10:49

So I'm gonna add responsiveness from two perspectives. Once you've got something in the field and it's it's just not working right, you get put in contact with our product engineers or even our design engineers to help you sort through that. Um, and also as you're designing new products, we like to be sitting next to you with our engineers to say, how can our pressure expertise complement your um sensor manufacturing or your product manufacturing? So I think that responsiveness in being able to talk to customers and being able to get uh techies talking to techies, right, is something that uh I think we all take pride in and uh encourage our technical folks to do.

SPEAKER_01 11:34

And I would, yes, I I've been here a short time, but the like collaborativeness between, you know, we have a great uh custom systems, people, like you said, willing to work with customers to build what works for their application is really, I think, kind of a unique thing that Mencer brings to the table.

unknown 11:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:49

And we love to have our customers come visit too. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 11:52

So yeah. Well, John, this was a fantastic discussion. Um, I think I learned a lot about your insights on where our products truly live. And uh, we were great to have you back. This is time number three, I believe, on the podcast.

SPEAKER_00 12:07

Yeah, so so I will I will warn our sales guys out there. Don't pass up the manufacturing floor to go to the Cal Lab. The Cal Lab's a customer, but our manufacturing floor are that's our primary customers, and those are the folks we really love to support.

SPEAKER_01 12:21

Don't pass it up.

SPEAKER_00 12:22

Don't pass it up.

SPEAKER_01 12:23

All right. Well, thank you, John. We really enjoyed having you on again.

SPEAKER_00 12:26

Good. Thanks for joining us, Sally. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:29

Thank you for joining us. We hope you enjoyed today's podcast. To listen to more topics, you can visit info.mensor.com forward slash podcast. And if there's a topic you're interested in hearing, leave a comment on our YouTube channel or reach out on any of our social platforms. Until next time, you stay classy metrology lovers.