Latest / Voices of the Albemarle / Ep. 16: Climbing to the future with LM Fakro

Transcript

Ep. 16: Climbing to the future with LM Fakro · Voices of the Albemarle

0:15
SPEAKER_01: Hello and welcome to Voices of the Album Marl.
0:17
SPEAKER_01: I'm your host, Izzy Kelly Goss, and we have our co-host, David Prizer.
0:22
SPEAKER_04: I am.
0:23
SPEAKER_04: Yes, I am.
0:24
SPEAKER_04: I'm here.
0:25
SPEAKER_01: Yay! And in a moment, we're going to be speaking with Tom Glab and Jordan Huss, who work for LM Facro, which is a Polish attic ladder company that has set up their very first U.S.
0:37
SPEAKER_01: manufacturing facility with Facro America, that is their American branch, obviously.
0:43
SPEAKER_01: And they've set it up right here in Elizabeth City.
0:47
SPEAKER_01: But first, it seems we will be getting two roundabouts in Elizabeth City.
0:52
SPEAKER_01: One of them will be directly next to Northeastern High School, and the other one will bridge the gap between the area that holds Planet Fitness and Harbor Freight and the what is most commonly known by locals as the Farm Fresh Food Lion and Applebee's, which I can't get the song out of my head now.
1:13
SPEAKER_01: What song?
1:14
SPEAKER_04: Roundabout.
1:15
SPEAKER_01: I don't know that song.
1:16
SPEAKER_01: Oh.
1:17
SPEAKER_01: Sing it for us.
1:23
SPEAKER_03: It just keeps going on like that.
1:24
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
1:25
SPEAKER_01: Like it's a small world after all.
1:30
SPEAKER_01: Well, anyways, these roundabouts.
1:33
SPEAKER_04: By yes.
1:33
SPEAKER_04: The name of this is yes.
1:35
SPEAKER_01: These roundabouts will be the first roundabouts in Elizabeth City.
1:39
SPEAKER_01: The county commissioners approved them on May 18th after a second offer of nearly$90,000.
1:46
SPEAKER_01: Thoughts?
1:47
SPEAKER_01: Comments?
1:47
SPEAKER_01: Questions?
1:48
SPEAKER_01: Concerns?
1:48
SPEAKER_04: From what I'm hearing from people about roundabouts, they may be the last roundabouts in Elizabeth City, too.
1:54
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
1:54
SPEAKER_01: Um, we'll see how it goes.
1:56
SPEAKER_04: Some people don't know how, don't they understand how to do a roundabout?
2:01
SPEAKER_04: It's it's not a uh an like a forever thing.
2:05
SPEAKER_04: You're supposed to leave the roundabout at some point.
2:08
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
2:08
SPEAKER_04: Some people don't quite understand that.
2:10
SPEAKER_01: They just go round and round like it's a small world.
2:13
SPEAKER_04: How do I get out of this?
2:15
SPEAKER_04: It's so small.
2:16
SPEAKER_04: It's so close.
2:16
SPEAKER_04: It's so far.
2:19
SPEAKER_01: Secondly, this coming Saturday, May 30th, when we are recordings this coming Saturday, the Perquiman County Perquimans, not Perquiman, the Perquimans County Restoration Association and the Berkwimmans America 250 North Carolina Committee will commemorate Betsy Dowdy's midnight ride.
2:37
SPEAKER_01: For those who don't know, Doughty is a legend who supposedly rode her horse all the way from Kerala to Hertford.
2:43
SPEAKER_01: That's 50 miles.
2:45
SPEAKER_04: What do you mean supposedly?
2:46
SPEAKER_01: Well, it's it's words matter.
2:50
SPEAKER_01: No, I'm not personally, but responsible journalism requires that I say supposedly.
2:55
SPEAKER_01: Supposedly.
2:56
SPEAKER_01: Would you like an irresponsible journalist?
2:58
SPEAKER_01: I don't think so.
3:00
SPEAKER_04: No, no, there's no such thing.
3:02
SPEAKER_01: Well, oh, anyways.
3:04
SPEAKER_01: They oh, Betsy Doughty, she rode 50 miles to warn the militia troops that British troops were on their way in the middle of the night and she was only 16 years old.
3:16
SPEAKER_01: The ride will last around three hours, and they'll be switching horses and therefore riders to ensure no animals are too exhausted.
3:24
SPEAKER_01: Um, every county, there's four counties.
3:25
SPEAKER_01: It's Pasquatank, Camden, Perquimans, and Currituck.
3:28
SPEAKER_01: Those are all the counties she rode through.
3:30
SPEAKER_04: She should have texted first.
3:31
SPEAKER_01: Well, if she could have, I'm sure she would have.
3:34
SPEAKER_01: I doubt a 16-year-old girl enjoyed riding through four counties at midnight.
3:40
SPEAKER_01: But, anyways, all four counties will have their own Betsy um to ride on through.
3:46
SPEAKER_01: And that's gonna be Will they do it at midnight?
3:48
SPEAKER_01: No, they'll be starting at 9:30 in the morning.
3:51
SPEAKER_01: And it will end up dealing.
3:54
SPEAKER_04: You know, it's a little bit anybody can do that.
3:56
SPEAKER_01: We have cars now, so I don't think it'd be a good idea to let a young lady run on a horse through an entire county at midnight.
4:06
SPEAKER_04: Uh, we're so soft.
4:08
SPEAKER_01: Well, speaking of, um, you might think this is soft.
4:14
SPEAKER_01: I think it's hilarious.
4:16
SPEAKER_01: Um, this is our final piece of news.
4:18
SPEAKER_01: This is our world news.
4:20
SPEAKER_01: A farmer in Melbourne, Australia.
4:22
SPEAKER_01: His name is Reese Smoker, found a live frog in his bag of lettuce.
4:29
SPEAKER_01: According to an associated press article, he was making dinner steak and a salad.
4:34
SPEAKER_01: And when he went to make the salad, there was a little green tree frog inside a sealed bag of lettuce.
4:41
SPEAKER_01: So at least America's not the only one having issues with things in their food.
4:46
SPEAKER_04: Things always strange things always happen in Australia.
4:51
SPEAKER_04: That is true.
4:52
SPEAKER_04: That is one of the reasons I will like to be able to do that.
4:58
SPEAKER_01: I feel like frogs are pretty tame.
5:00
SPEAKER_01: I feel like a lot of times you see articles about 50-foot tarantulas and snakes coming out of the toilet.
5:07
SPEAKER_01: That's which is like every child's worst fear when they're learning how to potty train, right?
5:11
SPEAKER_04: That's true.
5:12
SPEAKER_04: I is it any worse than finding a live animal in your salad?
5:18
SPEAKER_01: 50-50.
5:21
SPEAKER_01: If the tree frog had been poisonous, then probably.
5:24
SPEAKER_03: Oh.
5:25
SPEAKER_01: But I don't think it was.
5:26
SPEAKER_01: I saw a picture, it was just a tiny little green tree frog.
5:30
SPEAKER_01: But on that note, I think we're gonna hop on into our review with Facro's Tom and Jordan.
5:38
SPEAKER_01: Welcome again to Voices of the Albemarle.
5:41
SPEAKER_01: We're joined with Tom Glab and Jordan Huss of LM Facro, who manufactures and distributes attic ladders, and they are originally a Polish company, but they have opened their first United States manufacturing facility right here in Pasquatink County.
5:55
SPEAKER_01: Gentlemen, thank you so much for joining us.
5:57
SPEAKER_02: Thank you for having us.
5:58
SPEAKER_01: That was Jordan, and then thank you for having us.
6:00
SPEAKER_01: That is Tom, just so everybody's gonna be.
6:02
SPEAKER_01: Wait a minute.
6:02
SPEAKER_04: You you said they were originally a Poland company.
6:05
SPEAKER_01: Well, they are still a Polish company, yes.
6:07
SPEAKER_01: They originated.
6:08
SPEAKER_04: I want to pay due respect to the to the to the country.
6:10
SPEAKER_01: Yes, absolutely.
6:11
SPEAKER_01: Okay, but their first United States manufacturing company is um, well, you guys have offices in Chicago andor right outside of Chicago in Addison, is that right?
6:22
SPEAKER_01: Addison, Illinois.
6:23
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
6:24
SPEAKER_01: And then you have your first manufacturing plant right here in Pasquatink County.
6:29
SPEAKER_01: Before we dive into the logistics behind that, uh, starting with Tom, I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about the company and how you ended up working for them.
6:40
SPEAKER_00: Long story.
6:41
SPEAKER_00: But uh, so Fekro is uh is a Polish company, it's a family-owned company that was established 35 years ago.
6:48
SPEAKER_00: We actually will celebrate a 35th anniversary this year.
6:52
SPEAKER_00: And the company started, uh, I'd like to refer as a Hewlett Pockard, for instance, in the garage.
6:58
SPEAKER_00: So imagine imagine one, two, three people with a vision that started building uh uh roof windows in the garage.
7:07
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
7:08
SPEAKER_00: And um throughout those past 35 years, the company grew to the to the impressive size of um second largest in the world roof windows manufactured.
7:20
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
7:21
SPEAKER_00: And uh first, actually the largest world or largest manufacturer of attic stairs.
7:27
SPEAKER_00: Uh this is where we are now.
7:29
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
7:29
SPEAKER_00: Um the the headquarters is located in the south side, south side of Poland.
7:34
SPEAKER_00: Uh near City is a Krakow.
7:37
SPEAKER_00: Uh but the name of the town where we are located is uh Nowy Soncz.
7:41
SPEAKER_01: Nowy Soncz?
7:42
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
7:43
unknown: Okay.
7:43
SPEAKER_04: Is that where you're from originally?
7:45
SPEAKER_00: Uh I'm from Lublin.
7:46
SPEAKER_00: It's uh it's uh it's uh east side of Poland.
7:48
SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay.
7:49
SPEAKER_00: Um yeah.
7:50
SPEAKER_01: So how did you end up working for the company?
7:53
SPEAKER_00: You said it's a long story, but yeah, it is a long story, but uh let uh my uh my friend from uh from uh university time is uh actually CO and president of the uh FACRA America, uh which is uh let's say a branch of our of our operations that is responsible for distributing of the products throughout all United States, and that office is located in Edison, Illinois.
8:18
SPEAKER_00: Uh so my friend is uh is a president and he offered me a job uh 10 years ago.
8:25
SPEAKER_00: Um the company was growing, he needed someone to take over some technical aspects of the company and then help him with uh um operations.
8:35
SPEAKER_00: So I started uh with PECRA 10 years ago.
8:39
SPEAKER_04: And your and your background that that that gets you into that.
8:43
SPEAKER_00: I'm a civil engineer, I have a master's degree in civil engineering.
8:46
SPEAKER_00: I graduated uh a technical university in Lublin, Poland.
8:50
SPEAKER_00: Um same as my boss, my friend.
8:53
SPEAKER_00: And then and then uh soon after uh I ended up in the States cool with my fiance at that time.
9:02
SPEAKER_00: We decided to immigrate.
9:03
SPEAKER_00: She won a green card.
9:05
SPEAKER_00: So it's a lottery, not every year, but uh you can uh it's like a winning a lottery, basically.
9:11
SPEAKER_00: So she she got an opportunity to move here, and I as her let's say uh fiance at that time was uh I did not hesitate.
9:21
SPEAKER_00: We just uh let's see uh how it's gonna be.
9:24
SPEAKER_04: So if you want to so you just said marrying you is like winning the lottery, you know you said no, sort of, yeah.
9:30
SPEAKER_00: Wow, yeah, because to get that cat, I mean you really have to be lucky.
9:35
SPEAKER_00: But uh, what's what's funny is that my boss and my friend, he won this similar lottery five years later, and he ended up in states as well.
9:44
SPEAKER_00: So so and now he's my boss.
9:46
SPEAKER_00: So so that's the long story in the short way of cool describing it.
9:50
SPEAKER_01: Uh but um and then Jordan, you are a native to the area, you grew up in Camden, um, but you started working in the manufacturing warehouse and now you work in the sales end.
10:05
SPEAKER_01: Um, and just to kind of jump into the more logistical side of the company, I'm hoping you can give us an insider look at kind of like the warehouse end of things and then how it was transitioning into that second position for you.
10:19
SPEAKER_02: I mean, I'd I was lucky enough to even find Facro.
10:22
SPEAKER_02: They they found me right after I got laid off from another local place in town.
10:29
SPEAKER_02: Um, but within a week, you know, they called me and they're like, you know, hey, we called you a year ago, our facility wasn't ready yet.
10:36
SPEAKER_02: Um, and they pulled me in for production, and it it was a pretty fun job.
10:42
SPEAKER_02: I mean, we we were I was one of four people starting out over at Elm Fac Row, and it just it it was easy production, everything went by pretty smoothly, and you know, they were talking about like maybe possible sales, you know, we might need more positions because they only had one guy in the USA doing all the sales for them, and I was like, you know, I would love to have the opportunity, and they offered it to me.
11:08
SPEAKER_02: Here you are.
11:08
SPEAKER_04: Do you do you uh when you in your sales are you I'm gonna get into the business side and the sales side, so uh in when I in some of my conversations, are you selling the total product line or are you you focusing on let's say attic ladders or roofs?
11:23
SPEAKER_02: Right now it's just mainly attic ladders, but we're we're trying to push a little bit of the skylights now.
11:28
SPEAKER_04: Okay, okay.
11:29
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
11:30
SPEAKER_01: And just going back to the warehouse, you said it everything's kind of a smooth, um, smooth process.
11:36
SPEAKER_01: You guys are an assembly line, so everybody has their own job, and and it's actually bringing like a lot of jobs um to the area.
11:44
SPEAKER_01: I think the original like projected was around 23 jobs.
11:48
SPEAKER_01: You said started out with four guys in the warehouse, and this might be a question for Tom.
11:53
SPEAKER_01: How many are working in the warehouse now, currently?
11:56
SPEAKER_00: 11.
11:57
SPEAKER_01: 11.
11:58
SPEAKER_00: In the warehouse, because if you look at the operations overall, there are much more people involved uh in planning and uh logistics from Poland, uh, but here locally 11.
12:11
SPEAKER_04: Now, this is this is the cool part of the whole thing because you're bringing jobs to Elizabeth City, which is really neat.
12:18
SPEAKER_04: I on the other hand get really wrapped up in attic ladders.
12:22
SPEAKER_04: I have no idea why, but we'll talk about the jobs.
12:24
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
12:25
SPEAKER_01: What do you mean you get wrapped up in attic ladder?
12:27
SPEAKER_04: Because I've got this wooden air, wouldn't every time I have to go into my attic, I pull the thing down, and I swear to god, I have a vision of this attic ladder hitting me in the forehead.
12:35
SPEAKER_04: And so that's it's scary.
12:37
SPEAKER_01: You and every other person here that has a house built before 2000 and 2000, probably 2000.
12:44
SPEAKER_04: Let's get back to the jobs because that's the most important part.
12:47
SPEAKER_01: It is the most important part.
12:48
SPEAKER_01: Um, like you said, there's 11 people in just locally in the warehouse here.
12:53
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but you said, you know, it's a it's a much larger operation.
12:56
SPEAKER_01: There's people in Poland, there's people in Addison, Illinois.
13:00
SPEAKER_01: So I want to ask, what was the decision to bring the plant here specifically?
13:06
SPEAKER_01: This is a relatively small area and it's not exactly down the road from your corporate offices in in Addison.
13:12
SPEAKER_00: So originally we were looking into a couple of different states when we first decided to expand.
13:19
SPEAKER_00: And the idea about the production line, uh, first we were thinking about second warehouse.
13:24
SPEAKER_00: Because we bring many products from Poland.
13:26
SPEAKER_00: We st we have a large warehouse in Edison where we keep all the products in stock.
13:32
SPEAKER_00: But um, as the business grows, it was not enough.
13:35
SPEAKER_00: So let's say first idea was maybe we're supposed to invest into the second uh warehouse, and then the idea about hey, uh how about a production line since we already think about a warehouse, and then so we are thinking about a couple of states: Texas, Florida, Georgia, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.
13:58
SPEAKER_00: And uh well, we started looking for uh for uh decent buildings that we could uh let's say adapt to for our business.
14:06
SPEAKER_00: Um, we do have a uh large um uh representatives in Texas though, because we work with a large distribution company that it's in where they have a large warehouse in in Texas already.
14:19
SPEAKER_00: So we started thinking like maybe it's not a big drought.
14:23
SPEAKER_00: Let's move more more to the east so we cover more more of the east coast logistically.
14:31
SPEAKER_00: Uh um so then we started looking for North Carolina, South Carolina, etc.
14:37
SPEAKER_00: And if you we found a building in North in Elizabeth City that was uh right size and on the right land.
14:45
SPEAKER_00: And what's nice about Elizabeth City is only one hour away from Norfolk, which is which is a big port.
14:52
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so that was important for us.
14:54
SPEAKER_00: Um easy logistics, bring the containers.
14:59
SPEAKER_00: We still bring raw materials from Poland, not all of them, but most.
15:02
SPEAKER_00: And um so the having a port nearby was was uh one of the uh key decisions.
15:11
SPEAKER_00: Um building was the second that was a good size of the building, and with a land that we can uh wait to expand.
15:18
SPEAKER_00: So let's say that's the plans for the future to to build another building uh the same size next to it, and um so that's opportunity.
15:27
SPEAKER_00: And we started to explore incentives, what what states can can uh can offer you know taxes and all that, and everything played out well for the North Carolina.
15:38
SPEAKER_04: So well, I obviously it did because you're here.
15:41
SPEAKER_04: Um looking back, uh, how was it working with the I guess the the state and the local um uh the local government here?
15:51
SPEAKER_04: What was was it a good experience working trying to get what you wanted and going back and forth?
15:57
SPEAKER_04: Did you feel as though all the discussions were on the up and up and you felt good about coming here?
16:01
SPEAKER_04: And they make you feel good about your decision?
16:04
SPEAKER_00: Definitely.
16:04
SPEAKER_00: And uh um big thanks to the local uh officials.
16:09
SPEAKER_00: Cool.
16:10
SPEAKER_00: Uh we work with uh can I say names?
16:13
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you're sure you can.
16:14
SPEAKER_00: So Scott Hinton, yeah, yeah, yes, he was on his podcast.
16:17
SPEAKER_00: Yes, he's been on our podcast.
16:18
SPEAKER_00: He's a great guy.
16:19
SPEAKER_00: He he's uh he's helping us a lot and he's been a big help.
16:24
SPEAKER_00: So city development department, right?
16:26
SPEAKER_00: Um uh and we're still in touch because like I say, the size of the company at this moment is 11 people, but that's not our right.
16:33
SPEAKER_00: We're not halfway there yet.
16:35
SPEAKER_00: So uh we still grow.
16:36
SPEAKER_00: And then incentives, they come, but you have to you have to you have to meet some certain criteria, which which uh Scott helps us to to monitor, and uh it's a rather long process, it's not uh it's not an easy process, but still very good.
16:54
SPEAKER_00: Scott's a good guy, he's a good guy.
16:56
SPEAKER_00: Officials were very helpful, no, no doubts.
16:58
SPEAKER_01: Good.
16:58
SPEAKER_01: And to kind of go on on that, I think you guys got some grants um through like the county, the county commissioners, um and you were telling us just but just before we started recording, I just wanted to bring that back up because that was interesting to me.
17:16
SPEAKER_01: You were talking about the building.
17:17
SPEAKER_01: Um, you guys actually had to do repairs, and I think some of those grants went into that.
17:22
SPEAKER_01: So, what kind of prep work had to be done before you guys could open up shop?
17:26
SPEAKER_00: Uh to be honest, I don't know specifics about the grant for the building remodeling.
17:31
SPEAKER_00: Uh, perhaps there were some.
17:33
SPEAKER_00: So I have a list of tax exemptions and things like that.
17:36
SPEAKER_00: So let for instance, we got some certain tax exemptions for the for the um machinery that we had to invest into.
17:44
SPEAKER_00: So let's say if we buy some machines in certain states, we don't pay sales tax up to certain certain level.
17:51
SPEAKER_00: Um I'm not sure about the um to be honest, uh, incentives for uh remodeling of the building.
17:59
SPEAKER_00: The the building that we bought was was neglected, so we had to invest uh uh at the beginning some money to bring it to the to the shape uh so we can start investing into the missionary and then interior, let's put it this way.
18:14
SPEAKER_00: First, we had to take care of the envelope or outside.
18:18
SPEAKER_00: Um so here I can't say much to be honest, but uh about the incentives.
18:24
SPEAKER_00: Um but there are still incentives on the plate that we did not get, and we have to meet certain criteria, and that's that's minimum personnel we have to hire, etc.
18:35
SPEAKER_00: The level that we're not ready yet for.
18:37
SPEAKER_00: Um the products that we manufacture in North Carolina are totally new, new type of ethic ladders.
18:44
SPEAKER_00: I know that you mentioned about uh you know um ethic ladders, they they might be imagine it's for some people it's a simple product, but they can be more or less sophisticated.
18:55
SPEAKER_00: And um and basically the market dictates what cells you have to produce, and we have to we have to design a totally new model that was designed for uh for the US market, especially.
19:07
SPEAKER_00: What do you mean by that?
19:08
SPEAKER_00: Well, uh there's builders, for instance, um, or the way that the the way I see it as a I'm a US citizen now, but um half of my life I spend in Europe and I see the difference in the building industry.
19:24
SPEAKER_00: Um in the United States, everything is designed to be built quick and easy, not uh necessarily energy efficient.
19:32
SPEAKER_00: In Europe, it's the opposite way.
19:35
SPEAKER_00: Uh, energy, the cost of the energy is almost twice as much as here.
19:39
SPEAKER_00: So if you have to pay a lot for heating up the house, cooling down the house, you spend more money, you invest more money into the building elements to make sure that your your house performs.
19:52
SPEAKER_00: In states, time is money.
19:53
SPEAKER_00: So for instance, ethic ladders, they had to be designed to be very easy to install quickly.
19:59
SPEAKER_00: They were, let's say, forgiving some small installation errors, which on the other hand, it's it's giving up some uh let's say uh thermal performance aesthetics too.
20:15
SPEAKER_00: Got it.
20:16
SPEAKER_00: So so here we go.
20:17
SPEAKER_00: And we designed a model that uh that was demanded by this more this market, and we sell it and manufacture it only in the United States, nowhere else in the in the world.
20:27
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
20:27
SPEAKER_04: So uh Jordan, are you this is you're you're selling this, okay?
20:33
SPEAKER_04: Um stupid question from I think from my perspective, but not everybody would think of this.
20:41
SPEAKER_04: You're selling to builders, yes, you're not selling to me individually.
20:47
SPEAKER_02: Uh you individually could go online and buy one if you wanted.
20:50
SPEAKER_02: But then I'd have to install it, right?
20:52
unknown: No.
20:54
SPEAKER_02: But no, I'd like to see that.
20:56
SPEAKER_02: I will go with two-step distributors, and you know, they will do a lot of the sales, and I kind of go and introduce the product to other customers and potential customers.
21:04
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
21:05
SPEAKER_04: So um the the process, the process that Tom was was talking about, you you go through this process with with the ladders.
21:13
SPEAKER_04: Um, and you are reaching out to, let's say, uh, I'm uh I'm not saying you are selling to them, but say L'Ryan Holmes is building homes.
21:22
SPEAKER_04: That's a kind of customer or prospect that you might be talking to.
21:26
SPEAKER_04: Um is that what is that what you're talking to?
21:28
SPEAKER_02: So we we work through US Lumber.
21:31
unknown: Okay.
21:31
SPEAKER_02: U.S.
21:32
SPEAKER_02: Lumber is our biggest distributor.
21:34
SPEAKER_02: Oh, and they will go and make all the gas work.
21:37
SPEAKER_04: I got you.
21:37
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
21:38
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
21:39
SPEAKER_03: Cool.
21:40
SPEAKER_01: And also for Jordan, you like we said, you grew up in the area.
21:44
SPEAKER_01: I've known you for, I think we just decided like seven or eight years, which feels like so long.
21:50
SPEAKER_01: So you have a very strong grasp on the area.
21:53
SPEAKER_01: Um, so stepping away from like the sales side, in terms of strictly Having a manufacturing plant here, how have you already seen and how do you feel like the plant will continue to have an impact on the area?
22:08
SPEAKER_02: I mean, it has a lot of potential for jobs for people locally.
22:11
SPEAKER_02: I mean, we've already hired two new people, and you know, it's going to continue to grow as production keeps going as well.
22:19
SPEAKER_02: And more sales now that I'm in there with them.
22:21
SPEAKER_02: But I I definitely see a lot of room for grow or growth and you know, just more jobs opening up for people.
22:28
SPEAKER_04: What I'm what I'm feeling is that it you you said too, somebody can say, well, that's just two.
22:33
SPEAKER_04: Well, the point is, these are two solid jobs.
22:35
SPEAKER_04: And this is only because I happen to then not be just because you're sitting here, because I kind of know a little bit about uh what you're doing.
22:42
SPEAKER_04: They're solid.
22:43
SPEAKER_04: I mean, it's not like a flying, uh flash in the pan type of thing, and the fad's gonna go away.
22:47
SPEAKER_04: It's a solid company with solid technology, solid expertise, um, good sales uh expertise.
22:54
SPEAKER_04: And so those two jobs are gonna stay there and then they're gonna grow.
22:58
SPEAKER_04: They could grow to four, it could grow to six.
23:00
SPEAKER_04: But then for Elizabeth Cities, there could be other companies coming in, and there's another two, and there's another four.
23:06
SPEAKER_04: So I I see this as a really good success story, and I'm not not blowing smoke.
23:11
SPEAKER_04: It's just really nice to hear that the process works so well.
23:15
SPEAKER_04: Um, and really with a successful company such as yours, um, it's a good positive story about Elizabeth City, I think.
23:23
SPEAKER_04: I mean for you guys too.
23:25
SPEAKER_02: When I first got the job, I had no intention of going into sales.
23:28
SPEAKER_02: So when the opportunity popped up, I thought it was perfect.
23:31
SPEAKER_02: And I'm not the only one there.
23:33
SPEAKER_02: Out of the original four that were local that joined the place, um, one of them even became a CNC operator.
23:39
SPEAKER_02: He does the CNC uh cutting for a lot of our wood in there.
23:43
SPEAKER_02: And he he never had that experience before and he got trained in it right there in FACRO.
23:48
SPEAKER_04: Is that is that an uh is that a common story with your company?
23:51
SPEAKER_04: You're the training the people, uh new skill sets so they have something to take with them.
23:57
SPEAKER_00: Yep, correct.
23:58
SPEAKER_00: We we brought some some personal from Poland at the beginning to train local personnel to do the work.
24:06
SPEAKER_00: So let's say there were two people on contract brought here from Poland, so they can let's say help us with a kickstart.
24:14
SPEAKER_00: And then and then once we're lucky to get uh local employees and get them trained.
24:24
SPEAKER_00: We don't need those experts from Poland anymore, at least not on that level.
24:28
SPEAKER_00: But yeah.
24:29
SPEAKER_00: Cool.
24:30
SPEAKER_01: Which just brings more and more jobs for locals, really, because then I mean, eventually as you guys continue to grow, there will be more positions.
24:39
SPEAKER_01: Um but with the 11 that you have now, we talked about the efficiency.
24:45
SPEAKER_01: We talked about, you know, which I think this is very standard in America.
24:50
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes the aesthetics are cut in order to have efficiency in manufacturing and also in builds and in most aspects.
25:01
SPEAKER_01: Um, but I want to know how many ladders are you guys producing on a daily basis on average?
25:07
SPEAKER_01: Uh that depends, but between 64 and 80.
25:11
SPEAKER_02: Right now, 64 and 80.
25:12
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
25:13
SPEAKER_01: It's a lot of attic ladders.
25:15
SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah.
25:15
SPEAKER_02: We we we prep more than 80 sometimes each day as well, right?
25:18
SPEAKER_02: Right after we finish the production, too.
25:20
SPEAKER_01: So wow.
25:21
SPEAKER_01: So you guys are really pushing out a lot of product.
25:25
SPEAKER_01: Um, and obviously, because you guys are pushing out so much product, I would imagine, Tom, that keeps you pretty busy.
25:33
SPEAKER_01: Um I mean, I know that's not your only responsibility.
25:37
SPEAKER_01: You you've handle a lot of the technical side.
25:39
SPEAKER_01: I want to know what the day today looks like for you.
25:43
SPEAKER_01: I'm sure it's different, especially since sometimes you're here and sometimes you're in Chicago or Addison.
25:49
SPEAKER_01: But I'm just curious to know what that side looks like for you.
25:53
SPEAKER_00: So I think Gavin would be the right person to uh to to answer this question right now.
25:59
SPEAKER_00: I'm an operation director, but still I rely on a local employee that it's actually taking care of uh overseeing production on a daily basis.
26:09
SPEAKER_00: So his name is Gavin and he lives here.
26:11
SPEAKER_00: So um he's my let's say right hand.
26:15
SPEAKER_00: And and uh on a daily basis, that's uh that's his headache to make sure that everything works as it's supposed to work.
26:23
SPEAKER_00: Uh I'm I come here only once a month for uh four days uh just to make sure that everything works as it should and uh you know talk about future and then check a couple of reports.
26:37
SPEAKER_00: We have uh meetings every week that uh you know we summarize what happens and stuff like that.
26:43
SPEAKER_00: So we have some some tools that allows me to work remotely and also because of the right people here, rely on the on the good employees here in town.
26:55
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
26:55
SPEAKER_01: So all I'm hearing is we have lots of good workers in Elizabeth City.
26:59
SPEAKER_02: We do.
27:00
SPEAKER_02: Actually, yeah, we we do.
27:02
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, I mean, you know, one or two not quite as local ones from Eatington, but I mean it's still relative.
27:08
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, for the Northeastern North Carolina area.
27:11
SPEAKER_01: This is a big deal.
27:12
SPEAKER_02: I mean, he he's happily he he makes the commute here and he loves working there.
27:16
SPEAKER_02: He tells us that all the time.
27:18
SPEAKER_02: And I think one of the biggest selling points I've had for you know people coming in is that we have weekends off.
27:24
SPEAKER_02: Like that's you don't get that a lot in production around here, I don't think.
27:28
SPEAKER_01: No, I feel like that's hard to find in a lot of jobs.
27:32
SPEAKER_01: Um, but like I said, this is a big deal for northeastern North Carolina.
27:36
SPEAKER_01: It the area is growing, but it is slower compared to other areas like Norfolk, where you know, there's a huge port industry and lots of military.
27:49
SPEAKER_01: And um I just you guys are occupying the building you're occupying is I think it's the old Davis Yachts building, and you guys are alongside the division of marine fisheries, and you briefly touched on this earlier.
28:04
SPEAKER_01: What will manufacturing continue to look like as you guys grow here in the United States?
28:10
SPEAKER_01: And like what will it look like in terms of growth for the building?
28:16
SPEAKER_01: You said that you guys are considering building a larger plant on the same area as that we said.
28:22
SPEAKER_00: Yes, I mean the the building is located on the large land that we own.
28:26
SPEAKER_00: And then so the next step of developing will be building a building next to the one that we have and connecting those two together.
28:36
SPEAKER_00: It seems like from the plans that uh we can build about the same size of the building.
28:40
SPEAKER_00: It's uh um what 200 feet by 200 feet is our warehouse.
28:46
SPEAKER_00: If I'm not mistaken.
28:47
SPEAKER_00: Um and we only discussed a couple of uh plans with um Timon's group, local engineering company.
28:55
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so we work with Kim from Timon's group, and and actually she helped us a lot uh with with you know sketching out what it's possible to do, which way we can expand.
29:07
SPEAKER_00: And we are slowly getting to the point where we will be meeting Kim again and then talk about how about slowly starting that process.
29:17
SPEAKER_00: We have a land that it's um and there is a forest, small forest there, so we would have to probably prepare the land first to do some survey, so that takes time.
29:27
SPEAKER_00: Um that's the plan.
29:28
SPEAKER_00: That's the plan to grow, and then of course keep manufacturing growing.
29:33
SPEAKER_01: And there's no, I mean, I'm not looking for a particular answer.
29:37
SPEAKER_01: So if you don't have it, that's okay.
29:38
SPEAKER_01: Do you guys have a timeline for something like that?
29:40
SPEAKER_00: Not really.
29:41
SPEAKER_00: Uh for now we we play by ear, I would say.
29:44
SPEAKER_00: It depends on the market, because like even now, you know, with with with what's going on in the world, you cannot be sure that you know your your business will be stable a year from now.
29:56
SPEAKER_01: Right.
29:56
SPEAKER_00: Um uh but uh that's why let's say when Jordan started four people, we we start, we we plan, we don't want to do we we try to avoid something spectacular.
30:08
SPEAKER_00: The fast grow might give you fast how you call it fall, right?
30:13
SPEAKER_00: Right, right.
30:14
SPEAKER_00: So we rather grow slowly by surely.
30:17
SPEAKER_00: That's why we started with four people on assembly line.
30:20
SPEAKER_02: Actually, Greg has been teaching me a phrase that he's been using lately is facros kind of or I guess their mascot is a turtle.
30:29
SPEAKER_00: Our mascot is a turtle, yeah.
30:31
SPEAKER_02: And his whole point with that is that we're uh moving forward slowly, but always forward.
30:37
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so so good, very interesting.
30:40
SPEAKER_00: And the building process and expansion process is a long process, as Kim uh already explained it to us.
30:46
SPEAKER_00: So I think it's wise now, it's a wise time to start it and slowly start, you know, thinking about it moving forward and hope the market will be will be good for us and uh for everybody actually, because if if market collapses, we're all in trouble.
31:03
SPEAKER_00: But uh um yeah, we play my year.
31:07
SPEAKER_01: Slow and steady wins the race.
31:11
SPEAKER_01: Well, thank you guys so much for joining us today.
31:13
SPEAKER_01: I can't wait to see where the company goes next.
31:16
SPEAKER_01: Um, I think this is really great for the area.
31:19
SPEAKER_01: And like I said, thank you both so much for coming on and giving us an inside perspective and another point of view for a really great growth for the northeastern North Carolina.
31:29
SPEAKER_04: Thanks very much, guys.
31:29
SPEAKER_04: This is very interesting.
31:30
SPEAKER_04: Really?
31:31
SPEAKER_04: I'm really glad you guys are here.
31:33
SPEAKER_04: And and this will also be in print.
31:36
SPEAKER_04: Uh yeah.
31:36
SPEAKER_01: It will, yes.
31:38
SPEAKER_01: For those who don't know, um, our podcasts are turned into articles for print, so be sure to check that out.
31:43
SPEAKER_01: And be sure to listen again soon for print in the daily.
31:46
SPEAKER_04: In the daily advance.
31:47
SPEAKER_04: In the daily advance.
31:48
SPEAKER_04: What did I say?
31:49
SPEAKER_04: You didn't say anything.
31:51
SPEAKER_01: In print of the daily advance.
31:53
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
31:54
SPEAKER_01: This is the Daily Advances podcast.
31:55
SPEAKER_01: And we thank all of you for listening to it, and we hope you tune again, tune in again for the next episode.
32:01
SPEAKER_03: Easy peasy.
32:03
SPEAKER_04: Thank you.