Greg McHale sits down to talk with Mike Payne, Owner of Hill Manufacturing about his unconventional path to becoming a shop owner. Mike was actually helping the previous owner look for a buyer when he decided to make an offer himself. After 25 years in software and private equity, Mike realized that he really liked the can-do attitude and willingness to help each other that manufacturers share. This episode explores how Mike leveraged his background in private equity and data analysis to double his shop’s size in 5 years – every five years.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Bloodstains, sweat and tears( 1:40)
- Falling in love with manufacturing (3:26)
- Taking the plunge and buying a shop (11:19
- Why there’s a big red barn on the shop floor – and we’re talking BIG (19:29)
- Yay, it’s Monday. Building a great culture (21:55)
- Setting the standards and guardrails for everyone to operate within (26:04)
- Technology & tools to grow the business (35:30)
- Not interested in being the cheapest option (41:40)
- Doubling the business in 5 years – every 5 years (46:22)
- This podcast pissed me off (48:59)
- Being there for each other (54:12)
“We’ve really, really tried to build a company around the next generation of manufacturing leaders, and building them, growing them, training them, and also just providing them a workplace that they want to come to every day.”
“Whether that’s an ERP system, or a machine monitoring solution, or an end mill, to me, those are all the same thing. Those are tools and resources that my team needs to do what we promised to our customers, which is, to deliver quality parts, on time, every time. That’s it.”
—Mike Payne, Owner, Hill Manufacturings
Links Referenced:
- Datanomix: https://datanomix.io/
- Hill Manufacturing: http://www.hill-manufacturing.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hillmfg/
- mfgmavericks.com: https://mfgmavericks.com