SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Industrial Talk, manufacturing innovation, Flex Trades, workforce solutions, skilled technicians, production gaps, client consultancy, training programs, safety focus, international expansion, market share, manufacturing challenges, public engagement, career development, technology integration
00:00
Scott. 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 word boots and let's go all right once
00:21
again. Welcome to Industrial Talk. Thank you very much for your continued support of this platform that dedicates to you, industrial professionals all around the world, because you are bold, brave, dear friend, you innovate, you collaborate, you solve problems. You are making the world a better place. That's why we celebrate you on Industrial Talk. As you can tell by the buzz in the background, we are at Bab tech, Orlando, Florida. Is the location, and it is. It's massive, for lack of a better term, it is massive. And if you don't, if you're in the world of manufacturing, this is an event for you, you need to be here. So I'm not, I think, I think it's gonna be in Chicago next year, I think. And it's massive there too. So you need to, you need to put this on your calendar and meet the people that are making the world a better place in the hot seat. We have to, we have Stacey and Josh. Flex trades is the company. Let's get a correct
01:16
How you guys doing great. Great. Thanks for having us. Yeah, having a good conference and wonderful. You know, it's a good conference when they have come courses.
01:25
There's no such thing as a bad conference in manufacturing. So really wait. We love them all regional, local and these big international ones too.
01:36
This big, big internationals, you guys have a booth for anything are you just wandering around?
01:41
And when we come to which we function as media act, yeah, there you go. I like
01:45
it, see, I like it a lot. Wow. All of a sudden, got busy out there. All right? The lights turned on, yeah. Apparently, before we get into the conversation, Stacey, give us a little background on who you are. Sure I
01:59
am the Director of Marketing at flex trades. Flex trades for about eight years now, prior to that, working in marketing in different capacities, and have found a home here.
02:11
So you've been with Flex trades eight years. About eight years, yep, that's an eternity.
02:17
It seems like it, yeah, sometimes,
02:19
yeah, I bet it does. Josh. I
02:21
Josh Erickson, I'm, what is it? My title now, I am the public engagement and public relations and engagement especially, that's a problem. We've retitled multiple times with that, so sometimes it's hard to remember that. But yeah, no, I I started shortly after Stacey did. We were a much smaller company at that point, and we kind of wore many hats as we formed a full marketing department over the years here and today, I do a little bit of everything. I'm kind of the accidental face of the company. I do a lot of the front to camera stuff when we're at events like this. Function as media. We go to our client companies and do the marketing stuff, the client testimonials. But what we really are after, what's good for manufacturing is good for us. So we try and show what this industry is bad at, showing for itself, what makes it cool, what makes it awesome. And I've been lucky enough to come to a company that let me kind of carve out my own role in doing that. You know, I'm a product of the trades, and I'm really passionate about it, and we've been trying to show people how to kind of take their own song back and really push this industry themselves and make everyone an advocate.
03:32
I like that, and I like the fact that you guys are elevating the conversation specifically in the world of manufacturing industry. We need to do more of that. We definitely, because there's a lot of cool stuff happening out here. Again, I walk around and I look at all of the stuff that's taking place. It's cool stuff. There's no doubt about it.
03:53
It's amazing. And it's all, it's all about creativity. You know, like we have this rap in this industry that all we do is hard, dirty, dangerous. These aren't your father's factories anymore, and there's so much happening inside those walls when you drive past it is not what you expect. You know, there's a home for everyone here. We need it.
04:12
We need to do a better job at getting that message out those doubt about it, and I'm glad that you guys are every bit as passionate. Stacey. Give us a little sort of overview of what flex trades is all about.
04:24
Sure, flex trades, I mean, flexibility, yeah, it's right in the name, it's in the name, it's in the name no flex trades. We know we specialize in manufacturing workforce solutions, so we fall in that staffing industry segment, but we are so much more and so much more unique than just your typical local staffing company. We have a workforce that comes from all over the US. They're based all over the US, and then they deploy to various manufacturing projects across the US, at our various client facilities. So we solve production gaps. We bridge the gap for manufacturers out there who might be experiencing a backlog, or they need to set up a new line, a new off shift, for example, they might be needing some more folks to train increase in demand, you name it, and we deploy our technicians in, highly skilled technicians at that who can hit the ground running right away, and from there, they work however long the client needs them to. And we take them back, and then they deploy to the next project. So,
05:37
so I'm a I'm a manufacturer, and I have whatever the challenge might be, eye contact, flex trades, and that's where the ball starts rolling, right? Josh, yeah, we go
05:49
through kind of consultancy process we said. We call it the tech call you sit down with whatever client solution manager, Business Development rep contacted you. Bring in our technical manager. She's been there 14 years now, and we interview our clients very in depth, because they come in thinking they need one thing, but that's for their direct hire, kind of off the street model. When they're dealing with us, they want someone that can school up much more quickly. So we really have to get into the nuts and bolts on everything. What machines, what programs, what's your erm systems? The list goes on. Normally takes about an hour, do a lot of digging after that. And then we go out to our bench, see who kind of checks those boxes so they can be set up for success, because we want our technicians be just as successful as our client. And then we handle the travel. We get them out there, and normally, I'd say probably 99 out of 100 times they end up over delivering on what expectations were for the client too, especially if they're first time,
06:50
is there, is there ever a concern on Flex trades to that that your bench gets cannibalized,
07:03
not really. I mean, we have contractual language in if that happens, yeah. I mean, you know, we're here to get people to work. They want get clients the skills and experience and talent they need. So sometimes that's a perfect fit for both sides, and they want to make that a forever thing. And we're here to support manufacturing that includes that, so we'll facilitate that, but, but honestly, it doesn't happen often, just because of our national footprint. If we're bringing a tech in from California to a project in Vermont, they can love that project. They're not necessarily looking to move their life across the country for it for the long term.
07:37
And oftentimes you you'll find manufacturing facilities out in the middle of nowhere. They're very remote. They probably are already employing the entire population of that town, and they still need highly skilled professionals to come in and help them out with whatever gap they might be experiencing. So that's where our travel model can come in. We can bring somebody in who might be home bases here in Orlando, Florida, but the assignment is in anywhere, anywhere it could be little town in Iowa, and we fly them in, drive them in, they work that project, help that client, for that need, and they don't have to rely necessarily just on their local market to find some of that talent out there, needed to run their machines, fix their machines, do the wilds, that sort of thing. So
08:29
let's talk about the supply side of that equation. You got the demand side. I need a skilled technician. How Stacey do we vet the supply side? What? What? What does that process look like?
08:42
That process, we have really defined it well. I would say it's probably one of our biggest competitive advantages. It's a well oiled machine of trying to find the right technicians out there with the right skill sets that make sense for our model, because at the end of the day too, like Josh mentioned, we're here just as much on the supply side as we are on for us, the demand side, that client side, but this is where we want technicians to join. Flex trades make it a career. We're very much set up so that you know, if they they appreciate the type of work we do, they appreciate being able to to have the variety in the type of work that they do, get paid well and travel, then we're finding the right folks out there. And just like any other company, you know, we're using our tools. And then through our interview process, we do a lot of very specific interview type style questions, character assessments and so forth, just to make sure that we're checking the box there of, hey, do these people actually know what they're talking about? Do they actually do the job? And we go from there, so we're
09:53
sending multiple point in other people's playgrounds too, right? So it's not just, do they have the skills? Do they have the experience? Experience? Do they check that technical box, which is incredibly important, but it's do they have that personality type and that character that's going to let them come in as an outside resource, often to, if not a contentious environment? It's going to be very much a eyes or on you environment in that first day, first week. And we take a lot of pride in the fact that when a tech finishes a 90 day project, the next time a need arises there, it's often that in house workforce that's going to their managers and their supervisors saying, hey, get Roman back out here, get Jeanette back out here, like they were awesome. They're a lot of help. They can help us with this one too. And I mean, coming from the industry, that's not the norm. You know, you bring in outside resources, and you resent them often. So for us to be a crucial part of our clients, kind of overall production process, year in and year out. I mean, that's exactly what we're doing this for.
10:53
We often find, too that our technicians, you know, they're they're traveling to go out and work. They want to work. They want to show up. They want to get paid. And they're there to work. They're away from home. So we often are looking for the character of, are they going to show up on time? Aren't they willing to put in the overtime? Do they want to make money? Right? Like these guys are these guys and gals are there to make money, and so they're committed. They are going to show up on time. They are going to complete their ship. They are going to pick up the broom and other areas that maybe they're not assigned to, because at the end of the day, they've traveled however many miles to really work. So
11:33
are there any? Is there anything that you guys sort of reject? Josh, this is, what we can provide. Are you dabbling in some of the interesting things that are taking place in the world of data analytics, asset management, reliability, those things,
11:55
any and all of it. One of the things we're doing here today as media, that we do, anytime we get in large groups like this is we do some additional research stuff too, like we're trying, we're here to help meet the needs of manufacturing that they're unable to meet for themselves. So we have to be just as predictive and pre organizing that as any predictive maintenance plan does. So we're actually exploring right now it OT, convergence, right? We've got stuff that we think of as traditionally the front office information technology, and traditionally the on the shop floor operational technology, as the cloud and internet and everything else that's far more complex than that just integrates more and more. We're blurring a lot of the lines of traditional IT and OT, is that gonna affect maintenance? Is that gonna affect it? Is that gonna affect the operator? We'd rather know that before that effect happens and afterwards. And you know, you talking about us being at Bab tech, a big part of this is equipment, right? And so Stacey talked about, we bridge the skills gap. We bridge experience gaps. We bridge technology gaps too. A big driver in many of our projects is we just went to Fabtech. We got in a new machine with a new program that nobody here knows how to run. So we need you to come in and, yes, get this operational, but help us develop a training program for this. Help us develop standard operating procedures so that continuous improvement mindset what makes a perfect flex traits match is when the client operates that way in their facility. We operate that way all the time, and then we go out and we find a technician. So when you're talking about things we do reject on the client side, they'll sit down and they'll talk
13:35
about what we call unicorns. This right? This skill set only exists in your facility.
13:42
And so we can't go find that on the market. We definitely don't have it on our bench, but that's where the consultancy comes in, because there are two things we can do on that. One, we can help you examine your existing workforce and say, Where can we help you grow more unicorns, by reallocating in your facility, and then we can backfill those roles, or we're trying to help them understand how translatable skill sets we can get that technician with that background that no, they don't know this firsthand, but they have enough secondhand knowledge that they can spool up much more quickly than you can imagine. And then that helps them develop standard operating procedures and new training trainings and school ups in the future too. So little bit of all of
14:21
it you touched upon it, which is a great segue, is training. If I am a technician and I'm a part of flex trains, what, what type of commitment do you have to keep me current? Because it's, it's constantly happening.
14:38
It is absolutely training is, I mean, a lot of our technicians do it within a project too. They get exposed to a lot of different aspects in different industries that they can kind of learn as they go, or if they prove themselves that I'm really efficient here, let's give this person opportunity over there. We. Also offer a training reimbursement program. So we want to invest in our technicians to take the time if they want to get certain certifications, or if they want to get certain exposure to other types of programs, other types of processes, other types of tools. For example, we do have a reimbursement program that does help them do that.
15:23
It seems to me that with your bench, with your technicians, you're able to keep current, if the technician is truly engaged, say, hey, I want to be able to take this exam or get this training. Do you guys listen to them and say, I want to do that? And this is something new. Oh, yeah. And
15:41
like Stacey said that we call it incidental training. It's just what that client if the client says, if they can do a b and c, I'll provide X, Y and Z. So day one, they come in and they only can do a b and c, by the time they're done with that project, they've now expanded that. That's incidental training. Then we have specific flex trade provided training, a lot of that's really focused on safety and kind of what you and I would call business, soft skills, communication, leadership, character development in all kinds of different ways. But then with that tuition reimbursement, that's our ability to Up skill and incentivize people, kind of changing the dynamic. We're trying to flip the paradigm. Instead of looking at these as jobs, look at them as careers. So if you're a machine operator and you want to take that step up to a machinist, if you're going to spend your time and your money developing those skills, we want to encourage that. So we'll offset that. You go through that program, and tons of our technicians will do that remotely, if the program allows it, or they do it in between projects, and then they have that skill to add to the next assignment. It just broadens out the opportunities. So instead of selecting from these three projects that you set up for success, next time it's six, next time it's nine, and eventually you build out to where you have more flexibility in what you're choosing. On some text, it's purely if I can get $1 more an hour base rate on that project. It's always gonna be the money. Other text is gonna be, I've never run a Trump laser before. This project has that. I want that. And other text is gonna be, Hey, man, I've never been to Vermont. This project's in Vermont. I'm checking one off my bucket list. So we're kind of helping grow personally and professionally. Yeah.
17:18
See, I like that a lot. It would seem to me that there would be a lot of attraction and a lot of and given the fact that we are pretty mobile in this world, do you guys look at anything internationally?
17:34
Not yet. We have, not yet. It's a little
17:37
bit it's a little bit different. We're not swimming enough. There's an awful lot of
17:43
non technical related technicalities in that, paperwork and legality and whatnot. So we haven't we're still trying to capture more and more market share in the US. Yeah, we both believe very much we will be delving into international projects in the future, but we haven't done that in our first
18:01
20 years. The company's been around for 20 years. Yep, just about celebrating
18:05
their 20th anniversary this year since our birthday.
18:09
Oh, my God, that's fantastic. So if somebody says, I want to get a hold of you guys, I want to be a part of the bench. I want to I'm a manufacturer, and I've got some challenges, whatever I need to contact you, Stacey, how would they do that? Our
18:22
website's a good place to go. Www.flextrades.com
18:26
What about you? Out on LinkedIn? Out there on YouTube?
18:29
LinkedIn, yep. LinkedIn, Instagram, Instagram, YouTube, anywhere.
18:34
We're there. What about you, Josh, type in
18:36
Flex trades if you want to find me personally, I'm on LinkedIn as Josh Erickson at flextrades. You want to talk about manufacturing, marketing, the skilled trades. I'm here to help tell your story.
18:49
Talk about solutions. You guys are absolutely wonderful. Thank you very much. I really appreciate the conversation and sharing what you did. Share for the listeners of Industrial Talk. You too. Thank you for what you're doing.
18:59
Shut the promoters and Shut the front door.
19:04
All right, listeners, we're gonna have all the contact information for these two professionals out on Industrial Talk. We're broadcasting from Fabtech here in Orlando, Florida. It is a bucket list event. You need to put this on your bucket list for next year. Go to Chicago. Make it happen, Captain. All right, we're gonna wrap it up on the other side. Stay tuned. We will be right back. You're
19:23
listening to the Industrial Talk Podcast Network.
19:32
Yeah? Stacey and Josh. Flex trade is the company, yeah, so I, let's say I'm a manufacturer, and I need people, and I need the right people. And because the industry is changing so drastically, so rapidly, so fast, I need I need a I need somebody to help me with that journey. Flex rate, Stacey and Josh. There it is, right there, all their. Contact information out on Industrial Talk. So make it happen. We want you to succeed. Contact like strength. There you go. All right, we're building a platform again. You have a podcast. Put it out on Industrial Talk. You have technology, yep, it has to be out on Industrial Talk. You want to tell or amplify your story. You want to talk to me? Go out to industrial, talk.com and just say, Hey, Scott, I want to connect. There you have it, man, you be talking to me. I'm warm and fuzzy. All right. People will be brave. Derek, greatly. Hang out with these two professionals change the world. We're gonna have another great conversation. Short you.
