Shownotes
We're joined by Jim Vinoski, a Gen Xer who spent over three decades on factory floors before turning to writing about American manufacturing. He wrote for Forbes for seven years and is releasing a book profiling 22 of the best American manufacturers, built on stories he collected from a career spent inside the industry rather than looking at it from the outside.
We talk about how manufacturing has been unfairly written off for decades, and why the companies that actually thrive tend to share the same handful of traits: they treat people as individuals rather than resources, they think in decades instead of quarters, and the people running them genuinely love the work. Jim shares some standout stories from the book, including a Wisconsin company that built a K-12 STEM program from scratch to solve its own labor shortage, and a Michigan manufacturer that hires people straight out of halfway houses and built its own affordable housing subdivision for employees and the surrounding community.
One of the most surprising finds in his research was Revere Copper, a company founded by Paul Revere himself that's still running strong today, and now positioned well for the AI and grid infrastructure boom because of its focus on copper.
Highlights
- Jim's three-decade manufacturing career and what led him to start writing about the industry.
- The common traits behind the standout companies in his upcoming book.
- A Wisconsin company that built its own K-12 pipeline to solve the skills gap.
- A Michigan manufacturer's approach to second-chance hiring and affordable housing.
- The surprising history behind Revere Copper, founded by Paul Revere himself.
Jim's book on America's best manufacturers is out now, links in the show notes. Make sure to subscribe to the show so you never miss episodes. We appreciate you being here.
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Transcripts
Welcome back everyone to this episode of the Blue Collar BS Podcast. How you doing today, Brad?
Brad Herda (:Fantastic, mister Stephen Doyle, and how's life in the motor city here?
Doyle (:You know, it's fantastical right now. The weather's nice, got cool breezes, no complaints.
Brad Herda (:That is good. I'm glad you're enjoying it. Hopefully your deck is hopefully your deck is finally done.
Doyle (:It is. It is.
almost. Almost. Almost. The painters union is out there painting it right now. So they're just painting the edges around the perimeters. There is. There is. I I yep. There is. There is a deadline. So things are moving. There it's we're one week away from that deadline. So yeah. So how are things in Milwaukee?
Brad Herda (:Almost there's a pu there's a
Brad Herda (:There's a part there's a party coming up. There's a deadline.
Brad Herda (:Perfect.
Brad Herda (:Awesome. couldn't be better right now. Great weather. Storms last week this week, but all good. So
Doyle (:That's fantastic. So who do we have on the show today, Brad?
Brad Herda (:Today we have a guest that was introduced to us through another guest, Matt Goosey. But today we have Jim Vin is it Vinow I should have asked this before the show to pronounce it correctly. Looks like Vanowski. Looks like Vinowski, a leading voice in American manufacturing, blending 30 years of hands-on industry experience with insightful journalism, authorship, and multimedia storytelling. He's authored over 300 articles exploring critical trends and skilled labor shortages. He's a sought-after keynote speaker.
Host of an acclaimed manufacturing talks web show and podcast. through his consultancy of Fire Steel Industrial Solutions, he helps manufacturers craft effective business growth strategies. He's a veteran of PRINA, General Mills, other large organizations, has his mechanical engineering degree. But the best part is he is writing a book about American manufacturers, the about the 22 best American manufacturers that'll be released in
this year in: Jim Vinoski (:Thank you, Brad. Thank you, Steve. Great to be here. You got it?
Doyle (:Yeah.
Brad Herda (:Did I get it right, Vanowski? Is that correct? All right.
Doyle (:I mean you get the star for the day, Brad. I mean that's that's a step up. So before we get into you know bashing Brad on this show, Jim, what generation do you fit in with, identify with?
Jim Vinoski (:Ha ha.
Brad Herda (:I can read. I can
Jim Vinoski (:I am Gen X.
Doyle (:All right, fantastic. All right, boomer. So Jim, for our audience, help help us understand. You had this wonderful pre-call with Brad about your upcoming book or your book that's now released by the time the show airs. Tell us a little bit about the journey for writing this writing the book.
Brad Herda (:Unlike Steve.
Brad Herda (:Whatever, man. It's all good.
Jim Vinoski (:Yeah, well the the biggest part of the journey was my own manufacturing career. So I've spent almost my entire thirty plus year career on factory floors. the only break I had was four mills at General four years at General Mills headquarters. And even during that time I was travin pl traveling to plants every week or two. and so I mean it just gave me a huge appreciation for what the people who are out there doing.
Doyle (:Mm-hmm.
Jim Vinoski (:accomplish and have to face up to and you know tackle. You guys know manufacturing's tough and you can't hide. You know, you either do it or you're not. And I just I I loved it doing it myself. And then the other thing that brought me to the book is I started writing about manufacturing for Forbes about eight years ago. Did that for seven years. And when they
Doyle (:Mm-hmm.
Jim Vinoski (:brought me on, they asked me what the top thing I wanted to write about was. And I said, I want to write about what Americans make because so many people think we don't make anything anymore, which, you know, couldn't be further from the truth. But with all the decades of denigrating manufacturing and saying it was a dead end career and it was going away and that was fine. all bad messages, but they were out there. Yeah.
Brad Herda (:Yep.
Doyle (:Mm-hmm.
Doyle (:Mm-hmm.
Brad Herda (:Bad d bad decisions. Right? The the telling two generations that you're not good enough, so we'll go find other things to do. And now we get now we have influencers that don't want to work in manufacturing that should have been there potentially, you know.
Doyle (:Right.
Jim Vinoski (:Yeah. Go go.
Doyle (:Okay.
Jim Vinoski (:For sure. Yeah. And so, you know, I went looking for those really, really cool stories that were out there. I I got to see lots of very cool things myself, but what I quickly realized diving in to write about it was one person in a whole career in manufacturing touches the tiniest little sliver of everything we do. And so just getting to cast the net wide and, you know, take on all comers and you know, you've if you've got a cool story, a compelling story, come tell me and I'll write about it.
Doyle (:Mm-hmm.
Doyle (:No.
Doyle (:Mm-hmm.
Jim Vinoski (:And so a lot of those stories formed the basis for the book. And then I went out looking for more to pat it out and I wound up with twenty two of what I think are just some of the coolest manufacturing stories America has to offer.
Brad Herda (:And so did you do most of them lean into the steel? Do most are they do they hit plastics? Do they hit are they all in various different categories and segments? how did you how'd you whittle it down to twenty two? 'Cause there's so many great stories.
Jim Vinoski (:Yeah.
Jim Vinoski (:There are. there were a a couple things that kind of boiled to the top as far as companies I thought we ought to be looking to to provide us lessons as we look at what what to me now is is heartening is we do have a resurgence of both interest in and appreciation for manufacturing. And so it's a moment like I haven't seen before. And I think there's a lot of really cool modern things happening with.
Doyle (:Mm-hmm.
Jim Vinoski (:technology and AI AI and automation that are gonna make us more competitive. But the other thing I don't want to people to forget is there are a lot of companies out there that have been fighting the battle literally for generations, some of them, and and we need to learn from them. And so that length of being out there was one thing that kind of helped me narrow it down. and then the other was really treatment of people. To me, that if if manufacturing deserves a knock,
Brad Herda (:Long, long time.
Doyle (:Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Jim Vinoski (:That's it. I think for the longest time we had a tendency to promote the best technical people, not the best people people, and we've paid for it. And so th that's kind of the common theme at the end of the book when I have my conclusion is that every company in here is about people.
Doyle (:Mm-hmm.
Doyle (:Correct. Mm-hmm.
Brad Herda (:Right. Yeah. There's not a single manufacturing facility in the pl on the planet, in my estimation, that will ever be fully autonomous. You have to have people involved in some way, shape, or form because either you have to fix the robots or you have to do the work the robots are doing when they don't work, or everything stops. So you have to have that contingency and i it's a hundred percent correct. People are what makes manufacturing and I the the folks that I would meet.
Doyle (:Mm-hmm.
Doyle (:Yep.
Doyle (:Mm-hmm.
Doyle (:Mm-hmm.
Brad Herda (:Like in my career when we were working at BusaRis and making mining equipment and doing all the things and the guys on the floor, everybody in the office, those guys like they were some of the best problem solvers, the best right. Maybe they didn't have the best education or the best way to communicate or whatever, but they knew how to solve a problem if you just had the time and showed showed the care to listen and take on and and pay attention to what they're telling you.
Doyle (:Mm-hmm.
Brad Herda (:It was it was there I can just I can remember so many conversations and it was just I I was blessed that I was able to learn more than they they they taught me more than they'll forget more than I'll ever learn, right? It was just it was it was it was awesome to have those people in your corner to teach you things that you would never ever otherwise know about.
Doyle (:Mm-hmm.
Jim Vinoski (:Exactly. Yeah. Yeah.
Doyle (:Jim, curious, with all the different manufacturing companies that you've been to, looked at, wrote about, what are the like kind of like the top three things that stick out to you most that they do well?
Jim Vinoski (:Yeah, so again to drill into the people end a little more, it's really about that kind of appreciation that Brad just kind of went over. It's getting to know people as people, not as just human resources, as the horrible name calls them today. people as individuals, what they bring to the table, their particular talents and and attributes, where if you maximize what
Doyle (:Mm-hmm.
Doyle (:Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Doyle (:Mm-hmm.
Jim Vinoski (:what they have to offer and and have the freedom to do, you know, the results can be just absolutely astonishing. And so that that true engagement with each individual and really giving that person the wherewithal to to max out on what he or she can do is a big huge piece. another big one that rose to the top is play in the long game. And you know, you hear it all the time about how our
Doyle (:Mm-hmm.
Doyle (:Mm-hmm.
Doyle (:Yeah.
Jim Vinoski (:Corporate structure today in the Wall Street world forces that view of what we have for the next quarter. And you can't run manufacturing that way. Manufacturing is by its nature a long game. And so the great many of the companies in my book are private companies for that reason. And you talk to these guys and they'll say, Yeah, I'm never going public because we couldn't run our business that way. and then I I think
Doyle (:Mm-hmm.
Right.
Mm-hmm.
Doyle (:Mm-hmm.
Jim Vinoski (:The other thing is a love for what you make and what you're doing. You know, if you're in there and you're miserable every day, you're not gonna be one of these companies that's a standout. And so that just rose to the top too. It didn't matter if it's and not that we
Brad Herda (:You're not wrong.
Doyle (:Definitely not wrong there.
Brad Herda (:'Cause if you hate what you'cause if you hate what you're doing as the owner, it's gonna show up in the people at some point.
Doyle (:So a hundred percent.
Jim Vinoski (:Absolutely. And it's it's tough because all of us who've been in manufacturing guarantee, everyone has been in my shoes and had those days where you just find yourself thinking, man, there's gotta be a better way to make a living, right? And yet, you know, I've done it for three plus decades. obviously I love what I'm doing. And that also just rose to the top with the companies that really became the ones that I really wanted to write about and and share the story of.
Doyle (:Mm-hmm. Yep.
Doyle (:Mm-hmm.
Doyle (:Mm-hmm.
Jim Vinoski (:Is how much they love what they do.
Doyle (:Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Brad Herda (:patterns nothing better than the smell of burning steel. It is it is it is awesome. If you've not ever had a chance to smell burning steel, find it find an open house, find an anniversary, go to a go to a Ford shop, go to a go go to a foundry, go to a steel mill, there go to there are
Doyle (:I agree. I agree.
Jim Vinoski (:Yeah.
Doyle (:Yeah in a steel mill like yeah.
Jim Vinoski (:You you know, along those lines I I came across this was actually old news. you know, Nippon bought US Steel, right? Closed a year ago. They had announced back in twenty-four that if it closed, they would invest billions into US steel. And it kinda just I think it just bounced off people because the deal wasn't done and people thought it was just, yeah, they're talking it up to close the deal. Well, they
Doyle (:Mm-hmm.
Doyle (:Mm-hmm.
Jim Vinoski (:Firmly announced this week that they're going to spend two to two and a half billion dollars to create 6,000 jobs right in the Pittsburgh area with US Steel. And I posted, I mean, I just it was a Wall Street Journal article. I pulled a couple of the key paragraphs, posted it as a LinkedIn post on Tuesday. As of now, it's gotten forty three thousand views. So people care about steel. And I mean you couldn't be more right.
Doyle (:Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Doyle (:Mm-hmm.
Doyle (:Wow.
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Brad Herda (:Correct.
Jim Vinoski (:It's it's just it's the fundamental, like the crucible of manufacturing, right? Everything's built from it, but I mean it's just it's such an experience.
Doyle (:Mm-hmm.
Brad Herda (:And that and and that
That factory too is so much history and so much there there's so much that happened out of the US history that from that facility and and the wealth it generated for tens of thousands of individuals and what it did for families and what it did for those communities. Now, was it all good once we got into the forties, fifties, and sixties?
Doyle (:Yes.
Jim Vinoski (:yeah.
Doyle (:Mm-hmm.
Brad Herda (:Maybe not, right? I mean, there was there was probably some things that they shouldn't have done. but ultimately it was right. Ultimately it was fantastic. is there any as you did all your research for your book and went through the things, was on the people side, but was there any theme or consistency or anything that showed up from a
Jim Vinoski (:Like like with anyone. Yep.
Doyle (:Yeah.
Brad Herda (:how they integrated different generations into the sustainability of their organization, right? The that were they were they organizations that kept people forever or were they organizations that had the ability to bring in new people, young talent, and have all generations work together?
Jim Vinoski (:It it was both. invariably because of the way their standouts with their treatment of people, they have most of them highly tenured workforces. And yet they're also companies that are very well run and therefore forward looking and thinking about, okay, how are we going to keep this going as things change and as the generations shift? And so
very active in in developing their own workforces. one of my favorite stories is right over from your corner of the world, Brad, in in Brilliant, Wisconsin, Aarons, making the snowblowers and the lawnmowers and the tillers. And their CEO, Dan Ahrens, twenty-five years ago saw the crunch with skilled labor and engaged with the Brilliant school system and said, Hey, I want to
Doyle (:Mm-hmm.
Jim Vinoski (:help put together some technical training. And so they started in high school and shored up the shop classes and the and the technical aspects that they had going and kind of expanded on that. And then he worked his way down. Once they got the high school lined out, he went to the middle school. Then he went to the grade school, to where today it's a K to 12 STEM complete program and heavy on robotics and advanced manufacturing and technology. And you know, you think about that,
Doyle (:Mm-hmm.
Doyle (:Yeah.
Jim Vinoski (:where everyone else just kind of ignored the problem for the longest time till it was a crisis. And here's Dan doing that, you know, and and clearly with s self-interest involved, right? But it wasn't about, hey, you're gonna go train people for errands. It was you're gonna train people for technical skills. And by the way, some of then will come and be some of my best workers.
Doyle (:Mm-hmm.
Doyle (:Mm-hmm.
Doyle (:Right.
Brad Herda (:Yeah, that's the thing about building you gotta build the pond, right? You gotta build a deeper pool. And and and too often we find, well, I can't I can't train them. They might leave. Well, what if they leave and you don't train them, right? Or what if they stay on top of it? On you know like you you can't live in that fear mindset with with young individuals. so what would what was the most
Doyle (:Mm-hmm.
Jim Vinoski (:Yeah, for sure. Where they stay and you don't yeah.
Doyle (:Mm-hmm.
Jim Vinoski (:No.
Doyle (:Right. Mm-hmm.
Brad Herda (:surprising thing you uncovered as you were doing your research. What was the one what was the big aha? What was the one big man, I never knew that through your research putting this book together.
Doyle (:That's what I was just gonna ask.
Jim Vinoski (:So the biggest surprise was with one particular company and it's actually a a a very good fit for our current time. We're closing in on the big two hundred and fiftieth anniversary celebration of America. And I had a friend of mine tell me about a company. He's like, you gotta write about these guys, because they're number one, they've been around forever and they're in the midst of stuff that
Doyle (:Mm-hmm.
Jim Vinoski (:Is happening today that is enormous and they're knocking the ball out of the park. And he says, it's Revere Copper. I'm like, never heard of them. Revere Copper, yeah, in upstate New York. And he hooks me up and I start digging into them. Well, Revere Copper, their founder was Paul Revere. They have been a going enterprise since literally a founding father. obviously, they've had a lot of shifts and
Brad Herda (:Huh?
Doyle (:Hey.
Doyle (:Mm-hmm.
Doyle (:Wow.
Doyle (:Wow.
Yeah.
Jim Vinoski (:You know, their own battles over the literally centuries. And yet here's a company that was founded by Paul Revere, still cranking it out today. They they used to be Revere Copper and Brass. They got rid of the whole brass line because it was kind of holding the company back, and they chose to focus on copper when and that was back ten, fifteen years ago when things weren't that bright. And talk about looking like geniuses now, you know, they're just
Doyle (:Mm-hmm.
Doyle (:Mm-hmm.
Brad Herda (:Correct.
Jim Vinoski (:load it up and and have this incredibly bright future because of course copper's everything with the whole AI and data centers and needing to r fix our grid and all that craziness. So yeah, it was very surprising to learn that's where they came from and then to see their their progression to where now I mean they're just gonna be this standout in American manufacturing.
Doyle (:Mm-hmm.
Doyle (:Hm. Interest. I that that's pretty freaking cool, honestly.
Brad Herda (:That's that is spectacular. I I mean, I it was it was very cool when we had our hundred and twenty fifth anniversary and was at Buceris. And that was I mean, to have a hundred and twenty five years of history and to look at the pictures and the photos and the archives and different things, but to be able to say two hundred and forty eight years is a whole nother story. I mean
Jim Vinoski (:Yep.
Brad Herda (:That's impressive.
Doyle (:Mm-hmm. Yeah, it is.
Jim Vinoski (:But under tw twenty five is certainly nothing to sneeze at. That is impressive as well.
Doyle (:Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Question for you with the people side. What was kind of like that that one thing in your research that you found you were like kind of gave you the yeah, this is stereotypical? Kind of just left you going, huh? And it's more of a how can we change that question.
Jim Vinoski (:I think that one
Brad Herda (:'Cause I obviously did research to make to get to the twenty two, so there were a bunch that fell out of the list.
Doyle (:Mm-hmm. Yep.
Jim Vinoski (:Yeah, a and
Jim Vinoski (:That one I think i is around
Jim Vinoski (:We've talked about the people end and what I see is the companies that go the extra mile are thinking about things that are kind of outside the mainstream. I've been a big proponent of second chance hiring, for example. And there's a good number of the companies involved that that are into that. But my standout story on the people end that I think kind of
Doyle (:Mm-hmm.
Doyle (:Mm-hmm.
Jim Vinoski (:shows how these companies are separated from just the companies that do the rote work of recruiting and hiring people to get their jobs done is a company called the Montai Group up in northern Michigan. So it's the it's another very surprising thing because they're pretty heavy industry. I mean they have sand and gravel, concrete plants, they they make and license the making of their own designs for like
Doyle (:Yep.
Doyle (:Mm-hmm.
Jim Vinoski (:retaining wall blocks, the big giant ones is called ready rock, the ones you see like on the highway overpasses, big huge blocks that make the the walls at the overpasses. but they also have consumer versions of that. And then plywood and veneer. So there's heavy industry kind of stuff. And they're in a place in northern Michigan called I don't know if you guys are familiar with Potosky and Charlevoy, but I mean it's a resort central. You would never think about manufacturing there.
Doyle (:Mm-hmm.
Doyle (:Yeah.
yeah.
Jim Vinoski (:So that was a surprise in itself. But then I get digging into these guys, and they're a fifth generation family company. Started these two sons of Dutch farmers who came over back at the turn of the last century, so 1800 and 1900. the sons decided to sell flowers and they wanted to make baskets to sell their flowers in. So they went and bought what they thought was a basket making machine, and instead it was a veneer machine. So, you know.
Brad Herda (:Wow. That's
Doyle (:Mm-hmm.
Doyle (:That's right.
Jim Vinoski (:When you have lemons make lemonade, they just started a veneer business, which is still a going entity today. But they're also very strong Christians and they run their company based on those values. they've got this very thick leadership manual that they gave me a copy of. That's just to me, it's a model for industry. But things they're doing that are just so far out of the ordinary that were kind of like these they're they're the
Doyle (:Wow.
Doyle (:Mm-hmm.
Jim Vinoski (:Quintessential example, but I'd say pretty much every company in this book has an example like it. but two things they're doing. One is they focus on substance abuse and people coming out of halfway houses because it's a big problem everywhere. they seem to have a little more of their fair share of that in that area. And so what they discovered is yeah, they would go out and proactively hire people with that challenge, and they'd come out of the halfway house and go into normal
Doyle (:Mm.
Mm-hmm.
Doyle (:Mm-hmm.
Jim Vinoski (:just everyday society and laps. And so they'd come to work for a month or two months or six months and then disappear and never come back. And turned out they got back into their old ways. And so they had a motel that wasn't doing anything. They shut the motel down and created what they call a three-quarter house. So they have low-cost housing available for people coming out of the halfway house, but they have conditions. So you're going to live there, you're not going to pay much for it. And in fact they're going to put part of your rent into an account that the you can then use
Doyle (:Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Mm.
Doyle (:Mm-hmm.
Brad Herda (:Housing. Yep.
Doyle (:Mm-hmm.
Doyle (:Mm-hmm.
Jim Vinoski (:as a down payment for a house or to fund rent in an apartment when you're ready to move on. they require regular counseling, regular check-ins, making sure you're staying on the straight and narrow. And of course, you know, they have their their managers trained up to engage in a way so that they're checking in at work. And just taking that very caring approach with people who, you know, have had a a rough go in life, but
Doyle (:Mm-hmm.
Doyle (:Mm-hmm.
Doyle (:Mm-hmm.
Jim Vinoski (:They say, you know, everyone deserves a second chance. So let's give it to them and make sure we're giving him the the wherewithal to have a fighting chance at it. and then on the other end of it, they had a played out sand and gravel pit. Like, what do we do with this? Well, housing in Charlevoy Potosky Resort Central is crazy expensive. So they established a subdivision. And not just that, but they had expertise in in
Doyle (:Mm-hmm.
Doyle (:Uh-huh.
Jim Vinoski (:properties and housing. So they structured the properties in a way where people don't pay for the property. They actually rent the land, but they own the house. And then it's modular housing, not like, you know, a a trailer home. The the really nice modern stuff, but you know, very much less expensive than building a stick built house. And so getting people into housing for, you know, half or two thirds of what they would pay for buying a
Brad Herda (:Interesting.
Doyle (:Mm-hmm.
Doyle (:Mm-hmm.
Jim Vinoski (:a regular house in in that area and just giving, you know, young families that opportunity. And it's not confined to their employees either. It's one of the things they do for their community as well. Is anyone can come and buy in this subdivision, but it's very much focused on getting the people who otherwise couldn't afford to get into housing that opportunity.
Doyle (:Mm-hmm.
Doyle (:Mm.
Doyle (:Yep.
Brad Herda (:And and this fifth generation business will never make the news for doing all the good things. Right. And and they're not the only one. And I am super excited to for when the to well now the book is out with this episode, but I'm I I am super stoked to see that and and read that book. and we will make sure we put the show links in or the purchase link into the show notes. Use your words, Brad. Use your words. So
Doyle (:Yeah.
Jim Vinoski (:No, exactly.
Doyle (:Mm-hmm.
Doyle (:Mm-hmm.
Jim Vinoski (:Ha ha ha.
Brad Herda (:So we're gonna go through a little rapid fire questions here. Right? You've been in you've been in a lot of meetings. You've been in a lot of places around the world. What's the dumbest thing you've ever heard in a meeting?
Doyle (:Well.
Okay.
Jim Vinoski (:So I I had new products at General Mills and I interacted with the marketing and salespeople. And we had a crisis once we were trying to launch a product in a big hurry that wasn't even fully developed yet. And we failed. So I'm in this meeting where we're saying, okay, we tried to do this on this timeline. It wasn't possible. So this launch is postponed.
Doyle (:Sound familiar, Brad?
Jim Vinoski (:And my marketing leader immediately says, okay, so then we need to plan to get it out next month.
Doyle (:Mm-hmm.
Jim Vinoski (:What what part of what I just went over with you did you not understand? We don't have a defined product. We don't have a place to make it. And I popped off at him. He was not a a happy camper with me.
Doyle (:Mm-hmm.
Jim Vinoski (:He he made me stay after the meeting.
Doyle (:Yeah.
Brad Herda (:Go to the teacher's office. Speaking speaking of teacher's office, first job and what did it teach you?
Doyle (:Yeah.
Jim Vinoski (:Hmm. My very first job was working at an AW. My two older brothers both worked there, and so I had the opportunity. Yeah, great place. I love the root beer to this day. but I got into this job and the the owner was an ass. I mean, he was just the biggest jerk you ever met.
Brad Herda (:Nice.
Brad Herda (:Papa burger, baby burger, mama burger.
Doyle (:Yeah.
Doyle (:Yeah.
Jim Vinoski (:And treated people like absolute crap. And I worked for him a couple of months and one day I just called him and said, I'm not coming in. And he just he was furious, like, well, what do you mean? I'm like, I'm not I'm not coming back at all. And man, just ranting and raving, well, what am I supposed to do? Blah, blah, blah. I said, Well, you know, one thing you could do is treat people better. Then you wouldn't have these kinds of calls. I was like twelve or thirteen years old.
Doyle (:Yeah.
Brad Herda (:Ha ha.
Doyle (:Wow Yeah.
Jim Vinoski (:No
Brad Herda (:that is awesome. What's your what's your go-to excuse when you're running late?
Jim Vinoski (:I I'm I'm I'm just a procrastinator. I'm a a an admitted it's it's my you know, my own version of being the recovering alcoholic, but I'm never gonna recover.
Brad Herda (:Okay. coffee or energy drink?
Jim Vinoski (:Coffee.
Brad Herda (:Beer, bourbon?
Jim Vinoski (:Beer. So I've got a little sh story there. I worked in Bourbon. Phenomenal place to work. The people in in Bourbon are absolutely amazing. I get to tour down all through K Kentucky, all the big places.
Doyle (:huh.
Brad Herda (:We actually have a distillery coming on the show here ver later in the year.
Jim Vinoski (:Very cool. Yeah, they're great, great people. But you know, the one thing I learned being a beer drinker my whole life, getting into bourbon, is I had no business drinking bourbon.
Doyle (:Yeah.
Jim Vinoski (:So that's one of those life lessons here.
Brad Herda (:Okay. go to curseword.
Doyle (:Mm.
Jim Vinoski (:Jim Vinoski (28:22.687)
You know, I guess it's probably shit. That's a tough one. There's a few that come to mind, but yeah, if I'm if I'm doing the knee jerk, that's gonna be it.
Brad Herda (:Okay.
Doyle (:Yeah.
Brad Herda (:All right. Favorite favorite candy.
Jim Vinoski (:Reese's Bean Better Cup.
Doyle (:Mm-hmm.
Brad Herda (:Nice. are you a texting guy or a calling guy? Favorite tool. What's your what's your favorite tool, liter literally or metaphorically?
Jim Vinoski (:Calling. Getting better at it, but I'm Gen X, you know.
Jim Vinoski (:literally.
Brad Herda (:But which what is it? What's your favorite tool? Th your favorite tool.
Jim Vinoski (:I'm sorry.
My favorite tool.
crescent wrench.
Brad Herda (:It can be a hammer, it can be a pry bar, it can be lots of things.
Doyle (:Goes for a crescent wrench. Better be a big ass fucking crescent wrench.
Jim Vinoski (:I I could have gotten to some of my bicycle tools but no one would know what I'm talking about.
Doyle (:Yeah.
Brad Herda (:best pizza topping.
Jim Vinoski (:Pepperoni.
Doyle (:All right. Yep.
Brad Herda (:Good, thank you. last thing you googled.
Jim Vinoski (:USB extension cords and the the different types and what I need to add my second camera on my show.
Doyle (:Mm.
Brad Herda (:Okay. favorite movie quote.
Jim Vinoski (:Gee, Ricky, I'm sorry your mom blew up.
Brad Herda (:What What movie's that from?
Doyle (:I love it.
Jim Vinoski (:It's from a nineteen eighty-five movie called Better Off Dead with John Cusack.
Brad Herda (:my.
Jim Vinoski (:I'm gonna give you my second one too. So it's you ever seen the movie Patton?
Doyle (:Yeah.
Jim Vinoski (:Rommel, you magnificent bastard, I read your book.
Brad Herda (:Hopefully we next time we meet, I can't wait to be able to say that to you.
Doyle (:Yeah.
Doyle (:Yeah.
Jim Vinoski (:Love it.
Brad Herda (:favorite music.
Jim Vinoski (:heavy metal.
Brad Herda (:Which band?
Jim Vinoski (:Judas Priest is my favorite. Iron Maiden's right there.
Doyle (:Mm. Okay.
Brad Herda (:Peace.
Doyle (:Mm.
Brad Herda (:Yeah, you're you're an Xer, that's for sure. favorite sport?
Doyle (:Yeah.
Jim Vinoski (:Bicycling.
Brad Herda (:Bucketless vacation location.
Jim Vinoski (:Yosemite.
Doyle (:Mm.
Brad Herda (:Okay. living or dead, who would you want to have a conversation with?
Jim Vinoski (:Ooh, that's a good one.
Brad Herda (:Seems to me like Paul Revere starting the company might be right in the right might might be in the list.
Jim Vinoski (:I think J. R. R. Tolkien.
Brad Herda (:Okay.
Doyle (:Jim Vinoski (31:19.641)
Just would love to find out where the heck all those crazy ideas came from.
Brad Herda (:Okay. And last but not least, ginger or marien.
Jim Vinoski (:ginger.
Brad Herda (:Okay. We're about a fifty fifty split on that one. So how do people find you? How do organizations that may want to have some write ups or have your media or or get your support and help with what you do, how do they find you? Where do they get a hold of you? Obviously they don't all know Matt Goosey yet, so they can't make that introduction.
Doyle (:Yeah.
Jim Vinoski (:Okay.
Jim Vinoski (:Right, right. man, emails fine. Jim at Vinoski dot net. I'm on LinkedIn as my primary social media. So follow me or connect with me there. I'm on X at Jim Venosky. And then I've got manufacturing talks dot com as my website. I have manufacturing talks as a substack and then the manufacturing talks show on
Doyle (:Mm-hmm.
Jim Vinoski (:YouTube and all your podcast outlets.
Brad Herda (:Nice. Jim, we are grateful that you are here. As you were talking through all the stories, my heart, I'm like, I am so stoked for what you you what you have done to support and and give people that opportunity to learn what this country can do and has been doing and is doing, and it's happening in their own backyards. They're just not paying attention to it. thank you for the work that you do. it is spectacular and I am very appreciative of that. And thanks for being on our show, sharing with our audience.
Doyle (:Mm-hmm.
Jim Vinoski (:I appreciate that. Thank you guys so much.
Doyle (:Yeah, thank you.
Brad Herda (:All right, we'll talk soon.