People in Production Podcast with Ryan Nelson
Join host Ryan Nelson as he explores the DNA of thriving manufacturing operations. As founder of Circle of 5, Ryan delves deep into how successful organizations build high-performing teams and create empowering cultures that drive excellence.
Each episode features dynamic conversations with manufacturing leaders and cross-industry innovators, uncovering strategies for talent development, organizational growth, and future-focused leadership. Whether you're a manufacturing executive, team leader, or passionate about building strong workplace cultures, this podcast delivers practical insights to transform your organization.
The Kansas City Chapter of NTMA and Circle of 5 present this exclusive series starting January 2025. Subscribe now to learn how today's visionaries are reshaping the future of manufacturing and organizational excellence.
People in Production Podcast with Ryan Nelson
Episode 16 - Katherine O'Toole: What's Ahead for KCNTMA
Catherine O'Toole from Kansas City NTMA joins us to discuss upcoming events designed to strengthen the Midwest manufacturing community through intentional networking and collaboration.
• April 24-25: Joint Chapter Summit with St. Louis NTMA featuring company introductions, economist Chris Kuehl, shop tours, and networking opportunities
• BattleBots KC competition showcasing 26 teams from 16 schools with 250+ students participating
• Women's Manufacturing Day bringing 50 female students together with 25 industry mentors
• Annual golf tournament funding workforce development initiatives (nearly sold out with 33 teams)
• Economic update with DC insider Omar Nashashibi coming May 28
• Collaborative Manufacturing Expo with Missouri Association of Manufacturers planned for October 28-29
Join us for these events to build relationships, grow your regional network, and be part of strengthening the Midwest manufacturing footprint. As Catherine says, "We are stronger together."
Hey, welcome back to the People in Production podcast. It's been a little while, we are back at it and I'm really excited for our conversation today. We're going to be talking to Catherine O'Toole from the Kansas City NTMA and she's going to let us know about some of the amazing opportunities that we have coming up in the Kansas City area, and I want you to dial in and I want you to mark down these dates and create some stir and get people that you know to come be a part of this. If you know people in the industry, catherine's going to be sharing some things that'll be well worth their time to come and be a part of this. So let me turn it over to our interview and I thank you for being here today. Hey, catherine, welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 2:Thank you, it is great to see you. Yeah, glad to be back in action with you.
Speaker 1:It has been a while since we've been able to connect. You and I have had such a busy schedule. In fact, the last time we talked it was before Royals baseball season started, and now we're in the middle of baseball season and things are going along. I think you've even taken in a game or two this season so far, haven't you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I got to do some shop visits right before the home opener and then make an appearance at the stadium.
Speaker 1:So it was a good time, awesome. I love it. I love it. What else has been going on in recent weeks? What are some of the things that the NTMA community have been a part of?
Speaker 2:Just about two weeks ago, just over, we had a great leaders luncheon and the theme of that was networking with a purpose and really just trying to lay the foundation for several other larger events that we have. So really, you know, trying to speak to our members souls, to get to get through to them, you know you can't just show up. You got to show up with a purpose, you got to leave with a purpose. You've got to show up with a purpose, you've got to leave with a purpose. You've got to follow up in different ways that you can do that, how you can come prepared to an event, how you can post about an event, how you can continue to do business, even through social media, with others that you meet at an event.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that event was so great. You had a phenomenal atmosphere for the event. You had a phenomenal atmosphere for the event and the presenter did just an outstanding job of helping us to understand that it's not about business, it's about people, and you don't have to go and serving people yeah.
Speaker 1:And serving people. And he modeled that well by saying hey, anybody who reaches out to me and connects with me on LinkedIn, I'll send you this book that I just have loved giving away to people. And he modeled it well, he shared very well. It was a great experience, another great event that you and your team have put on Well done.
Speaker 2:Oh well, thank you, yeah, and I'm excited. I've been seeing some shares out there on social media, on social media. But we have something upcoming, Ryan, that I've been really trying to spread the word about, because I think it's a great opportunity for us locally to grow our footprint by welcoming guests from the St Louis chapter to Kansas City so that we can learn who these companies are, what they're doing best, what their best practices are and how they can benefit our companies here, either subbing work out, doing work for partnering together, and that is going to be running April 24th and 25th two weeks.
Speaker 2:We have two weeks Ryan for this.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's going to be a big one and it's going to be a wonderful event. So hopefully members have heard about this. I know I've sent out some emails, I've been distributing postcards and I can't wait to share this video link as well, because truly, I think this event has so many different things going on. And for the rate of registration, a hundred dollars for a member, we have two full days, $200 for a guest, and this is one of our last events open to non-members this year. So if you're interested in checking us out, you want to come see some shops, you want to hear Chris Keel speak, you want to participate in roundtable discussion, now's the time.
Speaker 1:And Catherine, I want to say this In some ways I'm envious of our St Louis friends that are coming over for this event because they're leaving their shop, they're leaving their office, they're coming here committing two days to be fully present here. This is super cool for our people to have it locally, but the temptation is going to be fully present here, this is super cool for our people to have it locally, but the temptation is going to be to come and just pick and choose what you want and not be fully present, and I want to challenge the people hearing this commit to checking out of the office that day.
Speaker 1:Let them know you're not coming in for appointments, let them know that you have extremely limited availability for phone calls, because the value of this event is to grow your network with local or regional partner potential and you're not coming to sell yourself, you're not coming to try to get business.
Speaker 2:You're not going to be sold to yeah business. You're not going to be sold to yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're coming to learn about what our region has to offer and I imagine that many, many companies are going to find great potential collaborative partners.
Speaker 2:I hope so. Yeah, I would say we are literally coming to network, learn, grow those three. I guess my three needs to come over this way. That had two up there. Whatever we're rolling with it today. But you know, I think there are some things that you might not be able to make and I don't want that to be a deterrent. But I agree with what you said there's value to everything that we have incorporated into this event. Nothing is accidental or a time filler. I truly believe that every part of what we have planned, which we'll talk through here in a minute, is going to bring benefit, that every part of what we have planned, which we'll talk through here in a minute, is going to bring benefit.
Speaker 1:And I always tell when I'm coaching leaders, I always tell them leaving your shop gives your people the opportunity to be empowered and to make decisions and to put out fires and you know, whether it's you're leaving for two days or two weeks, you give your team the opportunity to handle the business and you can come back and help take care of it. So, as present as people can be, I want to encourage them to do so. So let's talk about there's kind of two things from the joint session I'd like to mention, and then you can take it from there. But I'd love to talk about our keynote speaker with Chris Kuehl and then also the KC Bots event. Would you kind of elaborate a little bit on why those are important?
Speaker 2:I'm going to start at the very beginning just in case.
Speaker 2:I'm going to tell everybody when I share this move to six minutes 20 seconds, because here comes your event rundown. If you want to know now, you can know. We are going to start at Union Station. Now there is there's a time window put on that it's eight to three pm. We're not going to be. There's a time window put on that it's 8 to 3 pm. We're not going to be there that whole time. Ntma members are going to be there from about 9 am until 11, 1130-ish. We're going to make sure that we're done by noon. We're rolling out because our official event Now that's cool the Tech Expo. We want to be there.
Speaker 2:Automation, it's great. Thank you, logic, for the invite. We're coming to participate, but that's their event, right, we're attending as guests. It's a great value add. Why not go check it out? 50 vendors yeah, let's do it. But our event kicks off at 1 pm. At 1 pm, every company in attendance gets one minute to do a lightning round introduction and that's where you're going to find out who you need to be interacting with throughout the two-day period. So each company is going to identify what they do best and who they are hoping to do more business with or for Move on, you got your minute.
Speaker 1:Get that elevator speech ready, people. That's right, yeah, and you know what I've had somebody tell me.
Speaker 2:I would really like to come and I think that sounds amazing. Actually and this is a potential member. She's like I'm so shy, I can't do it. Girl, you can do anything for a minute. You can do anything for a minute. You can do it, and you know what. You're going to have a line of people coming up behind you, so you won't be alone up there. We're going to move fast through that, but again, the intent is for you to be able to connect at a later time without hearing a spiel from each company where we're all feeling a little groggy.
Speaker 1:Catherine, let me ask you this If you have four people from one company, Do you want there to be one spokesperson for that company?
Speaker 2:One spokesperson yep, yep, one minute, one spokesperson, one company. We're going to make it happen. We're going to make sure that we're done by 2 pm because at 2 pm that's when Chris Keel is going to come and he is going to debunk some of the myths that the media is hyping up for us about tariffs. He's going to let us know specifically because he is metal manufacturing, fabrication, specific what we need to know. He is very directly representative of our industry, involved with our industry, and he's going to set the record straight and we'll have a little time for Q&A. And, ryan, I'm thinking, whether it's iced tea, water or something stronger, everybody's going to need a drink after that, because it's going to be a heavy conversation, I'm sure, for a lot of us to take it all in. So then we're going to have a, we're going to kick off happy hour and that happy hour is going to run up until an optional breakout session. So all of the members will get to pick from three different sessions which one they would like to attend.
Speaker 2:Get another drink. We've got some chicken tenders, some spicy corn dips, some sliders. We've got some good food in there too. So grab a snack, grab a session, get another drink. When it's done. Chill out, find whoever it is you needed to talk to. Let them know that you'd love to be in their tour group, because our next stop is Accessible Technologies Pro Charger. We have a shop. Walk there Very excited to get in there. If I were to describe it, I would say it's one of our more sexy shops. They make a pretty cool part for some pretty cool cars and if we're lucky, we might get a peer into their car showroom and then from there we'll head to serve and we're going to have a social night and that's your time to really connect, really hang out, get, have some drinks, have some pizza, have some wings. We've got you covered there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so this is really it is not all work. It's going to be a lot of work and a lot of fun mixed into it.
Speaker 2:We're building relationships, ryan, what I have learned about this group of people that I represent National Tooling and Machining Association members. They want to do business with people that they trust and care about and have a relationship with, and this is the time to do that, especially with our St Louis guests. We've got some great potential members coming out, and I'm pretty excited that we have three national associate members flying in for this event too, so there are going to be new faces here, and I also want to point this out.
Speaker 1:I've heard a number of people say oh, I tried that in the past. I've been a part of that. It wasn't, but I think that the KC and TMA community has a new look and a new feel. And if you tried, it out three years ago, eight years ago, 10 years ago. It is a different organization there was great leadership.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, we're progressive minded. We're applying, you know, progressive strategies that successful businesses are utilizing to grow and thrive. And we're not just doing that individually, we're doing it together. So come and be a part of what we're doing. We are stronger together. Build that relationship and come join us. And we're not just stopping on Thursday, ryan, we're going again on Friday.
Speaker 2:Yeah, friday morning starts off with another shop tour. I know my members like them. They don't actually like them, they love them. It's a favorite event and we're going to one of my favorite shops just because they make some of the biggest things I've ever seen and that is Topeka Foundry and Ironworks. You know, I'm going to venture to assume it's going to take us at least an hour and a half probably just to walk and talk. So no presentation there. It's truly just like accessible technologies, a shop walk.
Speaker 2:Our goal is to be finished with that and back in Overland Park.
Speaker 2:So we're going to head there and back and we are going to reconvene at Johnson County Community College where we are going to have a little bit of a fiesta. For lunch we're going to have a taco bar, we're going to have some roundtable dialogue and that's going to be centered on exactly what our initiative is growing the footprint of the Midwest manufacturing capabilities. And to do that we've got to keep jobs here and we've got to know who's doing what here. So we're going to follow up on that. We're going to allow our chapter leaders to guide that discussion. We'll have that over lunch. Then we're going to get a blue-collar labor update before meeting with the career tech ed faculty at Johnson County Community College while we check out their facility there on campus. People do have the option to leave when that's done, ryan, but I'm hoping they come say hi to me and I'm going to be at Johnson County Community College's gym where I will be running the BOTS KC BattleBot competition, which is a workforce development initiative started within our chapter.
Speaker 1:Love it and that is going to be an exciting thing where you get to see students from around the region, and that's part of what brought this together. I believe are there teams coming from the St Louis area as well.
Speaker 2:Yes, there are Yep. There are students coming from the St Louis area team, from Illinois, missouri, kansas. We got a little bit of everywhere again Midwest related. We have 16 different schools. We have 26 teams confirmed ready to compete. I've checked in with all of them. Their bots are looking good. They're working on both offense and defense and it's interesting to see where the teams focus. Some are partnered with great shops.
Speaker 2:We've been able to get students out into some of our member facilities and I've asked all of our members to sign up for a one hour time slot and I think it's incredibly important. I can't just be the face of this association. We need our members, we need our manufacturers to show up and be present. You can only complain so many times that something isn't working until you fix it. So guys, ladies, I'm asking you come be a part of the solution. We have almost 250 students, foot traffic of over a thousand last year. Parents, community members, come, make your company known, come be a part of what we're doing. You can help in the repair trailer, you can sweep the cage, you can walk and talk to teams. You can help me take pictures, run timers. There's going to be a lot to do, but we need you.
Speaker 1:So when you say give an hour, you're saying sign up to volunteer, Don't just show up and say how do you need help? I'm not going to tell anybody.
Speaker 2:They can't show up. But I am going to say I tried to organize it. Ryan, I've sent out a sign up genius link a couple of times. If you need that, reach out to me via email. You can jump on my LinkedIn. Excuse me, believe, on the 8th I posted that little to do list with everything you needed to get done to attend the chapter, and it's right there.
Speaker 1:And I think my point in saying don't just show up, it would take a lot of stress off of you as an organizer to know that you have all of the bases covered in advance and you're going to be very blessed.
Speaker 2:We have some great safety judges, we have match judges, we have our overall referee, we do have some timers, we do have some MCs. But here's what I know, ryan. Life happens and I know that something's going to happen to one or two of the people on the list there. And here's where I do get a little stressed. Some of it's out of my control. I didn't necessarily recruit or sign up all these people. They're coming from other companies. So if I can know that I have my community, that I do know and trust available to assist, that that does absolutely not only support me but all of our efforts towards workforce.
Speaker 1:Love it? Yeah, so there's a unique opportunity and you'll be able to continue networking with people at that event. And so if you're talking to someone during the morning session and just say, hey, are you going to be at the bots event? Yeah, ok, let's meet up there and continue our conversation, and it's just an extended time.
Speaker 2:I'm telling you it's not boring, it is a good time. So we've been very blessed. Laird plastics has helped us replace some of our plexiglass panels and shout out to Clay and Bailey, They've been housing our cage during this entire repair process. Andy Borst is a great contributor as well with putting all the pieces together. But some of those plexiglass pieces were so beat up from these bots I was worried we were gonna have a shatter incident because these bots go flying, parts go flying. They're doing some damage at 15 pounds each.
Speaker 1:Yep, so that'll be incredible to watch, and so let's keep looking ahead. Let's talk golf, and then what's going to happen later in May? Let's hear about those things.
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah, Golf is incredibly important. Not only is it just a super fun day for us to get out together and have a great time, it funds a lot of our workforce development initiatives. One that we have coming up next Thursday we have 50 female students with an interest in metal manufacturing, advanced industrial arts, engineering or robotics coming out for a full day manufacturing immersive.
Speaker 1:We have a powerhouse.
Speaker 2:Yes, it's actually two locations. We're going to be at Hudamaki. We have a large freight truck coming through from Mays Freight with a female driver and then we're going to be going over to CNR Manufacturing. So we're going to be doing several things as a part of that, but a great speaker coming in we're able to incorporate her into our event because of funds that we raised last year and she is going to be speaking on growing your confidence. Confidence catalyst, excuse me, ignite your path to success is her theme. We'll tour Hutamaki interactive Q&A panel theme of that. How did you get here, hearing from individual ladies on things that they have overcome and people who've helped them. Do that photo op with the large freight truck tour. And then we're going to head to a small, family-owned business and be able to compare and contrast corporate structure and opportunities to those that you might find in a smaller medium-sized enterprise.
Speaker 1:I love it and I just want to remind people when you're part of NTMA, you're actually a part of a community that's giving exposure to the industry like this, and you're able to build your network and realize that some of these young ladies and some of these students that are part of the BOTS program, they're hitting the workforce in the next 12 to 24 months. Many of them, and some of them, are not going to go to college and pursue. They want to get right into their hands.
Speaker 2:Some of them are going to start here, Ryan and you and I both know that engineering specifically, that works out about 50% of the time. And what are these kids going to do? Hopefully fall back on an experience they had. They're going to use a connection that they developed and we're going to speak directly to these young ladies about that. We have a nice balance of 50 students 25. She leads women driving manufacturing members who will be providing mentorship throughout the day at Hudamaki and CNR, and our intent is to let them know that there are people within our network, within the manufacturing community, that want to support them and be there for them as they progress throughout their careers.
Speaker 1:But back to golf we're going to be taking a lot of tips for field trips.
Speaker 2:We're going to be accepting those throughout the day and working to sponsor other events like this.
Speaker 1:And one other thing that I want to say. Another reason this is important is so that when these young adults are going out into the workforce, they don't think they have to leave Kansas City to find work.
Speaker 2:They know all the list of companies that they could go and explore work with here because they were exposed to KC and TMA and I think they're going to remember you, they're going to remember me, they're going to remember somebody that they met that can connect them, and that's why we have to put ourselves out there and I think we've worked really hard to move away from the I win, I win. It's about me. I need help right now to A being forward thinking and visionary If I'm going to have a need within my company. Let's start to think about that two years before it actually happens and let's let's begin to recognize that it might not necessarily be an individual company win, but a manufacturing win. If we see these students accepting jobs, being placed and growing their careers here within a Kansas City manufacturing facility, that's a win for all of us.
Speaker 1:Yep, and if I recall right, do we have about 31 foursome signed up for the golf event. We are up to 33.
Speaker 2:So we are really really close to a sold out tournament. We have space for three more teams, we have a few holes that can be sponsored, but we've got five different contests. We also have, in addition to those, a putting contest. When people come through to pick up their lunches. They can participate in that. We also have the golf cannon returning this year, so, while there may be just a little bit of a wait because we have so many people which is a huge win for us there's going to be activities at the holes, with those that are sponsoring and things going on throughout the day.
Speaker 1:And we've got to shout out Jarboe Employment Group for being a sponsor. I want to thank that team for stepping up and just investing in this community. That's a great investment.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thank you for that. Shout out to Ryan, who would be my direct partner there in our apprenticeship program, and all of his team, who are incredibly supportive.
Speaker 1:Yeah, great. One more thing we got to talk about before we wrap up May 25th we've got a special 28th excuse me, yep, may 28th. We've got a special guest 28th, 28th Excuse me, yep, may 28th. We've got a special guest coming. And, what's interesting to me, we've got Chris Kuehl, who's going to be talking in our April event about the impact of tariffs and the manufacturing.
Speaker 2:Where we think that's going, what we think that means, yeah.
Speaker 1:And then four weeks later, later, we get to get another expert who's got a unique look at this. Tell us what's happening.
Speaker 2:Uh, on that I know lots of our members came out last year. We had a packed house at rnd leverage last may exactly just about one year ago when omar nashashibi flew in from capitol hill to give us his taxes, trade and tar tariff update. He's coming back. We know the news is changing every day and we're really blessed to have Chris come and speak to us at our business summit. But we know there's probably gonna be some other updates and Omar's gonna be coming in. He's gonna fly in from Washington DC and he's gonna let us know end of May where we're looking at, as we go into spring and fall, how the year's gonna close out in his mind. And he does such a great job of bringing a bipartisan approach to that and just speaks incredibly objectively and informatively. I want to say last year I had, like I don't know, maybe eight or 12 requests for his presentation slides after he finished, so he really brought a great word for us all.
Speaker 1:And Catherine. I think it's important to identify that initially you had a venue of about 50 people that you reserved, but your board found that this was so important they wanted to make capacity for more people and I appreciate the vision of the board saying no, everybody needs the opportunity to hear this. So you guys are actually adjusting to find a location that creates space for more people to become informed about these issues.
Speaker 2:And I think we've got a new member on the hook there, so we'll have possibly a shop tour and Omar's presentation, which will be great. You'll have to stay tuned to find out who that is.
Speaker 2:But, hopefully they'll be at the business summit also. Actually, I think they will be so excited to introduce them there. But yeah, I thought maybe a smaller group would lead to more question and answer communication and my board said you know what no, this topic is too important, we don't want to limit it, we don't want to tell anybody. No, we want anybody who wants to come here from Omar to be able to do that. So I think it was a great recommendation suggestion. We're taking it.
Speaker 1:And, catherine, I love that because that is a that's a reminder to every person who's a part of a team that someone's going to come with an idea, but the collective idea brings about a different result, and I just love the fact that the board is acting as a collective team and that you guys keep making an impact. So thank you so much, catherine, for the conversation today.
Speaker 2:I miss you, ryan. It's great to get back on screen with you, yep.
Speaker 1:It's great to connect with you and I'm excited for where things are happening in Kansas.
Speaker 2:City. Ryan, you're going to be leading one of our breakout sessions at the Joint Chapter Summit.
Speaker 1:Looking forward to that and it's a good season ahead. I know I'm working at looking at doing an event down in Springfield, missouri, later this spring and I'll be up in Des Moines. It looks like for a conference coming up in the fall and stuff, so a lot of busy things.
Speaker 2:I hear you say Springfield, and it makes me think. Missouri Association of Manufacturers.
Speaker 1:Which makes me think about.
Speaker 2:Monday I am going to check out our venue for our shared manufacturing expo October 28th and 29th. We're going to hopefully sign a contract to secure our location for that event, which we'll be sponsoring with ma'am.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a huge partnership and what I love about it is they were willing just to jump on it and say let's go, let's do this together.
Speaker 2:All about small business manufacturers community.
Speaker 1:Yep, so amazing things coming up. If you're not currently a part of KC MTMA, look Catherine O'Toole up on LinkedIn. Find out how to be a part of it. There is something special happening in this community. Catherine, I'm so grateful for your leadership.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm grateful for you. Thank you for your time today.
Speaker 1:Hey, you bet, take care of my friend. Bye-bye.