May 20, 2025 • 29 mins
Welcome to HeadHunters NW Podcast! I'm Shaylene Keiner, an executive recruiter with a passion for the global defense, small arms and shooting sectors. Join me as I sit down with top executives and industry leaders to dive deep into the world of global manufacturing, service companies, non-profits and more. Together, we explore the latest trends, innovations, and the inspiring stories behind the people who drive this dynamic industry forward. Whether you're a seasoned pro or just curious about what makes this world tick, you're in for engaging conversations that go beyond the surface. Let's uncover the fascinating stories and insights that shape the global defense, small arms and shooting sectors. Subscribe now and become a part of our community!
In this episode of HeadHunters NW Podcast, host Shaylene sits down with Nathan Dudney, Founder and CEO of DFM Arms and President of ZeroTech Optics. Nathan delves into his journey from disinterest in manufacturing during college to becoming a passionate advocate for the industry. They discuss the intricacies of the manufacturing process, particularly in the firearms and outdoor industry, and the importance of building strong relationships and problem-solving creatively. Nathan also shares insights into his companies, the challenges and joys of manufacturing, and the exciting potential for careers in this field. Tune in to hear about the innovative solutions and groundbreaking work being done at DFM Arms and Zero Tech Optics.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Okay.
Hey, welcome everybody.
I'm so happy to have you back.
Whether you're watching on YouTube orlistening on Spotify, iHeartRadio, apple
Podcasts, whatever, this is Shaylene.
I'm with HeadHunters NW, and today wehave a really special guest Nathan Dudney.
Nathan is the founder and CEO of DFM Arms.
(00:24):
And he's also the presidentof Zero Tech Optics.
And I've been wanting to do somethinglike this with Nathan for a long time.
If you've never met Nathan Dudneyin person, you need to 'cause
he is singly one of the mostinteresting people in our industry.
And I was thinking about itbefore we got on here, Nathan.
(00:46):
And I wanted to ask you, whendid you fall in love with.
Manufacturing because to me, Ithink of you and I'm like, you,
you fell in love with manufacturingsomewhere along the way.
You know, it's, it's really interesting.
After college I got involved in theammunition industry and particularly
manufacturing projectiles.
(01:08):
And my wife likes laugh.
And now because I'm such a manufacturingnerd and I always tell people, it
doesn't matter if you manufacture.
Guns and ammo or toiletseats, it's fascinating to me.
But in college how it's made was apretty big show on television, right?
And I absolutely hated it because it wasdry and boring and had no interest in it.
(01:29):
I just wanted to play with the product,not actually see how it was made.
And now that couldn't befurther from the truth.
You know, I'm interested in how youmake something and I've, I've been very
privileged and blessed to be able to seeall sorts of factories all over the world.
Injection molding.
I.
Stamping, casting, machining, gunpowder,plants, primer factories, and it, you
(01:52):
know, you really are able to, if youlook at it through the right prism,
regardless if you're in manufacturing,maybe you're in sales and marketing,
maybe you're in hr, it doesn't matter.
There's something that you cantake away from every factory visit.
And I also think you could takeaway something bad and say,
Hey, I don't want to do that.
I don't want to implement it.
(02:12):
So it was really in theammunition manufacturing.
Particularly projectiles where I startedto actually learn, wow, this is made from
a roll of steel or a roll of copper orlead hunks, or whatever it might be, and
we can actually create something from,essentially nothing that we get to use on
a, on a regular basis within our industry.
(02:35):
The people in the industry reallymade me fall in love with it too,
knowing that there are experts inall sorts of different fields, but
it's kind of my mentality is a onerising tide lifts all boats for the
firearms defense and outdoor industry.
And I think that the majority of peoplewe get to interact with feel the same way.
And so usually people welcome youwith, with open arms to tour my plant.
(02:57):
Look at what we do.
Here's something new that we'veimplemented and are usually really
collaborative when you say, Hey, youknow, that's a, that's a great idea.
Do you mind if I implementthat at my facility?
And it's just it's a blessingto be involved with, with people
that share the same mindset.
And I get to see some reallycool stuff along the way.
But it was really after college andstarted working in the industry.
(03:17):
I, I fell in love with manufacturing.
Well, you have come a very long way.
I'd have to think back.
I didn't look in my notes in my database.
My little cheat sheet for my memory asto when we met, but I'm gonna speculate.
It was probably 10 years ago at least.
And you were doing business development.
I. And you had oversold, I mean,everything, you couldn't, there was not
(03:41):
even anything else for you to sell becausemanufacturing was trying to keep up.
And what I loved about my firstmeetings with you were how creative
you are with problem solving.
I. Because you never look at itand say there's only one way.
And I have seen this, you know, over theyears as we have talked and discussed
(04:02):
different problems and differentsolutions you've come up with and.
You're not a one dimensional man.
You have many investments and many thingsyou're doing all at once, and I think
it's incredible the relationships youhave been able to build consistently
and long-term relationships.
These are not flash in the pan andthose have lent to your success, but
(04:26):
I do think you're very much a driver.
I've never seen you say, oh, thisis someone else's problem, or I'll
wait until somebody else does that.
You're already way ahead of them.
You're very scalable.
Doesn't matter what it is.
Oh, I, I appreciatethose, those kind words.
A lot of it was just a bigblessing and being in the
right place at the right time.
(04:47):
Some people would call it luck.
You know, industries has ebb and flowand I always say in manufacturing in
particular, there's always problems.
It's either a goodproblem or a bad problem.
A good problem being, hey, we'veoutsold production and we've gotta
figure out either how to ramp it up or.
Maximize our profits or decreaseour operating costs so that we
(05:07):
can really add to the bottomline when things are sold out.
And there's definitely way more badproblems than manufacturing, right?
It's, I've got people thatare out sick this week.
I've got you know, problems withmachines breaking down, problems with
raw material, sourcing and delivery.
There's always a problemwhether it's good or bad.
And I think that's a really interesting.
(05:29):
Way to look at it for people that arenew to the manufacturing world because
nothing is ever going right and it's,it's either a good right or it's a
bad right, but nothing's ever right.
And that's just part of it.
There's always a fire thatyou've gotta put out and some
are more difficult than others.
But ultimately, if you like thatchallenge of solving problems, coming
up with creative ways to find solutions.
(05:52):
You know, manufacturing is somethingthat I mean, it really makes the world
go round and yeah, I think a lot ofpeople overlook the importance and the
career path of manufacturing all theway down to the operator level, right?
Yes.
I, I'm a fan of all these, notjust in the firearms industry,
but American manufacturing plants.
Automotive is probablya key example of that.
(06:15):
These are incredible jobs andcareers with long-term companies
that have really good benefits.
And it's just an interestingcareer path that I think.
Particularly today, youngpeople overlook Yes.
Not just the importance, but theopportunity that's in front of them from a
career path perspective on manufacturing.
(06:35):
And I've been seeing a little bit ofa shift in that, particularly with
young people being interested inlike plumbing or doing electric work.
These trade jobs.
I don't think we've quite shiftedthere for manufacturing, but.
I love saying about toolmakers.
Toolmakers are probably, if they'renot today, in a very short amount of
(06:56):
time, they'll be the most valuablepeople within the workforce because
they're typically, they're older guys.
They're in retirement age, they'rehanging on for a few extra years because
they're, there's a need for them.
Yeah.
And younger people just aren't asinterested in, in doing it now.
And so I think for anybody.
That gets to hear this, that's interestedin getting into manufacturing and
(07:17):
thinks, oh, I want to do sales ormarketing for a manufacturing company.
Don't discount the more technical skillswithin that company, particular to whether
it's engineering, tool making, processingtechs, those are great opportunities and
great jobs and they're, while they'recompetitive, there's not as many people
(07:37):
vying for that, that career path.
And so you, good point.
Could really be a shining star there.
Yes, I think you're right on.
I think you should be Mike Rowe's.
You know, assistant here, your messageis like consistent with Mike Rowe and
we just need more people to talk aboutit because you're so right, Nathan,
these manufacturing jobs aren't, they'renot, these are careers, not jobs.
(08:01):
There's a huge opportunity in any ofthose roles and operations is another one.
There's, and supply chain and logistics,all of these things are unmatched to
other roles and you hit the groundrunning and you can be trained on the job.
And these are very realcareers, not just jobs.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
(08:21):
That's a great way to put it.
Let's talk about your companies.
I wanna hear all about DFM arms becausehonestly, even though we're good friends,
we haven't even had one minute to talkabout your company and what you're doing.
And I wanna hear about zero tech opticstoo, because I'm seeing zero tech
optics all over social media and I justmissed Adam at you know, soft Week.
(08:44):
And I know you guys are really.
You're, they're, you're movingand grooving and people need
to know about those things.
So tell us about your companiesand what you're doing.
Yeah, so DFM Arms we're a designto manufacturing solution for OEM
customers in the firearms industry.
And we do injection molding, metalstamping overmolding and insert molding,
(09:06):
sonic welding, and then a lot of assembly.
The majority of what we do, over 60% ofour business is on the magazine side.
And then on all of our projects, closeto 90% of our projects we're involved
in the engineering, the design anddevelopment for the customer themselves.
And as a manufacturing guy,and part of the reason I fell
(09:26):
in love with manufacturing,everybody thinks, you know, I.
Ford Motor Company will use asan example, and they think, oh,
they manufacture everything and itcouldn't be farther from the truth.
Yeah.
They, they use tier one and tiertwo sub manufacturers to make all
their parts and they do the assembly.
And, you know, we we're so blessedto be in an industry that's, that's
been booming over the past 10 years.
(09:48):
And the firearms companiesare the exact same way.
A lot of the smaller companies, theyare making all their parts, but the
big companies that have scaled, they'refocused on primarily building, things
that revolve around machining center.
So barrels, slides frames, but allof the stamped, most of, I should
say, the stamped and injectionmolded parts, MIM components as
(10:10):
well, they're outsourcing that.
And yes, the OEM manufacturingworld is kind of the unsung hero.
It's kind of the, the secretthat nobody knows about.
What I like to tell people is wecould walk into a gun shop and we
could just pull guns off the shelfand I could say, okay, you know,
we make the magazine for this.
We make the grip for this,we make the trigger bar here.
(10:30):
And it's a cool thing that a lotof consumers never think about, but
it's a, it's a very large industry.
We got started with DFM three years ago.
We saw an opportunity in the market,felt that we could really differentiate
ourselves on a couple key factors.
One primarily being that we do injectionmolding and stamping in the same facility.
(10:51):
So a lot of the metal parts that you mighthave overmolded into plastic, most of
those molders are outsourcing the stampingand then they're relying on another
manufacturer to make those parts to print.
There could be an issue with themand finger pointing can happen.
Yep.
We control all of that in our facility.
And so it gives us a really goodopportunity from a continuity
(11:13):
perspective and a quality perspective.
The second thing that really makesus unique is our engineering prowess
and the fact that we do most of thedesign and development on the parts.
And so it could be as simple if it'san accessory manufacturer, somebody
coming and saying, Hey, we've gotall these different magazines that.
Our company sells now, but we reallywanna make this new magazine and we want
(11:35):
you guys to do the engineering for it.
And so we do that.
It could be a customer saying,we designed a new pistol.
We don't wanna do the magazinebecause mags are difficult and
there's a lot of voodoo in there.
Here's the CAD models and theprototypes of the pistols.
You guys designed that.
Or it could be somewhere in between.
Then really the third differentiatorfor us is unlike a lot of OEM
(11:56):
manufacturers, whether it's machining,mim, injection molding, or stamping.
We only work in the firearmsdefense and outdoor industry.
So while that's challenging at times,particularly when the industry is kind
of in a, in a valley and not at a peakit, it is very dedicated and focused from
our perspective that that's all we do.
(12:17):
We understand the intent of the part.
We know how to interact with all theother mating components, and we can solve
a lot of problems for customers that.
Otherwise might not be able tosolve that through a traditional
OEM molder or, or stamper.
But so the company's beenaround for three, coming up
on three years now next month.
And we've been very blessed to out a lotof new customers, a lot of new projects,
(12:41):
and we kind of categorize 'em in tierone and tier two that has nothing to
do with the importance of the customer.
Tier one is a part we make foran OEM firearms manufacturer.
That gets installed into the firearm orshipped with the firearm, and then tier
two is really an accessory manufacturer.
That would be, you know, somethingyou're buying off a peg at a Bass
Pro, Cabelas or a gun shop ratherthan with the firearm itself.
(13:06):
And probably one of the new areasthat we've really been growing
in is the sporting dog world.
I. That's been really exciting for usbecause there's not as much ebb and
flow to the, to that side of the outdoorindustry as the firearm side of things.
And so it's helped really createa, a better baseline for us for
when we do have those peaks andvalleys in the gun business.
(13:28):
And it's been exciting for us.
And look, we really love supportingour customers and we're users
of all these products too.
Well, and I'd like to add too, eventhough your company is three years old.
You and I met all these years ago,and I wish I would've looked, but
you are the one who taught me aboutmagazines and how hard they are to
(13:49):
make and how complicated they can be.
And when we met you and several otherof your con of your folks in your
network that are, I believe, stillinvolved with your business now.
You all worked at a manufacturer thathad similar things and you guys were
(14:09):
very experienced in this line of work.
So this is something that experiencethat you personally bring already and.
Your sporting dog line.
This is your life every day.
I mean, you are a bird dog hunter.
Your dog is there with you and, andI know he's your service dog and I
don't even wanna go down that road'cause I'll get off on how you are.
(14:32):
The one who introduced me onhow I could get my service dog.
To be able to travel on aplane and everything else.
So you're just an amazing talent.
But I, I don't want people to thinkyou're brand new to this because
you have years and years and yearsof experience in this industry.
So what they're really getting isa, is a tremendous long line of
(14:52):
tr true tried and tested products.
This isn't something you guys areexperimenting and know, never done before.
No, you're exactly right.
And our entire team has been workingin the industry for over 10 years.
And really I can't take thecredit from an engineering design
and development standpoint.
I, I know enough to be dangerousand help facilitate that, but
(15:13):
ultimately I'm very blessed to.
Have worked with the same co-foundersthat I have now at DFM for over 10 years.
They've got a tremendous amountof experience and I would put our
team up against anybody from adesign and development perspective.
One of our, I. Our lead firearmsengineer in particular I, I always
(15:34):
tell everybody he's top five magazineengineers in the entire world and
it, it's, it shrinks a lot, right?
When you look at who, who can designa particular part and manufacture
that part, if it's not superspecialized, there's a pretty big
funnel of people that can make that.
But when you get down tosomething as specialized as a
magazine, it's difficult to do.
It's much easier to designa gun around a magazine.
(15:57):
Than a magazine around a gun.
And it's something that we do everyday and and troubleshoot that.
And our, our engineeringteam is, is incredible.
And they do a very good job of it.
There's a lot of what not to do.
There's some of what you need todo, but there's a lot of what not
to do and it easily gets overlooked.
Well, you are right to say that theOEMs are the unsung heroes because
(16:20):
I don't know of a single firearmmanufacturer that makes every single
part, they're just that it isn't possible.
And I, you know, if I'mwrong, somebody call me out.
I'm sure somebody will sendme an email, and that's great.
I'm okay to be wrong, but I, I thinkyou're right about the unsung hero.
Now, before we go too far, Iwanna hear about zero tech optics.
(16:42):
Yes, so Zero Tech is, was founded byChris Watkins, a guy out of Australia
that owns and operates a third generationtwo step distributor there, a major
distributor, and his grandfather was aUS citizen that fought in World War ii.
And moved to Australia after thewar got involved in importing
and distributing sporting optics.
(17:04):
Saw an opportunity.
So a number of years ago the, the, thepath was create our own optics line, and
my partner asked me to be involved and I.Really stand up the US facility for that.
And so it was again, a, a huge blessing.
And I don't wanna say happenstance,it was the, the right things happen
at the right time, but a big blessingto get involved with the right people.
(17:28):
And you know what reallyinterested me about it?
Not only that, it was a great opportunity.
But it was all about the people.
And the story that I tell when peopleask me of how I got involved is I tell
'em when this idea was brought to mebecause I like the people so much.
I told 'em, I said, look, I use opticsas a hunter and as you know, somebody
(17:49):
involved in the firearms industry.
I don't know a lot aboutoptics, but I said, I want to
do it because it's you guys.
If you want to open a coffee shop,I don't know anything about coffee
either, but I'll do it right.
I. More often than not, we overlookthe, the importance of getting into
business with the right people andreally finding a scenario where one
(18:09):
plus one can equal more than two.
And this absolutely was it.
So we brought Zero Tech USA, we launchedinternationally first and Australia, New
Zealand, South Africa, Europe a littlebit in South America, and then brought
Xero Tech to the US about four years ago.
Really decided we were gonna be strategicwith a crawl, walk, run scenario.
(18:32):
Didn't wanna bring on too manydealers right out of the gate,
didn't want to add distribution.
And it has just really grown for us,particularly in the past year and a half.
You know, we came into the market inabout the worst timing in the past
10 years to launch a new brand and.
It has just really flourished for us.
We've been very blessed topartner with the right people.
(18:54):
From a sales perspective, our, ourdistributors and our team is really
thinking about things differentlythan a lot of other companies.
We're embracing a lot of technologyfrom a marketing perspective.
Mm-hmm.
You know, we've got a full staff.
We do all of our design anddevelopment on the products in-house.
We work with OEM manufacturers globallyto actually make the product for us.
(19:16):
And really kind of think outsideof the box compared to a lot of
our, a lot of our competitors.
And it, it differentiates us.
And a lot of the traction,everything that you're seeing is a
byproduct of kind of that mentality.
What I like to tell people withZero Tech is we're a new brand.
We're not a new company.
And what I mean by that iswe've got different businesses
(19:38):
within the firearms industry.
We're not, it's not a garage operationthat we just came up with this idea.
Yeah.
And we're gonna start from scratch.
We've been able to duplicate all thesuccess that we've had from our other
businesses, those same models, thosesame methodologies, and apply that
to Xero Tech to really know how toservice the distributor, the dealer, and
(19:59):
ultimately the consumer, and make surethat they're happy and they feel that
they're getting a good value proposition.
So we've got a full lineof products from magnified.
Rifle scopes to prisms andred dots and binoculars.
And really for us it comesdown to value proposition.
Good customer service and uniquefeatures that add a lot of
utility to the product itself.
(20:20):
And so it's been growing likewildfire and it's been really
exciting to, to be part of that.
And most importantly, to be able to doit with people that you trust and that
kind of iron sharpens iron and we canmove forward in a, create a new path that
we might not have created on our own.
Yeah, because you guysare all over the place.
Even though you have a teamthere where you are locally, you
(20:43):
have a lot of reach globally.
You're not just in one,your, your contacts reach all
over, so you're not limited.
I mean, you're, you know, it's notlike you're saying, Hey, we're, we're
this company here at this point in theUS and then we're gonna branch out.
Your particular world is very large.
Yeah.
We're very blessed to, we also have aheadquarters with Zero Tech in Australia.
(21:06):
And again, that's where the company wasoriginally founded and because of that,
we, we do have a lot of reach and, andreally good partners in, in different
countries that do distribution for us and.
It's really just that, that thatrapport that we've built with those
partners around the world createthose long-term relationships.
You and I have known each otherfor over 10 years now, and I think,
(21:26):
you know, relationships are moreimportant than anything else.
Business comes and goes, and that'swhat I always tell everybody.
You know, what's here today?
You hope it's here tomorrow, butit, it absolutely could not be.
But what doesn't change is, is people.
That's all we really haveat the end of the day.
And if you treat people rightand build good relationships, and
you're there when people need.
You, you're, you're gonna be successful.
(21:48):
And so I think that's reallywhat we've been able to, to do
with Zero Tech and, and with DFM.
Now, where can peoplepurchase zero tech optics?
Where can they see that?
We're gonna post the link for both your,both your company websites in the social
media posts, and then on our webpage whenthe podcast is released, it'll be there.
(22:08):
But for people who are listening rightnow and maybe, you know, on the road, what
are your websites and how can people buyzero tech optics and how can they reach.
DFM Arms for business thatyou're good partners with?
Yes.
On, on Zero Tech.
I mean, we're available on moste-commerce platforms that sell
(22:29):
stuff in the firearms industry.
You can go direct to ourwebsite, zero tech optics.com.
Most of your local dealersare gonna have 'em.
Now, there's still some certainstates, particularly in your area.
That we don't have as good arepresentation at the dealer level
just because, I mean, you're blessedto kind of live in the middle
of nowhere, which is amazing.
We kind of are.
(22:50):
Yeah, I mean that's, that's so great.
But, so there are some placesthat definitely don't have it yet.
But that's the best place isjust to go to our website.
We've got a dealer locator on there.
You can look and you can alwaysreach out to us directly or through
our e-commerce partners on DFM.
It's dfm arms.com.
Our website is vague on purpose.
Typically, we wait for people to askus for more information, and then we're
(23:11):
sending them a, a brochure that goesinto a lot of detail about what we do.
There's a pretty good overview there, butwe really want to connect with people with
that business and so we kind of leave itup to them to reach out to us to ask for
more information so that we can make aconnection and actually talk to somebody.
Find out what their pain points are,what they really need from a, a solve
(23:32):
perspective and, and can connect withthem more than just, Hey, here's a quote
for a stamped or injection molded part.
We want to, we want to actuallybe an extension of yeah,
their team and what they need.
But you can reach out to us directly onboth of those and you, you'll be able to
get ahold of an actual person and talk tosomebody, which is nice in today's world.
So.
(23:53):
It is, and that is true of your wholeteam, all the people that I've met
over the years and that worked withyou, and I know it's true of you.
It really is about thepeople and the high touch.
And so, you know, don't be gettingon a website and go, oh, this
doesn't give me enough information.
Well then dial the phone number orsend them an email and they'll call you
because you wanna work with real people.
(24:15):
That are there solving real problems.
I mean, if it was easy, everybodywould do it, and that's not the case.
You're getting a team with over 10 yearsexperience solving your problem for you.
It, it doesn't make anysense to hire your own team.
Let's just go hire this engineering team.
You're not gonna get thatyou're, you're just not.
It really takes a special, specialopportunity to be able to find
(24:37):
a partner like you guys offerwith the projects you can do.
Well, and you, you live that everyday with your, your clients asking,
I mean, it's always a unicorn, right?
It's we need, oh yeah.
We need the best engineer in theworld for the, the right price
that can do everything as fast aspossible and has the experience.
(24:58):
And it's really difficult to, to find,you know, while there's some great
engineers out there, they might nothave the experience on that particular
weapons platform, that particularportion of that, that firearm.
It's really difficult and so we'reseeing a huge trend in that where
while the major manufacturers preferto have their in-house engineering team
(25:20):
do everything there's just not enoughbandwidth or enough time in the day.
And, and you know that from, fromtrying to fill those positions.
Yeah.
And so there are companies out there.
That, that can solve these problemsfor you as a good, you know, outsource
partner to, to take care of it.
And the other unique thing is too,because we do the manufacturing, we've,
(25:40):
we look at it immediately from howare we gonna make this perspective?
Not just how are we gonna design it towork in CAD and to work on the prototype.
We wanna look at it, what's themost cost effective way to make it?
And we might have to alter or tweak thedesign to do that so that it's repeatable.
So that it's, you know, the, the qualityof the part is there every single
time, and then it's on cost as well.
(26:02):
Yeah, it doesn't you know, it doesmake sense to have your own engineering
team at some point, but even yourown engineering team shouldn't be
expected to solve every single problem.
Like you said, these mags, Imean, I learned it from you.
Who would've ever dreamedthey were that complicated?
I certainly didn't know thatuntil I learned so much from you.
And so you should go whereyou can get the help.
(26:25):
The first time, the right way, anda good partner you can count on.
Well, I really appreciate this, Nathan.
I. I'm thrilled and I, I mean, reallyhonestly, I could sit and talk to you
for days and I would rather this go on alonger podcast, but I've promised myself
that I, my attention span isn't thatlong, so I don't wanna punish anyone else.
(26:47):
But you are really singly one ofthe most interesting people, and I
always, always am happy to see youwhen we're at a trade show and see
your smile and you are never bored.
And I think this is why youoriginally fell in love with.
Manufacturing because you're sointelligent that you would be bored
very quickly, I think otherwise.
(27:09):
Well, I appreciate you saying that.
Yeah.
It's just, it's you know, there'salways something to learn and, and
we can always continue to to look atthings in new, new lights and look
through a new prism and figure out anew angle and solve those problems.
Right.
I mean, if everything, it would be,it would be beautiful to have a day
that everything is absolutely perfect.
But how many days like that areyou gonna have in a row until your,
(27:30):
until your sin maybe I You would be
bored.
You would be bored.
You would quit and find something else.
I don't even see it in your future.
It's good.
You're doing what you're doing.
Well, I really wanna thank you somuch Nathan, and I would encourage
everyone to take a look at DFM Arms.
And also zero tech optics becausethese are really great products and
really great services that you oranyone you might know, could use.
(27:53):
And I hope you enjoyed this podcastbecause Nathan is a very special
friend and I hope you enjoyedlearning about manufacturing.
I, i just, God bless America.
I'm so proud of you that youhave a manufacturing facility,
so keep up the good work.
Well, thank you very much for havingme today and as a as a fellow firearms
industry and, you know, worker, I'd liketo say thanks for doing this podcast.
(28:17):
Like this is exciting, that you'reactually exposing people to the
industry and I, you're on the forefrontof this and so please continue all
of this and really spread the wordand one rising tide lifts all boats.
Right?
That's so thank you.
That's right.
Very much.
Thanks for doing this.
Well good
that Thank you.
And yes, that is the point of the podcastis these are real careers and I think
you did a great job of pointing that out.
(28:38):
And if you are in Middle Tennessee oraround that area and need a manufacturing
job, you really ought to check out DFMarms because I would go to work for Nathan
in a second if I lived around that area.
Well, thank you for that.
Alright, that'll be a wrap for thisepisode of the Head Hunters NW Podcast.
(28:58):
Thanks for listening.
We'll see you next time.
Okay.
Hey, welcome everybody.
I'm so happy to have you back.
Whether you're watching on YouTube orlistening on Spotify, iHeartRadio, apple
Podcasts, whatever, this is Shaylene.
I'm with HeadHunters NW, and today wehave a really special guest Nathan Dudney.
Nathan is the founder and CEO of DFM Arms.
(00:24):
And he's also the presidentof Zero Tech Optics.
And I've been wanting to do somethinglike this with Nathan for a long time.
If you've never met Nathan Dudneyin person, you need to 'cause
he is singly one of the mostinteresting people in our industry.
And I was thinking about itbefore we got on here, Nathan.
(00:46):
And I wanted to ask you, whendid you fall in love with.
Manufacturing because to me, Ithink of you and I'm like, you,
you fell in love with manufacturingsomewhere along the way.
You know, it's, it's really interesting.
After college I got involved in theammunition industry and particularly
manufacturing projectiles.
(01:08):
And my wife likes laugh.
And now because I'm such a manufacturingnerd and I always tell people, it
doesn't matter if you manufacture.
Guns and ammo or toiletseats, it's fascinating to me.
But in college how it's made was apretty big show on television, right?
And I absolutely hated it because it wasdry and boring and had no interest in it.
(01:29):
I just wanted to play with the product,not actually see how it was made.
And now that couldn't befurther from the truth.
You know, I'm interested in how youmake something and I've, I've been very
privileged and blessed to be able to seeall sorts of factories all over the world.
Injection molding.
I.
Stamping, casting, machining, gunpowder,plants, primer factories, and it, you
(01:52):
know, you really are able to, if youlook at it through the right prism,
regardless if you're in manufacturing,maybe you're in sales and marketing,
maybe you're in hr, it doesn't matter.
There's something that you cantake away from every factory visit.
And I also think you could takeaway something bad and say,
Hey, I don't want to do that.
I don't want to implement it.
(02:12):
So it was really in theammunition manufacturing.
Particularly projectiles where I startedto actually learn, wow, this is made from
a roll of steel or a roll of copper orlead hunks, or whatever it might be, and
we can actually create something from,essentially nothing that we get to use on
a, on a regular basis within our industry.
(02:35):
The people in the industry reallymade me fall in love with it too,
knowing that there are experts inall sorts of different fields, but
it's kind of my mentality is a onerising tide lifts all boats for the
firearms defense and outdoor industry.
And I think that the majority of peoplewe get to interact with feel the same way.
And so usually people welcome youwith, with open arms to tour my plant.
(02:57):
Look at what we do.
Here's something new that we'veimplemented and are usually really
collaborative when you say, Hey, youknow, that's a, that's a great idea.
Do you mind if I implementthat at my facility?
And it's just it's a blessingto be involved with, with people
that share the same mindset.
And I get to see some reallycool stuff along the way.
But it was really after college andstarted working in the industry.
(03:17):
I, I fell in love with manufacturing.
Well, you have come a very long way.
I'd have to think back.
I didn't look in my notes in my database.
My little cheat sheet for my memory asto when we met, but I'm gonna speculate.
It was probably 10 years ago at least.
And you were doing business development.
I. And you had oversold, I mean,everything, you couldn't, there was not
(03:41):
even anything else for you to sell becausemanufacturing was trying to keep up.
And what I loved about my firstmeetings with you were how creative
you are with problem solving.
I. Because you never look at itand say there's only one way.
And I have seen this, you know, over theyears as we have talked and discussed
(04:02):
different problems and differentsolutions you've come up with and.
You're not a one dimensional man.
You have many investments and many thingsyou're doing all at once, and I think
it's incredible the relationships youhave been able to build consistently
and long-term relationships.
These are not flash in the pan andthose have lent to your success, but
(04:26):
I do think you're very much a driver.
I've never seen you say, oh, thisis someone else's problem, or I'll
wait until somebody else does that.
You're already way ahead of them.
You're very scalable.
Doesn't matter what it is.
Oh, I, I appreciatethose, those kind words.
A lot of it was just a bigblessing and being in the
right place at the right time.
(04:47):
Some people would call it luck.
You know, industries has ebb and flowand I always say in manufacturing in
particular, there's always problems.
It's either a goodproblem or a bad problem.
A good problem being, hey, we'veoutsold production and we've gotta
figure out either how to ramp it up or.
Maximize our profits or decreaseour operating costs so that we
(05:07):
can really add to the bottomline when things are sold out.
And there's definitely way more badproblems than manufacturing, right?
It's, I've got people thatare out sick this week.
I've got you know, problems withmachines breaking down, problems with
raw material, sourcing and delivery.
There's always a problemwhether it's good or bad.
And I think that's a really interesting.
(05:29):
Way to look at it for people that arenew to the manufacturing world because
nothing is ever going right and it's,it's either a good right or it's a
bad right, but nothing's ever right.
And that's just part of it.
There's always a fire thatyou've gotta put out and some
are more difficult than others.
But ultimately, if you like thatchallenge of solving problems, coming
up with creative ways to find solutions.
(05:52):
You know, manufacturing is somethingthat I mean, it really makes the world
go round and yeah, I think a lot ofpeople overlook the importance and the
career path of manufacturing all theway down to the operator level, right?
Yes.
I, I'm a fan of all these, notjust in the firearms industry,
but American manufacturing plants.
Automotive is probablya key example of that.
(06:15):
These are incredible jobs andcareers with long-term companies
that have really good benefits.
And it's just an interestingcareer path that I think.
Particularly today, youngpeople overlook Yes.
Not just the importance, but theopportunity that's in front of them from a
career path perspective on manufacturing.
(06:35):
And I've been seeing a little bit ofa shift in that, particularly with
young people being interested inlike plumbing or doing electric work.
These trade jobs.
I don't think we've quite shiftedthere for manufacturing, but.
I love saying about toolmakers.
Toolmakers are probably, if they'renot today, in a very short amount of
(06:56):
time, they'll be the most valuablepeople within the workforce because
they're typically, they're older guys.
They're in retirement age, they'rehanging on for a few extra years because
they're, there's a need for them.
Yeah.
And younger people just aren't asinterested in, in doing it now.
And so I think for anybody.
That gets to hear this, that's interestedin getting into manufacturing and
(07:17):
thinks, oh, I want to do sales ormarketing for a manufacturing company.
Don't discount the more technical skillswithin that company, particular to whether
it's engineering, tool making, processingtechs, those are great opportunities and
great jobs and they're, while they'recompetitive, there's not as many people
(07:37):
vying for that, that career path.
And so you, good point.
Could really be a shining star there.
Yes, I think you're right on.
I think you should be Mike Rowe's.
You know, assistant here, your messageis like consistent with Mike Rowe and
we just need more people to talk aboutit because you're so right, Nathan,
these manufacturing jobs aren't, they'renot, these are careers, not jobs.
(08:01):
There's a huge opportunity in any ofthose roles and operations is another one.
There's, and supply chain and logistics,all of these things are unmatched to
other roles and you hit the groundrunning and you can be trained on the job.
And these are very realcareers, not just jobs.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
(08:21):
That's a great way to put it.
Let's talk about your companies.
I wanna hear all about DFM arms becausehonestly, even though we're good friends,
we haven't even had one minute to talkabout your company and what you're doing.
And I wanna hear about zero tech opticstoo, because I'm seeing zero tech
optics all over social media and I justmissed Adam at you know, soft Week.
(08:44):
And I know you guys are really.
You're, they're, you're movingand grooving and people need
to know about those things.
So tell us about your companiesand what you're doing.
Yeah, so DFM Arms we're a designto manufacturing solution for OEM
customers in the firearms industry.
And we do injection molding, metalstamping overmolding and insert molding,
(09:06):
sonic welding, and then a lot of assembly.
The majority of what we do, over 60% ofour business is on the magazine side.
And then on all of our projects, closeto 90% of our projects we're involved
in the engineering, the design anddevelopment for the customer themselves.
And as a manufacturing guy,and part of the reason I fell
(09:26):
in love with manufacturing,everybody thinks, you know, I.
Ford Motor Company will use asan example, and they think, oh,
they manufacture everything and itcouldn't be farther from the truth.
Yeah.
They, they use tier one and tiertwo sub manufacturers to make all
their parts and they do the assembly.
And, you know, we we're so blessedto be in an industry that's, that's
been booming over the past 10 years.
(09:48):
And the firearms companiesare the exact same way.
A lot of the smaller companies, theyare making all their parts, but the
big companies that have scaled, they'refocused on primarily building, things
that revolve around machining center.
So barrels, slides frames, but allof the stamped, most of, I should
say, the stamped and injectionmolded parts, MIM components as
(10:10):
well, they're outsourcing that.
And yes, the OEM manufacturingworld is kind of the unsung hero.
It's kind of the, the secretthat nobody knows about.
What I like to tell people is wecould walk into a gun shop and we
could just pull guns off the shelfand I could say, okay, you know,
we make the magazine for this.
We make the grip for this,we make the trigger bar here.
(10:30):
And it's a cool thing that a lotof consumers never think about, but
it's a, it's a very large industry.
We got started with DFM three years ago.
We saw an opportunity in the market,felt that we could really differentiate
ourselves on a couple key factors.
One primarily being that we do injectionmolding and stamping in the same facility.
(10:51):
So a lot of the metal parts that you mighthave overmolded into plastic, most of
those molders are outsourcing the stampingand then they're relying on another
manufacturer to make those parts to print.
There could be an issue with themand finger pointing can happen.
Yep.
We control all of that in our facility.
And so it gives us a really goodopportunity from a continuity
(11:13):
perspective and a quality perspective.
The second thing that really makesus unique is our engineering prowess
and the fact that we do most of thedesign and development on the parts.
And so it could be as simple if it'san accessory manufacturer, somebody
coming and saying, Hey, we've gotall these different magazines that.
Our company sells now, but we reallywanna make this new magazine and we want
(11:35):
you guys to do the engineering for it.
And so we do that.
It could be a customer saying,we designed a new pistol.
We don't wanna do the magazinebecause mags are difficult and
there's a lot of voodoo in there.
Here's the CAD models and theprototypes of the pistols.
You guys designed that.
Or it could be somewhere in between.
Then really the third differentiatorfor us is unlike a lot of OEM
(11:56):
manufacturers, whether it's machining,mim, injection molding, or stamping.
We only work in the firearmsdefense and outdoor industry.
So while that's challenging at times,particularly when the industry is kind
of in a, in a valley and not at a peakit, it is very dedicated and focused from
our perspective that that's all we do.
(12:17):
We understand the intent of the part.
We know how to interact with all theother mating components, and we can solve
a lot of problems for customers that.
Otherwise might not be able tosolve that through a traditional
OEM molder or, or stamper.
But so the company's beenaround for three, coming up
on three years now next month.
And we've been very blessed to out a lotof new customers, a lot of new projects,
(12:41):
and we kind of categorize 'em in tierone and tier two that has nothing to
do with the importance of the customer.
Tier one is a part we make foran OEM firearms manufacturer.
That gets installed into the firearm orshipped with the firearm, and then tier
two is really an accessory manufacturer.
That would be, you know, somethingyou're buying off a peg at a Bass
Pro, Cabelas or a gun shop ratherthan with the firearm itself.
(13:06):
And probably one of the new areasthat we've really been growing
in is the sporting dog world.
I. That's been really exciting for usbecause there's not as much ebb and
flow to the, to that side of the outdoorindustry as the firearm side of things.
And so it's helped really createa, a better baseline for us for
when we do have those peaks andvalleys in the gun business.
(13:28):
And it's been exciting for us.
And look, we really love supportingour customers and we're users
of all these products too.
Well, and I'd like to add too, eventhough your company is three years old.
You and I met all these years ago,and I wish I would've looked, but
you are the one who taught me aboutmagazines and how hard they are to
(13:49):
make and how complicated they can be.
And when we met you and several otherof your con of your folks in your
network that are, I believe, stillinvolved with your business now.
You all worked at a manufacturer thathad similar things and you guys were
(14:09):
very experienced in this line of work.
So this is something that experiencethat you personally bring already and.
Your sporting dog line.
This is your life every day.
I mean, you are a bird dog hunter.
Your dog is there with you and, andI know he's your service dog and I
don't even wanna go down that road'cause I'll get off on how you are.
(14:32):
The one who introduced me onhow I could get my service dog.
To be able to travel on aplane and everything else.
So you're just an amazing talent.
But I, I don't want people to thinkyou're brand new to this because
you have years and years and yearsof experience in this industry.
So what they're really getting isa, is a tremendous long line of
(14:52):
tr true tried and tested products.
This isn't something you guys areexperimenting and know, never done before.
No, you're exactly right.
And our entire team has been workingin the industry for over 10 years.
And really I can't take thecredit from an engineering design
and development standpoint.
I, I know enough to be dangerousand help facilitate that, but
(15:13):
ultimately I'm very blessed to.
Have worked with the same co-foundersthat I have now at DFM for over 10 years.
They've got a tremendous amountof experience and I would put our
team up against anybody from adesign and development perspective.
One of our, I. Our lead firearmsengineer in particular I, I always
(15:34):
tell everybody he's top five magazineengineers in the entire world and
it, it's, it shrinks a lot, right?
When you look at who, who can designa particular part and manufacture
that part, if it's not superspecialized, there's a pretty big
funnel of people that can make that.
But when you get down tosomething as specialized as a
magazine, it's difficult to do.
It's much easier to designa gun around a magazine.
(15:57):
Than a magazine around a gun.
And it's something that we do everyday and and troubleshoot that.
And our, our engineeringteam is, is incredible.
And they do a very good job of it.
There's a lot of what not to do.
There's some of what you need todo, but there's a lot of what not
to do and it easily gets overlooked.
Well, you are right to say that theOEMs are the unsung heroes because
(16:20):
I don't know of a single firearmmanufacturer that makes every single
part, they're just that it isn't possible.
And I, you know, if I'mwrong, somebody call me out.
I'm sure somebody will sendme an email, and that's great.
I'm okay to be wrong, but I, I thinkyou're right about the unsung hero.
Now, before we go too far, Iwanna hear about zero tech optics.
(16:42):
Yes, so Zero Tech is, was founded byChris Watkins, a guy out of Australia
that owns and operates a third generationtwo step distributor there, a major
distributor, and his grandfather was aUS citizen that fought in World War ii.
And moved to Australia after thewar got involved in importing
and distributing sporting optics.
(17:04):
Saw an opportunity.
So a number of years ago the, the, thepath was create our own optics line, and
my partner asked me to be involved and I.Really stand up the US facility for that.
And so it was again, a, a huge blessing.
And I don't wanna say happenstance,it was the, the right things happen
at the right time, but a big blessingto get involved with the right people.
(17:28):
And you know what reallyinterested me about it?
Not only that, it was a great opportunity.
But it was all about the people.
And the story that I tell when peopleask me of how I got involved is I tell
'em when this idea was brought to mebecause I like the people so much.
I told 'em, I said, look, I use opticsas a hunter and as you know, somebody
(17:49):
involved in the firearms industry.
I don't know a lot aboutoptics, but I said, I want to
do it because it's you guys.
If you want to open a coffee shop,I don't know anything about coffee
either, but I'll do it right.
I. More often than not, we overlookthe, the importance of getting into
business with the right people andreally finding a scenario where one
(18:09):
plus one can equal more than two.
And this absolutely was it.
So we brought Zero Tech USA, we launchedinternationally first and Australia, New
Zealand, South Africa, Europe a littlebit in South America, and then brought
Xero Tech to the US about four years ago.
Really decided we were gonna be strategicwith a crawl, walk, run scenario.
(18:32):
Didn't wanna bring on too manydealers right out of the gate,
didn't want to add distribution.
And it has just really grown for us,particularly in the past year and a half.
You know, we came into the market inabout the worst timing in the past
10 years to launch a new brand and.
It has just really flourished for us.
We've been very blessed topartner with the right people.
(18:54):
From a sales perspective, our, ourdistributors and our team is really
thinking about things differentlythan a lot of other companies.
We're embracing a lot of technologyfrom a marketing perspective.
Mm-hmm.
You know, we've got a full staff.
We do all of our design anddevelopment on the products in-house.
We work with OEM manufacturers globallyto actually make the product for us.
(19:16):
And really kind of think outsideof the box compared to a lot of
our, a lot of our competitors.
And it, it differentiates us.
And a lot of the traction,everything that you're seeing is a
byproduct of kind of that mentality.
What I like to tell people withZero Tech is we're a new brand.
We're not a new company.
And what I mean by that iswe've got different businesses
(19:38):
within the firearms industry.
We're not, it's not a garage operationthat we just came up with this idea.
Yeah.
And we're gonna start from scratch.
We've been able to duplicate all thesuccess that we've had from our other
businesses, those same models, thosesame methodologies, and apply that
to Xero Tech to really know how toservice the distributor, the dealer, and
(19:59):
ultimately the consumer, and make surethat they're happy and they feel that
they're getting a good value proposition.
So we've got a full lineof products from magnified.
Rifle scopes to prisms andred dots and binoculars.
And really for us it comesdown to value proposition.
Good customer service and uniquefeatures that add a lot of
utility to the product itself.
(20:20):
And so it's been growing likewildfire and it's been really
exciting to, to be part of that.
And most importantly, to be able to doit with people that you trust and that
kind of iron sharpens iron and we canmove forward in a, create a new path that
we might not have created on our own.
Yeah, because you guysare all over the place.
Even though you have a teamthere where you are locally, you
(20:43):
have a lot of reach globally.
You're not just in one,your, your contacts reach all
over, so you're not limited.
I mean, you're, you know, it's notlike you're saying, Hey, we're, we're
this company here at this point in theUS and then we're gonna branch out.
Your particular world is very large.
Yeah.
We're very blessed to, we also have aheadquarters with Zero Tech in Australia.
(21:06):
And again, that's where the company wasoriginally founded and because of that,
we, we do have a lot of reach and, andreally good partners in, in different
countries that do distribution for us and.
It's really just that, that thatrapport that we've built with those
partners around the world createthose long-term relationships.
You and I have known each otherfor over 10 years now, and I think,
(21:26):
you know, relationships are moreimportant than anything else.
Business comes and goes, and that'swhat I always tell everybody.
You know, what's here today?
You hope it's here tomorrow, butit, it absolutely could not be.
But what doesn't change is, is people.
That's all we really haveat the end of the day.
And if you treat people rightand build good relationships, and
you're there when people need.
You, you're, you're gonna be successful.
(21:48):
And so I think that's reallywhat we've been able to, to do
with Zero Tech and, and with DFM.
Now, where can peoplepurchase zero tech optics?
Where can they see that?
We're gonna post the link for both your,both your company websites in the social
media posts, and then on our webpage whenthe podcast is released, it'll be there.
(22:08):
But for people who are listening rightnow and maybe, you know, on the road, what
are your websites and how can people buyzero tech optics and how can they reach.
DFM Arms for business thatyou're good partners with?
Yes.
On, on Zero Tech.
I mean, we're available on moste-commerce platforms that sell
(22:29):
stuff in the firearms industry.
You can go direct to ourwebsite, zero tech optics.com.
Most of your local dealersare gonna have 'em.
Now, there's still some certainstates, particularly in your area.
That we don't have as good arepresentation at the dealer level
just because, I mean, you're blessedto kind of live in the middle
of nowhere, which is amazing.
We kind of are.
(22:50):
Yeah, I mean that's, that's so great.
But, so there are some placesthat definitely don't have it yet.
But that's the best place isjust to go to our website.
We've got a dealer locator on there.
You can look and you can alwaysreach out to us directly or through
our e-commerce partners on DFM.
It's dfm arms.com.
Our website is vague on purpose.
Typically, we wait for people to askus for more information, and then we're
(23:11):
sending them a, a brochure that goesinto a lot of detail about what we do.
There's a pretty good overview there, butwe really want to connect with people with
that business and so we kind of leave itup to them to reach out to us to ask for
more information so that we can make aconnection and actually talk to somebody.
Find out what their pain points are,what they really need from a, a solve
(23:32):
perspective and, and can connect withthem more than just, Hey, here's a quote
for a stamped or injection molded part.
We want to, we want to actuallybe an extension of yeah,
their team and what they need.
But you can reach out to us directly onboth of those and you, you'll be able to
get ahold of an actual person and talk tosomebody, which is nice in today's world.
So.
(23:53):
It is, and that is true of your wholeteam, all the people that I've met
over the years and that worked withyou, and I know it's true of you.
It really is about thepeople and the high touch.
And so, you know, don't be gettingon a website and go, oh, this
doesn't give me enough information.
Well then dial the phone number orsend them an email and they'll call you
because you wanna work with real people.
(24:15):
That are there solving real problems.
I mean, if it was easy, everybodywould do it, and that's not the case.
You're getting a team with over 10 yearsexperience solving your problem for you.
It, it doesn't make anysense to hire your own team.
Let's just go hire this engineering team.
You're not gonna get thatyou're, you're just not.
It really takes a special, specialopportunity to be able to find
(24:37):
a partner like you guys offerwith the projects you can do.
Well, and you, you live that everyday with your, your clients asking,
I mean, it's always a unicorn, right?
It's we need, oh yeah.
We need the best engineer in theworld for the, the right price
that can do everything as fast aspossible and has the experience.
(24:58):
And it's really difficult to, to find,you know, while there's some great
engineers out there, they might nothave the experience on that particular
weapons platform, that particularportion of that, that firearm.
It's really difficult and so we'reseeing a huge trend in that where
while the major manufacturers preferto have their in-house engineering team
(25:20):
do everything there's just not enoughbandwidth or enough time in the day.
And, and you know that from, fromtrying to fill those positions.
Yeah.
And so there are companies out there.
That, that can solve these problemsfor you as a good, you know, outsource
partner to, to take care of it.
And the other unique thing is too,because we do the manufacturing, we've,
(25:40):
we look at it immediately from howare we gonna make this perspective?
Not just how are we gonna design it towork in CAD and to work on the prototype.
We wanna look at it, what's themost cost effective way to make it?
And we might have to alter or tweak thedesign to do that so that it's repeatable.
So that it's, you know, the, the qualityof the part is there every single
time, and then it's on cost as well.
(26:02):
Yeah, it doesn't you know, it doesmake sense to have your own engineering
team at some point, but even yourown engineering team shouldn't be
expected to solve every single problem.
Like you said, these mags, Imean, I learned it from you.
Who would've ever dreamedthey were that complicated?
I certainly didn't know thatuntil I learned so much from you.
And so you should go whereyou can get the help.
(26:25):
The first time, the right way, anda good partner you can count on.
Well, I really appreciate this, Nathan.
I. I'm thrilled and I, I mean, reallyhonestly, I could sit and talk to you
for days and I would rather this go on alonger podcast, but I've promised myself
that I, my attention span isn't thatlong, so I don't wanna punish anyone else.
(26:47):
But you are really singly one ofthe most interesting people, and I
always, always am happy to see youwhen we're at a trade show and see
your smile and you are never bored.
And I think this is why youoriginally fell in love with.
Manufacturing because you're sointelligent that you would be bored
very quickly, I think otherwise.
(27:09):
Well, I appreciate you saying that.
Yeah.
It's just, it's you know, there'salways something to learn and, and
we can always continue to to look atthings in new, new lights and look
through a new prism and figure out anew angle and solve those problems.
Right.
I mean, if everything, it would be,it would be beautiful to have a day
that everything is absolutely perfect.
But how many days like that areyou gonna have in a row until your,
(27:30):
until your sin maybe I You would be
bored.
You would be bored.
You would quit and find something else.
I don't even see it in your future.
It's good.
You're doing what you're doing.
Well, I really wanna thank you somuch Nathan, and I would encourage
everyone to take a look at DFM Arms.
And also zero tech optics becausethese are really great products and
really great services that you oranyone you might know, could use.
(27:53):
And I hope you enjoyed this podcastbecause Nathan is a very special
friend and I hope you enjoyedlearning about manufacturing.
I, i just, God bless America.
I'm so proud of you that youhave a manufacturing facility,
so keep up the good work.
Well, thank you very much for havingme today and as a as a fellow firearms
industry and, you know, worker, I'd liketo say thanks for doing this podcast.
(28:17):
Like this is exciting, that you'reactually exposing people to the
industry and I, you're on the forefrontof this and so please continue all
of this and really spread the wordand one rising tide lifts all boats.
Right?
That's so thank you.
That's right.
Very much.
Thanks for doing this.
Well good
that Thank you.
And yes, that is the point of the podcastis these are real careers and I think
you did a great job of pointing that out.
(28:38):
And if you are in Middle Tennessee oraround that area and need a manufacturing
job, you really ought to check out DFMarms because I would go to work for Nathan
in a second if I lived around that area.
Well, thank you for that.
Alright, that'll be a wrap for thisepisode of the Head Hunters NW Podcast.
(28:58):
Thanks for listening.
We'll see you next time.
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