In this week's Industrial Talk Podcast we're talking to Robert "Bobby" Mason, CEO and President of SPOC Automation about "Innovation and the Power of their LIFT-UP Culture make SPOC a Industry Success". Get the answers to your "LIFT-UP" questions along with Bobby's unique insight on the “How” on this Industrial Talk interview!

You can find out more about Bobby and the wonderful team at SPOC Automation by the links below. Finally, get your exclusive free access to the Industrial Academy and a series on “Why You Need To Podcast” for Greater Success in 2020. All links designed for keeping you current in this rapidly changing Industrial Market. Learn! Grow! Enjoy!

BOBBY'S CONTACT INFORMATION:

Personal LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-l-mason-9122817/

Company LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/spoc-automation/

Company Website: https://spocautomation.com/

PODCAST VIDEO:

https://youtu.be/2xOOLEWaAv4

THE STRATEGIC REASON "WHY YOU NEED TO PODCAST":

OTHER GREAT INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES:

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Industrial Marketing Solutions:  https://industrialtalk.com/industrial-marketing/

Industrial Academy: https://industrialtalk.com/industrial-academy/

Industrial Dojo: https://industrialtalk.com/industrial_dojo/

Safety With Purpose Podcast: https://safetywithpurpose.com/

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PODCAST TRANSCRIPT:

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Automation, lift, core values, SPOC, bobby, people, culture, podcast, industry, industrial, individual, customers, company, worked, innovate, coin, hired, oil, world, focus

SPEAKERS

Scott MacKenzie, Bobby Mason

Scott MacKenzie 00:04

Welcome to the industrial talk podcast with Scott MacKenzie. Scott is a passionate industry professional dedicated to transferring cutting edge industry focused innovations and trends while highlighting the men and women who keep the world moving. So put on your hard hat, grab your work boots, and let's All right, welcome to the industrial talk podcast app. So loot otter once again that you joined the number one it does real related podcast in the universe, the galaxy, all around the world right here. We celebrate you, the industrial and manufacturing professionals, the people that get it done, you are bold, you are brave, you dare greatly. And boy, do you innovate. And thank you very much for what you do. You make my life better, and you're making the lives around the world better. That's why this is important that we celebrate you each and every day on this particular podcast. All right, we got Bobby Mason, he's in the hot seat. He's in the industrial Takashi. He is the CEO president of spark SPOC Automation, Inc. And we're going to be talking a lot about, you're saying Scott is going to be talking about Automation? No, that's just part of it. We're gonna be talking about culture. We're going to be talking about how he leads his team at SPOC. Let's get going. great conversation. I love it. I love it. And yeah, absolutely. He's about Automation. He's about innovation. He's about everything that you can imagine that's associated with his business, and how to create a business of resiliency. That's what they do at it, SPOC Automation. But he does it through an amazing leadership technique called lifting up, lifting up. And he really focuses in on the people, his people, and not just people, people all over the community. The customer, how do you lift up your customer? How do you look to people? How do you lift up your customer? How do you lift up the industry? And then of course, it looked up the country is just a natural progression. And everything that they do at SPOC Automation sort of runs around and overlays with that lift up culture? Yeah, yeah, he's a rock star. Yeah, he's amazing. Yeah, he's on this particular podcast. And it's an absolute honor to have him here. Now, before we really get going. Again, I want to be able to just share with you some of the things that we are doing here on the industrial talk, podcast, one, we're all about creating, you know, a collaborative, that's what this is about. We celebrate all the people but it's in a world of collaboration. We believe here in industrial talk, you're going to have to collaborate, you're going to have to innovate. That's what you know, Robert, Bobby, by the way, just FYI, if you go out to the stat card on LinkedIn, it's Robert L. Mason. But it's really Bobby. Right, because he just got right to the chase. We go to the same Barber, by the way. And anyway, we start talking about collaboration. We talked about innovation and the necessity to be innovative, and find people that are innovative. We talked about education. And and this is what this industrial talk platform is all about. And we're talking about a place to go, that you can collaborate, go out there, I've got these individuals, these leaders in industry, these leaders in manufacturing, and you could reach out to them each and every day. And they are bold, they are brave, they dare greatly and boy, they change in the world. And that's what the industrial talk, podcast is all about. We want you to collaborate, we want you to innovate, we want you to educate, we want you to be tenacious and make it happen. We want you to do it with a sense of speed and purpose. Because we need you to be successful in the future, right? We need you to be resilient in your business, because we don't know what the future is going to hold. But I'm just telling you right now, there are people there are companies that want to work with you to collaborate, innovate, and definitely educate. And they're all tenacious, and they want to do with a sense of speed and purpose. Yeah, I'm saying that you need to go out to industrial talk.com find out more or just got reach out to me and I'll talk to you more about it. All right, onto the hot seat that does Real Talk kotze Bobby Mason. And if you once again, go out to his amazing stat card out there on LinkedIn, you're going to see Robert L Mason, whatever, just put SPOC SP OC not the other SPOC, Automation, and you're going to get loaded down with a number of great. I mean, there's activities great. He's a leader he is and we're gonna be talking about that lift up culture and what they do at SPOC Automation to keep productive happy engaged individuals that are just dedicated to the purpose of what SPOC brings to the table. All right. Thank you very much. Here is well, Bobby, right. I'm looking at a stack card, and so on to say, Robert. But here's Bobby enjoy of the conversation. All right, Bobby, welcome to the industrial talk podcast, absolute honor that you have found time in your busy schedule to talk to the listeners of industrial talk. How

Bobby Mason 05:26

are you doing there, Bobby? I'm doing great. And Scott, thank you so much. This is great honor to be on your show.

Scott MacKenzie 05:33

Thank you, it is an honor. It's the number one industrial manufacturing podcast in the universe. I have nothing to back that up. And I think I'm overselling it. But I'm gonna continue to say it as you

Bobby Mason 05:43

should.

Scott MacKenzie 05:46

All right, Bobby. Now you're you're the CEO, president of I want to say SPOC, but is that what that is? Correct? SPOC? nation. Okay, got it. Now we're going to talk a little bit about your lift up culture. But before we get going on that one, because that's gonna be a great topic listeners out there, it's gonna be a great topic. Give us a little 411 on who Bobby is, and why you're such an incredible professional, you know, your history?

Bobby Mason 06:12

Well, you know, I have been in the electrical distribution and Automation business, the majority of my life, my, my father was an entrepreneur. I'm a second generation entrepreneur. And it's why all entrepreneurs have

Scott MacKenzie 06:26

no hair. It just is what it is. It's, it's a fact of life.

Bobby Mason 06:31

I actually thought it was because it made me more aerodynamic.

Scott MacKenzie 06:34

It does, however, does a good side of it, did you? I'm sorry. But

Bobby Mason 06:40

oh, you're fine. He actually sold that business to a national chain. And we had a difference of philosophy and culture, quite frankly. And so I left with a handful of individuals, we had already come up with some software solutions for the oil and gas industry around controlling rod pumps, which is that one you always see on the news story going up and down that reciprocating pump. Yeah. And, and doing it in a fashion that had never been done before controlling it. And so we we started this company up almost 20 years ago. And we have just been incredibly blessed with a great team that that is just totally focused on helping people. And you know, I actually, I equate Automation to being like a fine dining experience. And you look at me, I like to.

Scott MacKenzie 07:44

Yeah, I'm all with you. But I've never heard that in a sentence before. But

Bobby Mason 07:48

we're let me expand. And the reason I equate it to a fine dining experience, is when you go to a restaurant, way before you ever begin to eat that meal, that chef has gone out, and he's procured the best components he can possibly find, you know, farm to table fresh meats and fruits and vegetables, whatever it is. And he's put a lot of preparation and a lot of care into that. And he can bring that to the table. But if you don't have great service, with that fine meal, it's just a meal. But when you have great service along with excellent products, then it becomes an experience. And so that is that's exactly what we do. We try to provide us an experience

Scott MacKenzie 08:43

seeing it and I would imagine that you get a little pushback, because there's some, quote, negativity that's associated with Automation, you're trying to get rid of my job. And I don't think that that's going to be that's the case. And I think that that's the story that needs to be pulled within Automation.

Bobby Mason 09:00

Absolutely. What we want to do is come up beside you and help you give you better information allow you to focus on areas that are problems mechanically, because we're doing the electrical controls. And, and we actually are an aide and what we have found, and especially in the oil and gas industry, where traditionally it's this is a way my grandfather did it, and my dad did it. And this is where we're going to do it. That mindset is shifting, thank goodness. But but the guys have learned that we're there to help.

Scott MacKenzie 09:37

I think just let me let me just sort of lay it out there and I think pre virus, a pandemic pre whatever two finger death punch. The the focus was a little bit different. Everything was sort of swimming, we were working we were doing and we had these strategic plans to in two, five, whatever years we're going to be able to do XYZ and and that is with any digitization IoT. industry for Dotto, whatever it might be as well as Automation. I think everything was like, Okay, that's good COVID hits, boom, all bets are off the table, we need to do something else, we need to figure out how to be more resilient, more efficient, more this and save money and do whatever it takes. I think it's just really, you know, push the envelope on why these are important strategic directions for companies and Automation. And the innovation behind Automation is key.

Bobby Mason 10:31

Absolutely, we focus primarily on land based and and traditionally, they have been behind in Automation. Yeah, and the only way for them to survive and actually thrive on the other side, is to start automating these processes and and, and having their stuff more efficient, and save 25% on their electrical consumption and lower that lifting costs.

Scott MacKenzie 10:55

Yeah, it's it's been a, it's, from my perspective, a real Renaissance and a focus into solutions that are truly innovative. And I think companies that are focused on resiliency, because we don't know if it's going to happen again, right? We don't know if that genie is already out of the bottle, and somebody is going to say, adds another pandemic, whatever it might be, at least your business is going to survive the next one if it ever happens, Lord willing, knits not so it is what it is. All right. Now, we can talk about Automation all day, I get one point of clarification, what a SPOC mean,

Bobby Mason 11:31

is actually an acronym and it stands for sensor less pump off control. And where that resides is

Scott MacKenzie 11:37

we're I understand why it's an acronym. domain.

Bobby Mason 11:43

It is. We were drives experts, variable frequency drives. We've we've deployed over 70,000 into the oil and gas fields across the world. And and what we did is that reciprocating beam pump application, yeah, we have some software that we developed that allowed us to do that without dynamic braking resistors. And it's a long story, but we can do pump off control using the motor itself.

Scott MacKenzie 12:12

Very good. Very good. I don't see that's innovation. That's that's in. And I like how it does. Yeah, I mean, you change the market, in a sense, and you're going to continue to change the market, because that's how you think. And when we start talking about thinking, one of the points I'd love to be able to expand upon. And we've talked about, we've talked about a lot of stuff on the industrial talk podcast, but I'm intrigued by your lift up culture. And I gotta ask you the question, what is that

Bobby Mason 12:41

lift up culture, that is something that I am super passionate about. Because it's about my people. And my team. When we started this company, it was a result of leaving a poor culture to develop one. And so lift up in in its shortest form is just this, we try to as a company, lift up the individual, give them an opportunity, so that they can thrive and improve and grow within our company, we give the we want to lift up each other. Because if you look to the left and the right of you that person is depending on you to do a great job. We try to lift up our customers by giving them innovation, by lowering their lifting costs by helping them with all of their rotating equipment, pumps and compressors, and all those controls. And we try to lift up our industry, because our industry needs people that are out there. They're experts, let's face it, the oil and gas industry is full of wonderful people. But there are a lot of plumbers and not a lot of guys in like in the electrical side, especially in the Automation side, right.

Scott MacKenzie 13:53

And

Bobby Mason 13:54

then ultimately, our ultimate goal that everyone here has bought into is that we believe in our heart of hearts that we are ultimately trying to lift up our country. Because if we can do things to help our country be energy independent, then we are going to be a stronger nation. And so that's really what that lift up cultures base foundation is all about

Scott MacKenzie 14:17

no sudden we just have to wrap up the podcast because I don't know where else to go with this. I do know Don't worry, I added Alright, listen, as we talk a little bit about a lift up cultures. We're talking about the impact of lift up culture with people, the customers, the industry, which is happens to be oil and gas and it could be anything in the country. And what I like about it, Bobby is the fact that it's truly other focuses truly service focus. It's like, it's not about me, it's about you. It's about your success. It's about your health, we need to help. And I think in this in this world, from my perspective of how I've constantly tried to hammer on we need to collaborate, we need to innovate, we need to educate with a sense of speed and purpose, especially now. That lift up culture fits right in there. And it goes from all the way from that The people in the front line all the way to the country, and I like it, I like it a lot. Well done on that one. Okay, give me an example of what that looks like. You know,

Bobby Mason 15:07

that looks like a lot of things we have. We've got a lot of awards, and all kinds of accolades, and those, and those are great, and we appreciate all...