Unedited Transcript

Todd Reed: [00:00:00] Welcome to Keeping the Lights On. I'm your host, Todd Reed, and on this podcast I connect with the owners and pros who design, build, and maintain our electrical communications and industrial world to explore the best ways forward. Today I'm joined by Mike Nagger, author of All about Smart Manufacturing.

A children's book meant to raise awareness of the manufacturing industry and help children see how their interests and talents fit into the manufacturing world of today. In this episode, we are talking about the ongoing skills gap and labor shortage in manufacturing and what we can do about it, whether we are an independent contractor or a part of a large manufacturer.

Plus, you'll also discover one very cool restaurant in Freehold, New Jersey that will make you feel right at. Let's get into the show. Across every industry there is something that every worker, uh, team and leader have in common, and they all, they have some favorite restaurant or meal that is their go-to at lunch.

And one of my goals for this show is to build a stronger sense of [00:01:00] community. So we start each episode by, Celebrating and exploring those go to meals with our guests. Uh, so Mike, I, I'd love for you to share what, what is your favorite go to meal for lunch? Is it a home cook meal, fast food, joint food truck, or something different?

Mike Nager: No, uh, thanks Todd. When I like to go out to lunch, I like to go to a little place in Freehold, New Jersey. That's the hometown where I'm living. It's called Sweet Lose Cafe and Sweet Lose has been there for years and years and uh, it's an old school. They don't take credit cards. You have to go there with cash and they also don't advertise.

So when I moved to the area, it was strictly word of mouth. Word of mouth saying you gotta go to Sweet Lose for lunch or breakfast because that is the place to go and it's delicious. So if you come to Freehold, that's where we're gonna go. Todd, Sweet Lose Cafe.

Todd Reed: Awesome. I'll book my flight as soon as we're done here,

So what, what is it about the place that makes it so special for you?

Mike Nager: Well, it's all home cooked. It's fresh. You go there a few different [00:02:00] times and people start to know your name. So when you go in, it's not just a in personal, uh, customer experience, it's, Hey Mike, how's it going today? And um, you know, all business they say is person to person.

And, and that just really typifies it.

Todd Reed: Wow, that's awesome. Do you remember how you first heard about it?

Mike Nager: Yeah, yeah. A guy, uh, a neighbor. AARs told us about it and said, you know, this is what you have to check out. And it's a very non-descript place from the outside. You just kind of pass by it when give it a second thought.

But when you go in there, every table is filled. So that is one, uh, great indication that it's a, a local favorite. And every once in a while people say they'll spot Bruce Springsteen coming in, cuz that. This is his hometown and he likes to go there as well, so.

Todd Reed: Oh wow. Well that would be interesting to see him there too,

Mike Nager: See the boss.

Todd Reed: Oh yeah. Well, so what's great about that is when I travel, I definitely try to get to places like that cuz there's a, you know, there's a [00:03:00] charm about those restaurants that you hear about, mainly through word of mouth, like you said, and it's, it's like being let in on a secret. Uh, and now you're. Once you go there, and it sounds like you definitely are in, especially when they get to know your name.

So I love that about your story here, and I, I think it sets up perfectly to discuss today's topic. So, so you typically focus on two main ideas in your work, and that's the skills gap and the awareness gap as you've engaged with those two major gaps, at some point you were inspired to write a children's book all about smart manufacturing.

Can you share, uh, a bit more about why you started engaging with those gaps and how that led you to specifically write the book for children.

Mike Nager: Yeah. Yeah. So during my day job, I work on the skills gap. So I work with universities, high schools, technical schools, and talk about what are the skill sets needed, especially for manufacturing.

And I develop curriculum and equipment that goes into the lab. So those students have hands on experience [00:04:00] programming, robots, programming, industrial controllers and sensors. And when they get. Of the program, they'll be very valuable to the employer, much less on the job training required after they go through a program like that.

So that is one aspect of, of this workforce development issue that we're experiencing, especially in the United States. The other aspect of it is getting students into those classrooms in the first place, and that's what I call the awareness. It's great working on the skills gap, but it's a little bit of preaching to the choir.

You're already talking to a school that has a manufacturing engineering program or an industrial maintenance program. You're already talking to the students that have self-selected somehow to get their butts into the seats, into that classroom. But almost everywhere I go around the country, not every seat is filled up.

[00:05:00] There's empty seats and it's, frankly, depending on where you are, it's a little bit of a struggle getting people to come in and sign up for that, uh, manufacturing technician program, industrial maintenance program, or whatever it's being. So that's what I call the awareness gap. How do we reach out not only to high school students?

Cause as a high school, people are pretty much on a certain path that they're gonna pursue. They're gonna pursue college, they're gonna pursue a technical school. But how do you get more people earlier? Thinking along this line, and that's where the idea for the children's, uh, book came up. So I, I heard several times that we have to capture the imagination of the eight year old, nine year old, 10 year olds that is now the age limit because after that, they've already kind of self selected themselves towards a certain path.

And as you know, you know, in manufacturing it's very [00:06:00] heavily engaged in. Disciplines, science, technology, engineering, and math. And we want those kids to stay in that up to that point so that they don't get selected out, self-selected out. So that's what led to the children's book. I thought it would be pretty neat to have a rhyming picture book that's parents could read with their kids.

Talking about manufacturing robots, conveyors, supply chain and things like that.

Todd Reed: Well, great. So, what's really at stake here and what timeline are we on to fix it? Do you think that the things will kind of naturally fix themselves if you hadn't written this book and contribute something meaningful to the problem.

Mike Nager: Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, I'm trying to do my part to help this, this workforce. I mean, uh, if we look at the workforce, it continues to age every year. The average age of the workforce is increasing. That is not going to happen, uh, [00:07:00] forever, right? People are starting to retire. Are retiring, the, uh, baby boomers are getting ready to do so in mass and we're gonna be left with a huge, uh, gap of available people.

So the time is now to get started and these eight year olds and nine year olds, you know, when you reach my age, you know that that time between a nine year old and an 18 year old kind of goes like that. And, uh, that's the 18 year olds that we wanna bring into the manufacturing. Industries and there's a lot of competition for the same people.

So, uh, manufacturing wants to hire those 18, 19, 20, 21 year old, uh, kids, uh, just as Trader Joe does, just as Walmart wants to, just as the Amazon warehouse wants to. So, uh, the manufacturing community itself. Do its job in attracting the workers. So, so that was kind of the idea of the book. You know, let, let's just get [00:08:00] people thinking about manufacturing and the education required for it, because it's a hidden industry.

There's a lot of very cool things going on behind these walls. That people don't have privy to. So it's kind of trying to make a window into that wall so people can peer in. Kinda like those old construction fences that had those little holes. Mm-hmm. in it. So you look at the bulldozers, uh, moving around.

I wonder how many kids got into construction because it, when they were seven years old, they stood on the milk crate and looked through that whole at the equipment running. Right? Oh, for sure. So that was kind of the idea. Let's, let's give a vision into the manufacturing.

Todd Reed: I just, my wife and I just saw, uh, a little kid looking into a construction site a couple weekends ago.

It's a big, there's this big hole in the ground and cranes and. Just fascinated. I'm like, man, that that's, that's exactly what's going to capture that kid's imagination. Exactly. For something for the future, for them. Also, you know, you talk about retirements, I'm starting to see, you know, the Gen Xers, my [00:09:00] my age going now too, like, uh mm-hmm.

retiring early and then, you know, pursuing another thing. But that means talent lost at that company. So anyway. What children or what type of children do you see this most resonating?

Mike Nager: I see it resonating with, with almost every kid, to be honest with you. I think, uh, once kids are exposed to it and once they see what's involved, there's a natural gravitation towards it.

I think kids are natural builders. I think you can give any kid a set of blocks or a set of Legos and uh, they'll go to go to town with it. So I had three kids, myself, one boy, and two. They all love to play with Legos. They each built something different out of this huge pile of Legos that we had from various kits that got hopelessly mixed up all together.

But I, I think it's, we wanna give the opportunity and the awareness to all kids, just not those kids that have parents that are working in the industry or [00:10:00] have grandparents or a neighbor or a close friend. Even the people, even the children that don't have that personal connection, to be able to peer into it and say, oh wow, I had no idea there was mobile robots moving around in this, this factory.

And there's someone that has to, uh, program it. So I'm very optimistic that. You know, we can solve this, this labor issue that we're gonna face, especially as there's more talk of reassuring manufacturing back to the United States because of various economic and political reasons. And, uh, and the manufacturing community has to reach out to the broadest amount of potential workers and bring them in.

So, so I just recently had the all about Smart Manufacturing book translated into. Because as you know, you know, the Spanish community in the US is, uh, extremely large set to to be the largest in the country in a few years. [00:11:00] And we have to reach out to, to all of them and say, look, there's gonna be a home for you in manufacturing if you like working, you know, with physical things.

If you like working with widgets and gadgets and robots and PLCs and things of that nature. And at some point you have to introduce that to that eight year old and nine year old. Right.

Todd Reed: You know, you've got me thinking about it. So I, my, my life has been spent a lot in the construction world and, uh, those customers for us, and I go to a lot of their shows and their national shows, they bring their kids to that show because it all, you know, a lot of those electrical contractors are family businesses, right.

Like their, it's a granddad and grandson now granddaughter and all that coming in. And it's the only show I mentioned it to some other people who go to other shows, like there's actually children there and. Support that, like they want them to go and how can that kid but not help but wanna be in that business?

So this is great because who's gonna see the inside of a factory unless your parents work there or something, or you know, a dear friend. So what, what kind of impact have you been seeing since the books come out? Have you, have you been [00:12:00] partnering with any schools or organizations to get the word out?

Mike Nager: Yeah. Yeah. So a, a couple of the, of, of the schools and industry associations contacted me and they kind of bought some books in bulk to dis. So it's only been out for two months, this particular book. Oh, okay. It's been pretty well received. Most of the sales are just like one Z, two Z, you know, on Amazon.

Yeah. Which is, which is fine. I'd like to get the word out more to big organizations and, you know, the industry societies get it into their bookstores, you know, if they have a bookstore. But so far it, it, it's been well received. I have, uh, another book that I published two years ago. This one was geared more for high school students and in a couple places that's being used as a little quasi textbook on smart manufacturing.

Is that the, okay. There's, there's some chapters on technology than there's some kind of leading questions at the end that make for like good discussion points. [00:13:00] Classroom, so.

Todd Reed: Okay, that's great. I was gonna ask, uh, are there other, so in addition to your two books, are there any other resources that you've seen out there that are addressing the awareness gap that you would suggest?

Mike Nager: Yes. You know, one, one very powerful way, you know, to address it, and it's gonna require some work from the manufacturing companies themselves, is to participate in manufacturing day. So it just passed, it's usually in the beginning of October and. I think October 6th, but I, I'd have to fact check myself on that one.

But it's early in October. Yeah. And the idea okay. Is, or, or the goal is for every manufacturer to open up its doors to the public. So you had mentioned the trade show where, where kids were allowed to go in and see construction equipment. The idea is for manufacturers to open up their doors to the community once a year so that parents, uh, teachers and students can come in and see what's going.

Behind it because no one has a clue. They just [00:14:00] pass a building. Uh, the building might not have any windows in it. It's just a big building by the side of the highway. No one has any idea what's going on in there. So, uh, part of it would be, you know, to participate in it. Open, open up your doors and allow people to come in.

And that will start to really get people, uh, thinking about it. And that will naturally help you engage with the school system. Are in charge of these future employees for your organization. That's one thing I would strongly encourage manufacturing, they jump on it. There's a lot of resources. The manufacturing institute, huh?

Todd Reed: Yeah. That's great. So back to the show idea and I think, so this is interesting, we're talking about this. So I don't know, I have not been to some of the manufacturing shows, you know, the conventions and all that. I'm sure you've been to many of 'em. But the conventions I'm talking about, they specifically have a day and like a couple hours where they bring in.

Kids on, they bus 'em in on school bus. It's usually high school kids at this point and [00:15:00] they spend, uh, you know, four or five hours walking around the booth. So, yeah, you know, I'm, at one moment I'm talking to an owner of a construction firm and then the next moment I'm talking to 16 to 18 year olds about what they're thinking.

And they're generally, cuz I mean, construction's the same way. They don't really know about it, right? They don't know about distribution. They don't know about. That'd be interesting for the manufacturing associations to maybe look at opening up their shows when they're in a particular city to start, you know, opening the eyes to the students about the opportunities.

Mike Nager: Yeah, yeah. And I definitely saw that, you know, for a while, you know, in, in Germany, the Hanover Fair, the last day of the Hanover Fair, they would always open it up for family day. Mm. You know, uh, they would go, but in the us you know, for a long time it was, you know, right there you can't, you have to be over 18.

Yep. To come into this, this hall. So, so finally that's starting to change. The IMTS show was just, uh, two months ago in Chicago, and uh, they did exactly what you said, Todd. They, they brought kids in on buses. They had the teachers chaperoning them and then they went [00:16:00] around, they saw these huge robots picking up automobiles and moving it around, you know, and, and I'm sure their eyes just, you know.

Yeah. Popped open. Cause Cause this is in the movie. This is real life . Right. 15 feet in front of them.

Todd Reed: Okay. So you've touched a little bit on this, but I'm kind of curious, maybe we could spend a little bit more time on how we got to this point. And you know, what factors to this point in manufacturing and what factors have led us to seeing these trends of higher paid jobs with few workers able to do them?

Mike Nager: Yeah. Yeah. So the trend is pretty clear. You know the word smart manufacturing, sometimes people call it Industry 4.0. This is the way forward, and what it does is it eliminates all the lower end jobs that are repetitive, dirty or dangerous, and replaces it with automat. So that the people are not being hired to act as a machine, but they're being hired to act as a human controlling the machines.

And this is a fundamental shift [00:17:00] because it's only been relatively recently that the technology allows you to do that in a very consistent way. Yeah, of course. If you're making. A million widgets that are all exactly the same. You can automate that process, but it was always harder to automate stuff that had lower throughputs.

But the technology's increasing so much that it does. So it's pretty clear that, you know, manufacturing is being reassured to the us. There's been huge announcements recently with Intel and other semiconductor plants, relocating product. Back to the US for a variety of reasons. And none of those are gonna be hiring people to act as machines.

They're gonna be highly skilled people using their brains in order to make these, uh, processes run. And that's why the skills gap is so important to close quickly.

Todd Reed: So when someone hears robots, right, they're thinking, oh, great, I'm losing [00:18:00] a job. But what I'm hearing is no, as a matter of fact, it's making, it's creating opportunities.

Yes, it's replacing a human in some instances, but we also need a. People and other, so can you maybe explain just a couple of, just a couple examples of how the human and robot or automation or whatever work together?

Mike Nager: Yeah, yeah, definitely. So you can, you can think of a job in the past that, that was pretty hard.

Let's say it was palletizing bricks or cinder blocks, right? So you have to hire someone to palletize. And place all these cinder blocks onto a pallet so they can be shipped out. So when you went to hire people, you were pretty constrained about who you could hire. It had to be someone that was physically strong, that also didn't mind lifting cinder blocks all day long and putting them on pallets and doing it over and over and over again.

You know, fast forward to now, and now we have robot palletizers that are able to do it. In a way, it's opened up the. Of doing [00:19:00] that palletizing to many people that previously would not be able to do it. So people maybe that aren't, uh, particularly physically strong or have particular physical endurance can program a robot easier than picking up those cinder blocks all day long.

So even on the back of my. Book, you know, I even have a person that has a disability, you know, or someone that can't move, you know too well, but can program a computer just as well, or even more so than someone that could. And now that job is now opened up to a person, you know, with some sort of physical disability, right?

So in a way, it's enabling a much larger percentage of people to have that particular job than taking away any particular one.

Todd Reed: That's a great perspective. So because of this reassuring and other elements that are happening are, are we, what kind of timeline? What's the, are we on a tighter timeline to close that awareness [00:20:00] gap and significantly increase that pool of, you know, qualified labor?

Mike Nager: Yeah, yeah. I definitely think we are, because these, these huge announcements about these plants that are gonna be built in Ohio and other places, the electric mobility, that's a whole nother area that is gonna see. Growth in the very, very near future. So, uh, the time is now. There is no time to waste. There is no more horizon.

Yeah. You know, when you know these, these factories are gonna be placed in the communities and they're gonna hire 4,000 people, where these 4,000 people with the skills that they want gonna come from. Right, right. You know, it would be great if inside that community, People could get those positions and those jobs, and they don't wanna have to be hired from outside in coming in, or at least aor a great portion of them.

So now is the time. There is no time to waste, no time to lose. We gotta start yesterday.

Todd Reed: Okay, so start reading those books. Yeah. Right. Let's, let's explore now let's [00:21:00] kind move into the kind of, you know, let's explore what's next for the in. What's next for you and, and where you see all this heading. So some, some dreaming to do here now, Mike.

So what is your dream for the manufacturing industry? And if these gaps were filled and there was no longer a problem, what do you think the industry would look like?

Mike Nager: Well, I think the industry be much more resilient to impacts that we've seen from, from the, the Covid pandemic where the supply chain got interrupted.

I don't think the general public realized how deep the supply chain affects manufacturing operations. So we have a lot of work to do because we have to rebuild that domestic supply. To be more resilient to these kind of like natural disasters, like the pandemic, right. But then also, you know, for, from the political standpoint, there's a lot of political tensions in the world right now.

There's a lot of places that you know, could become hostile to US [00:22:00] interests, and we have to make sure that we have it. The Department of Defense is very, very aware. Manufacturing weakness that they saw, and that's how they started the manufacturing institutes about 10 years ago to start to rebuild up not only the semiconductor, but when you have the semiconductor, you need the high quality silicon that goes into it.

And that's a whole process in itself. There's, there's 20 different levels that the general public doesn't really become aware of typically, but all that has to be built up. And if we do that correctly, then we're gonna be in a much more. Place from a, a political and, and national security standpoint, but also from an economic standpoint, not going to be as dependent on other parts of the world as we are currently.

So I, I think it's really important for all those reasons.

Todd Reed: What else do you think is needed for us to, to get there? Like who do we need to get it from? Schools, parents, industry leaders, someone else.

Mike Nager: [00:23:00] Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, we were in a great time right now because everyone seems to have woken up to the importance of manufacturing and specifically domestic manufacturing.

It wasn't always that case 10 years ago, people were, were not thinking that the manufacturing. Industries were as important as they actually turned out to be, and concentrated a little bit more on the top of, of the supply chain instead of the manufacturing base. So yeah, I think we're in a good spot to, to move forward, but we gotta press ahead, you know.

Todd Reed: Pretty quick. Okay. You've written this children's book that is aiming to peak the interest of young kids, and you also mentioned the, the book for high schoolers that are still learning about the world. But what else do you think is needed to to nurture that interest so that it grows into a clear, realistic path?

Mike Nager: You know, one great thing that again, falls onto the manufacturing community, the manufacturing community needs workers and wants workers, so [00:24:00] it has to do the work in, in attracting them. But I would say, you know, for someone that is early. In their educational career, let's say high school or right after high school, internships can be set up and paid internships can go a really long way and helps, you know, both the individual that's trying to learn a trade or or to learn a profession to get a, a true idea of what's involved.

So, so that's really critical, but it also gives the manufacturing. Entity that that hired them a great opportunity to, to capture that talent right off the bat. So that's something I don't see enough of. People should be creating internships. They should have a constant, what do you call it, group of, of interns within their company, and then you're gonna be, well, Chosen to be able to offer a job to someone just a year or two down the line, and you're gonna be in the [00:25:00] position to, to capture that because the, the job market's very tight.

Right now. I don't see any sign of it. Getting looser as we move forward. As you said, the, the baby boomers and the Gen X generation is now phasing out, so that's tens of millions of people phasing out right now.

Todd Reed: So if a, if a senior leader in a company were listening to this, what would you want them to know?

What benefit does caring about this problem bringing them, and how can they.

Mike Nager: Yeah. Yeah. So for the senior leadership, the workforce problem is your problem, and no one is going to solve it for you. I've talked to a lot of different companies over, over the years and executives. The perfect candidate that you need tomorrow is not gonna knock on your door tomorrow and present themselves with all the skill sets that you need without your active particip.

In the schooling system with an internship ship program without [00:26:00] being on a first name basis, just like Sweet Lose cafe, right? You should be on the first name basis with all the educational, uh, presidents and principals of your local schools, and not just showing up once a year for an advisory board meeting and saying that, you know, you should do this or do.

But to play an active role, open up your doors for manufacturing day, create as many paid internships, you know, don't force people to come and work for free. That's just . It's, it's a pet peeve of mine. You know, you can pay, you know, everyone can afford to pay interns the amount of money that they need to keep things.

And make it welcome I me cuz you're competing in, that's every other industry and every other employer basically in the world for the same talent. And you've got to make yourself as attractive as possible. It's not a privilege to have someone come through your door and to work for you. It's the opposite.

It's a privilege for, [00:27:00] for you to offer them a job. And, uh, if you take that mindset, I think it switches gears a whole lot of, of how to approach.

Todd Reed: I love that mindset that it's a privilege to have them work for you. That's, that's great. Uh, thank you for sharing that. All right, so some of the people that will be listening to this are not gonna be manufacturing people.

They're gonna be an independent contractor, like an electoral contractor or an integrator panel builder. Mm-hmm. . Sure. So, you know someone that's not necessarily a CEO of a large manufacturer. So what influence can they have, uh, in this discussion and what could they do?

Mike Nager: Yeah, yeah. So, you know, you mentioned some, some trades and professions that are very tightly aligned with, with the skill sets that manufacturing needs.

So, you know, on the contracting construction business, you know, it's, it's very, very similar. So I would offer almost the, the same advice because all of those. All those entities are gonna need people moving forward into the [00:28:00] future. So there's nothing stopping you from engaging your local school if you're a contractor, you know, commercial or residential or industrial.

Let let your needs be known to the school, especially if you have summer programs, you can hire some kids to get started doing it. That will also go a long way, uh, for it. So the message is pretty much the.

Todd Reed: I think that's why I like an association having some role to do it because they can bring together, you know, the industrial plant, the distributor, the supplier of those manufacturers items, the tool.

I mean, cuz there's such a wide window, it's not just even on the plant floor, it's, there's such a wide window to do and help this industry, you know. Get stronger and, uh, to implement.

Mike Nager: Yeah. Yeah. And, and you don't have to be afraid of it. You know, sometimes there's a fear, especially with the younger kids and, and for them to come to work.

You know, I'm not suggesting anything under high school or anything, you know, lower than 16 years of age, let's say, or [00:29:00] 17, where they can be driving. At least, you know, we've, we've had several interns at our company from the local high. Or high schools, I should say. Cause we have, we're in a pretty densely populated area.

We have many high schools. And um, you know, at first it was like, oh, you know, what's the liability? Is my insurance going to Yeah. You know, is, you know, cuz we have robots and, and CNC machines and, and things ourselves, there's things that potentially could be dangerous. And what we found, and I think it's pretty universal, is that the schools, you know, if the, if the students still are in school and this is part of their education.

All of that is picked up by the school's insurance, so there is no liability to the company itself. So if, if there's any fears, um, that are making. You're reluctant to, to go down this path. I would say just voice them openly and see what the response is. Cause we were quite surprised, we got this letter saying, you know, basically we were indemnified [00:30:00] from, uh, the issues and, and it's not an issue.

It's covered under this, uh, the policy. So great. So don't assume.

Todd Reed: Yeah, that's, uh, the things we, that all come up from these when we deal with these issues. So thanks for that. So we like to close Mike with centering around the why behind what we. So I'm, I'm curious, why do you do what you do and what makes you show up day in and day out?

Mike Nager: Yeah, so, you know, why do I do it? Well, you know, it's become apparent to me that there's an opportunity here for more young people to discover a career that will give them a better standard of living a better lifestyle. Fulfilling work in the manufacturing industries. You know, particularly, and, and I'm saying that specifically, but I'm, I'm talking about all the technical fields, anything that needs the STEM mindset.

And what we need to do is we have to encourage it. We have to broaden [00:31:00] the, the message so that people that just don't fall into it by. and people that have family members or friends that are in it are the only ones that would pursue this career. You know, I wanna try to eliminate that. So it's, working in technical education is, is pretty rewarding.

You know, uh, you know, I worked in, in business and OEMs and, and suppliers for a long time, but you know, when you put in a a program, you see your equipment being used, you hear the story. People that were probably on a track to work in the service industry or the the fast food industry and have very limited income potentials.

Going to a one year or an 18 month or a two year course and then coming out and being able to, to earn 40 or 50 or $60,000 in their first year, that's a life changer. The whole trajectory of your life and your [00:32:00] family's life has now just changed, so that's pretty darn rewarding when you hear. There's personal stories and, and I hear them a lot to be honest.

So that, that's what keeps me going.

Todd Reed: Yeah, I can imagine that would, uh, feel pretty good. So, uh, well, Mike, thanks so much for being here. This has been a, a fun conversation and I'm excited to see how your work will continue to impact the next generation.

Mike Nager: Yeah. Thanks for the invitation, Todd. I'm glad to be part of the podcast. Thank you.

Todd Reed: Well, that was my conversation with Mike. Author of All about Smart Manufacturing, a children's book written to inspire young children with the possibilities and opportunities that await them in the world of manufacturing. You can connect with Mike and get a copy of all about smart manufacturing, as well as Mike's other books by clicking on the links in the show notes.

So in our conversation, Mike mentioned the grassroots nature of his efforts and I, I think that it's a perfect way to describe what it's gonna take to inspire the next generation of manufacturing professionals. You know, kids [00:33:00] look to the adults in their lives for inspiration, affirmation, encouragement, and guidance, which means that each one of us has a powerful opportunity to help these kids see what is really out there for them.

So while it's vital for larger manufacturers to help incentivize exposure to manufacturing, When it really comes time for people to actually make a decision, it may be your voice that makes the biggest difference. So if you've enjoyed this episode, you can help us grow this show by leaving a five star rating in your favorite podcast player.

Thanks for listening to this episode of Keeping the Lights on, and we'll see you next time.