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Episode 28: Babies, Houses and Spray Booths!
19 Plays3 days ago
Welcome to episode 28! Today we talk about big capital projects underway in our spray shop, some great continuous improvement efforts by several members of our team as well as some big life changes happening outside of work.
As always, thank you for listening!
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Transcript
Introduction and Episode Confusion
00:00:12
HFW Industries
All right. And with that, we are back. Hopefully that doesn't sound weird when we publish that. sounded weird we were listening to it just now, but we'll see how it goes.
00:00:24
HFW Industries
Tucker, we are back. Yes, we are. on. Let me look up what episode number this is. While Jack's looking that up, I'm Tucker Holiday of HFW Industries, and that is Jack.
00:00:36
HFW Industries
I'm pointing to him. You can't see him, but you better believe that is Jack Watson, also of HFW Industries. Yes, sir. Episode 28. Wow. And it could be 29 because I think there was one I i misnumbered, but who knows? 28.5. We're almost to 30. Yeah. sure Sure.
00:00:54
HFW Industries
excited to be back.
Busy Schedules and Project Teasers
00:00:55
HFW Industries
We're trying to do this a little bit more regularly, of course. i think we skipped October, but that's all right. It's been busy, so that's a good thing. It's a good problem to have. um And we've both been very busy, which we're going to get into. Yep.
00:01:07
HFW Industries
Life is very busy. Yep. Yeah, both at work and away from work. And then those things seem to just converge sometimes, as we'll discuss further.
00:01:18
HFW Industries
um So i mean let's dive right into it, you know the way we've kind of formatted these recently, just i'm talking about what's new, some updates, and then getting into um a couple of the core things we wanted to talk about.
Spray Shop Upgrades and Dust Control
00:01:30
HFW Industries
and So, Tucker, you're kind of heading up you you're kind of heading up one of the larger projects at the moment, one of the more visible projects in the shop, kind of the chief engineer on this, if you will.
00:01:45
HFW Industries
And that is our booth upgrade in the spray shop, which it's exciting because, you know, you put in all the the months of work and now we're starting to see some of the tangible stuff come together. So, yeah, we've got the, we still have the two big dust collectors in our parking lot.
00:02:01
HFW Industries
um at least the bases for them, and along with the blowers. um All of this is going to be encompassing one lathe setup that will have a metal sprayer on it that will work to capture a bunch of the metal spray byproduct that gets into the air that makes most of the shop.
00:02:21
HFW Industries
you know There's a thin film of dust constantly in the shop just because of... the process but this booth is the in essence a means to control that and bring sound down in the whole shop so we've kind of gotten to the point where we know what we know we've got the booth it's on order we're waiting just for a finalized layout of where the blowers and dust collectors are going outside once we have that Everything moves into place, and then we'll be able to start getting ah contractors in to start doing the ducting from the booth, or where it preliminarily will be, over to the dust collectors, along with hooking up a few other booths that we already have here at HFW up to a secondary dust collector. So we're going to have two whole dust collectors.
00:03:09
HFW Industries
One will run three booths. The other one's going to run the big new booth and potentially three other smaller booths.
HVOF Guns and Noise Management
00:03:16
HFW Industries
Yeah, so the there are kind of two primary components of this project. The first is the the big ah enclosed booth.
00:03:23
HFW Industries
So the jet coat, which is one of our HVOF guns, ah one of our systems, that's the really loud system. And just to kind of get into the the science of it, I mean, it's literally a jet engine. yeah So that's if you think of how loud a jet engine is.
00:03:38
HFW Industries
um It's and it's literally the same. i mean, it's it's rocket technology. What it like 125 decibels? I think we just went through our safety training. So I'm pretty sure OSHA defines that as like 125 decibels is a jet engine. And I would concur.
00:03:51
HFW Industries
It's accurate. Yeah. And it's very it is. and I mean, it's it's it's kind of cool because a an engineer from SpaceX. was telling me about they literally use hvuf guns as um rocket boost testers when they're on when they're running simulations for rockets so it's very similar technology i the hvuf flame is it's it moves faster than the speed of sound i think it's mach 2 point something yeah
00:04:23
HFW Industries
um I always forget the exact number, but I've known it and forgotten several times at the by by this point. um But anyway, yeah, just to kind of give you some context on like what that noise is. It's a very loud system because of what it's doing.
00:04:38
HFW Industries
So the good news is that will be fully enclosed. We have our other our other HVO systems on the other side of the shop, ah the spray shot that is, are fully enclosed. Yeah, they have dedicated acoustic booths that make it so much more manageable when all the doors are shut.
00:04:55
HFW Industries
You technically don't need hearing protection, but it's still recommended because it's still loud. But it is you can actually talk next to it, yeah whereas I'm doing sign language in yeah front of any other sprayer that we've got in the shop.
00:05:08
HFW Industries
Yeah, you and when you're on the other side, if so for anyone that's been in our shop and for any of the guys listening, obviously, you know, you know, you got the main spray shop kind of in the main aisle and then you walk over to the other side, and which kind of separated by a wall.
00:05:23
HFW Industries
That's where our enclosed booths are. And when you're in the main aisle, you
Modernization and Environmental Improvements
00:05:29
HFW Industries
can't really hear. i mean, you would hear it a little bit, the HVF guns in the enclosed booth, but not anything.
00:05:35
HFW Industries
I mean, it's a fraction of what yeah the jet code is. So it's going to be a huge improvement. um So that's the first component, just the actual enclosed booth, um which will also give us more capabilities with um you know positioning robots and things like that, which I know, Tucker, you've been involved with.
00:05:51
HFW Industries
And then the second component, which is connected, but also it relates to the whole spray shop is going moving to a dry dust collection system. Right. So that's we were talking on all the ducting and everything.
00:06:02
HFW Industries
um So just a more efficient way to collect powder. It's also. um It's green too. It's more more easily, more readily recyclable ah than the sludge we get, which is yeah pretty similar to like grinding we're currently using water wash booths. So basically imagine a waterfall in a booth that is constantly moving behind the spray area that we're spraying. All it does is any of the particles that go straight towards the water, it collects and then goes down the waterfall into a catch basin, which needs to be emptied of the sludge and byproduct. so
00:06:40
HFW Industries
So that yeah in that was the industry standard for many years. And now moving to the dry dust will present a lot of benefits. You know, there have been more considerations from, a you know, you you were talking about the ducting, but also safety and things like that. So that's all being accounted for.
00:06:56
HFW Industries
And all these improvements, um it's a modernization project, but itll also certainly improve um the environment. you know As I always talk about in Promote, we're not trying to make this look like it's working at Facebook or Apple or something. like Industrial work is tough work. It's often dirty.
00:07:16
HFW Industries
um It's a lot safer than it used to be back in the olden days. but um You know, it's still not always the most comfortable thing, but we're always consistently making investments to make it as comfortable as it can and and easy as it can as we can to make this a good place to work. So I think this will be a big movement in that direction. The final objective will be to have epoxy floors and really clean surfaces. getting everything in a booth. I mean, small little steps towards the top of that mountain, but we're make progress. I can't wait to see this booth in. Tucker's been on the lobbying effort for the the epoxy floors, which will be, and that's that's another big undertaking. But as you said, it's just a bunch of small steps. You don't have to do the whole thing at once. You can kind of move in that direction, which we've been, just from my perspective, super grateful. And I want to, I guess this this transitions us into the next section really well.
Work Environment Enhancements
00:08:09
HFW Industries
um I just want to talk about the energy that people like Tucker, his brother John and several others have brought um to the shop. And I just think this I think we've got a really good environment right now um where we've got a really good balance. We've got these young guys who are super green.
00:08:26
HFW Industries
They don't know what's right and wrong. other they're starting to, you know because a couple of them have, you know, two three years of experience now. So they're starting to develop that. But when you come in, you just, you know, you have all these ideas. um So then we have that, that you know, juxtaposed next to some of these experienced guys that have been on the job for going on 30, 40 years.
00:08:45
HFW Industries
um and then you your brother ben others are kind of in the middle so there's just this you know really constructive um i think pretty fun environment that is developing and of just continuous improvement you know constantly saying why don't we do things a little bit different or why don't we tweak this and it seems like it's that effort and that momentum is growing yeah absolutely every day it's um What can we fix? How can I make it better? i think one of the most stark improvements was Mark had a air leak over by his lathe, which we've just, you know, it is what it is, air leaks.
00:09:19
HFW Industries
But i' I've been specifically focusing on fixing a whole bunch of air leaks around the shop because I'm trying to get it quiet as possible. It's money. We're just literally seeing away. And thanks for so i had fixed it.
00:09:35
HFW Industries
And then Mark literally a week or two later, he's like, I can't believe how quiet it is over here ever since you fixed that. I couldn't believe It was just, I've gotten so used to it. I didn't even think about it anymore. But once the noise is gone, you don't realize how, what had been happening. I mean, boiling a frog, you know, raise the water one degree at a time.
00:09:56
HFW Industries
And it's just, you get so normalized to it till somebody points it out. And now I'm hoping that, you know, more people are going to go, Hey, uh, can you take a look at this? maybe we can fix this.
00:10:07
HFW Industries
I'm so glad you brought that up. And i I was literally thinking about a similar story in the office this week or this morning. You know, i walk in and I've been on the road for the last week or so.
00:10:18
HFW Industries
And one recent improvement we made up here was that Lori, who is our executive assistant, um you know, she's constantly juggling 15 different things on her plate at once because everyone has a different need.
00:10:32
HFW Industries
at the same exact time. um And so she's an angel up in the office for anyone that's had the pleasure of dealing with Lori. um she's i mean, I've never met someone who smiles and is in as good a mood as frequently as Lori.
00:10:47
HFW Industries
and She had mentioned, you know, we were switched we've been updating and upgrading computer systems and computers. And she had mentioned, oh, I used to have two monitors at my old job and I loved it.
00:10:59
HFW Industries
And we happened to have an extra monitor then back. And i was like, well, do you want this extra monitor? And ah you it made her day, her week. And it was just the same exact thing as you said. I mean, this is a $100 monitor. She had just gotten used to working on one computer. But like I said, she's probably got, like like many people, but especially in her position, has like 20, 30 tabs open at once juggling a bunch of different projects.
00:11:20
HFW Industries
I mean, that one small change that she never thought to ask for. And you know finally she said, oh, can I, like when we were going through this, and it made a huge change in how she works.
00:11:33
HFW Industries
And like, again, just these little things, that's it makes such a huge difference. Yeah, we're going to have to talk about that soon because I'm going to need ah second monitor and I can't. added to my current computer. So we'll discuss that further. So that's awesome.
00:11:46
HFW Industries
Well, it's funny. Another improvement. It's funny. So I have friends in IT. have a bunch of engineering friends and I'm visiting our customers. Last week I visited a customer. I've never seen bigger monitors and they were Dell, so they weren't TVs. Were they the curved monitors? Yeah, and they were absolutely enormous. Like you you had to, so well, all these guys, they don't have desk chairs.
00:12:04
HFW Industries
They literally are stand up because like you can't sit down. It's so big. i would I was like, this takes it to a whole new level. And then there's like the debate, one big monitor versus two so two smaller ones that are still large.
00:12:18
HFW Industries
um My friend was telling me, my friend that works in IT t was telling me all the pros and cons. Anyway, I'm get us back on topic here. Yeah, just a little the those little things that you know you don't think about make a huge difference. Especially, i think it's very easy to forget.
00:12:36
HFW Industries
We all get used to things. i I actually just bought a new desk chair because my old desk chair, it was getting, i don't know how old it was, but it's pretty old. But I had just gotten used to the cylinder.
00:12:48
HFW Industries
Every couple minutes, i'll just I would just sink down, which is kind of funny if you ever see it. But I was like, why? um I've been dealing with this two or three years. You know, one small change. These little things add up and improve productivity, happiness, comfort, like you talked about with Mark.
00:13:04
HFW Industries
And there are so many examples like that. And that's why I've been, again, um wrap this up, I've been so um honored to have guys like you here that are helping drive that. Because I think you can notice just those little improvements every single day that you talk about.
00:13:18
HFW Industries
um So we kind of actually, I think we skipped ahead to the end here, but ah I wanted to talk about um some more upgrades and updates in the shop.
Year-End Preparations and Employee Reminders
00:13:26
HFW Industries
We're getting to year end. It's going to come faster than we all, well, I think we know, but it's just going it's still going to be faster than we anticipate.
00:13:34
HFW Industries
um So, you know, some of the year end stuff, we've got our annual safety week. ah Well, I guess it's kind of two weeks, this week and next week. Yeah. you know kicking off. So it's a great time just to reaffirm, you know, if there are things that, again, you've just been dealing with, ah maybe it's safety related, maybe it's, you know, you're like, ah, it's fine.
00:13:52
HFW Industries
But yeah like, you know, to avoid that one area, but maybe someone else doesn't, you know, bring it up to Tucker, Peter, myself. Fill out a maintenance request. It may not be yeah a, ah hey, this needs fixed.
00:14:03
HFW Industries
I use maintenance requests as a, hey, take a look at this. Mm-hmm. And it gives me something a list that I can go back to and go fix at a certain point in the future.
00:14:14
HFW Industries
so And so we should also clarify the safety concerns as far as maintenance will get prioritized too. Absolutely. so And I think we've got a good track record of when there's a safety concern or issue. yeah talk It's all hands on deck. That's the first thing that gets addressed. If somebody's going to get hurt, that's exactly what gets taken care of first.
00:14:34
HFW Industries
Yeah, so that's one thing to keep um keep in mind. I know the health insurance is coming up as far as making selections for next year if you need to make any changes.
00:14:47
HFW Industries
um Tom just told me this morning that the chain the plans are pretty much essentially the same. So if you're already on an existing one, but review if your family situation has changed or something like that.
00:14:59
HFW Industries
um Just review I know we have our advisors coming in that if anyone needs to schedule a meeting with, and there is a sign up sheet in the shop and in the office.
00:15:10
HFW Industries
ah So just um spend a few minutes reviewing that as we come to the end of the year. um Oh, one last thing I want to bring up too, as we are a little over well two weeks away from Thanksgiving and the Thanksgiving holiday.
00:15:24
HFW Industries
And as we get on ah as the Christmas and end of year celebrations come near, ah just keep in mind vacation requests. This is something that we are just asking.
00:15:36
HFW Industries
um And putting your vacation request in as early as possible helps us plan, um especially, you know, the The sooner you put it in, the more seniority you have, um you will get preference too.
00:15:48
HFW Industries
um So if you can put it in as soon as possible, you know because we don't want to get to a situation where we have no grinders on one day, for for example. um So normally I know, were again, yeah it's very rare that people get told no, but if you're putting in last minute everyone else in the department is off, um puts us in a bind. So that's why we're asking, put your vacation requests in as early as you possibly can.
00:16:12
HFW Industries
all right, last thing I want to talk about today, ah Tucker, is and because we're both going through some stuff as far as balancing work with life.
Balancing Work and Personal Life
00:16:21
HFW Industries
um You more so than me. But I thought this would be an interesting discussion given and weve got a lot of younger guys here.
00:16:28
HFW Industries
um you know It's a point in life where there's a lot. You're going through a lot of transitions. and even Even some of the older guys who are thinking about the next phase as well far as you know maybe they're empty nesters now. Maybe they are looking at retirement.
00:16:39
HFW Industries
um You're kind of on the other end of the spectrum. yeah Why don't we start with you? So yeah we've talked about the big project you're working on at work. um And you're about to undertake another big project, I guess. Yeah, my wife is currently pregnant.
00:16:55
HFW Industries
And she is due the end of next week. So any day now, I'm going to have two kids now instead of just the one I currently have. Doubling. Yes, so I currently have a three-year-old who is amazing and I am very much looking forward to welcoming his brother into the world with my wife. So I will be off for quite a while taking New York's parental leave so that I can go raise my kid and support my wife as we recover from pregnancy.
00:17:28
HFW Industries
So that is going to be fun, exciting, stressful and all sorts of other emotions all at the same time. I can imagine. So, I mean, talk a little bit about your preparation as a dad, obviously, but then also on the job, too. I mean, just like i said, you've been you've been in the midst of this big project. And now, of course, timing's perfect.
00:17:51
HFW Industries
Yeah. So I've been making sure anything that, like if I was not here Monday, like all of a sudden, oh, we're giving birth tomorrow. I'm trying to make sure that everything I have is tied up.
00:18:04
HFW Industries
All the communication of where I'm at has already been transferred over to somebody else. um All of my projects are wrapped up. I'm not starting any other big jobs that I can't stop. ah can't stop And just making sure that everybody knows, hey, here's where I'm at. Here's what's going on.
00:18:22
HFW Industries
If I'm not here, please take this. Do you feel better prepared as compared to being ah ah new dad that you're not a new dad anymore?
00:18:32
HFW Industries
I feel like I'm more prepared because I've kind of gone through it once, but it's now just a matter of I have two of them to deal with. But we learned a lot from the first one, and we can reuse a lot of what we already had.
00:18:44
HFW Industries
So it just makes it easier. And then we had kept, like, little notes of, hey, if we were to do this again, what would we do different? And we're trying to implement all that. Like, our hospital bag's already packed.
00:18:58
HFW Industries
Oh, nice. Which... Best advice I've ever received and will now give to any future dad. When you pack the hospital bag, the husband should be the one packing the bag. The wife will pick out all the stuff she wants to bring to the hospital.
00:19:12
HFW Industries
The husband has to pack it because he is going to be the one to know where to find everything in that bag. I can find anything that my wife needs when she's on when she's given birth. It's just like,
00:19:25
HFW Industries
I need a battery charger, I need my headphones or whatever. It's like, okay, I know right where it is, hand it over. and it's just being there, prepared, ready to go. it's It's ready to, it's really just preparation.
00:19:39
HFW Industries
already have a second kid seat in my car or truck. um In fact, I know which vehicle we're going to be taking. So i already have the the baby carrier in my truck.
00:19:50
HFW Industries
right next to my other there seat for my toddler who's running around but i now have two seats ready to go so that when we go to the hospital soon as we're ready we can just go to the hospital literally pop the bags in and go let me tell you this is the you and your wife are both engineers and it came through in that that's true But it's it's great. I'm taking notes as youre as we're talking here. Yeah, you have some ah big life changes, too.
00:20:23
HFW Industries
Yeah, I mean, not as life-altering, I would say, probably as having a kid. But, i yeah, I bought a house. I don't They're about expensive. Yeah, yeah. I was going to say, it's about as expensive. It feels like having a kid in some ways is as far as responsibility. Like, even, you know, I've been traveling for work a lot, which is – there's a lot of anxiety because then, you know, I'm just leaving the house and the projects are kind of half-completed, which gives me ah anxiety. But, yeah, it's been – I've definitely got a new perspective.
00:20:51
HFW Industries
um I am learning. I feel like I'm drinking from a fire hose, but I'm learning so much every single day. And yeah, I feel like it'll actually prepare me for having a kid ah because all all this responsibility and things that I have no idea what I'm doing, but I'm kind of just figuring it out as we go.
00:21:09
HFW Industries
And I'm very thankful to, as I'm sure you have been as well, I just have a great support system. Everyone's been super helpful and I've been offered so many TVs and lamps and all sorts of different things I didn't even think about I would need.
00:21:24
HFW Industries
um So, yeah, it's been a lot. I can't and I've been thankful, too. And that this is why I would say like it's it's worth working for a good employer. Obviously, little bit different working directly for my dad. But I think we do this with all of our employees. Just I mean, it takes so much time. have signed probably four million documents in the last two months.
00:21:46
HFW Industries
And so like, and of course you have to do some of this during business hours because the, you know, the, the banks and the realtors and whoever are only open during business hours. So and just having that flexibility and them allowing me to take some time to take care of that has been very much appreciated.
00:22:01
HFW Industries
And, uh, yeah, juggling that with a busy work schedule is, is a lot, but, uh, I like for me, I've just, and my girlfriend's been helpful with this too. Just realizing it's just, and I'm so so i'm sure it's the same thing as a kid, just one day at a time.
00:22:15
HFW Industries
Yup. It's one step, one thing. Take a deep breath, focus on what you got. Don't worry about the other 30 things that's going on. Yeah, i'm getting but I feel like i'm I can feel myself getting better at that. like The first couple days were just disaster. I think we closed down almost a month ago, and we're definitely making progress. I'm actually going to move in hopefully next week.
00:22:40
HFW Industries
Excellent. I've been doing some renovations. so And congratulations, because that's amazing. Well, congratulations for you, too. mean, you're not there quite yet, I guess. but if If I can help move in, I will, but
Team Collaboration and Invitations
00:22:52
HFW Industries
we'll see.
00:22:52
HFW Industries
Well, you'll you'll be busy. I'll have you ah kid on my back helping as I'm moving around. You'll have a labor force. That's why kids are good. I've been told with free labor.
00:23:04
HFW Industries
um But we don't endorse that here, of course. all It's a learning opportunity. but Yeah. So we've gone through a lot today. Tucker, closing thoughts, shout-outs. Let's do let's do some shout-outs. Shout-outs.
00:23:18
HFW Industries
Why don't you go first? Well, the easy answer would be to shout out you, John, Ben. Dang it, you stole mine. Okay, yeah youth well, you can i mean you can... Yeah, I'm definitely shouting out my brother because he's brought some real creative solutions to what we've been doing around here. And in fact, I've implemented one or two.
00:23:39
HFW Industries
I mean, simple as auto-closing doors for the quality area. so yeah, I noticed that. I almost hit my head when I came back. Yeah, it was awesome because it's like...
00:23:50
HFW Industries
Every first week I had started, it was like the quality guys reminded like, hey, you know just make sure you close the door when you leave so we don't. And my brother's like, why don't we have auto-closing doors? and I'm like, that's so smart. Why didn't I think of that? I ordered some and immediately installed them and it so much better. Yeah, because those doors were infamous for being left open. And yeah inspectors.
00:24:13
HFW Industries
Hey, we want to do it right. So, I mean, they're justified in yelling at all of us. Well, and I just think the collaboration that three of you guys have had, ah you know, testing things out and trying different things in the milling department.
00:24:26
HFW Industries
I know I shouldn't say it hasn't only been the three you guys. I know Pat's been involved, too, and Anthony and even Chris Gopal as well. um But you guys, the three of you, have really spearheaded it. It's cool to see that energy. Like, you guys all bring something different to the table, and I really appreciate that, and I look forward to expanding that throughout the whole shop.
00:24:42
HFW Industries
Yeah, and we want more, too, if you're interested in the Buffalo area or not in the Buffalo area. Come on in. Take a tour. We want you when you work with us. Yeah, you to win work with Tucker every day. i mean I just the energy that we've got, we've got some.
00:24:55
HFW Industries
I'll meet Iron Man. Yeah, that's the big sell. And then we show you show you what we've got going on. All right, Tucker, this has been awesome. Thanks, as always, for getting us on calendar. Anytime, Jack.
00:25:07
HFW Industries
and Hopefully we'll do this soon. Yeah, you want to do this next one might be remote. Yeah, I know. We'll try again in a month or two when hopefully I don't have anything screaming in the background or multiple things screaming in the background.
Closing Remarks and Future Plans
00:25:20
HFW Industries
and We're going to try this again in like a month, month and a half. It all sounds so nice right now. We'll see how you're doing in a month or two. Ah! Won't have slept in like two months. and yeah Well, until next time, Jack.
00:25:32
HFW Industries
Yeah, thank you, Tucker. Thanks, guys.