Manufacturing M&A news and advice

Tracy Coon joins us on the show today to explain how Blue Ridge, her software company, helps manufacturing companies optimize their processes, understand and utilize their data, and manage multiple locations. Tracy also talks us through one of her favorite real-world examples of how the Blue Ridge systems improved the processes of a particular company and the positive changes that the company saw as a result. If you think your company’s processes need a revamp, you have come to the right place!

Today’s guest is Karen Norheim, who is the President of American Crane, an Equipment Corporation, with three locations in Pennsylvania, totaling over a quarter of a million square feet. She is a second-generation leader in the company and, during her tenure, she has sought to solidify the founder’s legacy, while also putting her own stamp on the company culture. In this episode, you hear from her who American Crane is, and she shares her opinion on the importance of solidifying company culture, why you need to put emphasis on having a happy and empowered workforce, and how that has changed over time.

Today on the WAM podcast, Frances Brunelle welcomes guest Kristin Carlson, President of Peerless Precision, Inc.., situated in Westfield, MA. Our guest today is passionate about informing kids and their parents that just because you go into a trade and start working right out of high school, does not mean that you lose the opportunity to go to college. More often than not, employers like herself want to invest in their employees and companies. Today, we welcome to the show, Kristin Carlson, who is President of Peerless Precision, Inc. in Westfield, Massachusetts. Peerless is a small, precision machine shop specializing in the manufacturing of complex mechanical components, mainly for the aerospace and defense industries. Kristin is the previous president of the Western Massachusetts chapter of the National Tooling and Machining Association. She also currently serves as trustee, a member of the board, and sits on advisory/steering committees for Westfield Technical Academy’s Manufacturing Program, West Springfield High School’s Pathways to Prosperity Program, Agawam High School’s Manufacturing Program, and Forge. Kristin has extensive experience in purchasing, sales, supply chain management, and operations management. She is extremely passionate when it comes to changing the outdated narrative that encompasses manufacturing, bringing more women into manufacturing, and…

Today’s guest is Sue Nordman, President of Obsidian Manufacturing Industries, Inc., situated in Rockford, Illinois. In this episode, we talk to Sue about how she became President at Obsidian where she gets into the different roles her husband and herself perform at the company. Sue highlights some of the strategies she is using to keep her company top of mind online and in the manufacturing community, getting into the benefits of blogging, Twitter chats, and more. We also hear Sue’s thoughts about the two acquisitions she navigated shortly after stepping into her role and discuss some of the challenges of performing such a feat during a pandemic.

Today we welcome to the show, Elizabeth Paquette. Liz is the Co-owner of Rock Valley Tool (RVT), a 50-year-old manufacturing company in Easthampton, Massachusetts. Liz left a special education career to acquire RVT, with her husband, who is the operations manager. Tune in today as we hear straight from Liz all about how she transitioned to manufacturing, how they are working with their community to bridge skill gaps, implementing high school co-op programs, how diversification has helped her company during COVID-19, and much, much more!

Today we welcome, Anna Korolekh Marketing Director at Oro, Inc. In this episode, we explore the incredible opportunities that arise from taking your business online. We open our conversation by unpacking Oro’s product offerings and how they help companies to digitize their business. We dive right into the important role that Client Relationship Management Systems — or CRMs — play when engaging with customers. From discussing how CRMs increase the efficiency of sales teams, we chat about how eCommerce can unlock quick and exponential business scaling. Tune in to hear more about how going digital is becoming a manufacturing standard.