Latest / The Inspired Stories Podcast / 150 Years of Excellence: How David Bryant is Leading Young Manufacturing Into the Future | Manufacturing Series

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150 Years of Excellence: How David Bryant is Leading Young Manufacturing Into the Future | Manufacturing Series · The Inspired Stories Podcast

0:04
Welcome to another edition of the Inspired Stories podcast,
0:08
where leaders share their experiences so we can learn from
0:11
their successes and be inspired by how they've overcome
0:14
adversity. My name is Anthony Cotespotti
0:17
and today's guest is David Bryant, Chief Operating Officer
0:20
at Young Manufacturing Company. This family owned American
0:24
manufacturer has proudly operated for 150 years offering
0:29
treads, risers and other quality millwork while focusing on
0:34
sustainable forestry and innovation.
0:37
Their mission is to deliver what customers want, when they want
0:40
it, at a fair price, ensuring lasting value in craftsmanship.
0:45
During his two years with Young Manufacturing, David has helped
0:48
strengthen operations and drive growth, building on his
0:52
extensive background in sales strategy and leadership.
0:56
He also serves on the Board of Directors for the World Millwork
1:00
Alliance, showcasing his commitment to advancing the
1:02
industry now. Before Young Manufacturing,
1:06
David held multiple leadership roles in the manufacturing
1:09
sector and excelled at developing market opportunities
1:13
with a goal focused approach. He previously LED sales
1:16
strategies in major corporations, refining
1:19
operational processes and championing collaborative teams.
1:24
His track record of improving efficiency and enhancing market
1:27
position makes him a powerful influence at Young.
1:31
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2:03
All right, back to our guest today, the CEO of Young
2:06
Manufacturing, David Bryant. I appreciate you making the time
2:09
to Share your story today. Well, thank you so much for
2:11
having me. I'm looking forward to it.
2:13
It's a pleasure. Yeah.
2:14
So, David, how did you first get started in the building
2:16
materials industry? There's kind of a old adage in
2:21
this industry, once sawdust gets in your blood, you can't get out
2:24
of it. My father was actually a part
2:28
time home builder, so some of my earliest memories or literally
2:34
being on the job site helping my dad, you know, build homes and
2:39
from really from the foundation of the all the way to the
2:43
interior millwork. And so in many ways it's just
2:45
been in my blood. In one of my first jobs out of
2:49
college was with Hunter Douglas and you know, we did the blinds
2:55
that were specifically made for doors.
2:57
And so, little did I know, you know, 30 years later, I would
3:00
still be in the millwork industry and in the door
3:03
industry. So what were some notable stops
3:06
along the way before you got too young?
3:08
Sure. So again, as I said, I started
3:11
out with Hunter Douglas. Hunter Douglas was probably the
3:14
largest blind company in the world and they had the
3:18
fabrication facilities in Owensboro, KY, which is where
3:22
home was. And then I went to work for a
3:26
company by the name of Trendy Glass, which is the largest
3:30
decorative glass manufacturer in the world with facilities in in
3:34
China, Seattle, WA and as well as Pennsylvania currently.
3:40
And I was there for probably about four or five years.
3:43
And then I went to a company about the trade company buying a
3:45
Quanex where I was VP and General Manager of the door
3:50
components facility in Richmond, IN.
3:53
And from there I was there for probably about 7-8 years or so.
3:57
And then I made a move to MJB Wood Group.
4:00
We were diversified building materials provider both to the
4:04
OEM and to the distribution level where I became a
4:07
shareholder of the company. And now I'm at a young
4:10
manufacturer as the Chief Operating Officer.
4:13
Now, before we started the live interview, we were kind of
4:16
chatting a little bit. You mentioned one stop along the
4:18
way where they kind of moved you into a rather senior role at a
4:22
pretty young age. Which of those?
4:24
Stops was that? That would have been what time
4:26
with chronic. So I was say within 32 years of
4:31
age and one day I had a two of my independent sales reps call
4:37
me and tell me that this division of this public trade
4:40
company that they represented was looking for a new vice
4:43
president and general manager. And they not only told me about
4:47
the role, they actually made recommendation to the hiring
4:50
manager fellow by name and Jim Golliford that I might be
4:53
someone that they need to talk to.
4:54
And so sure enough, that role was given to me very young age.
5:01
So aside from the personal recommendations, which clearly
5:03
carry a lot of weight, what is it that you think they saw in
5:07
you at such a young age? You know, that's a good
5:11
question. You know, I don't know if I
5:13
would have hired myself for that role at that time.
5:17
But you know, I think it was, you know, the, the, how can I
5:22
say this, the, the degree of commitment that my independent
5:28
reps were providing to the company to get me that role.
5:33
Their recommendations carried a lot of weight and I really do
5:37
think that was the deciding factor.
5:40
We've, you know, over the years have done very well, not only on
5:44
the sell side, but from a product development side in the
5:48
those are things that I think that at the time this division
5:52
of Quanex desperately needed. And I think that Mister
5:55
Gulliford saw that and took a risk.
6:00
So sales, business development, but also product development.
6:04
You think of an interesting product that you helped to bring
6:07
to market along the way. Oh.
6:09
I haven't counted recently, but I think I'm up to attend utility
6:13
patents and a similar number of design patents.
6:17
And I'll I'll never forget one time I was with when I was still
6:21
with 100 Douglas. We were flying down to the
6:24
production facility in Tupelo, Ms., and the president of the
6:29
fabrication division was followed by the name of Dick
6:31
Anderson. And when you walked into Dick's
6:35
office on this wall, when you first walked in, merely to the
6:38
left, it was just covered in patent plaques.
6:42
And it was just, you know, being, you know, 2324 years old
6:46
and saying that. And you know, how in the world
6:47
you have all these patents and how in the world did you get to
6:50
this role, this company that. So I was sitting across from him
6:54
in this airplane. We had a twin engine Piper Cubs
6:57
that we were flying back and forth in.
6:59
And I asked him, I said, Mr. Anderson, that said, can you
7:02
tell me how in the world you came up with all these ideas for
7:06
all these patents? And he, he was reading a
7:09
newspaper and had the Half Moon bifocals and looked over them at
7:12
me. He said, David, he said, all I
7:14
can tell you is always remember the answer is always the result
7:19
of a well defined question. And that just stuck with me.
7:22
So, you know, anytime that, you know, we're looking for any kind
7:26
of product developments really you're, you know, you're, you're
7:29
asking yourself what is it we're trying to accomplish with it?
7:31
And you're really trying to go through all the steps, what you
7:34
want this solution to be and, and you really define it on the
7:38
front end. And if you do a good job of
7:41
that, the answer inevitably presents itself just through a
7:45
product of of elimination. So 10 design patents, roughly 10
7:52
utility patents. Did you you have like an
7:56
engineering background, a design background or like you were just
7:59
sort of paying attention to what customers said, like where are
8:01
the ideas? I think I've always been
8:03
somewhat technically minded but but having being a degreed
8:07
engineer, no I'm not. Now I've had some degreed
8:10
engineers that very talented ones that have worked with me.
8:14
So I can't take all the credit for all this.
8:17
But for me it was always, I've always been somewhat technically
8:20
minded and I don't know if it's genetic or what, but my son has
8:24
been either blessed or cursed with the same thing.
8:27
He was probably about 12 years old one.
8:30
And one day I was walking by his room and he's sitting in the
8:34
floor and he has computer literally torn apart.
8:37
And I walked in there is oh, what are you doing?
8:41
I just want to see how it worked.
8:43
I just rolled my eyes and walked out before I blew a gasket and.
8:47
He was able. He was able to put that thing
8:52
apart and even to this day he has a lot of his friends come to
8:57
him for help and working on their cars and whatnot.
9:00
So I don't know if it's inherit or what, but that whole
9:03
mechanical inclination runs in the family.
9:06
OK, so you really grasp onto this idea of the answer is
9:09
always a result of a well defined question and then?
9:14
Well, I can't take credit. I can't take credit for that.
9:16
That was something that I had one of my many mentors at the
9:19
left. Yep, a great lesson that was
9:21
passed down to you. Now you're passing down to
9:23
myself and the audience. So it's one thing to be able to
9:26
define the question, but I don't know like what what is sort of
9:30
the, is that really the starting point or does the starting point
9:34
come from you or a customer kind of identifying a problem or a
9:38
need? It can be either, it can be both
9:42
and it can be all the above. So you know, I think it may be
9:46
getting ahead of ourselves a little bit.
9:48
But you know, when I when we were talking about the position
9:51
at Quanex, I've kind of joked, but not really.
9:55
If I had known what kind of turn around opportunity it was, I
9:58
don't know if I would have taken it.
10:01
So I walked into a situation where the employee morale was
10:06
very bad. The previous administration
10:10
really ruled with an iron hand. The intellectual property was
10:15
old and being a publicly traded company, we had a different
10:20
fiduciary responsibility than my competitors.
10:23
So you walk into a situation where, you know, you just moved
10:27
your family 4 1/2 five hours away.
10:31
This is, you know, a potentially a golden ticket type job and you
10:35
have inherited a mess. So, you know, you had, you know,
10:39
had to kind of step back and like, OK, so how do I increase
10:42
sales? How do I charge more for it?
10:46
How do I change the culture and how do I do this within a very
10:50
short time period? And so, you know, those are
10:53
things that, you know, just kind of going through my mind.
10:56
And so we just really had to put a strategic mindset as far as
11:00
what do you change in the which steps that you do that in and
11:03
what do you prioritize? And for me, that very much, that
11:08
analytical approach has served me well over the course of my
11:11
career. And so it was sort of that
11:16
maelstrom of problems that you walked into that was really sort
11:19
of the the the instigator for you looking for sort of
11:25
innovative product development ideas.
11:29
Product and market development so, so we really pioneered the
11:35
idea of the certified entry systems concept.
11:40
So a lot of my competitors were making wild claims about the
11:43
performance of their product and we knew that some of these
11:46
claims just weren't accurate. So we developed this concept
11:50
where we were doing third party certifications and and labeling
11:54
those doors. So not only was it a product,
11:57
but it was also changing the way that the product was perceived
12:02
and the way that a product would be purchased and distributed out
12:06
in the field at large. OK, that's interesting.
12:13
Tell me more about what that means.
12:14
That certified entry? Head broke up there, Anthony.
12:24
All right, we're back. Tell me more about the certified
12:28
entry product. What?
12:29
Like, what does this mean? What does this even refer to?
12:32
Break it down for a layperson. Hang on there.
12:38
I'll say you went underwater. It looks like the signals good.
12:41
I don't know what's going on. How about now?
12:46
You got me now. OK, I think, I think we got
12:55
signal again. OK, can you hear me?
12:58
Yes, absolutely. I can hear you.
12:59
OK. OK.
13:01
So I'm curious to under better understand the certified entry
13:04
product like what what, what is certified entry even refer to?
13:08
What is it that the competitors were sort of overselling,
13:11
overstating? Like walk me through this as a
13:14
layperson. So if you think about any type
13:18
of door and window, it's really measured with the two criteria,
13:24
how well it stands up to the strength of wind blowing against
13:29
it and how well it fights against water infiltration.
13:34
Those are the 2 main criteria. One of them is called PG, which
13:38
means performance grade and that's the air in the water and
13:40
the others DP, which is design pressure, which is going to be
13:43
the strength. And so most modern systems will
13:47
perform well against the structural, which is the, you
13:50
know, the wind, but the air and water is a much different test.
13:54
And that's really with what really separates a lot of entry
13:57
systems. And so we actually went through
14:01
a third party lab to certify our doors.
14:04
They would perform to a certain level.
14:06
It just wasn't us just making a wild claim and putting it on a
14:09
piece of paper and saying that's what it what it does.
14:13
Got you. OK, so let's move closer to
14:16
present day. How did the opportunity to join
14:19
Young Manufacturing come about? And run the by McGann.
14:27
I think you broke up again. Yeah, just kind of getting
14:31
closer to present day. How did the opportunity to join
14:35
Young Manufacturing come about? Oh, so I was with a company by
14:40
the NJB Wood Group and we sold our as a shareholder there and
14:45
we sold our company to Coors. And I was being very careful my
14:50
next opportunity and had a recruiter reach out to me one
14:54
day, expressed some interest in me and perhaps interviewing for
14:59
this position. And sure enough, it was 2225
15:03
miles away from I grew up. And Sophie, yeah, obviously this
15:06
is an opportunity to go back home, remain in the same
15:09
industry and really continue my career back home, so to speak.
15:16
OK. So again, for the layperson,
15:18
myself included, tell me about what Young Manufacturing does
15:23
like break it down for us in a way that somebody.
15:25
Outside the. Industry can understand.
15:27
Sure. So we are 150 year old company,
15:32
it was until very recently family owned.
15:35
We just transitioned into an an ESOP.
15:38
So we're very excited about that for the for our employees.
15:44
But we are one of, if not the largest stair tread manufacturer
15:48
in the world. We also make ancillary millwork
15:53
items to accompany interior millwork made predominantly out
15:58
of red oak, white oak and Poplar.
16:00
We also are one of the larger exterior door frame
16:04
manufacturers in the US and we also make door sills here.
16:09
So we're able to really combine a lot of millwork items on one
16:14
track. And we do a lot of our own
16:17
transportation. We have our own fleet of trucks,
16:19
so we're able to provide a overall solutions concept,
16:23
systems concept going into our distributor base.
16:28
And we do sell some to big box, but we only sell to big box
16:33
through distribution. So our customers are really the
16:38
old school mainline 2 step distributors here in the United
16:42
States. What does that mean?
16:43
A 2 step distributor. Sure.
16:45
So if you can think about it, a 2A2 step distributor will be
16:50
somebody who buys our products and they'll either distribute
16:55
them to a mom and pop lumber yard or they will fabricate the
17:01
product and then sell it to a independent lumber yard or they
17:07
could take that and sell that into big box.
17:10
So there's really three ways here in the building practice
17:14
industry how to get product out. One would be selling it direct
17:18
to the big box through their distribution outlets.
17:22
One is selling it to directly to the lumber yard, who in turn
17:26
would sell it directly to the builder.
17:28
And the two stepper would be some someone that we sell to the
17:31
distributor who then I, as I said, will either do some minor
17:35
fabrication or a distribution that will then turn to sell it
17:38
to the lumber yard who and then will go and sell it to the
17:41
builder. So in your industry, in this
17:44
distribution model that you've described here, what's the
17:48
advantage for Young in selling through a distributor rather
17:52
than selling directly to say, a big box retailer?
17:56
One, so dealing with a big box retailer provides some degree of
18:02
difficulties you know as far as scheduling deliveries, having to
18:08
deal with the return policies those those can be difficult and
18:13
it requires a different or an additional customer service
18:17
department to be able to fill it, fill the schedule on selling
18:21
to the two step distributor. It also has the advantage for us
18:24
as we were able to get some economies of scale.
18:26
So we will go and we will sell product in truckload quantity.
18:31
So we're able to create larger runs of product and sell those
18:36
direct to the distributor and then in turn they will break it
18:40
down and sell it to the retailer, either be the
18:42
independent lumber yard, the large one, stepper or big box.
18:48
You know, it's incredible. You mentioned 150 year legacy,
18:52
the young manufacturer has been around.
18:54
Obviously you've only been there a couple of years, but in the
18:57
time that you've been there, I'm sure that you've learned a lot
18:59
of the company's history. How do you think this company
19:03
has not only just lasted so long, but thrived in that time
19:07
period? So, you know, my history
19:11
actually goes back a little bit to the patriarch.
19:15
He passed away about four or five years ago and, and I knew
19:18
him, we were, we were competitors, but he was very
19:22
much a larger than life character.
19:26
His children whom the company was left to.
19:31
It has such a wonderful dynamic. I, I am, I'm so blessed to have
19:36
walked into the situation. So they, you know, you hear a
19:40
lot of horror stories about family owned companies with
19:43
infighting falling apart. That absolutely does not happen
19:47
here. Everybody has well defined
19:49
roles. Everybody respects each other.
19:53
They respect each other's roles. But by the same token, the
19:57
oldest son is very much the president of the company.
20:02
And they will have spirited discussions with one another.
20:05
But if, you know, the president decides that this is the
20:09
direction we're going to go, they they have a unified front.
20:12
And so, you know, I've, I've seen and read a lot about the
20:16
downside of family companies, but this company here is the
20:19
living embodiment of what can be if the family pulls together in
20:24
One Direction. So you've got this, this legacy
20:30
company here, 150 years old. How do you maybe even pull
20:35
specific examples of integrating and introducing fresh ideas and
20:41
strategies into a company with such a storied history?
20:45
So it's kind of funny is that the sister, whenever I was
20:49
interviewing with her, she said, David, you have to understand
20:52
what a big deal this is to us. You were the first outsider ever
20:56
allowed in. Wow.
20:59
So, and part of the reason was, was that they knew that they
21:04
were hidebound. And by that I mean, you know,
21:06
that they had done things in a certain way because that's how
21:10
dad and that's how grandpa did them.
21:14
So, you know, they had full acknowledgement that there were
21:18
probably better ways to do things and that they had been
21:22
doing them. So they were really not just
21:26
willing, but wanting this feedback.
21:29
They were wanting to know what's a better way to do this?
21:32
What could we be doing better? What are we doing wrong?
21:35
What are we doing right? What do we not need to change?
21:38
And so they they were very, very open and accepting.
21:44
So when you say you're the first outsider let in, does that mean
21:47
the first outsider let into AC suite position?
21:50
Yes, yes. You know, it always been very
21:54
much a tight family company and and Robert led the company his
22:01
way and the children learn that way and that's what they know.
22:06
And so, you know, transitioning from a family owned company to
22:11
an ESOP, you know, growth is important.
22:13
And so they knew that, you know, they need to do some things
22:15
differently. And we've, we've come out with
22:17
some new products and we, you know, are going to market in a
22:23
slightly different way. And so the growth we have had
22:26
over the last few years has been spectacular and we're looking
22:30
forward to building on the legacy of the past and and
22:36
carrying that forward. What is 1 innovation that you've
22:41
brought to the table that had a positive impact on that growth
22:43
curve? So, well, you know, a couple
22:46
things really come to mind. So as I alluded to earlier, we
22:49
had our own trucking and you know the thing about trucking
22:54
for us is that we're not a freight company.
22:57
So you know, if I had a cost, let's say of 200 of $2.90 a
23:01
mile, it's actually double because I have to backhaul.
23:06
And so we really try to keep it within a certain circumference
23:13
of here because we're always trying to pick up lumber on back
23:17
halls to defer a freight cost. And so, you know, there are
23:20
things we really analyze our trucking lanes, what was a
23:23
profitable route for us, what was not a profitable route.
23:26
And so we were able to swing what was a loss into a positive
23:31
category. And we've also here have been
23:37
blessed with a lot of natural resources and red oak and white
23:40
oak and the other hardwood species.
23:43
And we've had some customers over the years that have some
23:47
concern about our color match not always lining up because our
23:50
treads are made of five different staves.
23:53
And so we came out just here recently with a new patent
23:57
pending a cat tread that's going to be not just color match, but
24:00
book match. So it's going to allow us to
24:03
have a very cost effective but yet high end book matched stair
24:09
tread that we're really looking forward to what.
24:12
Do you mean by book matched? OK.
24:14
So if you can imagine a piece of wood and it's being sliced and
24:19
then you match them or put them side by side, you're going to
24:22
see the grains of the wood meet on the vertical plane of the
24:28
tread. So it's going to look like a
24:29
mirror for those two treads. So it really gives it a very
24:33
nice, beautiful look. So how do you do this?
24:38
Ancient tiny secret. OK, so this is.
24:41
No, it's, it's, it's, it's part of the of the manufacturing
24:45
process that we had with it. There are some technical hurdles
24:48
with that that we've been able to overcome.
24:50
So it's not the way in which the wood is the tree is grown, it's
24:53
a way in which it is. Processed.
24:56
Yes, that's absolutely correct. OK.
24:58
I thought maybe there were like molds that you've got.
25:01
That no, no, no, no, no. And so I, I had a, a good friend
25:06
that worked with and Klaus went to, and I forget the name of the
25:11
school, but there are only a handful of universities globally
25:15
where you can get a degree in wood science.
25:19
And Klaus went to one of these schools in Germany.
25:23
And he, he even has a license plate on his vehicle customized
25:27
plate says wood is alive. But one of his favorite saying
25:31
is, dude, God never created a perfect tree.
25:34
So, so you know, you whenever you're dealing with wood and
25:38
some other products and natural products, the the variations
25:42
part of the beauty, it's part of the art of it.
25:44
All right. Oh, it's fascinating.
25:46
I really want to understand how this process works.
25:49
Yeah. And, and I'm sure all your
25:51
competitors do too. That's that's really cool that
25:54
you guys have figured out something to to pull that off.
25:58
Let's, I don't know, maybe tell me more about your sustainable
26:01
forestry practices. Yeah, so how so?
26:06
Going back into the early 1900s, Kentucky was largely clear cut.
26:14
And so there's a reason why a lot of people older than I am
26:19
really don't remember forest heading.
26:21
Turkeys and deer and other wild species in the Kentucky
26:27
Department of Fish and Wildlife has done a wonderful job of
26:31
reintroducing the species and repopulating the state.
26:35
But for for us, you know, we do not partner with anybody that
26:41
engages in clear cutting. We'll only harvest.
26:46
So clear cutting basically is let's say you have a tract of
26:49
land that's 5100 acres and you're literally just going
26:52
through and cutting everything and leaving nothing behind.
26:56
So we only harvest or deal with loggers and sawmills that
27:00
harvest mature trees only and that do not engage in clear
27:03
cutting. We do have some of our own
27:06
forestry that we do manage, but generally speaking, we're buying
27:11
lumber from about 250 mile radius here in Beaver Dam, KY.
27:16
And one of the neat things is that we put in in the mid 90s, a
27:22
very high tech lumber grading and sorting facility.
27:29
And so this at the in the 90s, this was state-of-the-art and
27:33
it's still state-of-the-art today.
27:35
It was just an incredible achievement by the by the family
27:38
at that period of time. But what we end up doing is that
27:43
we're able to actually track the lumber that we harvest back to
27:49
not only the logger, but to the parcel of land that that tree
27:53
was cut from. So we are not FSC certified, but
27:58
we could be because we do have records literally going back to
28:02
the parcel of land that they is being cut from.
28:04
So we really take it being very, very seriously.
28:08
We try to maximize yield not only from a cost standpoint, but
28:13
also from a utilization standpoint.
28:16
We're really trying to minimize the impact that we have on the
28:19
forestry because the forestry is our livelihood here.
28:23
So we have to take care of the forest.
28:25
We have to take care of the people that not only log but
28:29
also worth the sawmills for us. So we pay our sawmills within 24
28:35
hours after grading the lumber. So we're, again, we're really
28:39
trying to take care of our people and our natural resource
28:43
all the way back to the source. So you've got independent
28:46
loggers that are, you know, cutting the trees down.
28:49
You only buy from certain ones that are doing sustainable
28:52
practices, like, you know, just cutting down the mature trees.
28:56
That tree goes to a sawmill to get processed to some level.
29:01
And what is it that gets delivered to you guys and what
29:04
state is it at that point? It'll get delivered to us in a
29:09
green lumber state, so we will buy it by thickness and when we
29:17
come, when it comes here, it'll get graded.
29:19
We have our own dry kilns where we will kiln dry it and process
29:23
it. So in that way outside of the
29:28
week we could be, but we're pretty well integrated all the
29:33
way again back to the the forest.
29:37
But when it goes to the, excuse me, the the lumber handling
29:43
facility, it'll then be put on sticks.
29:46
It'll be on that yard for anywhere between three and four
29:48
months before it's actually processed into a stair tread or
29:53
a or a door jam at that part at that point.
29:57
I want to ask about two of your innovations there, Armalast and
30:02
Retrofit. What?
30:03
What are these? So the the last one is actually
30:07
a retro trend. So we actually have a, yeah, we
30:09
have a patented product where a homeowner or a anyone who's in
30:15
the tray can take an existing staircase that may have carpet
30:19
on it. You can pull off that carpet and
30:21
you can turn it into a hard hardwood staircase.
30:25
Very easy for anybody to do. It's really a weekend type job.
30:29
Even for the simplest do it yourselfer.
30:33
Armalast is a rot free jam that we developed.
30:39
It actually started in its original form as Prime Plus,
30:42
which had been in the field for probably about 15 years before I
30:48
got here and but it wasn't fully warranted.
30:52
So there's some changes that we made to the construction of the
30:54
product, some changes we made to the primer in the way that we
30:58
process it. So I was able we're able to
31:00
offer a lifetime warranty with that product.
31:02
So that retro trend product is this kind of like a like a
31:05
polyurethane coating that somebody would put?
31:08
Down on the hardwood, No, no, no, no, no.
31:09
So you'll, you'll remove the carpet, you'll remove all the
31:11
padding, but it is a hard four quarter hardwood that's glued
31:17
together. It's solid oak that will have
31:19
the Scotia molding already applied to it.
31:22
So you can remove again remove your carpet and with the riser
31:26
and with the tread you can glue those in place.
31:28
And so you're converting that old carpet and staircase into a
31:32
hardwood staircase? Carpet comes off this product
31:35
goes on top of it, on top of the sort of the stair frame that's
31:39
underneath that cart. Yes, yes, yes.
31:42
Give it that finished polished look.
31:44
Yeah, absolutely. OK.
31:47
You've got a background in marketing and sales.
31:50
Now you steer operations. In what ways has that marketing
31:55
mindset kind of influenced your leadership decisions there?
32:00
So that's a hard question to ask because I have always in my
32:04
career worked for very flat organizations.
32:08
So even though that my title may have been something related to
32:13
sales and marketing, I had always had some degree of
32:16
operational responsibility even dating back to the time with
32:20
Trinity Glass. I eventually became the de facto
32:24
general manager of that facility.
32:26
During my time with Quanex. Again, I was responsible for the
32:29
total PNL of that facility. So, you know, every organization
32:33
being so flat, you'd have no choice but to have multiple
32:36
roles and to really have a degree of confidence in all
32:40
those roles. So you know, I think that for me
32:42
personally, having that well-rounded background and
32:45
always having my fingers and you know, every part of the
32:48
operation has a personally benefited me in my career, my
32:53
career development. You're a board member of the
32:58
World Millwork Alliance, which sounds like it's probably a
33:03
little bit time consuming, especially considering how busy
33:07
your real job must keep you. What's the what's the motivation
33:11
to be a part of that? So outside of being a husband
33:17
and father is one of the greatest honors that could have
33:19
ever been bestowed on somebody. And it's because it was my
33:23
peers, both customers and competitors devoted to put me on
33:30
the board after my nomination was put forward.
33:34
So it really in many ways, it's kind of a validation of
33:37
everything that you've done. And so it, you know, when, when
33:43
I was first nominated, I was honored.
33:45
And then when, you know, I was notified that I was approved to
33:49
be on the board. I mean, it was it, it was A and
33:53
huge honor, huge honor. And I'm happy to do anything
33:56
that they ask of me. And So what is your involvement
33:59
like? So, you know, we, we meet
34:03
several times a year. They're different committees.
34:06
The World Millwork Alliance really pulls together the the
34:10
suppliers, the customers from an overall knowledge sharing
34:15
standpoint, from a regulatory standpoint and from a codes
34:21
standpoint. And, and we have numerous
34:26
committees with we are, you know, trying to promote our
34:30
industry and to encourage other people who are either suppliers
34:34
or pre hangers to join the industry.
34:37
And it's really something that there's just a tremendous amount
34:41
of knowledge that it that is shared a lot of camaraderie.
34:45
And it's it's something that I encourage anybody either in the
34:49
millwork industry, the door pre hanging industry to join because
34:53
it'd be well worth your your time to do so.
34:57
Yeah. And I'm curious, you know, you
34:59
said it's, it's your peers who nominate you, including
35:03
competitors. Yes.
35:06
What is the competitive landscape look like?
35:08
Is it cutthroat? Is it, hey, we're helping each
35:11
other out because plenty of work for everybody.
35:14
It's sort of different by industry.
35:16
What's it like for you? I'd say it's, I don't know if
35:20
it's necessarily cutthroat. I mean, there are some
35:23
competitors obviously that I enjoy taking business from more
35:28
than others. But but for the most part, I
35:32
would say the competition is a friendly competition.
35:35
There's very little true animus in the industry.
35:41
Yeah. And you know, 'cause it, it
35:43
strikes me that one of the the advantages of, you know, being a
35:46
member of the Alliance is sort of that peer-to-peer support.
35:51
Hey, we're, we've got this problem.
35:53
Do you guys have that same problem?
35:55
You know, how are you guys handling kind of thing?
35:57
Do you get that kind of? Support all the time, all the
36:00
time. So, you know, there's a quite a
36:05
bit of millwork that's imported from Asia and from South America
36:12
and tariffs and freight have always been a real problem.
36:20
Even in the, you know, the so-called, you know, good times.
36:23
There's always been difficulties from production, from shipping,
36:28
from, you know, you just, you just name it.
36:30
And so, you know, the, the ability to share names and
36:35
contacts. Hey, listen, have you talked to
36:36
with this mail, they're maybe not as busy.
36:39
Oh, have you talked with this broker?
36:40
I've been able to get containers loaded on a ship.
36:45
So through him, you know, you can actually get product coming
36:48
out of XYZ port. So that type of information
36:53
sharing has been absolutely vital.
36:55
And that's, that's probably the reason why I said, you know, a
36:56
lot of the competition is, is friendly competition because you
37:00
know, that type of information is, is shared.
37:03
Yeah, that's tremendous. What does the current tariff
37:07
environment look like for you guys recording here at the end
37:11
of March 2025? So I'll tell you the aluminum
37:15
tariff is significant and that one bothers me probably more
37:21
than most simply because the way the tariffs are written, it
37:24
really strikes to aluminum. It does not define which form
37:29
the aluminum is imported in. So you know, there's not a whole
37:33
lot of aluminum smelting that takes place in the US anymore.
37:37
I saw something where I believe it's either 50 or 60% of all
37:40
aluminum ingot in the US is imported.
37:45
Then you combine that with the aluminum extruders here, the
37:48
domestic side of things already have an 80 plus percent market
37:51
share. So you know the, what's the old
37:55
saying to a hammer, everything's a nail.
37:57
So that one's a, that one's a little tough on the wood side of
38:01
things. I there's a lot of product that
38:05
has historically been coming in out of Asia really offset
38:10
because the price of a freight leaving the US and going to Asia
38:14
on those containers is almost nil.
38:18
So you get a lot of product that is the result of lumber that's
38:24
that's harvested here in the US, shipped to Asia, processed and
38:28
then brought back at a competitive advantage.
38:31
So, so you know, on that side of things that, you know, the
38:34
tariffs are probably warranted and needed.
38:38
You know, I, I kind of go back to the hardwood plywood tariffs
38:43
that went into impact in effect, excuse me, probably about 8:00
38:47
or so years ago on Chinese plywood.
38:51
And the Chinese plywood is made of a genus that is very stable
38:59
and very flat and it's light and it was really conducive to
39:05
making case goods here in the US.
39:08
So the domestic plywood industry filed A petition for terrorists
39:15
to protect 300 jobs for Oregon hardwood plywood employees.
39:22
But what they didn't do is close a loophole.
39:25
So a lot of cabinet manufacturers started importing
39:29
flat packed, knocked down cabinets out of China which were
39:32
exempt from the duty. So they put 10s of thousands of
39:37
U.S. jobs at risk for 300. So, you know, from my
39:42
perspective with these tariffs, you know, overall, I support it
39:46
for a for the American industry, but I would just wish that they
39:50
were more tailored specifically than what they are.
39:55
They're just a little too broad. A little more strategic.
39:58
Correct. Now I'm going to shift gears
40:02
now, David, like to hear about a serious challenge that you've
40:06
overcome in your life, whether that's something personal or
40:09
professional. How'd you get through it and
40:12
what did you learn? You know, if I have to think
40:19
about it, I kind of remember, and you'll have to excuse me, I
40:22
don't remember the actual date. It was right before COVID
40:27
happened, and I remember sitting at my desk.
40:32
This would have been January 2nd or something, right after when
40:35
the year's been getting ready to start.
40:38
I'm clinging out my desk and throwing things away trying to
40:41
get organized for the new year, and then I see where they're
40:45
going to be. Additional tariffs that were
40:47
placed on door styles that are made in China, and that was a
40:51
big part of my business at the time.
40:54
So we had several large domestic manufacturers of doors at least
41:01
of pride. These Chinese made door styles.
41:04
We we had facilities that we didn't own, but we controlled in
41:08
Leon Yonggong China and and elsewhere.
41:11
They were importing that product in.
41:14
So we had to act quickly. We had a molding facility in
41:20
Clio SC where we felt like we could import Brazilian LVL and
41:26
make door styles there. So I was probably trying to
41:32
ensure the production of about 30 containers a month of door
41:36
styles from China in South Carolina with a whole different
41:39
fiber, excuse me. So there is an entire
41:43
qualification process from our customers.
41:49
Clock was ticking. Tariffs are going to happen in
41:52
March or so, then COVID hit. So if you can imagine, we're
41:58
trying to move production from China to the US with Brazilian
42:01
fiber with a qualification, with untested equipment.
42:07
And all this during the time of COVID, no one could travel.
42:12
And so for me, what I really learned out of that was the need
42:21
for grip. You know, I had heard so many of
42:26
my competitors and customers blame COVID.
42:30
All we can't do that. All I can't get this.
42:33
And everything was no, no, no, no, can't, can't, can't.
42:38
And it in many ways became almost a personal challenge to
42:43
me because I, I couldn't accept no as an acceptable answer.
42:49
I had customers I had to take care of.
42:51
I had employees that I had to pay.
42:54
I had my own family to take care of.
42:57
And at the time, everyone also was panicking, oh, housing is
43:02
going to come to an end and so do I have a job?
43:05
Well, the actual opposite happened.
43:07
That was one of the few industries that was actually
43:10
able to function. So home building, remodeling,
43:13
everything just exploded. So again, we're regrouping,
43:17
ensuring production, new fiber, COVID can't travel, untested
43:23
equipment and increased demand. And on top of that, because
43:28
there was half there wasn't enough.
43:30
But I'm going to even even go one step further.
43:33
I had for one customer over 64 containers of door styles that
43:39
we cancelled. I was asked to call that
43:42
customer because we were consigning the inventory and we
43:45
partially did not want to have that that financial liability on
43:50
the books. And we convinced them that they
43:52
need to cancel 64 containers, which they did.
43:56
And they don't not only need those 64 containers, they
43:59
probably need an additional 30. So that year was one of that's
44:07
the toughest year professionally that I've ever had.
44:10
But it it yeah, I think it taught me toughness.
44:12
I think it taught me grit. I think it it gave me that
44:16
really, you know, never say die attitude with it.
44:20
And on the on the flip side though, whenever any of my
44:25
vendors at a later point blamed COVID for 18 month lead times as
44:30
the alone extrusion industry was doing, I just had a hard time
44:34
accepting that as an excuse. You know what other?
44:38
They needed some of your grit. Well, is what other alternatives
44:42
are there? Are you really looking for
44:44
additional ways and just, you know, laying down and saying we
44:47
can't do it? It just that was tough to
44:50
accept, yeah. So when you were going through
44:53
this struggle, who did you turn to for support?
44:57
My wife, you know, she, she helped me greatly through all
45:02
that. I mean, you know, I've been, you
45:04
know, really blessed with her. So we dated for a long time
45:06
before we were married and she knew the deal.
45:10
I was always traveling and she's absolutely the smartest person I
45:15
know. And she's not only been my best
45:19
friend, but, you know, confidant.
45:21
So, you know, these kind of things I can share with her and
45:24
she can tell me when I'm ever I'm being too tough, not tough
45:28
enough for. So she's, yeah, she's my
45:31
consigliere. I love that.
45:35
What's her name? Melissa.
45:37
Melissa, give her a shout out. Yeah, I love that.
45:42
What about the value of daily practices?
45:45
You got any habits, rituals that you go through that?
45:49
Yeah. Help you start your day.
45:50
Keep up. Track so I'll tell you this.
45:53
So I am a so having worked for a very successful publicly traded
45:59
company, strategic planning, operational planning and all
46:01
that was drilled into my head and quite frankly, I think I
46:05
became very good at that. But it is true.
46:09
Culture is important. Culture eats strategy for
46:14
breakfast at six, I would say. So I make it a purpose every day
46:22
to make sure that I'm taking two gamble walks a day.
46:26
I want to see what's going on on the floor.
46:29
I want to talk to every operator.
46:30
I want to get to know them. I want to get to know their
46:33
family. I want to know their story.
46:35
Because whenever you know, employees have a sense of
46:38
engagement, it really, you know, pays off because one, there's a
46:43
free flow of information. You really get to know what's
46:46
truly happening on the floor. And you know, and employees that
46:49
you know are engaged, they care more.
46:52
They're going to take a little bit more pride in what they're
46:54
doing. And so I, you know, I try to
46:57
always make sure that that culture both in the office and
47:01
on the shop floor is held in the highest regard by everybody
47:07
because it is all important that we're all row in the same
47:11
direction on the boat. That's got a pretty decent sized
47:15
company. I think couple 100 employees or
47:17
more we're about. 275 two. 175 I mean, it's kind of hard for you
47:24
to be the COO of all this and all the responsibilities that
47:27
takes and then kind of be out there on the floor like checking
47:31
in with people every day. And how do you find the time for
47:34
that? You got to make time.
47:38
So, you know, I live by the calendar, you know, my my phone
47:43
and my iPad as far as a schedule is really important, but you
47:47
know, you make time for what's important.
47:50
And in building that culture, obviously you want to get the
47:54
right people in there. What have you guys done when it
47:58
comes to recruiting and retaining good folks that you've
48:02
found success with? So I think this, you know, what
48:06
I was talking about, about employee engagement is real.
48:10
The, you know, I don't want to call them previous ownership
48:12
because, you know, they're still here in the offices next door.
48:16
But, you know, Jeff and Scott, you know, know a lot of these
48:19
people because Beaver Dam is a relatively small community.
48:22
You know, they went to high school with a bunch of them.
48:24
So they know each other. They know each other's families.
48:27
Now, that's not to say that, you know, we, we're, you know,
48:30
insular and who we hire. That's not true.
48:33
I would say that, you know, right now, you know, 35 or so
48:37
percent of our workforce is, you know, is, is an immigrant right
48:40
now. And so, you know, integrating,
48:44
you know, the old time local people with it with the new
48:48
workforce coming in presents this degree of challenges, but
48:51
it's one we've been able to navigate pretty well.
48:55
And, you know, this transition to an ESOP, I think has been
48:58
very, very powerful. So you know, we still offer, you
49:00
know, our regular bonus programs and you know, 4O1K, but now
49:05
they're going to see the ESOP. As far as the the stock values,
49:11
I mean we're, you know, we're everyday concentrate on paying
49:15
down that debt and increasing shareholder value.
49:18
And whenever the new stock releases happen in May and when
49:23
the new valuation of the stock is released in May, the
49:27
employees are going to be very happy with what they see.
49:31
So how does it work? As much as you're allowed to
49:33
explain? Like is everybody sort of
49:37
automatically a shareholder? They have to be there for a
49:39
certain period of time. Yeah, they have to be here for
49:43
for a year or so. They have to be here for a year
49:46
and then the shares are not fully vested until five years
49:49
now. However, one thing that the
49:50
family did is that all employees that had been here for 20 years,
49:55
their shares were automatically fully vested.
49:58
So it was something that they didn't have to do was just, you
50:02
know, shows the level of class and caring that the family, you
50:06
know, has for their employees. That's pretty powerful, David.
50:12
What's a book or podcast or a course you've taken that really
50:18
helpful in your development that might be helpful for folks in
50:21
our audience to know about? I would tell you that I am an
50:25
avid fan of Saint Sue's Art of War.
50:28
Say more about that. So it's really, you know, a, a
50:33
tone on strategy, it's really a tone on really trying to pick
50:40
your battles. And, you know, for me
50:43
personally, it really lays a foundation of personal
50:48
interaction and, and then strategy, you know, you know,
50:52
simple things, especially, you know, like, you know, whenever
50:56
you're at your weakest, be at your, be at your strongest.
50:59
And you know, the real honor is winning without having to fight.
51:05
And it's, you know, it's, it had such a profound impact on me
51:09
that I used to go over to China quite a bit.
51:13
And we get questions like, so do you believe in reincarnation?
51:17
Like, no. Are you Buddhist?
51:20
No, Well, we are in. We believe you were Chinese in
51:25
the previous life. So.
51:28
Because. Why just just?
51:31
I guess you know. The aura that you gave off from
51:34
having absorbed that book. Yeah, no.
51:38
That's funny. What's future growth look like
51:42
for you guys? Well, first of all, the main
51:45
priorities are paying off as much of the ESOP debt as we
51:50
possibly can. And you know, the way the things
51:53
are structured for most Esops, it's hard to make any money the
51:58
first a couple years with how you're paying off debt, but we
52:01
are, we're profitable in the first year and we're well ahead
52:05
of schedule and paying down debt.
52:07
So I'm very proud of that. So for us, once you know we get
52:13
to some of this debt paid off, we're probably going to look at
52:16
investments not only from an acquisitive side, but also from
52:20
a technology side, really can't divulge those right now, but
52:25
there is definitely a plan of, of additional capabilities being
52:32
added to the company. OK, well, we'll have to have you
52:36
back in a couple of years when you're allowed to talk about it
52:39
and take the pull down the curtain there.
52:45
If we were going to be celebrating something together
52:48
about a year from now, what do you think that would be?
52:50
What's something you're hoping to celebrate?
52:53
My son's graduation from college.
52:55
All right, where's he go to school?
52:57
He goes at a University of Southern Indiana.
53:00
He, you know, Indiana had a wonderful program for college
53:05
credit and he graduated high school basically as an incoming
53:09
sophomore. So he's, he's well on his way to
53:14
getting that done. So very, very proud of the kid.
53:16
That's awesome. See, where do we want to go?
53:20
Now let's talk about maybe something that looked like a
53:25
mistake earlier in your career. Sometimes we're just devastated
53:31
by a bad idea, a bad decision, a mistake that we think we made.
53:37
And as we get a little bit of distance from it, we look back
53:40
and realize that was actually a really positive inflection point
53:44
for us because it spurred us to think a different way, to take a
53:48
different action, to go in a new direction.
53:51
Do you think of anything like that?
53:54
Something like that pop into your mind?
53:58
I can't say anything that was necessarily a mistake.
54:02
Believe me, I've made tons of mistakes.
54:06
You know, I would say that especially early in my career, I
54:08
will probably been a a touch more aggressive than I should
54:13
have been. But again, I've always been a
54:16
very forward charging type person.
54:21
You know, one thing that I do, I hated at the time, but it was in
54:26
hindsight such a great thing. So again, going back to the time
54:30
at Quanex, they sent off senior leadership to go visit an
54:33
industrial psychologist and they did 360 reviews.
54:40
And I act the time was absolutely livid about it
54:46
because these were my people and they were being treated rudely
54:52
by by this industrial psychologist out of downtown
54:56
Chicago. And I had my customer service
55:00
manager come up to me after she did her 360 interview.
55:03
And she was just about in tears. And again, I was just livid.
55:08
I mean, I was like, what are you doing to my people?
55:13
You know, I'm a big boy. I can take it.
55:15
You can do say whatever to me. And, you know, I went in.
55:22
So he did the 360 interview and I had to go to Chicago for a in
55:27
person sit down with him after that.
55:30
That's coming. I was loving for Bear and you
55:34
know, and I told him, I said I really did not appreciate you
55:37
handling and interviewing my employees the way you did.
55:42
He said, well, he said, I probably would have been upset
55:45
with you if you hadn't felt that way.
55:47
He said, but I have just felt over the course of my career
55:50
that I have to do that to elicit the actual truthful response
55:55
because most people don't want to speak I'll of other people.
55:59
OK. So, you know, in hindsight
56:02
though, you know, he gave me, you know, some advice that
56:06
really caused me to be self reflective into myself.
56:10
You know, he he taught me to be more self aware of some non
56:14
verbal cues about how that you know, I was a charismatic bigger
56:23
than life figure for the both ain't good and the bad.
56:27
So that you know, when I'm on everybody's on it ripples
56:31
through the office. I'm having a bad day or I give
56:35
off a verbal clue or non verbal clue that wrote the people took
56:42
incorrectly that had a negative impact throughout the entire
56:45
facility. So it was in hindsight, you
56:50
know, I, you know, I was loaded for bear.
56:53
But especially after that meeting with some introspection,
57:00
it was probably one of the best things ever happened to my
57:03
career. So I try to be very self aware
57:07
and cognizant of those interactions.
57:12
And so 360 review means that they're interviewing your
57:17
coworkers. Yeah, Yep, basically, what does
57:21
David do? Well, what does he do bad?
57:23
What should he do better? You know, this kind of thing.
57:25
And. And so I he just, and he did
57:29
this to everybody. It wasn't just my people, it was
57:32
the other executives with them within our company and.
57:38
But he's a bit aggressive with them.
57:40
He's very an emotional response because he believes he in his
57:45
experience that that's the way that you get truthful answers
57:49
from people. Interesting.
57:51
Yeah. But you learned a lot from that
57:54
experience. I did.
57:56
I did, you know, he created it. It's about yourself.
57:58
Yeah. He had create he created a
57:59
dossier that you know that, you know, even to this day,
58:02
sometimes I will pull out my thumb through, you know, and
58:05
just, you know, try to, you know, refresh myself with that,
58:09
you know, and and I can tell, you know, I just know that, you
58:13
know, again, when I'm on, you know, the office here, you know,
58:18
functions well and everybody is superstars and rock stars.
58:21
And, you know, if I had not that I'm rant and rave, I do not do
58:25
that. But there are some days where I
58:26
may not be as high energy and you know, that has a tendency of
58:30
bleeding. So I have to be very, very
58:32
careful that and you know, and I appreciate it.
58:35
The the good doctor for, you know, bringing bring that to my
58:38
attention. There's a lot to be said for
58:40
that level of personal introspection.
58:42
It's not easy to sort of look within and say, well, I'm doing
58:46
a pretty good job, I thought, but now I've got all these areas
58:50
to work on, but what better way to keep growing and improving?
58:53
Yourself, you know, Hey, listen, the numbers are important.
58:56
They are, but in order to get the numbers, it takes a team and
59:01
the team has to be fully engaged.
59:04
And if I have to make sure that I am doing a better job of
59:08
coaching and motivating to get them feeling comfortable to do
59:13
their job, I'm going to do that. And you know it.
59:17
You know, I, I hate when I interview people and they start
59:21
speaking in cliches. So I'm going to speak out of
59:24
both sides of my mouth here. One of the terms that just
59:27
absolutely goes through me is servant leadership, because
59:31
people really don't truly understand what what that means.
59:35
But for me that it's more than a cliche.
59:38
And it's something that I really take a lot of pride in that, you
59:42
know, creating teams that are bigger than the some of their
59:46
parts of motivating and coaching and, you know, like creating
59:50
that employee engagement and, you know, other, you know,
59:54
people respond to different stimuli.
59:57
And so, you know, being aware and getting to know what
1:00:00
motivates people, what they need and when they need it, it's
1:00:04
important. And I don't think that, you
1:00:06
know, you can do that unless you are hearing more than you're
1:00:10
talking. That's powerful.
1:00:14
David, I just got one more question for you.
1:00:16
But before I ask it, I want to do 2 things.
1:00:18
First of all, I want to invite all the listeners to hit the
1:00:21
follow button on their favorite podcast app.
1:00:23
Continue to get more great interviews like we've had today
1:00:26
with David Bryant from Young Manufacturing.
1:00:29
I also want to let people know the best way to get in touch
1:00:31
with either you directly, the company or to follow your story.
1:00:35
What would that be? He could obviously look at our
1:00:40
website whichisyoungmanufacturing.com.
1:00:43
We also have a micro site for our industry leading right free
1:00:50
frames and armalas.com and obviously you can check out my
1:00:55
LinkedIn page. And we'll include all those
1:00:58
links in the show notes for folks.
1:01:01
So last question for you, David, as you look to the future, what
1:01:04
are the changes coming to your industry that you're most
1:01:07
excited about? You know, I do believe that, you
1:01:11
know, these additional tariffs are going to create additional
1:01:14
opportunities for American manufacturing.
1:01:18
It just has to be done in the right way.
1:01:21
I wish, as we discussed earlier, that the tariffs are more
1:01:26
tailored than than what they currently are.
1:01:29
But the overall trend in the revitalization of American
1:01:33
manufacturing, you're seeing more and more high school and
1:01:37
college kids going after technical degrees in in on the
1:01:42
job training. And I just really believe that
1:01:45
there is going to be a renaissance of American
1:01:47
manufacturing that's going going to last the demographics lineup
1:01:50
for it. And I believe that, you know,
1:01:54
anybody that really truly wants to, you know, roll up their
1:01:56
sleeves and, you know, get to work and really find themselves
1:02:01
a very good career and a whole host of industries here in the
1:02:05
US. And that's really, really
1:02:07
exciting when you when you think about it, you know, I've always
1:02:09
been, you know, concerned about, you know, the, you know, the
1:02:14
slow elimination of Votech in high schools.
1:02:19
And you're seeing that to making us a comeback.
1:02:22
You're seeing kids pursuing trades and these kids that are
1:02:26
doing this, they're going to come out without any kind of
1:02:29
college debt and the future is extremely bright for them.
1:02:33
And with what, again, with the innovation that's happening with
1:02:38
American manufacturing, with the additional technology that's
1:02:42
being brought into manufacturing, we're, I really
1:02:46
do believe we're in the genesis of a of a golden age of American
1:02:51
manufacturing. It's going to be fun to follow
1:02:54
David. I want to be the first one to
1:02:55
thank you for sharing both your. Time.
1:02:57
My pleasure. Story with us today.
1:02:58
Really appreciate my pleasure. Yeah.
1:03:00
Thank you very much. Folks, that's a wrap on another
1:03:02
episode of the Inspired Stories podcast.
1:03:05
Thanks for learning with us today.