Built to Last — The Metalcraft Legacy Series

Built to Last | Episode 3: Taking Ownership

• Metalcraft • Season 1 • Episode 3

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In Episode 3 of Built to Last – The Metalcraft Legacy Series, former CEOs Doug Peterson and Steve Doerfler share the story of one of the most defining chapters in Metalcraft's history.

From purchasing the company in 2006 and expanding employee ownership through an ESOP to investing in RFID technology, surviving the devastating 2008 flood, and leading through the Great Recession, this episode explores the decisions that shaped Metalcraft's future.

Doug and Steve reflect on the risks they took, the challenges they faced, and the leadership principles that guided them through periods of uncertainty. Along the way, they discuss strategic planning, succession, and the importance of building a company that would remain independent, innovative, and employee owned for generations to come.

More than a story about business, Taking Ownership is a conversation about leadership, resilience, and the responsibility of leaving an organization stronger than you found it.

Built to Last – The Metalcraft Legacy Series is a four-part podcast celebrating Metalcraft's 75-year history. Through conversations with former and current company leaders, the series captures the stories, leadership lessons, innovations, and defining moments that have shaped Metalcraft since 1948—and the vision that will carry it into the future.

Learn more about Metalcraft: https://www.idplate.com

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#BuiltToLast #Metalcraft #Leadership #Manufacturing #EmployeeOwnership #Innovation #RFID

SPEAKER_02

Hello, I'm Steve Dorfler. Welcome back for the third segment of our four-part series on the history of Metalcraft. In this segment, from the years of 2006 through 2012, the buyout, keeping MetalCraft Private and Local. This segment, hopefully, it'll be even more conversational as Doug is the CEO on I'm President, and we really lead the company jointly. So hopefully it's just two friends, two really good friends, having a conversation about that history from 2006 through 12, and also covering some significant challenges that we had. So Doug is back, Doug Peterson. Doug, uh welcome. Thanks again for sitting in. This is uh should be a good time as we as we relive some of that of that history. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Well, thanks, Steve. I'm looking forward to it.

SPEAKER_02

So well, with that, let's roll with the first question. Let's do it. Okay, great. Well, in early 2006, and it was January 2006, as I recall, Wally signaled that he was he was thinking and ready to ready to sell. Uh and it kind of got the wheels in motion. And I'd like for you to take us through that in terms of, you know, what were your thoughts?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, um, actually we had uh talked about it prior to 2006. I think it was a couple years before then. You and I had discussed the possibility of buying out Wally. And I remember, I think it was middle of 2004, uh I put together, we put together a proposal to present to Wally about how the succession plan would work. A price that we came up with, some financials to justify the price. And I think we met with Wally and presented the proposal. And I think Wally took half an hour to look at it. No, he looked at it and uh was not interested at that time in selling at all. Uh, I think maybe it was just a little early for him to proceed with stepping down, so we didn't get anywhere with that uh proposal. So when he expressed an interest in 2006, um we were ready to go, I think. Um we were excited about the possibility and um had already put some thought into it, so I think we were ready to go. I was ready to go anyway.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, it was interesting. I remember that 2004. We we went to the Mason City Country Club. I mean, I it's just it's etched in my mind. And we had this we had this thin little book uh that we put together. It wasn't even a book, it was more like a paper that you would hand in in college. And and we we presented that to Wally, and I just remember coming out of that thinking, oh, he's not impressed at all with this. And uh and so it was kind of a bummer for me. So in 2006, when he sent that signal out, uh I was in too. And I had no idea, you know, where where this was going to go, but uh to to me it was like I I was in, we were already both owners, fortunately. And I, you know, combined, we owned about 30 percent. And I think that really helped me get excited about it. Um, so while we have this going on, we were committed to have Delta Mod Tech, which is uh north of Minneapolis, uh build us a very sophisticated RFID converter. And it was nobody had one like this. It was one of the kind, and the price tag was over a million dollars. It was the biggest single investment for a piece of equipment that Metalcraft had ever made. And to put this in perspective, our RFID sales were $60,000, and I think the uh depreciation, the annual depreciation expense was like roughly $140,000. So were were we crazy or what was going on here?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, that was uh yeah, that was uh kind of an uh unknown as far as how how we'd be able to finance that and make it work. Of course, I put together all the spreadsheets and the numbers and the payback and um yeah, the kind of return on investment we could get from it. But um, I mean, we had put a lot of due diligence into checking it out and its capabilities and what have you. But uh in the end, it just was dependent on us generating significant sales from that piece of equipment. We we needed more than $60,000 annual sales to justify it. So um I was depending on probably a lot on you and because you had a good handle on the market and uh capabilities and uh what we could expect in sales. So yeah, based on our some of our sales forecasts, which actually were not that far off, um, we were able to justify it. And we really needed to get into that market. So um, yeah, it was a good move, although it was it was risky at the time, but good move.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, we had uh interestingly enough, we had been we first researched RFID back in 2000. So and and with the converting machine that we had built in-house, uh, which was pretty economical uh at that time, but we just that that was not gonna get us to where we needed to be. Uh and that was that was the reason for this this major investment. But you being the numbers guy, I know you you ran all the uh spreadsheets and that, and you just put the pressure on me.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_02

Because yeah, I mean I I'm I'm I'm the VP of sales and marketing. It was like, okay, well, we got to get all this stuff.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, well, I I said it'll work as long as you hit your sales forecast. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02

But that that truly was a pivotal point because that signaled to the company, but also signaled to the industry that we're a player. You know, we're we're we're serious about this, we're a player in that business, uh, and we we really want to own our our little niche here. Uh so now let's get back to the buyout because you know you know that's going on. And we're doing all this analysis, and it was a huge process for us to go through all this analysis. I'd like for you to kind of walk through and highlight some of the key things about the buyout, especially from the financial perspective. And just as a reminder, to put this in perspective, our sales were about $8 million. In 2005, we're about $8 million. So we weren't a huge company, but yet this was this was a major transaction for us.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, yeah, it was. Um, yeah, as you mentioned earlier, Wally, I think, came to us maybe late 2005 and had some thoughts about stepping down as president and had some thoughts about who he might hire for president. Um and as we looked at that and started analyzing things, we said, well, this is an opportune time for us to try the buyout again. Um so we went through the process again, and it was a lengthy process. Um I looked back, I still have some notes, but we had put together a proposal to Wally, and I think we started early 2006. So maybe several months into it, I had a note uh where Wally, it was in April, came back with a counter proposal, and it just seemed to me at the time we were a long ways apart from what Wally expected, which you can't blame him. It was his baby, his company, and what we thought uh, what price was justified by the numbers. So I can still remember jotting down notes on Wally's proposal versus what we thought, and I put no deal on the bottom of the sheet and handed it to you. Yeah, um, I was ready to walk away at that point in time. Um but fortunately, and I gotta thank you for that, you were persistent and and talked me into continuing the process. So we put some more numbers together, um, put another proposal out there, and uh we're able to get Wally to agree to the numbers we came up with.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I Doug, I I I you know I distinctly remember that because you're such an even keel guy. Uh that's why I loved working with you because never too up, never too down, and uh you know, not not extremely emotional. So so when I got that, well, first of all, when I got into this, I had no idea what the whole transactional process is. I get I guess I was kind of uh ignorant about that. And uh when I got into this and we started running into some of these challenges, and you came back with the no-deal that was at least uh two inches tall on your paper. That was about the most emotion I've ever seen you. And I figured, okay, yeah, I think he is. I I think he's you're serious about this. And you know, before I went back to you, I I just recall, you know, I had to kind of reset the saying, is this what we want to do? And the first thing that kind of struck me was the members. Uh and and I started thinking about what could happen to this company if if we didn't if we didn't buy because uh it it probably meant that it was gonna be an outside transaction. And if it was an outside transaction, um who knows what would happen to the company, who knows what would happen to us, we wouldn't really be able to control our our destiny. And I simply remembered um, you know, I prayed about it uh and it clearly came back to me that we somehow need to get this going. And that's why I went back to you saying, boy Doug, I I if we could just take a look at this, if it let's let's reanalyze this thing. So we recommitted. Okay, so we recommitted. Where do we go from there?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Well, yeah, after we found out Wally would would actually be agreeable to the terms we put together. We had done some preliminary work with financial institutions locally here to make sure that if we went ahead with the deal, that they would finance the deal for us. So we had that in our back pocket. But now it became time to actually line up the financing. So we went to a couple of local uh banks here, and um they didn't seem that excited about financing the deal for us. Uh I think one of them certainly said they they would, but they had all kinds of covenants and they wanted guarantee personal guarantees from us, and it just wasn't an ideal situation. So at that time, somebody, I think it was somebody maybe from the Mason City EDC, suggested we look at a bank in Ames who had done some financing locally here. And so we talked to them, and fortunately uh they were very receptive to our proposal and came up with the financing with not nearly the covenants or the guarantees that uh the the other banks had come up with. So we were able to finance the deal. Part of the financing, too, was to get some additional uh money from some of the Metalcraft employees, leader managers who already own some stock. So we got we got additional investment from them, and I think we got a smaller loan from the EDC here in town. And putting it all together, we were we were able to uh put the deal together.

SPEAKER_02

So yeah, I think we uh it I I like to joke that the uh seemed like the some of the financial institutions, uh I had to mortgage my kids. Yeah, you know, it just felt that way. Uh and we went to uh First American down in Ames, it was they they seemed a little more uh aggressive, a little more open uh to doing business with us. But it the bottom line is even though we had additional investment from us, from other uh people within the within the company, and it was no outside investment. That was nice. It was everybody who invested in the company was vested in Metalcraft in some shape or form. Uh that that was a a big benefit for us. But we still, I mean, it was still very, very tight uh in terms of that, right? Right. So once we signed um once uh we we consummated the deal, we we signed all these agreements. I just remember there was a stack of agreements that we signed on uh the the 30th, June 30th. And I what was your feeling like when we were going through and signing all that, and all of a sudden uh the the the company is it's it's ours now, Wally's you know, Wally's out of it.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Well, there was a certain uh degree of uh just relief, I guess, that we had finally got the deal done because it was a long process and uh put a lot of time and effort into it. So felt good that we got it done. I was optimistic that you and I could do a good job leading the company. But then there's always that little bit of doubt or worry about being able to to keep it going and the responsibility that you have to all the members to to keep the company viable and so on. So a mixture of feelings, but overall I felt good after we signed the doctrine. How about you?

SPEAKER_02

Well, it it was interesting because um I think I I I was getting a little more nervous every signature that I was making because I was thinking, okay, that's this is us now. I mean, it is us. Um the pressure was there. And and I just remember after we signed it, we didn't even think about having any kind of a little ceremony or anything. And I recall that um I did I did have a I did have a sport coat on when we were going through that. And I recall you you did it, and I said, hey, we we gotta get a picture for this. We didn't even think about getting a picture for this thing. And I said, we and so you ran home. Fortunately, you didn't live that far. You ran home, you grabbed your sport coat, and then we we we have this one picture out there. I remember the picture, yeah. Yeah, I mean it's a great and that and that's that's our history. We have us shaking our, you know, shaking each other's hand, and uh and that was that that that morning where we signed those papers. And I I remember the next morning I woke up and I thought, okay, I'm gonna I'm gonna treat I'm gonna treat the members. I I went down to I think I went over to Perkins and I I bought a bought a bunch of pastries and I thought, oh, um it was like 40 or 50 bucks. And honestly, I thought, 40 or 50 bucks? I I don't know if we have this kind of money, but you know, I mean it was just a just a whole different way of of of thinking, um which then kind of leads me into my my next question I want to talk to you about was okay, you you know, before we you became CEO, I became president, but before that you were VP of finance and I was VP of sales and marketing. So as I recall, we ran out and we we hired people to backfill our positions, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00

No, we didn't. Wow, I don't remember. Maybe you did, but I don't know.

SPEAKER_02

No, no, we yeah, I don't I don't know. I thought we did, but we didn't. Okay.

SPEAKER_00

We didn't. You know, I as you mentioned, it was it was a stretch for us to get uh the financing and to um see that the cash flow would actually cover our our debt service. So I think we had when we put the proposal together, we realized that we weren't going to be able to backfill and hire uh additional people to take some of our responsibilities. So we just continued on with our responsibility, you sales and marketing, and me uh vice president of finance and uh those responsibilities we had, and then I I took on um kind of leading the leadership team and uh production, having production report to me. And I know you you took on engineering, had them report to you, and then you led and facilitated our strategic planning and our annual planning, but correct we didn't we didn't hire anybody. And I uh look back and it was actually uh this was June of 2006, yeah, and then I and it was really the plan. I hired a new controller who would become CFO, but I hired him in July of 2010. So that was four years later, and then he became uh CFO in July of 2011. And I I don't recall exactly when you added anybody.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, it didn't backfill till uh 12. Uh yeah, it didn't backfill till 12 there. So again uh uh six years um now Julia had she became VP of marketing, so that I you know that I was able to have a little relief, but in terms of sales, yes. Um I yeah, I I didn't backfill right away. So we just managed that. I I I remember I thought engineering, okay. Yeah, I've got these guys reporting to me, and I I don't know that much about it. But it was it was um I picked up on it, uh Jim reported directly to me. Uh I I learned a lot. I think it helped prepare me to to lead the company eventually, having that that experience. And the other thing too is I think it was right around 2008, I came up with this idea that we should we should have this, we should treat RFID as a kind of a separate business unit and a separate team where we have it it's sales, it's manufacturing, it's engineering all coming together, our RFID engineering coming together. And I remember leadership thought it was such a great idea. Uh, and I was thinking, yeah, okay, good. And they said, well, you can lead that. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. And I thought, oh, oh, yeah, well, you come up with the idea, you got to do it. So on top of that, I was leading the entire sales and marketing team. I had engineering improvement, and then I was leading that that team. But again, um, it was a great experience for me. Uh, it kept me, uh I was, you know, we were hopping. Um, I uh if from you, you and I didn't really see each other that much during the course of a week. That that was the interesting thing. We we we were just focused, but we would have our we would meet every Thursday, right? Friday, I thought, but maybe Friday, yeah. We met once a week for our meeting. And that turned into like a three three hour line.

SPEAKER_00

Three hour lunch. Yeah, it did. Yeah, we and it's not that we had drinks or something.

SPEAKER_02

I know there was no money for that. Uh but that that was a time we got together, and then occasionally we would see each other Saturday morning and we would bounce a few things off uh each other. But that that that's really how we led. It was um, you know, I saw I look back, it was we were, you know, we were really bootstrapping everything on on that. And it was a good it was really a good opportunity.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, we talked about the how we divided up responsibilities, but I think another key thing was just uh that you supported me in in finance very well, and I tried to support you in sales too. So supporting each other, I think.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. I you know, when I first met you when I became a manufacturer in in in 80 uh 1984, I I mean I I I just had a really good feeling about you and I I connected with you really quickly, which is the reason that I when we had this opportunity, it was it was no decision and there was no angst for me to saying, well, I'm uh you know, I'm gonna I'm in this with Doug. I it was like I want to be in this with you.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Because I just felt so strongly about it. And and you know, I really look back and I think, man, those were those were um those are great times to to for the both of us to be to be leading the company. Umry, let's let's move ahead to uh okay, the we we've got the company. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_00

I was gonna say um another key part of that whole deal was the ESOP.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And I don't know if you were going there or not, but uh I'd like to talk about the ESO.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, let's definitely talk talk about the ESOP because I almost let that uh get by, but that was that's one of the key aspects that that you sold me on, right? Uh that the that is one of the key aspects. So yeah, let's talk about that e the the eSOP and how important that was.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, you know, when I was kind of researching how we were gonna finance the whole buyout, uh, one of the things that came up was an eSOP as a as a possibility to help us with financing the buyout. So I began to research that. I wasn't really that familiar with it until we started going through this process. But as I researched it and talked to people, um I became more convinced that that was the route to go. It really uh gave us an advantage in being able to service the debt with some tax savings there and helped our cash flow and helped us service the debt. And then as I learned more about it, there were other things that were really uh important about it, I think, that benefited us. One is just promoting an ownership culture for our members, um, having them feel like they're owners and they really have an impact on the company and and and uh get the results from that uh impact. And then the the positive of being able to keep the company locally owned even after we're done. Um uh with an eSOP owning the company, it can stay local and just continue on as a locally owned business. So those were a couple other real positives about it. So yeah, I uh I was sold on it, and thankfully you you agreed to it. So the the thing about it is I think back on it, I was majority owner from June 30th to September 30th, and then the Aesop became majority owner. So I was a three-month majority owner of Metalcraft.

SPEAKER_02

You you were, and I think that's lost in our history a little bit that you were the majority owner, even though it was a short period of time. Um, from that perspective. You know, uh Doug, you sold me on the eSOP. I didn't know anything about Aesops, but you did a really good job of researching. Uh we networked with somebody locally that uh had an eSOP. Uh that really helped me because I became a little bit more educated. But you were really the the the key financial guy on that. You understood the mechanics of an eSOP because there are there are a lot of moving parts, uh, especially down the road. You've got repurchase obligations, but you understood that and you understood you could you could read the long-term effect of that immediately from from the time that we we implemented that. And I think that is that was so critical for me because first of all, I had a lot of trust in you uh to saying, well, you know, if Doug is so far, if he's sold on this, and even though I don't know as much about the Aesop as as as Doug does, I'm in because it it's gotta be good uh because that's just how thorough that you were. And as we think today, uh as we think about today, you know, being uh 2026 now, and going back, you know, we're almost we're almost 20 years into the Aesop. Those four reasons about the finance, yeah, check mark there, without a doubt. Uh and in in terms of having this ownership mentality with our members, the check mark there, that's really worked out well for us. Uh keeping the the business private, check mark there, because we've resisted all the the offers, the temptations with the private equity to say we're we're gonna sell. And then the other fourth one was a way of transitioning leadership. You trans you transition the leadership to me, and I successfully transitioned the leadership then to Kyle. And and so check mark there. So those four reasons that you laid out, you were truly a visionary in thinking about that because they they held true today on that.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I mean, I had a lot of help from um accounting firms, a lawyer down in uh attorney down in uh Des Moines that really helped us out a lot. And then there was a Midwest Aesop Association that I became a member of that really uh provided some good information about it. So a lot of help in getting it structured and uh what have you. The other big part of that, too, was um communication to our members. Yeah. So we we had had a profit sharing plan for years and years, and our members were used to getting a contribution every year to their profit sharing account based on our profits. So now we had to convince them that this was a good deal, that instead of getting cash.

SPEAKER_02

And I love the way you say that. You're the only person I've ever met that so say it a few times during this podcast because I think that'll bring a few smiles to people.

SPEAKER_00

I know it will for me. Yeah. Well, instead of cash, we were giving them shares of Metalcraft as their profit sharing as part of the ESOP at the end of the year. So we went through an extensive communication process telling uh members about the eSop, about the benefits of the ESOP, and trying to convince them that they'd be better off with the ESOP than they were with the old profit sharing plan. And fortunately, uh it didn't take long for them to see that, yeah, it was a good deal for them. But that initial uh year or two was uh a big job to communicate and convince people that this was was a good deal for them.

SPEAKER_02

So you're you're right, because they're they're they're getting a share. The first few years they're they're getting shares, but the account isn't huge.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

And and so as you know, people really have to believe okay, what is this gonna be five and ten and fifteen years down the road? Again, as you and I envisioned it, they have to and we have to communicate that same vision to them. Now uh we were off and you know, we were off and running, 2007 was a good year. We had our first valuation with and we chose a firm we we chose a firm up in Minneapolis that we're still with today called Chartwell, and they did the first valuation for us for 2007. And it was interesting because it was just a little off from what we thought it would be, right? I mean, because we had to estimate. We had we had to uh estimate back in 2006 with the when we went to this, what the valuation would be. But we we didn't we it was difficult for us to do that, right?

SPEAKER_00

Right. And that first year there's a little bit of a negative impact on the stock valuation when you first start up the ESOP, which I'm not sure I understood completely.

SPEAKER_02

Was that because of the debt or was that more than that? I think mainly the debt, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

So anyway, it came in maybe what 10% or so lower than what we had thought it would. But yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, it started out, and just to put things in perspective for our our members, uh it was uh essentially in today's terms, it was $9.50 a share. $9.50 a share. Before we did the 100% transaction, it was 87.55 a share. So you know, tremendous growth with within that time. Anything else about the ESOP, Doug, that just comes to your comes to mind as we are as we were moving through that process. I mean, we were committed, we were moving through it. It was roughly a 51% ESOP, right?

SPEAKER_00

Right, when we started, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Okay.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. So no, I just I just feel really good about that, that we did that. And I think it was a huge benefit for our members. And a benefit for us too.

SPEAKER_02

So yeah, it was a benefit for us. I I I think the the the the thing is it was a pivotal point in our history because this really set a different culture and set the tone for us in the future. And you know, hopefully the members realize that, especially members that have been here a while. All right, we're off and running. 2007 was a good year. 2008 we roll in, and you know, 2008 is going extremely well for us. Again, we we bought the company as roughly around eight million dollars. And so seven was a good year, but uh you know, eight is really looking to be a great year for us. In fact, we were believing after the first two quarters that we could crack the 10 million mark, which huge milestone for us. Yeah, and June 7th, 2008, late that afternoon, it started raining. It rained, torrential rains all night long. And I remember getting up on that Sunday morning, uh, that was a Saturday, getting up that Sunday morning. I'm you know, I'm getting dressed for church, and and and Jared, who was um he was out of college, but he was he was on a trip. Uh he was on a trip to Florida, called and said, You guys okay, you know, because I've I've heard that there's some really significant flooding. Yeah, I'm fine. But from that point, within five minutes, I'm in the car and I'm I'm driving because I'm thinking, I'm not sure I'm gonna go to church. Uh I get over that Illinois bridge, uh, the Winnebago. I've never, I'd never seen the Winnebago that high. And I didn't even think about finishing going to church. And I drove down, and as we as I crossed, I took State Street. So I drove down across Willow, and I I could see the water beginning to stand. And I thought, oh my gosh. You had already arrived.

SPEAKER_00

I had.

SPEAKER_02

You had you had you had you had arrived, and it was probably the longest day of of my life, and I'm sure it was yours. It just seemed like it never ended. I think let's let's talk a little bit about the flood, the significance, and and just how we work through that.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. That was a scary day. It really was. Um yeah, I was I was home getting ready for church. I can I can remember it vividly. I was shaving, and uh a friend of mine. I did shave. Okay, all right. I just want to make that that's a good point we can document. It was on Sundays I shaved. All right. I got a call, and it was a friend who had driven by Metalcraft. He said, Doug, you better get down there. The water is rising, and uh it's I think it was on the street at that point in time, you know, coming down the hill. And he said, You better get down here. It doesn't look good. So I jumped in the car and came down to Metalcraft. And yeah, sure enough, the the water was coming up quick. Um, and I and then you showed up, and then we called several people, uh leaders, leader managers, and some other people and engineering team, yeah, primarily, yeah. Yeah, so we had maybe uh dozen people or so down here and or down at Metalcraft, and uh it was all hands on on deck. We were working as hard as we could to move stuff up from the basement area to second and third floor, both equipment and supplies and what have you. And uh yeah, it it was it was scary. The water was kept rising, and then it stopped the and it started receding again. Right. And we thought we we were okay, right? We were gonna be okay, and then there was another shower, uh, maybe another two or three inch rain that was north of us and in Mason City, and just really quickly the water came back and it came up higher than it had ever been before. And yeah, so we were doing our best to move stuff up, but didn't get her get didn't get it all accomplished.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, it was um I I to your point, yeah. We we probably had like four to six inches of water and then it and then it stopped and it started receding. And at the same time, I don't you remember we were the the the the challenge was that we were uphill, the the the principal parking lot, we had to we had to walk uphill, and we sandbagged that because that's where the water was coming down first. We sandbagged all that, and so we felt like okay, it's receding. I th I well we dodged a bullet. Yeah, we had about six inches of water, but I think we really dodged a bullet. One of the there wasn't too much funny about that day, but one of the funniest visions I still have is we have, you know, we had the van. We had the middle crowd, beautiful van, the old brown caravan. Yeah, and I remember you barreling that thing out and driving up into the grass. I thought you're gonna tip it over because we had to save that van. For sure, we had to save that van. Um, so that was one of the that was about the only funny thing. But and then yeah, the rains came again and the Willow Creek was just breached. Water has such tremendous power, it just washed those sandbags right away. We had no shot, and it just kept rising. There was really not a lot we could do about it. We had two lasers on first floor. We we we got one out. We got one out. We we disconnected as fast as we could. We got one out, we got it up the elevator to third floor. We're going down to get the second, uh, to get the second one.

SPEAKER_01

Elevator.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, the motor, the motor burned out. What what what you know we had no luck that day. So it was just yeah, motor burns out right the right when we need it, which was really unfortunate because that laser um was lost and was really lost in the flood there. We tried to carry out as much stuff. I remember we bought we brought, we had a hot glue uh attachment to the the RFID Delta uh Delta converter, and it was like $20,000. I remember Dean and I, we carried that baby up the stairs. Uh now the ironic thing is I don't think we ever used it after that, but it was like $20,000, we're we're gonna we're gonna get that. At one point, you know, because we had we we had that kind of a it was a goofy building with a three-story building, and the first story was like that split where we had to go up the stairs. We had to go up the steps, or steps were carpeted, but it was inside, and I remember the water just kept rising. And I uh honestly, my remembrance is it was probably only two and a half, three feet from getting that second floor.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, it was closed. It was like, yeah, it was like two steps, maybe three steps.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, it was like three or four steps, and and I and in this is like in the evening. And I was like uh the whole business was flashing in front of my eyes, thinking, we had this is not even two years into the buyout. We have this debt and and we're we're flooded. What happens if it keeps rising? I suppose if I would have done the math or thought about it with less emotion, I may have figured out that that would have to cover a lot of landmass, but you're you're not thinking about that.

SPEAKER_00

Well, yeah, you just don't think when it rose as fast as it did. Oh, yeah. Yeah, it's yeah, it was scary. Yeah. And then the thing I remember is that was probably, I don't know, eight, nine o'clock at night.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

The fire department came by in boats.

SPEAKER_02

Yes.

SPEAKER_00

In boats and said, hey, you guys have to evacuate. You gotta get out of here. So we got out, and I the water was it was over our waist, I know, outside when we walked out. And we went over to uh Shopco then, which is about a block away and uphill a little bit, and went to the parking lot there, and several of us were there gathered, just talking about things and what we were gonna do the next day, and uh just trying to talk things out. And about that time the police came by, and I'll never forget this. They said, Hey, you guys, uh we've got a curfew going on here. You gotta go home. And you were in no mood to hear that. So you went up to the officer and said, I'm not going home. My livelihood, we're we're trying to save our business here. There's no way I'm going home. And he says, Sir, you better, you better go. I thought we were gonna have to come down and bail you out of jail. But fortunately, they cooler heads prevailed.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, cooler heads prevailed. But I was so dead serious. Like, this is our livelihood officer. It's right there. We've got to figure out what to do. Uh Laura was uh sharp enough that she she got a small block of rooms at the and I don't know if it's I don't know if it's uh super eight there out on the out on the uh the interstate. Um we stayed there. We could barely get back home. The only way we could get back home was we had to traverse some, I forget how we we traversed to get to 12th Street and came down to Illinois. And we got out and we stayed at the uh, you know, fortunately we didn't have water at home. Uh, you know, we had people with water at at home too, but we fortunately we'd have a lot of members with that. I I remember it was maybe Monday where the the the the governor came down and made a visit.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I don't know if it was Monday or Tuesday, but yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Along with uh our our congressional representative Tom Latham. Yep. They they they came in and it was very good because you know they could kind of see what the damage was. And I think that helped us get some. Yeah, I think we got some funding. Some funding, right?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Because we lost a significant amount of money in the flood, our insurance. Of course, we were in a floodplain, so we weren't covered. So yeah, we had a significant loss as a result of that flood.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, we uh I as I recall, it was well over $200,000. And plus it was just all, and that wasn't even the time to clean up. Uh and of course, we we we had mold mitigation, we had to tear out drywall and all that stuff. Um but the other significant thing is we we we created this what we called the war room, where we had the big whiteboard and we had our conference room, and we met twice a day, and we outlined exactly what uh the the key activities. This was day one. We had to we were calling customers on cell phones because our phone system was knocked out. It was it was it was down the first floor, it's knocked out. I remember John Hines wading into all that crappy water to get that that that system up. Um, but we created this war room where we we just had the the key activities okay this is what we need to do today and then we're gonna meet uh in the afternoon. So uh all the managers would would get together and we would we would go through this. We did that for like two weeks.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I I remember that well. And and you were the the the person in charge of that team. You actually led that team, the recovery team, and and did a great job. Because I, you know, I I don't think we missed very many shipments. Um that first week we were probably missed some, but then after a week or so, I think we were back on track and serving the customer, and and and so that team and with your leadership did a great job getting us back on track. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, the the biggest thing that I remember is um we told everybody to come in. I mean, this happened Sunday. We told everybody to come in and it started re fortunately, it was starting to recede um Monday. Uh the waters were receding, but we still had we still had seven feet of water in the first floor, even though the floodwater is we had to figure out, and we started pumping that out very slowly because we were concerned that the walls might cave in with that pressure. So we we were just thankful that that the foundation was built very, very, very well. But I remember we told the members to come in and and we we were that afternoon, we were still shipping some things. Now, we were knocked out of water. We we didn't have any water for a day or two, so there were certain things we could or couldn't do. And I remember until we got the the the portable uh the the porta potties and we were going across the Bagel Depot was open at that time, and we were just backing, hey, can we we we can use the restroom? We just had members you know lining up to to to go up there for that restroom. So it was the first two weeks were really uh harried for us, I uh as I recall. It was the first two weeks. Then things started settling down um on that. Anything else that you you want to uh I mean we could probably talk all day about, right? Um so we we we come out of the flood, and lo and behold, we we did have that record year. Uh our our year ended uh in this September, but we could tell in the September we're we're gonna we're gonna eclipse 10 million. It was a record year. I went to, I traveled to Atlanta to go to a uh GPI semiannual meeting, and this is in this is in in September. And everybody, I mean everybody's grumbling and starting to talk about you know business all of a sudden going down, and and I'm thinking, well, ours hasn't yet. Now we we lagged, and and that was always any anytime there was a downturn, we always lagged. And so I came back thinking, wow, well, business is still decent for us, but everybody else, I remember telling you, everybody else is noting severe, severe downturn. And ironically, it was days after where we had the financial crisis, the spigot shut off. Orders just shut off. Uh we finished up the year great, but then the beginning of 2009, we didn't have any business. The Great Recession was on. So take us through that and and some of the things because you you did a great job of spearheading how we were going to work through this.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, that that wasn't the most pleasant time in our tenure as as leading the company. But yeah, uh we um I pretty quickly realized that that sales were were tanking and that we needed to take some action. So um some of the first things we did were to restrict any capital expenditures. We really cut back on that and and said we're just gonna hold off on everything we could as far as capital expenditures. We implemented some uh reduced hours. We eliminated all overtime, I know that. And then we asked, I don't know if it was mandatory, but we reduced hours to 32 hours a week uh for most people. Um and then you and I took a took a pay cut um just because we thought that was the right thing to do, with our members having to cut back a little bit that we should also um contribute to to getting through this period of time. I know we we came up, each department I think came up with a list of things they could do to reduce costs and expenditures. So as a leadership team, we kind of prioritized those things and came up with um ideas to to cut costs as we were going through this process. And one one thing about our pay and incentive system that helped is um even though it was hard on leaders and and members, was our incentive system is tied to profits. So automatically our pay for bonuses and incentive uh went down because our profits were going down. So it's not like we had to cut wages because they were being cut automatically through the incentive system that was um there. Uh so that helped us in that aspect. Um so yeah, I think uh I don't know exactly how long we kept those measures in place, but it it helped us get through that period of time.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, that I I remember at the beginning of that, we were from a sales perspective, were I mean Caterpillar put big pressure. In fact, they they were threatening to pull the business. I I remember making a trip just like that to to to Peoria, and and we you know, we presented some alternatives and figured out how we're gonna get this business. Same with Deer, we were just rallying around to saying how how do we keep this business? The the interesting thing is, Doug, we we finished um, you know, we our I think our our business was down like 14 percent.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Now that a lot of people may think 14% is a lot, but a lot of people in our industry and and GPI, they were down like 40 and 50 percent. And we were able to, we were able to be pro we continued to be profitable, and yet we paid a a small cash bonus at the end of the year.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, we did, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

So it was uh thanks to your, you know, thanks to your leadership and and saying how can we do this, we we weathered the storm that first year, that 2008, we weathered the storm pretty well. And we actually started seeing some you know positive signs in nine. It wasn't gonna be like a breakout year, but that we could at least um uh stem the losses and maybe start building sales a little bit. Yeah. Um, so 2009 we're we're beginning to to to do that. And you know that that's a positive thing. And as Dick Vital would say on ESPN, we had the trifecta. So we you know, if if if a flood, then a recession wasn't enough in three years, I knew that you were having some health concerns, and I knew you were getting some testing, and then you pulled it pulled me aside in June. It was right around our anniversary, so it was like June 16th of 2009. You pulled me aside and said, uh, I I gotta let you know that I've just been diagnosed with MS. And I didn't know how to process it. It was a gut punch because the only I didn't know much about MS. The only experience that I had had is I I had this older fraternity brother, his sister had it, and it was not a good situation. And it just I became really emotional because it was I mean, I felt so badly for you because you know my love was pretty is it was deep for you. I and I want you to to kind of describe how you processed that, because I I know how I was processing it, but how you processed that and where you felt like you could continue to be CEO or lead the company as CEO.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, um just felt like there was an a lot of uncertainty at that point in time, a lot of unknowns, because as you well know and I know, MS affects everybody differently. My mother had MS, so I was familiar with the effects of it. And um she had it for I think 20 years and uh was somewhat restricted in what she could do. Well, really restricted mobility-wise in what she could do.

SPEAKER_02

So you think that was hereditary then?

SPEAKER_00

Uh maybe the tendency to to get it. Uh yeah, I don't know exactly how much that played into it, but it would seem that it it is somewhat hereditary. So yeah, I um I felt good. I mean, I I did my symptoms were just some a little bit of tingling in the legs, and I could mobility-wise, I was fine, except after walking for maybe half hour, 45 minutes, my leg would give out and I couldn't, I couldn't walk any anymore, and I had some balance issues, but otherwise I felt fine. So, yeah, a little bit of uncertainty, but I felt optimistic that it wouldn't affect my ability to lead the company. And I had already decided, and and we had talked about it, communicated, that I probably was only gonna um be CEO for maybe six, seven years with some of the other health issues I had. I've had been type one diabetic since I was 12 years old, so wanting to make sure that I retired and had some um good years left to enjoy it. So I'd already kind of made that decision. And the fact that I was diagnosed with MS, I kind of felt like I could still do CEO or handle the CEO responsibilities until what I had already communicated would be my retirement date. So yeah, that's kind of where I was at.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, well, for me, um I'm I'm fortunate that you continue to lead. I I was not ready to I was not ready to be CEO at that time. I didn't want to be CEO at that time, uh, for sure. Um in fact I would have been happy, I would have been happy as a cliam if I was working for you my entire career as as president. Um I mean that's how much uh that's how much uh respect I had for you. Okay, so now we we move into 10 and now you know business is is is picking up again. And just to give perspective, we we talked about the RFID sales of 60,000 and five. RFID sales were 700,000. And the the cool thing was that with with that new uh piece of equipment which we called the Predator, uh, that was our sophisticated RFID machine. It was interesting because when we when we had when we brought that in in May 2006, it sat not running most of the time. And when we got a big order, I I remember we got this one really big order uh from Radiant RFID, and we called the dog bone because it was in the shape of a dog bone, and the inlay was a dog bone. It was a it was not in uh it was not in a web form, it was it was a tag, and I think the order is like 40,000 pieces, and we were producing maybe three and four thousand pieces a day because we're trying to figure this out. And I remember every day I'm communicating with them, and we got three years, we got five, and we can ship these or hold them. They were really good about it. But every time we had that machine running, it was like we had people coming down, we had sales. Hey, let's see this thing running. But but by 2010, it was running, it was running more, which was good. So things were were looking up, and then you ran into a book called The Great Game of Business, uh, which I think was really pivotal for us at that at that time. Uh let's talk a little bit about the impact of that, how you ran into that book and how we used it.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Yeah, I don't recall exactly how I ran across the book, whether it was through some um association or through just reading or what have you. But anyway, I ran across the great game of business, and the title of it kind of, I guess, really caught my eye. I've always been a huge sports fan. I've been a participant.

SPEAKER_02

I I would have never known.

SPEAKER_00

As long as it's Hawkeye related. But yeah, I've uh yeah, I've I've been a participant, I've been a coach, I've been a fan, um, always loved sports. So the title really resonated with me, the great game of business. I've always wanted to win, figure out how to win, and so the same with business. I could see the correlation with wanting to win at business and being competitive and just doing better than our competitors were doing. So I really kind of got into it, um, did some more research about it, studied it, and the concepts of it made a whole lot of sense to me. I I think it fit in really well with our ESOP and our member owner focus. But the kind of the key concepts of it are that you make sure the members know the rules, the financial rules and how things work. So knowing the rules, just like in a game, um, that members know the score. They have in sports, you have a scoreboard. So you know whether you're behind or ahead and what you need to do to win the game. Same with in business. Members need to know how they're doing, uh, what the score is. So we used scorecards and had metrics that members could measure kind of how we're doing as a company and how their teams are doing. And then uh the final thing was um in winning a game, there's there's there's a reward out there for if you win the game, you either get a trophy or recognition or increase in pay or something. Same with business, there needed to be some kind of reward for winning the game, and which we had in place with our incentive system, our profit sharing and our bonus system. So we really had that in place. So it just really, I think, tied in well with our culture, uh, our member owner culture, and uh we had a lot of the things in place for that, and it just was a way for us to maybe do a better job of training our members on financial things and making sure they had the metrics and understood what the metrics meant, and making sure they understood how all those things affected their bonuses and profit sharing. So I think it really correlated well. And uh yeah, so yeah, we used that. We could have maybe implemented it a little further than we did, but but yeah, I thought it was a good book and had some good concepts in it.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, it it it is a great book um uh by Jack Stack from that standpoint. So yeah, thanks for uh r really getting into the detail of of that and and what the impact of it was. And and roughly, you know, coming out of strategic planning circuit 2011, I want to say one of the values that we'd had for a while was customer-centric. And we put a lot of emphasis on this customer-centric value from a standpoint that we created this fictional uh person uh who was our customer called Frank. And we had these three promises to Frank make it simple, uh, show a better way, and deliver his promise. Those those three uh those three promises very short, very succinct. But we we were trying to figure out how we could more effectively communicate this to the to the team, all the members, and certainly to the customers. And at that point, you you took over and you you create you created this uh this skit after American Idol. And then that was really the the the first major thing that we had done to communicate. Uh and it was it was pretty funny. So I'd like for you to talk a little bit more about that and how we came up with how you came up with this idea for for the skid and communicating those presentations.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Well, after we had gone through a process of defining our customer-centric values and naming our customer Frank, uh we decided that we needed this team to figure out how to communicate it effectively to our members. So there was a team of maybe half a dozen uh people from different areas, and we kicked around some ideas, and I think we ended up with uh a couple of choices were either to do America's Got Talent or American Idol. Well, they're both about the same idea. A little bit different. Okay, all right. So we ended up uh deciding on, hey, let's do uh American Idol, that that would fit pretty well with um with our customer Frank. So what we did was we came up with three judges. At that time, I think the judges were Simon Cowell and Randy Jackson and um Paula Abdul were the the judge essentially. So we found three volunteers to play those. Yeah, they volunteered. Okay, all right. Yeah, I think there was maybe a little incentive for them to volunteer. But so they were the judges, and then we had contestants who were contestants to be Metalcraft's customer. And one of them was Frank with our customer-centric values, and then we had a couple other customers who were kind of weird customers, but the judges then evaluated which which one and voted on which one should be Frank. And so that's how we communicated Frank, our customer, and our customer-centric values to all our members. And I think maybe that was the forerunner of some other skits that I wasn't involved with, but that were to follow.

SPEAKER_02

Do you do you think?

SPEAKER_00

I think.

SPEAKER_02

Okay, all right. And I'm not gonna talk about those, but maybe we'll talk about those later. Um yeah, I I'm glad you reviewed that because you know, I I kind of lost some of the, I forgot some of the details about you know picking Frank and then the other two customers. But we we as I recall, we made this video of it. We actually produced a video so that as we had incoming new uh employees, we'd show them this so that they got a handle on what what what Frank was on that. But and then we had the t-shirts made up and and and we really had a nice promotion in and in terms of not only promotion, but people really understood how we need to take care of the customer. And the interesting to thing today is that we track we we have a way of tracking customer satisfaction, and it's called a net promoter score, MP MPS. And and we're like 80, which is world class. So that was you know, that was really the foundation going back to that of of setting that up. Uh okay, let's let's keep moving through uh uh a few other things that we want to cover here. You you recall in in in May, into May, you may recall this, uh into May of uh 2011. We had this we had a board meeting, and at that time our board is pretty small. We just had one outside member. Uh but I I called, I you know, I called you and I said, Hey Doug, I I'm run I'm running late. I hate I hate to say it, but I'm I may miss part of our board meeting because I'm at North Iowa ophthalmology because I I can't see. I mean I'm I I've got I've got vision issues, which led to double vision uh that I had. And of course I had the MRI emergency MRI and they found out that uh you know it wasn't anything serious. I just I just had uh uh neuropalsy six there. Um and it wasn't MS was not conclusive. But based upon you, I I just didn't want to, and I had some other I had some other trigger points. I you know you talked about the walkie and the tingling. I had a little bit of that, but I just couldn't face it at that time. I mean, I just I the the this is 2011, so I just kept putting it off and I kept thinking I'm I'm getting better, I'm getting better, but I I wasn't getting better, and I was officially diagnosed with with MS April of 2012. And I'm supposed to be leading the company you we we had a planned retirement for you of uh October September 30th, and I'm supposed to start leading the company as CEO October 1st, and yet I'm diagnosed with MS, which you you had three you were diagnosed three years earlier. Really strange. How did you know how did you feel at that point when when I when I told you that? And what were your thoughts about you know, maybe maybe I'm gonna have to lead this company a little bit longer until I don't know if Steve's gonna be able to lead it. Just give me your overall thoughts and perspective on that because I was I was I had a lot to sort on unpack.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Um yeah, that was really unbelievable to me that that would happen, that the both of us would be diagnosed with MS. I knew we had a lot in common, but that's ridiculous. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

I thought it's just a social disease. Because we spent a lot of time, you know, uh together with with lunches, but uh it was just weird.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, it was weird. And of course, my first reaction was uh I guess I was I was sad. I mean, I I knew how active you were with your cycling, swimming, golf skiing. Um you were really an active guy, and I knew that MS could really impact that for you. So I guess that made me sad. But um as far as leading the company, I I the thought never really crossed my mind that I would have to continue to lead for a while longer, or that you would be unable to lead. Um, knowing you and and um your determination and your uh how important it was for you to lead Metalcraft and what have you. I I really didn't have any doubts about you kind of backing off from that or uh delaying it or waiting to see how things went. So I I didn't have any doubts about your ability to continue to to lead Metalcraft as CEO. And so yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, well, I I appreciate that. I I I think one of the big big issues with my diagnosis is that the lesions were uh were on my spine. Uh I really not my brain, which was I was thankful. It sounds weird, but I was thankful in many respects because I felt like okay, that if the lesions are in my brain, that that's a whole different game. Now, now I'm not able to communicate effectively, you think. Uh so I I was committed. I I felt like okay, I can I can work through this, I can do it. I saw you do it. Um, so I felt like I could do it. We had a really busy 2012 because there's a couple of key things I want to talk to you about before we kind of get into your final thoughts about you retiring. And the first one is the is is the building. We we finally realized uh you know the flood was in 2008, this is 12, and we're beginning to get very crowded, especially with our FID growing. So we looked at uh you know, we were deciding do we do brownfield, uh, look at existing sites, which we looked at about the three that just weren't weren't that great, uh, or do we do Greenfield? So tell us talk a little bit about that whole process about how we evaluated that, whether to uh brownfield, greenfield, and then just determining how we got here, how we how we made it here today.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Yeah, you're right. We uh business was good and things were getting crowded in Metalcraft. We were running out of space at our old location. And I think we actually even considered uh remodeling it in addition to that facility. We didn't consider it very long because the layout was not conducive to manufacturing.

SPEAKER_02

Um I forgot about that, but you're right. We did consider that. That was the other thing.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, we did. Um do we have plans drawn up for that?

SPEAKER_02

You know Do we have sketches drawn up for that?

SPEAKER_00

Probably sketches. I don't know. I think we may have now that you say that. Yeah, yeah. But it just wasn't very feasible for us to with the flow manufacturing flow and what have you. We soon kind of pitched that idea. And then we looked at, like you said, three different existing buildings. Uh none of them were really uh suitable for what we needed and gave us the flexibility we needed. So then we started looking at acquiring some land in Mason City, and we we looked for help from the EDC and thought maybe they could help us with finding some land, and really didn't have much luck working with them. And I was out golfing with a friend of mine and told him our story, what we were doing, and he said, Oh, my partners and I have three or four parcels out on 9th Street, Southwest. Um, are you aware of that? Has the EDC said anything to you about them? And I said, No, we aren't. He says, Well, we've we've had those for several years and really haven't had any interest from people in uh developing them or buying them from us, so uh we'd be interested in selling you a parcel. So, short story is we ended up buying uh a parcel out here on 9th Street. Um ended up being, I think, a really good move. Uh we got it at a good price and uh gave us flexibility, uh uh a good amount of space for us to expand if we need to down the road. And um and then then so the next step was then figuring out a building to put on it. And this was getting towards the end of my tenure, so uh I think I was involved some in selecting the the architect and the builder and what have you, but then I was kind of um uh ending my tenure, so you were much more involved in in that. And I think we had our Dean Hansen, our uh vice president of manufacturing, ended up leading that building project and did a great job. But um, yeah, so that's kind of my perspective on that.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, it was uh you know, we evaluated two contractors there and we went with uh uh Snyder, we went with Dean Snyder. Uh and the interesting thing is it was a great time for us to it was a very good time for us to build. Uh mainly and we also got from a financing standpoint there was there was uh we we were able to qualify for a bond and a bond rate, which was you you probably you were involved in that before you retired, uh which really was beneficial. But our budget for this entire entire parcel of land and building 46,000 square feet, our our budget was 40, 4.2 million. And and the interesting thing today is that you know, this is 12, uh 2026, 14 years later. Uh well actually we moved in here 13. I I don't think we could build this for 10 million. So the timing's right. And and when we designed it, we thought, oh, we've got we've got a lot of space, yeah, you know, when when we did that. Um but as as as as we know as we grew into the building, just just uh just great. But that was a real signal for us because that that was a signal for the industry, it was a signal for our members we're in growth mode. We're we're not stagnant, we're in growth mode. You know, one we we we realized this building was gonna be inadequate for us, we're in growth mode. Also, about that, uh, you know, just just a month or two later, actually, I think it was probably concurrently, you had picked up another book called Traction by Geno Wickman. And you came to me and you were really excited about this book and and in the process. So take me through what what was the big deal with traction?

SPEAKER_00

Uh yeah. I think this was probably in uh yeah May or June of 2012. I I went to an Iowa Association of Business and Industry meeting. Um and part of that uh organization is they always try and have some seminars that are of interest to members. So the seminar they had at that one happened to be an implementer of the EOS system, uh, entrepreneurial, it's a hard word to say, but entrepreneurial operating system, which was a strategic planning um system. So they had a presentation on that, and yeah, when I heard what they had to say, it just seemed like a really good fit for Metalcraft. We had been, you had been facilitating strategic planning for several years, and we had been using the same strategic planning process, um, which I think had kind of run its course. Um we did a good job strategic planning in my mind, but then really didn't use it throughout the year to guide us and to accomplish our plans as well as we should have.

SPEAKER_02

The old KRAs of KRAs, yeah. The key results areas. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

So by the time, yeah, you set the book on the shelf. Right. You'd set those up, and then when you got close to the end of the year, you thought, well, I'd better check to see what I needed to get done on that plan. So this uh traction, which is a part of that system, was seemed to me to just make a whole lot of sense. It was practical, um, a simple method of um doing the strategic planning and then using it throughout the year to keep traction on what your plans were. So I I brought it back to you. So this was in probably June, which strategic planning would have been September or October.

SPEAKER_02

Started in August, September. Yeah, yeah, September. Yeah, yep, September, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

September. So I came back to you and I said, Steve, I I think we ought to make a switch to this. It's really, really a good system. And I was able to convince you to take a shot at it. So I actually then kind of facilitated that one year of transition from the old system to the new system. Um, and I I I just was was pleased with the acceptance of it by our members, the way they connected with it, and and and we're still using the system today. So we are. Um yeah, thankfully you were willing to give it a shot and listen to me. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02

You know, the book when when when you gave me that book to read, and and it's a pretty fast read in reality, it's and it's a great read. It resonated with me too, Doug. It just resonated with me that we needed to do something different. I think, I think the old Ron Mackey KRA uh system was you know, we needed to shelve that. We needed something that we could simplify that was in front of us all the time. So that was uh that was certainly a a major, major uh project that you led for us, right? You know, right before you retired. So that was extremely beneficial. Well, speaking of retirement, uh you retired September 30th, 2012. And just want to know kind of your thoughts as as you led up to that, and we sell we had a we had a great celebration for you. Um just kind of give me your thoughts about this was uh the end of a chapter for you.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Uh just just a chapter, but it was pretty significant chapter for you. Uh kind of give me your thoughts on that.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Well, yeah, it is we had planned it for quite a while, so um, I guess I I was ready to retire. Um although when it came time to retire, you always have second thoughts about wow, I should maybe stick around a little while. I don't think I don't think Dorfler's ready. Let me stick around for a year or two. That wasn't it. It was it's just it was I mean, I had I had a great time running the company with you. Uh it was a great six years, and um maybe thought I still had a little something to offer. Um, but I guess when I think back of it, my my probably biggest emotion was just one of gratitude, because I was so grateful that we were able to get it done, uh, that that you talked me into doing it when I was ready to walk away. And the way things worked out, um the great experience it was to be able to run the company with you for those six years. And I think we accomplished a lot, and being associated with Metalcraft, uh, I'm just proud of that association with Metalcraft. So so those were some of the feelings. And then, and I really did appreciate the way that I was able to end my leadership stint where you allowed me to work to consult halftime for a year after I stepped down as CEO. So I worked on a few projects and remained on as chairman of the board for another uh eight years, I think.

SPEAKER_02

Which was critical for us uh to have you as part of that leadership role as chairman, without a doubt.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. So that I mean that really helped me, I think, phase out. It wasn't cold turkey that uh one day I was CEO and the next day I had no association with Metalcraft. So I'm grateful for that too, and and uh and feel good about my time at Metalcraft and my retirement. So thanks for making it uh a pleasant experience and uh yeah, uh a nice ending to my career at Metalcraft as CEO.

SPEAKER_02

Well, one of the things Doug, I appreciated in you know, those those six years were so memorable and uh for for me uh of leading the company with you and how we did it and all the challenges we had to overcome. I couldn't, you know, I I just doing it with you was was was fantastic. Um when we went through that buyout process, you said, you know, Steve, I I I'm gonna tell you, I'm gonna be up front, uh five, six years, which is the other reason that we wanted uh the other advantage of going to an ESAP, because if you were to remain majority owner, then I would have to buy you out and and it would just be the process over again. But my first thought of six years, it was like, oh, that's a long time. I don't even want to think about it, it's a long time. But in reality, those six years went by relatively quickly. And just as a as a bit of perspective, uh we were an $8 million company. When you left, we were a $12 million company. Um, we were $60,000 of RFID. When you left, we were $2.4 million of RFID. So I'd have to say that you're uh without without a doubt, your leadership was extremely successful. People had a vast amount of respect for you. And it was actually a sad day for me when you retired in a one-one in one way because we guess while I was excited to to to be CEO and I felt like I was ready to be CEO. It wasn't like I was ever in a position to say I I have to be, I want to be CEO. I was happy with you being being the CEO. So I just remembered that uh you invited me to to dinner with the family. You had a big dinner at uh at the quarry, uh and that was really a nice send-off. So Doug, I really appreciate uh your leadership. But more than that, I I appreciate this this podcast series where you know you and Wally uh and this segment because it gave us an opportunity to communicate some valuable points of history and relive a few things. Uh maybe that some we did or some that we didn't want to relive, but thank thank thanks a lot for for joining us. Any any parting thoughts here?

SPEAKER_00

No, I just uh thank you. That was fun just to reminisce a little bit. And the the other thing I I meant to say about my retirement, it was it was time for you to take over as CEO. You you were ready, and I really believe uh were probably much more capable than I was of bringing Metalcraft forward and as evidenced by where Metalcraft is today. So uh congratulations on that. And you've done a great job.

SPEAKER_02

Well, thanks, Doug. I think that's part of a leader uh is you want to where you pick the company up, you want to improve it for the next leader and continue forward. And I think that's truly the mark of a of an excellent leader, and you did that. So thanks again. But I this is this was great, Doug. Thanks again for you. Thank you, Steve. It was fun.