WAM

Today’s guest is Sue Nordman, President of Obsidian Manufacturing Industries, Inc., situated in Rockford, Illinois. Obsidian is a multi-brand manufacturer and grind shop which owns the Magna Lock, Magna Lift, and Arter brands. Sue is passionate about social media marketing, brand awareness, and business management. In this episode, we talk to Sue about how she became President at Obsidian where she gets into the different roles her husband and herself perform at the company. Next, we dive into her SEO and content marketing expertise and the benefits this is having for the business. Sue highlights some of the strategies she is using to keep her company top of mind online and in the manufacturing community, getting into the benefits of blogging, Twitter chats, and more. We also hear Sue’s thoughts about the two acquisitions she navigated shortly after stepping into her role and discuss some of the challenges of performing such a feat during a pandemic. Wrapping up our conversation, we take a closer look at the different functions of the Magna Lock, Magna Lift, and Arter brands, and hear Sue’s thoughts about her plans for the future of the company. Tune in today!

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In the world of negotiators, people either seem to think they are really good at it or that they stink, but there doesn’t seem to be a middle ground. Some people stick to instinct and luck when it comes to business negotiations, but our guest today works with well thought-out strategies, important concepts, and an organized blueprint. Carrie Wells is a Partner at Think! Inc., a negotiation training and consulting firm. Her role includes consulting with clients on implementing value creation and value capture ecosystems, business development, developing sales strategy, and onboarding new consultants. Negotiation skills are very important for people in everyday life but especially critical for managers and executives. We have lots of ground to cover on today’s episode and look forward to exploring the life of this woman in manufacturing. Stay tuned as we dive into an insightful conversation about negotiation training aspects, concepts to focus on, and some important tips for mastering business negotiations!

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Hear Linda Rigano’s conversation with Lisa Clark, an empowering leader who shares her personal and professional journey. 

Growing up Lisa’s parents instilled the value of hard work, perseverance and a generosity of spirit. These are all lessons Lisa practices daily as co-founder and Managing Director of BITCADET, a technology company that increases manufacturers’ sales and company valuations by creating innovative digital sales channels.

Lisa’s career started on a very different path. After getting a degree in Animal Science, she worked as a surgical technician and team leader for a veterinary rehab center. She later earned an MBA in Healthcare and worked at a hospital before taking on her true passion – helping manufacturers navigate the complexities of building an e-commerce channel and all the back-end processing and change management that goes into it.

Manufacturing lags a good 15 years behind other industries when it comes to doing business online. While buyers have been sourcing and vetting online for years, manufacturers haven’t been so quick to catch up.  Lisa shares why this is happening, and how these manufacturers need to have a plan B to build a stronger valuation of the business for investors – especially when the next generation of family opts out of taking over the company.

At BITCADET. Lisa leads strategic client initiatives and planning. This includes helping clients build e-commerce platforms and managing all the back-end coordination that connects sales, production, engineering, marketing and finance teams. Lisa specializes in change management to make sure that everyone in the company buys into changes and understands their role in the process.

Lisa also shares about her volunteer work with a local refugee community and the essential things she does every day to take care of herself.

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Seeking through acquisition what you do not have in-house is a strategy implemented by our guest and her company to see growth. With acquisition comes diversification, which can help companies through things like global pandemics, and also provides a new customer base, and ultimately opportunities to expand your offerings, and thus quickening turnaround and increasing margins. Today we welcome to the show, Elizabeth Paquette. Liz is the Co-owner of Rock Valley Tool (RVT), a 50-year-old manufacturing company in Easthampton, Massachusetts. Liz left a special education career to acquire RVT, with her husband, who is the operations manager. Since their acquisition in 2013, they have grown the company by over 50% and they have acquired another manufacturing company. They continue to seek growth through acquisition. Tune in today as we hear straight from Liz all about how she transitioned to manufacturing, how they are working with their community to bridge skill gaps, implementing high school co-op programs, how diversification has helped her company during COVID-19, and much, much more!

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Too many women blame themselves for the scarcity of well-made, professional, plus size clothing, but today’s guest is on a mission to help women feel better about themselves (and help them look fabulous in the process)! In today’s episode, Rosemary Coates interviews Danielle Malconian, President and CEO of Plus by Design and the brand, Vikki Vi. When Danielle landed a job managing the plus size clothing department at Nordstrom, she had loads of compassion for her customers. With her size 12 feet, she knew what that frustration like, to not be able to buy something that both fits well and looks good. Vikki Vi has a rich history of providing women with great-looking, comfortable clothing, and, when the original company went out of business, it made sense to Danielle to buy the label and keep it going. Listen in to hear more about her journey, the quality and construction of Vikki Vi’s “slinky” fabric, and their decision to manufacture in the US. Danielle also talks about the importance of consistency when it comes to size and how Vikki Vi hopes to combat waste in the fashion industry while creating investment pieces and options for plus-size women while still making profit. Tune in today!

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WAM Podcast co-host Linda Rigano introduces us to Stephany Lapierre, an empowered professional who comes from a long line of entrepreneurs and strong women growing up in Canada. After college Stephany took a year off to be a “ski bum” at Whistler Mountain where she taught herself English and even worked with Justin Trudeau!

After this, Stephany dove into various roles with companies in the healthcare industry. She learned the value of data early on, and started her first business – Matchbook to offer strategic sourcing/procurement services for companies in the biotech space. A defining moment for Stephany was experiencing the challenges around strategic sourcing. She knew that if the issues could be fixed, these areas could drive more innovation and actually help move the business forward.

With this momentum, endless energy and passion for data along the way, Stephany founded Tealbook — where she uses artificial intelligence technology and machine learning to improv speed, trust and quality of supplier related decisions. Tealbook is fast becoming the leading platform that helps companies scale their procurement and move into the future.

Stephany manages to juggle a fast-growing business during a pandemic while raising a family. Her best advice ever? “Don’t spend too much time building the plan – build the business and plow forward. Also, follow your instincts!”

Hear more about Stephany’s journey here.

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In today’s episode, host Rosemary Coates welcomes Rachel Jones, who is the Vice President of Energy and Resources Policy at the National Association of Manufacturers, or what we call the NAM. She oversees the NAM’s energy and environmental policy and she has expertise on issues ranging from energy production and use to air and water quality, climate change, energy efficiency, and environmental regulations. Rachel is also an attorney and has been council to the U.S. House of Representatives, and is a key voice for manufacturing on Capitol Hill, at federal agencies, and across all forms of media. In this episode, listeners hear from Rachel as she explains how she ended up in her position at the NAM, and how she uses her knowledge as an attorney to solve problems by bridging the gap between policy makers and manufacturers. She also highlights the opportunities for shared learning, both about sustainability practices and legislation, within the NAM and their partner organizations. Collaborating to create tailored, thoughtful, and comprehensive policies is key to addressing issues within the industry, and the NAM is holding folks accountable to make sure that it happens. Tune in to find out more!

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While most businesses are moving online, many manufacturers continue to ignore the possibilities of eCommerce and continue to rely on landing face-to-face deals. Today, host Frances Brunelle welcomes Marketing Director Anna Korolekh of Oro Inc to explore the incredible opportunities that arise from taking your business online. We open our conversation by unpacking Oro’s product offerings and how they help companies to digitize their business. After touching on Oro’s origins and the unique challenges faced by the B2B market, we dive into the important role that Client Relationship Management Systems — or CRMs — play when engaging with customers. From discussing how CRMs increase the efficiency of sales teams, we chat about how eCommerce can unlock quick and exponential business scaling. In the case study that Anna shares, a company went from 1,000 to 45,000 customers from taking their sales online. While reflecting on the changing nature of sales, we talk about how people are increasingly solving their problems through internet searches, highlighting the need to go online. Near the end of the episode, Anna provides listeners with more details on why Oro’s services are so unique. Tune in to hear more about how going digital is becoming a manufacturing standard.

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From marketing to real estate, procurement officers need to be jacks-of-all-trades, saddled with the huge responsibility of dealing with the many third-parties needed to run an organization. Today, host Rosemary Coates interviews the COO of 9thWonder, Mary Ann Brennan, about why procurement is so vital to modern companies. We open by touching on Mary Ann’s career highlights before talking about her procurement roles working for adidas and Mattel. After exploring the differences between direct and indirect procurement, we dive into how successful procurement leads to horizontal integration into other departments. We then chat about supply chain innovations over the past two decades and how procurement fits in with businesses at the different stages of their maturation. Mary Ann shares her insights into what it takes to excel at procurement, along with the importance of building partnerships. Reflecting on her current job as COO of 9th Wonder Agency, Mary Ann discusses why talent is crucial to your company and how your culture is a key tool in managing talent. Near the end of the episode, we talk about her teaching, why you need to change alongside your customers, and why procurement officers benefit by learning from different industries. Tune in to find out more about procurement practices from Mary Ann, a global leader in the procurement field.

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Today on the WAM podcast, we welcome to the show, Courtney Wright. Courtney is the CEO of Gemini Builds It! and Showcase Acrylics. Prior to Gemini, Courtney founded CDW Merchants, the leading provider of 3D virtual retail displays and e-commerce gift packaging for the nation’s top retailers, including Kate Spade, Sperry’s, and Club Monaco. In 2016, she sold CDW to a global billion-dollar company, however, with little downtime as she acquired Gemini Builds It! in the same year, all while saving 60 jobs in the community. She is one woman who is making manufacturing cool in Chicago. In today’s episode, we delve into how Courtney and her team made an incredibly timely pivot providing a key product for the ensuing COVID-19 pandemic. She talks more about how she is driven to solve problems, continually finding new opportunities, and shares great advice about failing fast and prioritizing growth. Stay tuned for an insightful conversation with Courtney Wright.

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