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Episode 6: Taking Advantage of Opportunity w/ Ben Niedermeier
46 Plays1 year ago
Welcome to Episode 6! We have a great episode with Ben discussing his upbringing, how working on a farm has shaped him as a machinist and how he aims to keep the tradition going. This was a great episode getting to learn more about Ben and what makes him tick. People like Ben are the heart of HFW, and we are so lucky to have him.
As always, thank you for listening! If you have any questions or feedback, email Jack at jdwatson@hfwindustries.com
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Transcript
Introduction of Guest: Ben Niedemeyer
00:00:10
Speaker
All right, and welcome back to the HFW industry shop talk podcast. This is episode six. Today I'm here with Ben Niedemeyer. I'm very thankful for Ben for coming out of the podcast for two reasons. The first being, I don't think this is.
00:00:26
Speaker
your first idea of phone, Ben, so I appreciate you doing this. And second of all, maybe more importantly, it's also lunchtime. So I appreciate you taking your lunch to do this with us. Yeah, no problem.
Podcast Goals: Communication & Stories
00:00:38
Speaker
So when we started the podcast, I think there were two major
00:00:43
Speaker
things we were trying to do. The first was communicate just any company information, so more procedural stuff, I guess the boring stuff, but stuff that's helpful for everyone to know. And then the other was to do
00:01:00
Speaker
Well, I guess then we've since developed the technical episodes, which is more targeted at potential customers, but also is open to anyone really. But the other reason that the one that was, I think, most exciting was getting our people on here and talking and getting to learn people's story a little bit more and hopefully just giving people insight into your coworker, a person you've walked by every day for the last 10 or 15 years and you might not have known about.
Ben's Farm Upbringing and Approach
00:01:30
Speaker
I think Ben is a great person to have. Ben came highly recommended by multiple people. So thanks for being on today, Ben. Yeah, thanks for having me. So let's, before we get into HFW, could we start a little bit? Could you tell us a little bit about your upbringing and what you did as a kid and kind of how that's, how that shaped who you are today, especially I would say, growing up as a Niedemeyer?
00:01:55
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I grew up working on a farm next door. I was pretty young when I took that role on. Growing up between that and driving tractors, four-wheelers, snowmobiles, all that kind of stuff. So there's a gear head in me and being around the classic cars that my father was around.
00:02:18
Speaker
that got me into kind of like always doing something outside, always working on something or trying to do whatever I could to go faster with whatever I was doing. Yeah. I feel like that's a common
00:02:33
Speaker
story here from a lot especially the other school guys too they just grew up around you being outside i know you even going to visit some of our customers you're a lot of their sites are kind of in the middle of nowhere and like why is it here and then. Is actually i think it was my dad is saying you know back in the day these companies they attract the farmers in the winter and they come.
00:02:56
Speaker
machine in the winter and then go run their farms in the summer. I think there's something to that. I guess, how did growing up around a farm and how does that shape your, obviously, you bring that experience and you're comfortable around equipment.
Problem-Solving Skills from Farm Life
00:03:13
Speaker
How do you think being on a farm shaped your job now as a machinist?
00:03:20
Speaker
I think it shapes me as far as the problem solving aspect of things. You know, you're out doing something in the middle of a field or something breaks and you got to come up with a way that you got to fix it or limp it back to where you got to be to where you can actually
00:03:38
Speaker
have the tools proper to fix things. It kind of goes with setting up a machine for a job. You got to think, all right, how can I do this? How can I bring a part in to indicate it in with something's in the way? You got to be able to problem solve and work your way around
00:04:01
Speaker
around those challenges.
00:04:19
Speaker
You know, like I think sometimes you have people that are very focused on one set of skills. You know, if you are an accountant, they're very good at accounting. But, you know, maybe you take, you know, landscaping or something and you hire someone to do that. Whereas I think yourself and a lot of the machineists here and the welders and, you know, we have people who you're able to, yeah, you machine, but then you fix your equipment. If someone has an issue with the compressor, you fix that. I think that that kind of
00:04:48
Speaker
Like the jack of all trades, I think that's something that's really special to this type of career. Yeah, it's like a unique set of skill trades, I guess you could call it. Yeah. Well, I mean, I think that's why it's, you know, we have a bunch of green guys now and we'll get into this a little bit later, but it's, I think it's how do you build
00:05:08
Speaker
It's hard to build that from scratch. You know, you've grown up, you've been what here 10 years, but you're, are you 28? I'm 29 now. Okay. So you're 29. You've been working, you've been working in quotes for 10 or 11 years, but you really had it grown up around your whole life.
Niedemeyer Family Legacy at HFW
00:05:26
Speaker
So it's kind of just ingrained in you. It's how do we build that from someone from scratch at 18? Um, which I think is kind of the challenge that we're facing now.
00:05:34
Speaker
I guess along those lines too, I'm interested because you're part of obviously the Niedemeyer family and the Niedemeyer family has a long history at HFW. And I think it's interesting just to look at it from that angle because there are a couple families. I know the Niedemeyers and the Fiderios come to mind especially is having played large roles at HFW. How did that
00:06:00
Speaker
How did coming from a family like yours, how did that influence you? And, you know, when you're graduating high school, how did you decide I'm going to go do what my dad does and what my family has done? Um, I guess what it comes down to was like when I was younger and something broke on a machine or something that I was, or a four wheel or something.
00:06:24
Speaker
I was going to my grandfather's shop and he was showing me how to make new parts for my machine. And it was just the satisfaction of being able to make that part and not having to go out and buy it. And I guess that's, that's just how, um, that's all you know. Yeah. It's, it's all I know. And.
00:06:51
Speaker
It's hard to explain that satisfaction of that and wanting to keep doing what members of my family have done and to keep that tradition going as far as the work life. Yeah. Well, that's super cool.
00:07:08
Speaker
That's the reason I think we want to put a microphone behind some of these conversations to hear that satisfaction you get from making something. I think obviously when you go on social media and you read it, the fancy tech jobs are the ones that are getting all the
00:07:25
Speaker
You know, they get all the praise and a lot of them can be very high paying as well. But I don't know. I mean, they are cool. Don't get me wrong. But the satisfaction of taking a raw piece of material and turning it into something. I don't know. I'm not sure you can get that satisfaction every day. No, no.
00:07:44
Speaker
So you joined HFW. Did you join when you 18? I did my internship here when I was 17 and I started full time a week after I turned 18. Wow. So that's interesting because we have a lot of guys now.
00:08:01
Speaker
who are in that same position. They're 18, 19, 20 years old and starting out pretty green. What was it like back then? And as you've kind of in the, I would say, I mean, you're still early in your career, but you're much more experienced. What advice would you give to either yourself back then or to the guys now that are maybe fresh out of the gate and early in their careers?
Career Advice: Commitment to Training
00:08:31
Speaker
Um, I would say if you could find somebody that will invest their time into training with you, um, all that time, cause that's a lot of money from a company standpoint to train somebody to stick with them and, you know,
00:08:51
Speaker
stick with them and ride it out and you'll eventually you'll move up to wherever you want to be. It'll take you, whether it's the knowledge or the position that you would want to work for, I think.
00:09:06
Speaker
just don't give up on it. You know, it might be something one day that bothers you and you'll, you'll want to say, you know, forget it. I'm done. You just got to push through those things and that gets better. Yeah. I think you're a great example of that too. Cause I know you spent a couple of years as a mechanic and I mean, I dunno, that's not always the
00:09:28
Speaker
the most sexy work ever but it's critical to what we do here obviously and as a result of it, you and maybe a handful of other people, you know the shop like the back of your hand and now that's invaluable and that makes you available to the company as a whole which makes you
00:09:50
Speaker
obviously a very valuable member that I know we're going to do everything we can to keep you because we need you. I think it's kind of a two-way street there too. Right. I guess now is a little bit different because even 10 years ago, 11 years ago when you came into the business,
00:10:06
Speaker
We still had a lot of the legacy old school guys. What lesson did you learn from those very old school machinists and thermal sprayers? What did you take away from them? Good or maybe bad?
Lessons from Veteran Machinists
00:10:24
Speaker
I guess would be don't be afraid to make a mistake because that's going to happen. When it happens, you just put it behind you.
00:10:34
Speaker
and focus on what you're doing. Really pay attention and just, yeah, pay attention to what you're doing and try not to give up on that focus.
00:10:48
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's, we have all these jobs that are, you know, a hundred hours or 110 hours. And it's, I think, and so you can see the value of the job. You can, you see the dollar value and you know how much, you know, we're shipping out parts that are, I mean, the range ranges all over, but several thousand dollars. And just to think that.
00:11:12
Speaker
you know, what these things are going to do is going to, um, you know, the, the way we're marketing it is, is, you know, our work is helping other companies save lives. It's, it's helping other companies, um, put food on the table. It's helping other companies, uh, provide power to all of us. And so each and that detail matters and that detail is crucial. And I think that's something that, um, we try to ingrain in everyone. And I know you're a great example of that.
00:11:40
Speaker
Um, so I guess more personally, so now you're 29. How have you changed from when you were, you know, in your teens and in early twenties to now? And how is that? How has that progression been for you? Hmm. That's a tough one. Um, I like to think that I got more mature. I like to think that, um,
00:12:07
Speaker
Uh, that's that's a tough one for me. Yeah.
00:12:14
Speaker
I couldn't really, I can't really put a, put a point on that one. Yeah. I mean, you still got a lot of time. So yes, I got a lot of time. Yeah. Hopefully. Hopefully. Yeah. Every day as a new challenge, right? Yes. So I actually, I wanted, so one of the questions I had thought about was what was something that most people at HFW
Building a Car with Daughter
00:12:34
Speaker
wouldn't know about you. So I guess I'll let you answer that first. What is something that most people want to know about you at HFW? Um,
00:12:42
Speaker
I have a five-year-old daughter that together, we're building a car together. Really? At five years old. Yes. I had a car that I put a new motor in. She had to have been probably three years old, and she was out in the garage hanging around with me, crawling underneath the car, seeing what I was doing. And just this last year,
00:13:10
Speaker
I pulled this car out of my dad's backyard.
00:13:14
Speaker
I asked her, I go, you want to help me build this card? It can be your car when you grow up and she was all for it. So we've been plucking away at, at building this little car for her. So that's our little project that I can teach her as much as I know at five years old. That's just, that's impressive. I mean, that's, that's all I go. You were just talking about with your childhood too. And I think, I mean, at five years old, she's, I mean, just that, I don't know, I'm super, um,
00:13:43
Speaker
Intrigued by that. I think that's so cool and just I mean the the practical skills you learn from that Even if she doesn't become a mechanic or a machinist or something that uses that having that knowledge and knowledge is it's invaluable Absolutely. Okay, that's super cool. I also want to bring up that you are a volunteer firefighter. Correct?
Volunteering as a Firefighter
00:14:01
Speaker
I am. Yes And so what what does that entail? What is that?
00:14:05
Speaker
Is that a lot of late nights or what does that look like? There's, yeah, there's, there's a lot of late nights. I mean, there's been times where I've come here on two hours of sleep and you know, that's, that's something that another thing you get the satisfaction of helping somebody when, when they're in need, you know, never know what time of day it's going to be, but you always try your best to be there and help out and do what you can. Yeah. That's awesome. So, I mean, you kind of covered this a little bit. What is something that you are proud of? What makes you proud?
00:14:38
Speaker
I'm proud of all the things that I've learned, all the things that I've accomplished as far as becoming a firefighter successfully and learning all these machines to the ability that I know.
00:14:57
Speaker
And just the overall progress of my life that I've made between family and work and being able to balance all that, I'm proud of that. Yeah. I think that's something that is really important to us as a company too, is
00:15:14
Speaker
this idea of family and not, I think it's a little bit cliche when people are like, Oh, we're a family here at work. Cause work is never your family, right? And I think we want to be a team. We want to be really tight to each other and really close. But at the end of the day, your family at home is who you're providing for. And I think that
00:15:32
Speaker
I don't know, I would like to think that one thing we do a pretty good job of is allowing people to build that life with their family, both financially, obviously, with coming to work and getting paid, but also giving people that time. We have the overtime that's available if people want it.
00:15:52
Speaker
I don't think people are usually forced. I don't, we don't really force people to work overtime. No. Um, the four day week is two. I know that's the best. Pretty popular. That's awesome. I'm a little jealous. Okay. But like you also too, you not only your family at home, but you, you do develop relationships with your coworkers that you become friends and you hang out outside of work, not, and, and that's pretty cool too.
00:16:18
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I'm always amazed just talking to people around the company, whether it's in the engineering office or in the shop or talking to the inspection guys. You always learn a different story about someone that you did not know before.
00:16:35
Speaker
And some of it we can't repeat here, but a lot of it we can. And it's just so interesting. You learn about people and, and also I think it's important. We were talking with Eliza about this on when he was on. You have to know a little bit about a person's background. Like this whole idea that you don't bring your life to work is, is crazy because whatever is happening in your life, good or bad. You're bringing that to work, right? Like if you're, if you had a really good weekend, you're going to come into work in a better mood on Monday.
00:17:03
Speaker
versus if your pet died, for example. You have to kind of know that. So that's something that I think we've tried to.
00:17:13
Speaker
tried to differentiate by a little bit by, and, and I think, you know, having families like your family and, um, Fiderios and now the Newman's, well, we got, yeah, we have two Newman families here. It's a fun fact. Um, so I think that's something that helps reinforce that. And I'm glad you brought that up. All right. So we've talked a lot about the past today, but as we look ahead, what, what's something that you look forward to? What's a dream of yours or, um, what inspires you?
00:17:48
Speaker
That one's tough.
Career Aspirations and Skill Development
00:17:52
Speaker
I just like to see myself keep excelling in what I'm doing, and I like to see where it takes me. I don't know where it's going to take me, but I'm going further right. That's a great attitude. I think that's something that
00:18:09
Speaker
I'm decent with, I'm trying to get better at because I tend to like to plan out, okay, here's what we're doing now. Here's what we're doing now. But especially with your future, especially if you get further out than like a month or so, you can't plan that. You just have to be open to it. And I think you've done a great job of that with your journey at HFW and in life.
00:18:31
Speaker
Um, I know we're excited to, to see where, where you go here. I mean, we're, you're crucial part of, of the success of the company. Um, all right. So last hard hitting question. If you're not working, uh, what can, what could people expect to find you doing?
Hobbies and Family Time
00:18:51
Speaker
Hmm. Could either be at the fire hall, uh, hanging out, you know,
00:19:01
Speaker
I bring my daughter there all the time, um, between that or working out in the garage or doing whatever I can outside, maybe taking the dogs for a walk or camping. I'm a big camper. So you said a couple of things there. So dogs plural. Yes. What kind of dogs do you have? I have a little beagle mix and a yellow lab. Okay.
00:19:28
Speaker
They got to show my grandfather. Yeah, he's seen it. All right. All right. Yeah, I mean, that's pretty much the extent of what I do. It's nothing too exciting. That keeps you going every day, something different. Yeah. Like we said, there's especially with what we do and obviously,
00:19:49
Speaker
being a firefighter and running machines, there's always something new. And I think sometimes it's, sometimes it's annoying, right? There's always something breaking, but that's what makes it interesting. And then this, you, you tell the stories of about the, the challenging times, not the, you know, the good times you, whatever, but it's the, the challenging times where everyone's coming together that you tend to remember. Right. Yes. All right. So I think we've, we've covered a lot here and I, again, I really appreciate you doing this, Ben. Um, anything else you'd like to add?
00:20:19
Speaker
I don't think I really have anything else there. All right. Well, I appreciate you doing this. This is again, this is exactly what we're trying to do is just tell people's story. And even in this conversation, I've learned a lot about Ben that I didn't know. And, um, we're just trying to be the best. Employer that we can possibly be. And, um, hopefully one way we can do that is through episodes like this. So until the next one, uh, thanks for listening and we'll see you soon.