Leading Innovation From Inside One of the Industry's Oldest Institutions | Always Lifting Episode 13

In this episode of the Always Lifting Podcast, host Karen Norheim sits down with Rachel Zepernick, General Manager at Thomas (ThomasNet.com), the 128-year-old trusted platform for connecting North American manufacturing suppliers and buyers. From that front-row seat, Rachel sees the trends shaping manufacturing before most people even feel them.

⏱️ Chapters:
00:00 – Introduction
00:58 – What is Thomas and its 128-year history
03:20 – Rachel's career journey: from consulting to manufacturing
11:28 – Manufacturing's image problem & the skills gap
15:04 – Women in manufacturing: where we are & where we need to go
19:34 – High school to factory floor: changing the pipeline
25:17 – Automation trends: what the survey data shows
27:17 – "It's not AI taking your job…"
31:57 – Supply chain resiliency & reshoring
34:09 – Leadership evolution & Rachel's hacks
40:24 – Remote & hybrid leadership tips
42:15 – What excites Rachel about manufacturing's future
44:25 – Legos, family time & unplugging

Whether you're leading a manufacturing company, recruiting for one, or trying to understand where the industry is headed, this conversation is packed with real data, real stories, and real strategies.

Rachel Zepernick's LinkedIn Profile
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachel-zepernick

📌 Connect with Karen & Always Lifting:
🌐 https://www.karennorheim.com/
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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:13

Today's guest has a front row seat to what's really happening in manufacturing right now. Rachel Zeppernick is the general manager at Thomas, the team behind ThomasNet.com, where manufacturers and industrial buyers connect every day. From that vantage point, Rachel sees trends, challenges, and shifts across the industry as they're unfolding. I am excited to talk with her about what she's seeing, her leadership journey, and what it's like to lead through constant change in an industry that matters a lot more than most people realize. Rachel, I'm so glad you're here today. Thank you so much for having me. Excited to chat with you. Yay. Well, to get us started, I think it'd be great for anyone listening to just let's talk a little bit about what Thomas is and the history of the organization and what you're doing there.

SPEAKER_01 1:06

Yeah. Thomas has been around for over 125 years. Today is actually our 128th year birthday. So happy birthday to Thomas. Fantastic. And we have always been that kind of connector in the industry, connecting buyers and suppliers and looking to uh grow those relationships and grow the industry. Um and that's changed from the books 100 years ago uh to a CD-ROM phase and now a digital phase. Um so uh, you know, thinking through how we can connect buyers who are looking for their short lists, they should start with Thomas, uh, and suppliers who are looking to access that industry-specific um uh buyer base, that's what we're here for, is to you know, be that matchmaker in the industry. Um and this is a really interesting time for Thomas. I think a lot has changed in search, uh in automation, and how LLMs are used to digest information and how we as humans are digesting information. Um so really pivotal time for Thomas to think about how to improve our UX, how to improve our search experience, how to improve our data, um, to give our suppliers and buyers exactly what they're looking for and help continue to be that uh matchmaker in the industry.

SPEAKER_00 2:15

That's exactly I mean, 128 years, that's that's a long time. A long time such a great history. I mean, if you think about the span of what you just told us from paper to CD to online, and then there's all kinds of other services you're you're helping manufacturers with. So it's pretty remarkable.

SPEAKER_01 2:30

Yeah, and and I think we've always had this kind of heritage that we count on. And you can see that in the people that uh we employ. And when you're working with us as a client, um, you know, we have a lot of engineers on staff, a lot of people have been working with us for for many, many years and really understand the industry. And we work with thousands of clients in the industry, so have that kind of industry knowledge as we think through your marketing strategies and and um you know our own ability to connect the the industry. And um, you know, we build on that heritage. I in World War II, we uh were deemed so necessary to the North American um economy that we were exempt from paper rationing laws. And we really think about that heritage and and how to grow ourselves now of continuing to be the kind of growth engine for the industry and that connector of the industry. So interesting.

SPEAKER_00 3:14

Um and and how did you find yourself at Thomas? What is your journey to coming to Thomas and you know, tell us a little bit about your background?

SPEAKER_01 3:22

Yeah, I I guess um I'll start later and then go back to childhood. Um, I came from uh Angie, which is formerly Angie's list and home advisor. Uh so another marketplace similar in connecting buyers and suppliers in the home improvement industry. Um I ran enterprise sales strategy and operations. So um really thinking through how to solve customer pain points, especially the larger customers at Angie and um, you know, how to grow the business, um, especially in a you know down demand environment and how to help make that connection and think through products and services and partnerships that can help build that. Um, so uh I have kind of taken that experience now in the last year and thought through how to leverage that in the manufacturing industry and leverage some of those, you know, you see a lot of the improvements in UX on the Angie site, thinking through how we can do that on our site to help again better that connection. And when a buyer comes to our site, they're getting what they're looking for. Ultimately, when a supplier is on our site, they're looking for buyers and they're looking for high-quality buyers. Uh, so the better experience we can create for both of those customer bases, uh, the better both of our customers are um are uh using our site.

SPEAKER_00 4:28

And that's crucial right now, right? I mean, we think about supply chain and people are needing to pivot and find different suppliers or different things. Or I mean, I think you have some stories in your history too about some famous, you know, different companies that have found their ability to get the contract manufacturing done through your, you know, your platform, correct?

SPEAKER_01 4:47

100%. Um, we have a bunch of case studies on our site and some that we just we just uh push through LinkedIn so you can kind of hear some of those stories, but a ton of opportunity to expand your supply chain. There's a huge trend we're hearing about also in kind of the research when we talk to you know executives in the in the space and some of the surveys we've done. This is such a big trend of um, you know, with all the macroeconomic environment with you know finance hurdles and the year of the tariffs and more to come, probably. And I think it was like 75% of our respondents in our survey said they raised prices and are expecting prices to raise again this year. Um, it's a really volatile market. Um, and it's so important uh to be investing in um, you know, redundancy, investing in partnerships that can help create better lead times for you. When you do have a pricing hurdle with one, you have other options. Maybe in your bill of materials, you're thinking through redundant parts or alternate uh uh components. So really thinking through that supply chain resiliency is like top of mind for the executives we talk to. Um and that's what we're here for is you want a short list, you start with Thomas. You come to Thomas, you're going to be able to find who you're looking for. Um, and for our supplier clients, we're we're you know attracting the right client um for them uh to our site and the right buyer to connect with them and find them.

SPEAKER_00 5:56

It's great helping them navigate how to make sure they are being able to be found, right? That's so much technology changing and moving. And and I think it's an amazing service that you're providing, you know, for for the industry in general. So I think it's huge. And and it trade translates to everyone, right? I mean, I think I remember when people really talk a lot a lot about manufacturing in general, right? We weren't in the news. I remember those days. And also when, you know, supply chain wasn't necessarily a word people thought about. Uh, and now I think it's probably part of everybody's um, you know, vocabulary at this point in time. So yeah, so interesting. Well, so take me back. So from Angie's List to Thomas. Yes. And what, you know, what what um tell us about the Rachel who ended up in Angie's list. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:40

Um I guess going way back, I've always kind of liked working. Um, I feel like I always um enjoyed being independent. I like being self-sufficient. I hate handouts. I I don't like asking for things that I know I can do myself, uh, which may be a flaw now working on that. Um, but I I mean, I was eight on a vacation with my family and we were hiking and we came across a moose skeleton and I created a museum, 25 cents for entry to you know, see the moose skeleton. Um, I was very interested in biology and science at the time. Um, so you know, I think that's always been kind of ingrained in me. Thank you to my parents for for um you know whatever got me there. Um, and I've been working since I was 13 or 14, you know, as a cashier and a waitress and uh scooped ice cream and Ben and Jerry. So always kind of wanted to be self-sufficient and work hard.

SPEAKER_00 7:29

I have to say that's the most unique first job ever that I've heard. That your entrepreneurship, you know, kind of started with um like a a moose skeleton museum. I think it's pretty, pretty awesome. And I I love the curiosity um and the science and the STEM, all that I'm hearing in there. So I just had to give that comment.

SPEAKER_01 7:46

Keep going. Yeah, no, I I was always um very interested in STEM, and I think that shifted into more math-related topics as I as I um grew up, but it was very focused on science in the beginning, and I was always fascinated by fossils and dinosaurs. Um so um you can see that in my early childhood. Um, but I was very lucky and fortunate and grateful to be um to have kind of a secure and loving household, but it was also just chaos. I'm one of four, we're similar in age. My little brother and sister are twins. Uh, we're all tall and loud and talking over each other and had a hundred activities, and none of them were the same, like my poor parents. Um, so uh I think with that um and this kind of grit and interest and working very hard, um, and also athletics. I always played sports, those were my activities, and I was a good but never star athlete. Um, so I think all of this kind of together built um construction comfort comfort with constructive feedback. Um, I got that a lot early in the athletics world. Um, calmness and chaos. Um, I may not have perfect information or a perfect plan, and that's okay. And like ruthless prioritization. There was so much going on. Um, and that's okay. So I think I sort of built some of the things that I think make me a good leader today, probably just in my childhood home. Um so I'm grateful for those experiences, still very close with my siblings and parents, um, which is nice too. And then transitioning to work um post uh uh college, I went into IT finance and procurement. Um, to learned a lot about negotiation, a lot about, you know, first exposure to PL and first exposure to building a rapport cross-functionally and um having to like speak the language and know enough. I'm not gonna be an engineer and know the answer as an engineer. And you know, I'm I'm not a CFO and I don't know the answer there. But how do I speak the language of those two people to help bridge that gap? Um, so uh great early exposure. Um, but I knew pretty quickly procurement was not the route I wanted to go down. Um, I chose business school as a way to transition out and switch careers. I think we discussed whether that's the right path for everyone, um, uh, but it was the right path for me. Um, and I wanted to shift into something more kind of growth focused and top line focused. Um, so I went into strategy consulting. Um, thought I'd give it two years to see what I want to be when I grow up. Uh better part of a decade later, I was still there. Um, but I dedicated quickly to the industrials practice. Um, focused a lot on home improvement, which I think got me into Angie. Um, uh, but it was just a lot of reps in managing teams. It was a different team per project. I think I did like 60 or 70 projects in my almost decade there. Um, and I was I loved it. It was very hard work, um, a lot of hours, um, but very smart people. You're learning about a new business each time. You're thinking through the specific customer pain points and how to solve them and how to grow the business. Um, I loved B2B. I think um B2C sounded sexier and it was cooler products that I might be using every day, but there's such interesting problems and disruption opportunities in the you know, businesses that have been around for a lot longer. Um, so I loved that and a lot of innovation that you know, maybe you don't hear about every day that I that I loved. Um, but uh got poached away at ANG, uh pre-partner and very grateful that for that experience and to get kind of closer to operations, closer to sales. I think a lot of like non-sales leaders will say they don't want to do sales, but every leader, when you get more senior enough, you have to be close to the customer and you have to be close to the pain points and you have to care about go-to-market and messaging and what you're selling. Um, so uh appreciative of my experience at Angie to kind of bring me back to that operating role.

SPEAKER_00 11:27

Fantastic. And now you so now you found yourself at this sort of um linchpin spot in manufacturing, right? Um and you know, what do you think about manufacturing in general being involved in this manufacturing space? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:42

It's such an interesting space. Again, been around forever, to your point, kind of quietly. Um, you know, you don't hear about it in the news every day. And then all of a sudden, um, you know, the past year and five years, a lot more in uh in the news and forefront of all the terrafertals. Yep. Um, but I think it's it's a really interesting time. I think there's so many trends around automation and and AI that are so interesting in this industry and that we're not just talking about anymore. Um, I mean, I think our survey was something like 85% of our survey respondents said they were investing six to seven figures this year in automation. 50% almost said they were already experiencing ROI from what they've invested already. Um, so I think this is a really critical time to shift from we're talking about how to automate and how to think through things, and there's some robotic solutions to like every role, there's something we can do there to be more efficient.

SPEAKER_00 12:34

And I think almost every manufacturing leader is at least toying these things around and in their mind. How do we, how do we do this? And how do we, how do we, you know, um determine what makes the most sense and and where do we, you know, go from there. Tell me a little bit. So you talked about a survey there. Tell me a little bit about the survey and who you surveyed and you know, keep, you know, give us a little more of some of the results that you found are very interesting.

SPEAKER_01 12:56

Yeah, um, we do a couple surveys. Um we uh do one with our parent company, Zometry, um, where we uh we survey uh global executives in the space. Okay. Um so a lot of trends that we heard there. We'd love to talk about those in automation, in um uh you know, focusing on the customer, what the customer cares about, and supply chain resiliency are kind of the big three that we heard there. Um and then the other survey we do is in conjunction with the Women in Manufacturing Association, which is a great association, um, and a lot of incredible leaders that I've met at the conference, um, uh including some of yours in the fall. Um, and we talk a lot about trends in the industry, um, and we interview both men and women, although SKU is heavy to women, and we try to see where their differences in the kind of response from women and the response from men, um, and what are some unique things that we're seeing. Um, and a lot of the concept we heard there was also around automation and investors in the space and what that's doing for the skills gap between um, you know, what we need for the industry and who's coming into the industry and uh associated with that, uh, the differences between men and women entering the industry, how they found manufacturing, um, are they happy in the industry? And there's a lot of very cool data and interesting data about um, you know, women in manufacturing and how underrepresented we are. And I think more broadly then we've started to think through and look at some other research on you know, how do you solve this problem? And sure, I think um, you know, targeting women in the industry is one great way to do that. Uh, we're underrepresented, so you want to solve a labor gap is a great way to do it. But I think there's other ways too.

SPEAKER_00 14:27

Yeah, well, so women in manufacturing is always special to my heart. I um um my company is a member of the organization. I'm a past uh national chair, and I just think they do some great work. A lot of has happened since, you know, since I got involved early on. So let's talk, let's talk a little. Like, what are you seeing? And we can we can start from their vantage point, and I'd love to go into then the anything you saw from the global leaders as well. You know, labor shortages, women in the industry, are we making headway on that? And and if there are um tips or best practices that are working to attract more women or more people in general to our ranks, which we need, I you know, I feel like manufacturing has like an image problem.

SPEAKER_01 15:09

Um, and I felt this even at Angie, I spoke about this a couple of times too. There's just a skilled uh labor gap and a kind of uh skilled labor shortage in a lot of these like trade industries. Um and it's totally a stigma-related, image-related thing. When you get a STEM degree, you're thinking about things and you're not really thinking about how that might you know be leveraged in some of these massive industries that are lucrative and so important to the American economy and the global economy. Um so that's unfortunate. So I think I think we need to work on that and can talk through some of that. Um, but we're making some headway, um, but not enough. Um I think about 50% of the US workforce is is uh female. I think it's just under that, about 30% in um manufacturing. So a little underrepresented. Um and if you think about um, you know, the the talent pool, like the next generation of talent, um, I think over 60% of uh associate degrees and over 50% of master's degrees, if you kind of go up the chain in in post-secondary education, are women. Um so if you think about who, if you're looking for people who have post-secondary degrees to do some of these, you know, more automation or data science or um, you know, robotics type roles, it's a big pool of women to target. And even if we expand beyond gender, I think it's like 71% of boomers are white, 54% of millennials are white, 50% of Gen Z is white. It's it's starting to get more and more diverse. I think as a company, if you're not thinking about you know underrepresented or historically underrepresented communities and how you can target those people to work at your company, how you can retain those people and attract them to your company, and frankly, like build awareness, uh, you're missing out. That that's a huge pool of talent. Um, um, so I think that's a really important thing to think about.

SPEAKER_00 16:50

Yeah, it's a big opportunity there. And it and I think the efforts to um expand the pool and try to attract more people in is great for attracting people in general, right? Like it's it's it's such a such a win-win there. And we we were talking about this a little bit before we came on air. I mean, it kind of speaks to your thought of, you know, you have an MBA, I have an MBA. Um, but we we in our uh roles know that that that's not the path for everybody. And there's some really great paths. I know at our company at American Crane. Yeah um you can have a great career, make a great living in the skilled trades, um, and you know, uh other avenues that don't necessarily require those advanced degrees. Um, or there's a, I feel like it sometimes it's not thought about the the overall orchestra of what I like to call manufacturing of all the different instruments, right, that are playing and the different parts, um, you know, from your accounting to your engineering to your manufacturing floor to your, you know, people out in the field doing service work. It's such a um rich um orchestra. I guess I'm using my music now for today. Um, you know, and comes with challenges of getting everybody to play the same thing. Um, but you know, what are your thoughts around this and this again, this idea of MBA or non-MBA, skilled labor, you know, and and trying to determine what is the right thing for an each individual.

SPEAKER_01 18:11

Yeah. Well, going back, I I see this like every day um with my kids. I have a five and a half year old and a two and a half year old, and they're obsessed with you know building with their hands and STEM. And we're a Lego family, and we have Legos all over our house. And um, you know, my son's obsessed with them. He's doing, you know, I did an eight-year-old set this weekend myself, and he's so proud. And he's building all this creativity and using his hands. And my daughter's even starting to build with the regular Lego instead of the duplos. Excited. Uh, love magnetiles, all the things that I you know, I have all these pictures every day from their daycare of building with magnetiles and you know, using their hands and doing art. Um, and then like something happens in the high school timeframe, and we go from I want to be a construction worker, I get that every day, to and like naming the different um, you know, equipment. This morning he said, uh, or yesterday rather, he said, you know, yard cranes are my favorite cranes, telecare. Um, so I I think uh there's something that happens in that sort of middle school, high school timeframe where we push people towards, you know, um, everyone towards degrees and away from um using their hands or industries that use their hands. And to your point, if you think about manufacturing and the trades, there are so many roles within those industries and we kind of stereotype them. If you go that route, you have to do factory floor, which is definitely one option and a great option for many people who want to work with their hands. But there's so many other spectrums you could go in the industry. Um I think that's kind of disappointing. I think, again, that's that image problem. I think the number one way to solve this, I feel, is uh kind of challenging those in the industry to help partner with organizations to and your local community to change that. Yeah. And I think about, you know, partnering with STEM uh programs, local universities, local community colleges, local high schools. Um, when I first joined Thomas, actually, I met a client, I went to their factory, did a factory tour, and I met a high school student who was doing like a summer program, rotational program, doing four different you know activities uh on the factory. What a great way to get hands-on experience. And if you live it and you see it, and you know, you you look around and you see people that are like you and you know, they're welcoming, you start to see those as options. Um, and guests are becoming more prevalent.

SPEAKER_00 20:22

We do a lot of work. Well, there's a local um uh uh school called Daddy Stevens that we're working with creating an internship for our shop floor. It's incredible. You know, what uh hadn't really considered that before. And you know, the I I love that you brought that that that up, that we're it's a chance to provide opportunities for people to see what it what it's about. And um, I'm sure you see this with other manufacturers. Often it can be a pathway to further education, right? I mean, there are we our our current um I'm CEO of American Crane, our current president of America Crane started out as an electrician on our shop floor and and continued his education on and moved up, you know, through the ranks over time. So I feel like it's it's it can be more of a door opening and then become a subject matter in that if that's your passion. And if if you've but if you want to move on and learn more skills and and do whatever, there's there's a lot of opportunity. And often that education is paid for if it's something you choose.

SPEAKER_01 21:17

Exactly. And think about like uh Mary Berra, uh, you know, the CO GM, same kind of path, you know, worked her way up. Um, I think you see a lot of those examples of, you know, if you can get in early and get your foot in the door and really experience the role and experience the people around you, it opens up a lot of opportunities for you. Um, and to your point of MBA or not, uh, or your question of MBA or not, I think it's very personal decision. It's very expensive decision. So you have to make sure it's like the right path for you and what do you want out of that? And um uh, you know, do you think that it's um going to uh be useful in what you're looking for coming out of of the the MBA program? Um or any you know, advanced program, I think. You know, what are you looking for? I don't I don't think it's the right decision to just do it for fun or or Um do it because someone said you should. For me, it was personally the right decision. I was looking to switch careers, and I think that's something that's doable outside of an MBA program, but also a great way to learn about other industries and you know meet other people who can help teach you. And you have companies coming on site to, you know, you get your foot in the door there with the interview process. So great way to switch careers.

SPEAKER_00 22:19

Like who's scratch is that curiosity itch that you had that we heard about in childhood that I think pursuing a continuous learning, I can just get that sense from you.

SPEAKER_01 22:28

Definitely. And and I think that's important as a leader to constantly learn. Um I but I've always kind of felt that way and enjoyed um learning about new things. And I also didn't really know what I wanted to do. I think if you know the next career for you and then the next path for you, it's a lot easier to target your search. I didn't really know. So it's a great way to kind of hone. Um and I think there's other things you can get from an MBA, in particular, a network for sure. But I know many people who don't have an MBA who have an incredible network. And I think that's more about it, you know, you also don't get handed the network. You have to work your network, you have to stay in contact with people, you have to give, you can't just take from your network. So um I think uh that that is one door opening thing from an MBA. And I think the third thing, which was um monumental for me, but again, not everyone needs this path, is you develop, and I don't know if you experienced this in in your MBA as well, you develop that gut that is so important. And I think about the kind of not leader I was going into business school and this kind of very junior person who was high achieving and and you know, high potential, but was so shy. I didn't want to raise my hand if I didn't have perfect or like 99% information. I'm not giving my opinion uh to who I was afterwards, 500, you know, classes later, 500 reps later of talking about companies and talking about problems and forcing myself, very uncomfortable for me. It was not my personality, but forcing myself to have an opinion, to debate, to raise my hand, to public speak, um, to, and if I didn't, I was getting cold called. So it was gonna happen. Uh and I think there are, again, other ways you can do that in your real life work. And I built on that skill set and consulting thereafter with so many reps, but um, those are just such important um, you know, comfort with you know, limited information and and building that gut. I felt like I really got that out of my MBA program and needed that to transition to more of a leadership path versus where I was before. I see a different human before and after. Um, but again, I think there's real world experience in particular that can um, you know, build that, those reps um and sometimes better reps if you're you know experiencing that day to day. Um, but that was the path that that I took.

SPEAKER_00 24:34

No, I think it's great. We any chance we can have, whatever our craft is or whatever it is that we're we're doing to learn more or to get out of our comfort zone, but in a safe way so we can keep trying things on. And I think it it can both help you to realize um, is it something that you're interested in doing? Obviously, you're that found your passion for leadership and and uh for the organization you're with. Now I think in in any field, you know, it's a way to kind of just push yourself past past that. I know that's at our company, we also really like to invest back in our people and in training, um, you know, we're regardless of where you're at. And I feel like anytime we're able to do that and and open up a little um nugget of learning um and growth, it's just uh it is such a great progression for everyone. I'd like to kind of pull you back for a minute. Let's go back to this discussion of automation. Yeah. And I know you you said that, you know, it's really showing up for those in the in the survey and what you're seeing. Is there any, you know, with that acceleration? I think I think a lot of us know automation is coming. We hear all about AI and how we're gonna do that and robots and and all these different things. You know, is if for those out there that are in the manufacturing space that are trying to say, hey, how am I gonna address this automation? Yeah, have you seen anything that shows companies that are adapting well to integrating automation or any tips for those of us that are trying to figure out um how to angle or position our teams to start making some investments? Yes.

SPEAKER_01 26:00

Um, I think two things I'd say. One is like, where are we seeing uh in our survey results the kind of majority starting to invest? Because I think there's a lot of opportunities. Yeah, it's interesting. Um one is uh quality control, such a huge opportunity for data, for um reducing human error. Um, so huge space, uh, robotics definitely, process optimization, cybersecurity. Um, and there's a what was the, I think it's Rockwell Automation Survey that talked about this as well. Um, they mentioned um what was the other space, logistics, kind of big spaces where there's opportunity to leverage data and improve your solutioning. One other thing um that was talked about a lot at uh the women in manufacturing event and um someone at um uh one of the universities that studies automation in manufacturing um focused on any activity where it's mundane and repetitive is just ripe for robotics. And that doesn't mean you're necessarily replacing the person, you're probably upskilling the person to manage the robot. Um but that they're ripe for human error. You often have a lot of churn because it's such a mundane role. Um, so those are kind of opportunities on the factory floor. If you start to think through where there might be uh use cases for the data and the analytics and the robotics, those are probably the best, best use cases that we're hearing about. And I actually read something in in Forbes like a year ago that stuck with me that said, um uh, you know, uh you shouldn't be worried about AI taking your job. You should be worried about somebody who knows how to use AI taking your job. And I believe that. And that brings me to my second point, which is uh I think saying, oh, data will figure it out, oh, the robotics guy will figure it out, oh, engineers will figure it out. I don't think that's the right culture. And that's not what we're hearing from our clients and our research. You really need a culture of automation. Everyone in sales, in operations, in marketing, in product and tech, et cetera, um, has opportunities to use automation in their day-to-day. And that improves, it buys you time, which is like leadership house. One of one is like any time you can get throughout the day. Um, think about like the sales team being able to record a call and summarize your um, you know, what happened in the call and what are your follow-ups and um, you know, what's the right messaging and being able to share that with the team so quickly that saves so much time. Um, or research a company if you're you know reaching out or or whatever it is. Um, so I think that that culture is really important. You want to find tools that are easy to use, that you don't need to be a coder to use, um, and instill a culture in your company that everyone should be leveraging these tools every day.

SPEAKER_00 28:33

And I think you can, you know, we're we're trying to do that at American Crane. And uh, you know, I think it also can be wrapped into the idea around innovation and continuous improvement. Yeah. Right. It doesn't mean that you have to be like AI only, but if you if you put it in that space of where are there opportunities for improvement in our business, this happens to be a tool that we're willing to consider. You know, that's a great starting point, I think.

SPEAKER_01 28:55

And it can be simple, it can be Gemini or ChatGPT or a Google Suite uh company. So we've been using a lot of Gemini and it's great. And it it helps me every day, you know, take this paragraph and make it shorter, longer, formal, nicer. Yeah, it really can help you build what instead of Googling synonyms, it can help you kind of build that. It still needs to be edited and have your tone.

SPEAKER_00 29:15

But I really am not using the Google search much anymore, which is remarkable. I really am feeling that I'm always using my ChatGPT to give me sort of the short list. And then it might go out and then do a little a bit more, but it it is kind of an interesting um change that I is sort of naturally happening happening when you start using these tools.

SPEAKER_01 29:32

Yeah, I think it's it's funny. Humans are like changing how we're experiencing and um like uh reviewing information. I think it depends on the use case. Um, there are use cases, and I'll use like a personal example, like wedding planning. I did not have a wedding planner, I planned the whole thing. Um, but I wanted to know every detail. I didn't want a short list, I didn't want to know three options. I want to know a hundred and then narrow it down to the three and then talk about it with my husband and decide what we were gonna do. Um, but and I use that in some use cases in my day-to-day. Some use cases, I just want the summary and it's not worth my time to do all the research. Like it kind of depends on the use case. Um I found a lot of my day-to-day of um, you know, I again I want to like research a company or know a little more about you know this little thing, definitely ChatGPT Gemini. It's gonna get me there. Um, but often in the the uh, you know, who I want to reach out to or you know, maybe I'm looking for a software to support something we're doing, I I'll start um uh on Google. I'll leverage the ChatGPT. I'll also leverage the ChatGPT and Geminis to get me more information. So I have my short list created for my Google search. Come with the amazing tools. And you can use this for like vacation planning too, right? I I want to go in this time period to these countries, to this area. What countries would be a good idea, what cities would be a good idea, and why, and here are my criteria, and I'll like create this like amazing spreadsheet for you, basically.

SPEAKER_00 30:51

I think what you're doing is uh what we've heard from you know some of our other guests, what I've heard out in a lot of the AI, you know, I'm a curious person as well, and I'm always trying to at least stay aware and abreast is that you're building kind of like this great prompt to then put in to to prompts for sure.

SPEAKER_01 31:06

Yeah. Um, and I think it's also data enriching. Um, so you might get your short list from Google or you might create a short list from Google or get your full list from Google, but getting more information about that list using automation is a huge way to enrich. Definitely. Think about that at Thomas, too, of you know, we're a list. So uh when you go to Thomas.com and how do we give more information and summarize that information in ways that are helpful and let you ask us in your tone and your voice what you're looking for, and we can help you hone and not uh not hone that list too early, too. Um, so we're thinking about how to leverage LLMs and in our own platform. And you see this in all the, you know, you see it in Angie and Yelp and you know, investing in automation and AI to help think through how you know humans as consumers and businesses are digesting information.

SPEAKER_00 31:50

Very, very interesting. I mean, two other trends that I, you know, you mentioned before were was this idea, I think you said around being close to your customer and then supply chain resilience. Just is there anything in those two topics that you think are worth noting for listeners about just what you're seeing and and um what might be important to stay in front of or keep learning and paying attention to?

SPEAKER_01 32:12

Yeah, I mean, I think a lot of trends right now that are macroeconomic level with pricing and tariffs, like we mentioned, um, are driving people towards this kind of supply chain resiliency. Um, and that can mean um uh developing those extra partnerships. I think it's like 85% of our survey uh noted they're working on strategic partnerships and often digital partnerships to help with these types of relationships. Um, reshoring is still a big trend. I think some 50% of our respondents or almost 50% said they were actively reshoring a facility. Uh, 30% said they already have. Uh again, you're not reshoring everyone necessarily, but um, some kind of resiliency in in in lead time is so important.

SPEAKER_00 32:50

What a boost to the US economy in there. I mean, that we're certainly in my industry, which is supportive of manufacturers, we're certainly seeing that. So it's just creating more opportunity, but also more pressure, yes, right, on the supply chain and to get all the pieces as they come online because it's gonna take a little while to resure and build yourself back up again.

SPEAKER_01 33:07

Definitely a big investment and can be risky. Um, and I think one of the other things we hear along with this is uh with the what the customers are looking for, and especially our manufacturing clients, what their customers are looking for, is that transparency as well. Um, what a great opportunity for automation too. Um, but you know, you're used to, as a again, a consumer, this Amazon like speed and also this Amazon level um transparency of when something's arriving, is it on time, is it not? Why did the price change? That's sort of starting to bleed into B2B. And we're hearing that a lot. Yes, quality matters. Yes, price transparency matters and stability would be nice. Um, and and yes, faster lead times, but also transparency across those things. Oh surprise. And again, like, you know, investment in automation and data and analytics to help provide that in real time versus having to, you know, follow up and create that, you know, hey, where is it? Here, where is it uh conversation? Um, so I think those are really important themes we're hearing about.

SPEAKER_00 34:01

Interesting. To pivot a little bit more, I'm gonna talk a little bit about leadership and you know, is there as you as you we've talked a little bit about your journey, where you got to where you are today? And you know, it over time, has your leadership style evolved um over time? I know we talked a little bit about your MBA and learning in there, but as you have gotten into industry, and is there is anything in there? And do you have any like leadership hacks or habits or anything that um those listening could possibly learn from you and and take, I'm always looking for a nice trick and a hack.

SPEAKER_01 34:34

Exactly, is fine as well. Um I wouldn't say my style has changed, but it's built. Again, I'm kind of always learning, always trying to build that gut and build you know how I think about things and be open to feedback and open to change and open to healthy debate. Um, so I've gotten more and more comfortable with that and worked on a lot of those skill sets I think are so important for leaders I I value and like my mentors and my former bosses um in you know, comfort in a room and comfort with discomfort and comfort with limited information. It's never perfect. And even if it's perfect, two people might look at it in two different ways. Um, so I kind of building on those skill sets over time and with reps and experience. Um and then leadership hacks. Um I feel like all of my hacks, their life hacks and leadership hacks are all about just like time. How do you find more time in your in your week? And I think automation is definitely one of those. And I use that as we mentioned before in my my professional life. I also use it in my personal life. My daughter has an anaphylactic egg allergy. I've just found a chicken meatball recipe for you know, no eggs. How do I substitute? So little things like that I think are are useful. Whereas before I would have had to, you know, reach out to the allergy community to try to try to um find those ideas. Um, so very important. But also like other little things like um, you know, I'm trying to get more steps in. I just got a walking pad. If I'm writing an email, why am I not walking at 2.5 miles an hour writing the email? I can drink a coffee, it's so slow, but I'm getting my steps in. So things to kind of multitask in a way that's healthy. Um, I block my social media. I I was in denial that I'm not addicted. Full-on addiction. It's so hard. I mean, it kids are addicted to screens. It's adults, it's it's so much.

SPEAKER_00 36:14

And you know, we are getting a dopamine kick every time that something pings or or makes a noise. And and the more you use it, the more you want to go back. I'm with you. I've actually I have cut the cord with social media. So I have no pings on my phone. I have um no um social media. And it's it's I mean, we're on a podcast and we're actually gonna kind of we're kind of talking about that. Um here we are asking people to go online and look. But I think we have to control um, you know, how we interact with those things, or it will just take over. Yes. And, you know, they're they're made to want us to just keep scrolling and keep looking.

SPEAKER_01 36:47

And all the algorithms are giving you that. So I don't completely block. Um, I do find some value in you know small doses, but I I physically block. So I I had an app where you could block on your phone different um applications, but you can override it. So I now I got the Bloom card. I don't know if you've heard of it. It's a Bloom card. I it's like 35 bucks, and you can't use whatever apps you put to be blocked by Bloom unless you swipe a card. And the card is in the kitchen in our everything drawer. Uh and I'm in my office, I have to physically stand up and go step into the room and press a couple buttons and swipe the card, or I can't, and it really created a physical barrier to I can't just, you know, I have a minute, I'm swiping, oops, 30 minutes went by. I love that. Or usually this was happening at like midnight. I'm trying to go to bed, and here I am with blue light in my face, you know, scrolling. So um I think uh creating kind of tricks to keep you from you know Zoom scrolling, um, I think are are really important. Um, and um, you know, you can get a couple quick fixes without absolutely miss this long-term uh social media view.

SPEAKER_00 37:50

Bloom card is great. My my thing is I don't sleep with my phone next to me. Amazing. Yeah, I have the I have the way my home is set up, my bathroom is right there. I can hear it in the bathroom, but it's and it's charging in there and it I'm not getting, I have my alarm go off, so I don't miss it, but it's not like right next to my head. You know, number one, I'm not getting all these sort of you know, um wireless signals and you know, there's a whole thing around all of that. But um, but more importantly, I can't just grab it. Because it's hard it's hard. It's hard.

SPEAKER_01 38:17

We're humans. Exactly. Um, I mean, other little things too, like buy an air fryer. I have an air fryer. I have two. We have one that's allergy free and one that's not. Uh it's like a third of the time out of an oven. It's amazing. Really? Yes, it's amazing. Okay. I didn't know that. Like from frozen. I'm making frozen salmon in in like you know 13 minutes. Oh wow. So I and it's fresh and delicious and it tastes good. Okay. Um, so highly recommend. Air fryer. Air fired. Amazing. Yeah. I actually had no idea that it cooked faster. It was so fast. Um, and like crispy and juicy and delicious.

SPEAKER_00 38:50

And I I think this also brings up an amazing thing. You know, you're managing, you know, your company, but you're also managing your life. You're a mom and a wife, and you have all these things. And so the, you know, we have to, I think it's really important to go back to one thing that you mentioned earlier. You know, um, how do we manage our time, right? We only get 168 hours in a week. We have to sleep eight hours every day. And then we want to enjoy our lives and spend time with those we love. We have to be really smart about and intentional about how we're how we're spending those other um work hours or I'll say homework kind of things. So I love these hacks for kind of making it go smooth and faster as much as possible.

SPEAKER_01 39:29

I think the last one I'll add is um like bulk processing. And I think about this in like personal life, you know, I have to make my daughter's lunch. That's one of my tasks in the household. Instead of doing it every day, I like bulk make the lunches. Great. It's just quicker. I think about my my professional life too. What works for me? If I have like a 30-minute window between a bunch of meetings, I get nothing done. I need like a five minute, you know, brain cleanup. I still look at my email, I check my slacks. Oops, there's 30 minutes. I've got nothing done. So I kind of bulk my meetings too and bulk more importantly, my focus time. Um, and that really lets me, you know, I reset, I redo my to-do list, I can dig in, and I actually get time to focus. Um, for me, that's been very valuable. Um, but again, all little hacks, I think create advantage. Each each person needs to find what works for them. But anything you can do to shave off 30 minutes an hour, you know, in in these weeks is huge. That's up. Um, so yeah, that's up.

SPEAKER_00 40:19

Um I think another thing I'd just be curious about, and I'm not sure the the situation, Thomas, I think since you have such a large organization, I um, you know, you have people who are probably remote or in some of your uh offices and you know, all over. So now we've gone from this world where we used to be all in person and now we're now we're, you know, um we're all remote for a little bit. Now we're kind of omni, like trying to figure out do you have any tips or tactics for leaders as we try to navigate how to lead in this, you know, sort of new normal of having some people here, some people not. Any any tips for anybody out there who's trying to deal with that? Great question.

SPEAKER_01 41:00

Um I think a couple of things. I think as a leader, it's really easy to stay in the weeds and we need to kind of take a breath of fresh air and get back to 10,000 feet sometimes, um, both alone and you know, ideate what we want to do, but also with your leadership team. Um, sometimes we do that at Thomas virtually and or sometimes we start virtually. We just had a little offsite about you know what we want to be for the you know, the better half of the second half of this year. Uh, we did one virtual and we're meeting next week in person with leaders to talk through. So I do think there's a value to be in person um and to getting that you know remote leadership group or you know, if you're managing a team, that team together every once in a while. It doesn't necessarily need to be every week, um, but that is really valuable. Um, and I think when you build those personal relationships, your work relationship improves as well. And when you're working through hard problems, your personal relationship um improves with those folks as well. So I do think there's you know, being able to balance some of those um virtual and in-person experiences, even if if folks are remote, I I think that's really valuable.

SPEAKER_00 41:58

I think it's very important for sure. Another area where, you know, I'd love to kind of just uh uh move us along here is you're as you think about the future. We talked about trends that we're seeing, right? We've talked about things that yeah, that we're seeing, you know, kind of right now. But is there anything that excites you about the future of manufacturing or where we're headed? Um, and you know, things that maybe leaders should be paying attention to that isn't quite so obvious.

SPEAKER_01 42:26

I think uh data is probably the area I would focus. Um I again, as we think through like automation opportunities, I think robotics pops to my mind first. Um, and you know, even in my consulting years a decade ago, I was visiting robotics facilities. Was there this one facility that had this huge robot that was like moving heavy um lemonade around for a fast food chain super heavy and humans can't do it. So I think you know, we've started to think about how to use robotics tools for a while. And and but I think data is the one that's so important. And I think um uh how to have better data that you're giving data models and automation tools is a really critical piece as well. If you give garbage to a model, it spits out garbage. Um so I think trying to identify opportunities in your company and to support your clients and solve their pain points where you can collect enough data and share that data in a way and spit it into automation uh and share it in a way that's useful and usable is a great way to think about what's next, a great way to tailor your product roadmap, a great way to solve pain points that your customers may not even know they have. Um so uh that's where I I think I I personally spend a lot of time thinking about and and I expect the industry to um develop more and more tools to improve whatever it is that they're doing. Um that's the area I would focus on.

SPEAKER_00 43:55

Yeah, and I think that your insights are spot on in there, and and that's great. Things for us to think about and to keep making sure we're moving towards. Something that we you mentioned a little bit earlier and I like to come back to is your love of Legos. Yes. And just to just to kind of wrap that into this idea of, you know, what do you do to recharge and reset? And so tell me about your love of Legos and a little bit about how you and your family do that and what it what it brings to you.

SPEAKER_01 44:25

Yes. I've always been like a puzzler and I love problem solving. And I think I naturally was, you know, a builder. I liked Lincoln logs when I was a kid. And so I think naturally moved moved towards Legos pretty quickly. But my husband and I both love Legos. I think the company has done a great job of creating solutions that are not just like, oh, I want that nostalgic toy I had when I was younger, but like the art and the flowers and things like our home has a lot of Lego flowers. Kind of a great example of a company pivoting and becoming more than that's like amazing. Remarkable. So I think it's a a really interesting product that kind of um uh keeps you engaged at any age and any interest. Uh, you know, there's Star Wars Lego and there's flowers. Um so really whatever you're interested in. Um and now I see it with my son and my daughter who love playing Legos. We we engage all the time as a family and it lets us recharge and we can talk while we're building, um, but we can focus. And my son's so proud of himself when he's building. Um, and it's such an amazing way to learn and an amazing way to connect uh without a screen. Um so we love it. Um and it's like fun.

SPEAKER_00 45:37

It's fun. Yeah, we we have to have these things where you know what we do can be very heavy and overwhelming. And you know, we were talking about we only have so many hours in a week. We need to make time to do that kind of stuff. I think it's good for our brains, it's good for our family and our relationships. And it's so important to unplug. I love that.

SPEAKER_01 45:55

And again, I think the natural unplug in today's world is like throwing the TV, which I love doing too. I I love shows, but you know, that quality time is so important. You only get so many hours, especially with young kids. I only get so many hours with them. And what can we do as a family with both of my kids and my two-year-old and my five-year-old and my husband, um, and be able to engage in quality time together? It's such a good tool to get there. And there are other, you know, puzzles, et cetera, that can get you there, but we we love Lego for that purpose.

SPEAKER_00 46:20

I think it's great. Just a great way to be present with your with your family and so many wins there that you get out of that. Well, what I'd love to do is ask you kind of one more question here that I like to ask everybody is you know, what is lifting you right now?

SPEAKER_01 46:35

Oh, great question. Um what lifts me? Um I guess I'll go personal. Yeah, that's great. Um I think it's like who uh lifts me. Um I think one is like my husband. Um, I think uh he's such a partner in our relationship and our friendship and our family and like shares the burden. My son has strep today. He's home with my son and he also works. So um, you know, I think sharing that burden in the household um I think is really important. Um, and you know, some days I'm I'm more involved, some days he's more involved. So that balance. Um I recently heard some doctors talking about how picking the right partner is like um can elongate your life um because of less stress and whatever. Your team, right? Yeah, exactly. And so I believe that. Um I think you know, I genuinely enjoy being around him. Um he's funny and and smart, and he, you know, I can run my professional hurdles and also my personal hurdles by him. So I he always lifts me up. Um, and in general, I think rejuvenating my cup is hanging out with and spending quality time with people I love, my friends and my family, my kids. Um, and and I think it also spills into work. Um, I think problem solving and working through things, conflict management when you're working with other really smart people who help lift you up and help lift the answer and help work together. Um, I think that's that's so motivating. And that's what got me through these like grueling hours and consulting too was like the people I'm working with are so smart and these are such interesting problems. So um I think that's such a critical factor for me in you know, turning around businesses and growing businesses and thinking through problem solving is being surrounded by a great leadership team uh it that works really well together.

SPEAKER_00 48:28

Well, that sounds, you know, I know I like to play in the longevity space, and those are two things that they talk about. One is having great relationships, right? Family, um, friends, you know, business, you know, that that piece. And then also having a real large sense of meaning and purpose, which solving those problems like energizes you. I can hear it. Yeah. I think that's so, so amazing. Um well, thanks so much for coming on. Um, it's been like a fantastic conversation. I love to hear all of your perspectives on manufacturing and leadership, uh, especially somebody who gets to see the industry from so many interesting angles. Uh, I really appreciate you sharing all of that. And um yeah, thanks so much for taking the time to join me today.

SPEAKER_01 49:10

Yeah, it was great chatting. Uh, excited to listen to you know your other episodes as well and hear some more hacks and thoughts in the industry from your other guests. So uh appreciate you having me on. Yeah, thanks for coming, of course.

SPEAKER_00 49:20

What a privilege to get an inside look at the trends and direction of the manufacturing industry. For more on Rachel and Thomas, check the show notes below and give us a subscribe if you haven't yet. And don't forget to always lift!