February 26, 2025 • 29 mins
From a part-time job in college to becoming an equity partner in a thriving machine shop, Kody Guidry's journey is anything but conventional. In this episode, we explore how Coastal Machine is scaling operations into defense, aerospace, oil & gas, why Kody supports hiring and training inexperienced talent instead of pursuing seasoned machinists, and how developing a strong employee pipeline is just as crucial as a sales pipeline. Plus, we discuss diversifying the business, investing in tech, and building a family-oriented culture.
SHOW NOTES
- (1:36) Kody Guidry's journey from machinist to equity partner at Coastal Machine
- (9:53) A family-oriented culture is a core value
- (12:47) The shop’s investment in technology, marketing, and workforce development
- (13:35) Coastal’s growth strategy includes technology and diversifying the business
- (17:39) Why Coastal is focusing on hiring and training green talent
- (18:44) The importance of having an employee pipeline—just like a sales pipeline
- (21:52) Kody’s advice to his younger self and what it takes to succeed in manufacturing
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:03):
Welcome to Manufacturing Mavericks, a podcast where we showcase and celebrate
exceptional people from across precision manufacturing who are boldly
embracing new ways to improve their processes, grow their bottom lines,
and ensure American manufacturing will thrive for generations to come.
(00:25):
Welcome to this week’s episode of Manufacturing Mavericks.
I am very pleased to introduce our guest
this week, Kody Guidry of Coastal Machine.
Kody, welcome to the show.
How are you doing today?
Doing good, Greg.
Thanks for having me, Man.
It’s a pleasure.
Yeah.
Thrilled to have you.
And I know it’s a crazy time all across the country right now, weather-wise.
I heard you guys had a little bit of an event this week?
(00:48):
Yeah, a little bit.
You know, if you call ten inches of snow in South
Louisiana ‘A little bit of an event,’ yeah [laugh]
. [laugh]
. That was three days ago.
We still have snow on the ground, so it’s kind of crazy here right now.
That is wild.
And I mean that’s a record of some kind, right?
Yeah, definitely.
It’s been 130 years, I think, since we’ve had this
(01:10):
much snow, and we broke the temperature record, too.
So, yeah.
And then Sunday, it’s going to be in the 70s.
So, that’s [laugh]
— There you go.
—South Louisiana weather [laugh]
. As long as when it melts, it’s got somewhere to go.
Yeah, definitely.
Yeah, yeah [laugh]
. Find its way elsewhere.
Well, I mean, you’ve beaten us this year
in New England for what we’ve had for snow.
(01:31):
We don’t have ten inches yet [laugh]
. That’s so wild to hear something like that [laugh]
. They’re having to make snow at the ski resorts, so.
Well, Kody, it’s fantastic to have you.
And you know, I know we’ve known each other a couple years, seen
each other at some of the different events and things, but I actually
have not heard the story of how you got into manufacturing, and the
(01:53):
story behind Coastal so I’ve been really looking forward to this one.
I never… had any thought or dream of being in manufacturing when I was younger.
I graduated high school, and maybe it took a year off before I
started college, and I decided I wanted to go to a technical school.
And I was actually going for a network specialist, so I
wanted to do something in computers, and that’s what I chose.
(02:16):
I did that probably for about a year, and then
a buddy of mine was working at a machine shop.
He said, “Man, we need another shop hand. You want to come help
me out in shipping and just kind of help clean up the shop?”
I was like, “Yeah,” I was working at Target at the time as a side job, and I was
like, “Yeah, it’s probably better than this, so let’s go do that.” So, did that.
They ended up putting me on a machine to kind of help get some parts out.
(02:39):
And I was still going to school.
And, you know, one thing led to another.
I was like, “This is kind of cool. Let me take a
semester off and just make some money.” You know?
Working those 12-hour days, down here, that’s what we do.
And did that, and I never looked back, really.
I never went back to school [laugh] . I stayed in
manufacturing, ran a machine over there for a little bit.
(03:00):
And left there, took another opportunity at another
machine shop where I actually moved into quality.
So, I went into QC for about three-and-a-half years there.
And had another buddy that was working at Coastal, and he’s
like, “Man, we need somebody in quality, very good potential to
probably become the quality manager.” So, I took a shot, left
(03:22):
there, came over here, Coastal, and never really looked back.
It just really took off from there.
That’s been, I think I’m going on 15 years now, I want to say, yeah, 15 years.
2010 of April.
Yeah.
Made my way through here, and here I am.
But yeah, it’s been quite a journey, for sure.
That’s a significant change.
(03:42):
So, you went to school for networking.
I mean, were you into programming at all?
Or, like, what, which sides of networking were you looking at?
No and, you know, at that age, I really
didn’t know specifically what I wanted to do.
I just, I liked being around computers and technology more than anything.
And that’s kind of—you know, I gamed back in the day and
(04:03):
stuff like that, so all that stuff just kind of stuck with me.
I just like being around that type of stuff.
I figured they had a network specialist program, so I was going
to go into the networking side of it, of the whole IT field.
Got it, well, I mean, you got to do a little bit of that recently—
Yeah.
—getting your shop hooked up [laugh]
. Yeah, definitely.
Yeah.
And I still do it from time to time, too.
(04:24):
I still get kind of involved in it, especially with our
managed services and stuff that we have through our IT company.
I still like dabbling in it.
When you ran a machine for the first time, how foreign was that to you?
What was that like?
Oh, very much so.
Man, I didn’t know what I was doing to be
honest [laugh] . I was almost winging it really.
(04:44):
Probably at that point of my life, I was really more
concentrated on partying with my friends at that time.
The other part of the story is that I actually got fired from my first job.
Nice.
Yeah [laugh] . So, that’s the whole—that’s the truthful story of.
It.
But, yeah, it was one of those things that, you know, I was young, I was
(05:04):
still in my party phase, and you know, it was just a time in my life.
But you know, it built me to who I am.
So really, no looking back, but I had absolutely
no clue what I was doing on my machine [laugh]
. Do you want to tell us how you got fired
or do you want to keep that to yourself?
Uh… just take off too many days [laugh] . I’d call in sick, you know?
It’s— [laugh]
(05:25):
. Got to show up.
Oh, definitely.
But it’s… whatever, you know?
Okay, okay.
So, you were just having some fun, figuring it out.
No idea what you’re doing.
Run the machine for the first time.
And then what gave you the strong connection to keep going?
Because, I mean, going from computer networking compared to
machining, I feel like—I know computer networks pretty well,
(05:49):
and I feel like machining is a lot more complicated, man.
Yeah [laugh] . Yeah, yeah.
I mean, I would say, really, I was already in it, and I was looking for
another job, and that’s when I landed at the second place I worked at.
And I went there to apply for a machinist, and I had to take this little
pre-test, I guess, before getting hired, and they wanted to put me in QC.
(06:10):
And I was really like, “Well, if that’s the step I need to take towards
running a machine.” They’re like, “No, QC is where you’ll be at.
It’s not like there's any tiers to it.”
So, I went in there, and that’s, I think, when it really
kind of took off for me and really started to spark,
is, I don’t know, I like being around quality control.
I like the whole idea of that, and checking things, you know, just to
(06:31):
make sure everything was right, and that whole aspect of quality control.
And that’s really kind of when it started taking off for me.
So, making sure things are good, closing loops.
That’s like networking, you know?
Networking is just—
Yep.
There you go.
Closing loops, making sure the right stuff’s going to the right place.
And so, you end up at Coastal.
And what’s the ownership, what’s the leadership,
(06:52):
what’s the culture like at Coastal when you get there?
Yeah, so I got there, that was in 2010, and…
man, we probably had… there was four owners.
Two of them were active in the business.
The other two were silent at the time.
And we probably, I think we had four manual lathes,
two NC lathes, one NC mill, and one manual mill.
(07:14):
Not that many machines, and maybe 12 employees, if I had to guess?
Around there.
And the quality department was small.
I was just me and one other person.
That’s how it was.
And then the other quality guy that was there, he was no
longer with the company, and they just asked me if I wanted
to step up and kind of take over the quality department.
I was like, yeah, this is it.
(07:34):
This is what I came for, really.
You know, did that, man, and kind of helped finalize the ISO 9001 certification.
Then we were heavy in oil and gas, so we
had API Q1 quality certification as well.
So, I did that probably within the first year, year-and-a-half,
of really taking over the quality manager role.
And I just started doing other things besides that
(07:55):
in there, making my way to production scheduling.
I kind of brought that into there.
They really didn’t have a whole schedule.
I took the current ERP at that time and implemented that, and
you know, moving and helping with shipping and stuff like that.
And then I got into even the quoting side of it.
So, I started to help, all while still being a quality manager.
I wanted to do everything, really.
I wanted to do anything I could to kind of set myself
(08:18):
apart and try to better the company, to be honest.
I would do research, and see all these things, and study, and get on
forums, and hear people talk about all this other stuff, and I wanted
to implement that stuff because I wanted to see the company grow, truly.
I liked it there.
I loved the ownership that was going on.
They really cared about their employees a lot.
And they did a lot of things for us at the time.
(08:39):
So, did that.
Eventually moved into an operations manager role.
That was two or three years worth of that, and then I became a partner.
They gave me equity in the company.
That was the beginning of 2023, so I am now the fifth partner in the company.
That is fantastic.
So, from standing in front of machine having no idea what the hell it does—
(09:02):
Yeah [laugh]
. — [laugh] winging it, making parts to an equity partner in a company
that—so you said 12 employees and a handful of machines when you started.
And where’s Coastal today?
Today, we’re at 53 employees, 21, 22 machines.
I’d have to double-count again.
We just added one, so—
(09:23):
Yeah, you just got a new one, right?
Yeah, yeah.
So, I think we’re at 22.
And running on two shifts now.
Yeah.
How’s the new machine going so far?
Amazing.
Love it.
I remember your post right around Christmas time.
You said something like, “Santa came early.”
Little did you know the snow would follow.
Yeah [laugh] . True.
Yeah, and we actually ordered two machines at that time.
(09:45):
So, we have another one coming in June,
middle of this year, it should hit the floor.
So.
Awesome.
So obviously, you’re investing in machines, you’re
investing in equipment, you’re investing in technology.
How would you describe the culture of the shop today?
Not just in terms of technology, but I know I’ve seen—as
I was getting to know you guys, I’ve seen on LinkedIn,
(10:06):
you have some pretty good traditions down there.
Yeah, yeah, we do.
It’s, you know, one of our core values is family orientation, and that’s
something that’s been here, like I said, since I got here day-one.
It’s everything.
It’s making their employees feel at home here.
Because, I mean, they spend a lot of time here, when you think about it.
You know, during the week, they hear more than with their
(10:27):
family, so you know, we want them to feel comfortable.
We want to make it an easygoing place for them.
But, I mean, we have annual crawfish boils, kind of,
family fun days where—I mean, we boil tons of crawfish.
They come with their family, and their kids, and we have fun [jumps]
for the kids, and stuff, and water slides, and snowball machines,
(10:49):
and ice cream trucks [laugh] , and everything comes through here.
And, you know, we provide lunch also for the whole company twice a week.
So, we have a—
Wow.
—yeah, we have lunch catered twice a week over here, Mondays and Thursdays.
We do a lot, man.
It’s not only that.
It’s just the other benefits we do for
tenured employees that choose to stay with us.
So, something as big as, once you’re here ten years, we pay all of
(11:11):
your health insurance, a hundred percent for you and your family.
Really?
Which—yeah, yeah.
I have not heard of that.
That’s fantastic.
We want to return a favor for them, hanging out with
us, I guess, all this time, and sticking it with us.
So, it seems to work pretty good.
So, I mean, it definitely sounds like the original
ownership group really emphasized taking care of people.
(11:33):
Obviously attracted you to stay there, room
to grow, plenty of opportunity to succeed.
And that’s continued for you.
To them, to the other partners.
I appreciate everything, you know?
I owe a lot to them, and they’ve taught me a lot along the way, too.
Great story.
So, I mean, you mentioned new machines.
What kind of investments have you guys
(11:53):
been making in the last year to two years?
Quite a bit.
So, we brought on Paperless Parts beginning of last year.
So, we did that, and that has helped a lot on the quoting side.
I mean, what they’re doing in regards to AI and all that stuff is
just making setting up quotes easy, a breeze, and we can do it fast.
(12:13):
I think on average, between three-and-a-half people
quoting, we can put out 900 parts a month now.
So, just pretty crazy, yeah.
And then we, you know, we bought our first pallet-changing five-axis machine.
That’s the one that just hit the floor late last year, and that’s been a
tremendous boost, as we’re, kind of, really diversifying into the space
and defense world, trying to bring on more production runs and production
(12:35):
quantities to support some of these customers, and the larger OEMs.
So, did that.
And then, obviously, we just brought on Datanomix, which you know, just in
the past two weeks that we’ve had it, we’ve seen tremendous value in it.
So, we’ve done a lot, man.
Technology is something that I always try to stay on top of, and that’s
something we’ve always done over here, is try to stay on the forefront of it.
(12:56):
Because, to be honest, if you don’t stay on top of it, you’ll get left behind.
I mean, you just won’t be able to keep up with what everybody else is doing.
Love hearing that, and love hearing that
more and more, really, across the industry.
I mean, there’s such a strong pull right now to instead of saying,
“Man, we’re behind on tech,” it’s just, “How do I get ahead of it?
(13:16):
How do I do the right thing?
What do I need to be investing in?” You mentioned one thing, Kody, that I want
to drill into, which is that you guys have been preparing for and morphing for
more aerospace and defense work, and I’m sure that’s not a simple undertaking.
What was that process like?
So, we’d made that decision to diversify the company in 2020, when Covid hit.
(13:40):
Yeah, so we’ve been always oil and gas down here, obviously, South Louisiana.
In 2020, we kind of made that decision.
We have ProShop ERP, and the way they have their ERP set up is just, it’s
suitable for AS9100 certification, and to kind of go off to that work.
So, we said, why not?
You know, we just can’t keep doing the downturn of the oil and gas.
(14:02):
When it’s good, it’s great, and when it’s bad, it’s bad.
Right.
It’s just volatile, Man.
Exactly, exactly.
And it’s hard to keep—you have good employees, and if
you have to go through a layoff, man, it’s just tough.
You have to try to make those decisions, and it’s very, very hard.
So, we wanted to diversify and kind of stabilize things here,
(14:23):
and to attract other talent around the area, too, that, you
know, we can say that we’re not so heavy in oil and gas.
Look at the things we’re building, stuff for rockets, and
satellites, and missiles, and you name it, especially that younger
generation that you have to try to get in front of right now.
That’s kind of what we wanted to go after.
So, it’s been a push.
(14:43):
I think we’ve done a lot for what we’ve did in the past three years.
I think beginning of ’21 we got our AS9100 cert, and then we
became ITAR registered about a month-and-a-half after that.
We had our first aerospace job in… a month later after that.
So, it’s been a learning curve, for sure.
We’re not used to machining on the aluminums and stuff like that.
(15:05):
It’s just been different in regards to the GD&T and the tolerances
and just the approach to manufacturing a lot of those parts is just
totally different than some round, tubular parts that going down whole.
It’s been a learning curve, but man, you know,
we’ve done a lot in the past three years.
And I think last year, space and defense
(15:28):
probably combined was about 15% of our business.
And this year, we’re expected to grow it even more.
Hopefully we can get up to the 20% range, 25%.
But it’s been fun.
It really has been fun [laugh]
. Some of those new machine toys, right, in service of those more difficult parts.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
And tolerance is better, for sure.
Are you thinking Kody that you’ll continue to diversify the business
(15:52):
further and add additional industries to the bucket or good with those two?
I think so.
I mean, semiconductor is kind of on my radar.
So, I know that industry probably—I think it was going a little
slow at some point last year, but I hear it’s kind of coming back.
It’s definitely one on my radar, for sure, another one.
So really, get to three major verticals and try to balance that?
(16:15):
Yeah, oil and gas, space defense, and then
semiconductor, if we can get to there.
In terms of recruiting talent, right, everyone talks about labor force.
I mean, it’s clear you guys have a fantastic culture.
That’s, no doubt, a draw.
There’s got to be tremendous, you know, word-of-mouth and I’d say,
you know, if you can build the culture you’re talking about in
(16:36):
Southern Louisiana, man, you should be able to do that anywhere.
So, what are the secrets?
How do you do recruiting?
How do you do training?
I mean, it’s a lot of it is word-of-mouth, to be honest.
You know, I’ll post some stuff on Facebook, and we’re really just kind
of picking up our marketing efforts right now, starting this year.
(16:56):
So, we’re about to be a lot more active on social media.
Another great investment.
Yeah, yeah.
You know, there’s some little preliminary stuff we’re doing that
that marketing team’s already showing us is just crazy, so I’m very
excited to see that’s actually kicking off the beginning of February.
Good for you.
That will make a huge difference.
Yeah, I think so as well.
You know, I’ve always tried to do it every now and then.
(17:18):
I just don’t have the time [laugh] —to sit there
and make posts on Facebook or LinkedIn or anything.
But, you know, a large part has been word-of-mouth around here.
And then we’re really starting to get into more of just
taking very green young people that I just want somebody that
has a great attitude and that wants to learn it, you know?
(17:38):
I don’t need all the experience right now.
We’ll train you up exactly how we want things to
be run here, kind of how we expect them to be.
It’s just sometimes it’s the best way because, you know, you
get somebody from another shop, and they’ve done in a certain
way for so long, they think that’s the only way to do things.
So, I think we’re really kind of concentrating on bringing on new, green
(17:58):
people that have never been experienced to the manufacturing industry.
So, we have two right now that are actually kind of going
through our beginning stages of what we’re trying to implement
of just, kind of, on-the-job training apprenticeship programs.
And is your main recruiting ground for that people in
the networking program at technical college [laugh]
(18:18):
? [laugh] . Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
“Hey, I got a better career for you.”
Yeah
[laugh]
. No, that’s fantastic.
And I mean, your willingness to invest in that type of employee or potential
employee as well, I don’t know that a lot of shops are willing to dig in to
(18:40):
that degree, and take someone truly green and figure out how to make it work.
I’ve realized having employees, you know, just like
your sales pipeline, you have to have a talent pipeline.
I mean, it’s an employee pipeline because you never know, somebody just might
pick up and leave the next day, and it’s, how are you going to replace them?
So, you have to have employees constantly trying to funnel in here,
(19:03):
whether it’s new employees or just people waiting to get on, get
in the door, but you just have to keep that funnel full, for sure.
That is such a great analogy.
You’re investing in tech and software, you’re investing
in better machines, you’re investing in marketing, and
you see recruiting as a never-ending cycle, which is—
Absolutely.
Fantastic.
(19:23):
And it’s so important, especially if you’re in a growth
phase of the company, that’s even more important because if
you know you’re going to be buying machines later on, it’s
like, okay, well, how are you going to fill these machines?
You have to start recruiting now, you know,
months ahead of you even ordering the machine.
I mean, that’s an investment mindset too, right?
Not everybody thinks that way.
Some people would wait until the machines are already there, with nobody to run.
(19:46):
Yeah.
And you’re already six months behind like that.
Right [laugh] . So, what do you see the next year or two holding for Coastal?
How’s your optimism, you know, how’s your outlook?
I know the defense side for us is going to be crazy busy this year.
We have some good outlooks with some of our current
customers, and then especially on the space side as well.
(20:08):
And then we’re bringing on some newer, bigger customers, too.
And hopefully, oil and gas picks up.
New administration in the office, it seems like it will.
The famous words of, “Drill, baby drill,” that’s what we want to hear.
So, if you know, they can pick up a little bit.
We’re not trying to heavily rely on oil and gas, but it’s
obviously tough when it’s low because when it’s 85% of
(20:30):
your business, it kind of makes it harder on everyone.
So.
That’s a big mountain to just try to avoid if it’s not where you want it to be.
The revenue is so different between oil and gas and space and
defence, just because of your material content and stuff like that.
And the size of parts that we do in oil and
gas is way bigger than space parts we do.
(20:50):
Our oil and gas—
Really?
Parts are—oh yeah.
I mean, we have our lathes are 120 inches between centers with ten-and-a-half
inch throughholes in the spindles, and then we can hang parts out of the
wall, out of the shop [laugh] . So, you know, we can put in a 240-inch-long
part in the machine that has a ten-inch OD, 12-inch OD, like it’s nothing.
(21:10):
When your material content is 40, 50% and it’s so expensive, too, so
it’s percentage-wise, between oil and gas and the space and defense
industry, it’s just hard for space and defense to creep up into it.
But the biggest reason that is just because
of the revenue of oil and gas when it’s busy.
Well, I mean, like, you say, I hope the, “Drill, baby drill,”
(21:30):
comes true for a lot of reasons. I think low gas prices, low energy
prices, there’s almost nothing that can touch more surface area
of the economy than stable, predictable energy prices, right?
It throws everybody for a loop when it’s not stable and it’s confusing.
(21:50):
Yeah, absolutely.
Awesome.
So Kody, the way that we like to wrap up the episode is—and I can picture
this, so it’s going to be fantastic—is, you’ve got to go back in time, and
you’ve got to talk to the Kody that’s standing in front of machine, looking
over his shoulder, making sure nobody’s watching when he thinks he’s going
to hit the wrong button, and you got to give him some advice for what it’s
(22:12):
going to take to make it in manufacturing, and to ultimately be successful.
So, what do you say to him?
I mean, the first thing I tell myself is show up to work.
[laugh]
. [laugh] . Don’t call in sick on Monday [laugh]
. [laugh] . And then again Tuesday and Wednesday?
Yeah
(22:32):
[laugh] . And then tell myself, don’t wait a year and a half.
This is what it is.
I don’t know how much that year-and-a-half would have made
a difference in regards to getting, you know, my torch lit
on the manufacturing side, but it could have, you know?
Who knows.
But, you know, everything happens for a reason.
I’d almost tell myself, don’t change anything, you know?
Do everything I love where I’m at right now.
(22:53):
I couldn’t imagine being in a different place, at a different
company, and have a different set of employees that we have right now.
So, it’s been great.
What I love about it, and in hearing so many of these
different stories is, there are no straight lines.
There are no simple paths.
And I mean in your particular case, standing in front of a machine having no
idea what it was doing, to now an equity partner in a thriving and growing
(23:18):
company that’s diversifying, you know, the industries that it’s serving,
that’s investing in technology, I mean, all’s well that ends well, right?
So, you know, the getting fired, the calling in sick, the maybe partying
a little too hard, whatever was going on back then, man, you know what?
This is why America is a great country [laugh] . This
is why opportunity is unbounded, and that’s important.
(23:42):
And I just, I love hearing your story, and, you know, I got to say, congrats
for how you got there and how you went through it because it’s inspiring.
Thank you.
Really appreciate it.
It’s been a journey.
Yeah, that’s what it’s supposed to be.
Yeah.
That’s what it’s supposed to be.
Awesome having you on, Kody.
Really appreciate you being willing to share the story
with us and continued success, and drill, baby, drill.
(24:05):
Yeah, that’s it.
Thank you, man.
Appreciate it.
Thank you for listening to Manufacturing Mavericks.
If you’d like to learn more, listen to past episodes, or nominate
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Welcome to Manufacturing Mavericks, a podcast where we showcase and celebrate
exceptional people from across precision manufacturing who are boldly
embracing new ways to improve their processes, grow their bottom lines,
and ensure American manufacturing will thrive for generations to come.
(00:25):
Welcome to this week’s episode of Manufacturing Mavericks.
I am very pleased to introduce our guest
this week, Kody Guidry of Coastal Machine.
Kody, welcome to the show.
How are you doing today?
Doing good, Greg.
Thanks for having me, Man.
It’s a pleasure.
Yeah.
Thrilled to have you.
And I know it’s a crazy time all across the country right now, weather-wise.
I heard you guys had a little bit of an event this week?
(00:48):
Yeah, a little bit.
You know, if you call ten inches of snow in South
Louisiana ‘A little bit of an event,’ yeah [laugh]
. [laugh]
. That was three days ago.
We still have snow on the ground, so it’s kind of crazy here right now.
That is wild.
And I mean that’s a record of some kind, right?
Yeah, definitely.
It’s been 130 years, I think, since we’ve had this
(01:10):
much snow, and we broke the temperature record, too.
So, yeah.
And then Sunday, it’s going to be in the 70s.
So, that’s [laugh]
— There you go.
—South Louisiana weather [laugh]
. As long as when it melts, it’s got somewhere to go.
Yeah, definitely.
Yeah, yeah [laugh]
. Find its way elsewhere.
Well, I mean, you’ve beaten us this year
in New England for what we’ve had for snow.
(01:31):
We don’t have ten inches yet [laugh]
. That’s so wild to hear something like that [laugh]
. They’re having to make snow at the ski resorts, so.
Well, Kody, it’s fantastic to have you.
And you know, I know we’ve known each other a couple years, seen
each other at some of the different events and things, but I actually
have not heard the story of how you got into manufacturing, and the
(01:53):
story behind Coastal so I’ve been really looking forward to this one.
I never… had any thought or dream of being in manufacturing when I was younger.
I graduated high school, and maybe it took a year off before I
started college, and I decided I wanted to go to a technical school.
And I was actually going for a network specialist, so I
wanted to do something in computers, and that’s what I chose.
(02:16):
I did that probably for about a year, and then
a buddy of mine was working at a machine shop.
He said, “Man, we need another shop hand. You want to come help
me out in shipping and just kind of help clean up the shop?”
I was like, “Yeah,” I was working at Target at the time as a side job, and I was
like, “Yeah, it’s probably better than this, so let’s go do that.” So, did that.
They ended up putting me on a machine to kind of help get some parts out.
(02:39):
And I was still going to school.
And, you know, one thing led to another.
I was like, “This is kind of cool. Let me take a
semester off and just make some money.” You know?
Working those 12-hour days, down here, that’s what we do.
And did that, and I never looked back, really.
I never went back to school [laugh] . I stayed in
manufacturing, ran a machine over there for a little bit.
(03:00):
And left there, took another opportunity at another
machine shop where I actually moved into quality.
So, I went into QC for about three-and-a-half years there.
And had another buddy that was working at Coastal, and he’s
like, “Man, we need somebody in quality, very good potential to
probably become the quality manager.” So, I took a shot, left
(03:22):
there, came over here, Coastal, and never really looked back.
It just really took off from there.
That’s been, I think I’m going on 15 years now, I want to say, yeah, 15 years.
2010 of April.
Yeah.
Made my way through here, and here I am.
But yeah, it’s been quite a journey, for sure.
That’s a significant change.
(03:42):
So, you went to school for networking.
I mean, were you into programming at all?
Or, like, what, which sides of networking were you looking at?
No and, you know, at that age, I really
didn’t know specifically what I wanted to do.
I just, I liked being around computers and technology more than anything.
And that’s kind of—you know, I gamed back in the day and
(04:03):
stuff like that, so all that stuff just kind of stuck with me.
I just like being around that type of stuff.
I figured they had a network specialist program, so I was going
to go into the networking side of it, of the whole IT field.
Got it, well, I mean, you got to do a little bit of that recently—
Yeah.
—getting your shop hooked up [laugh]
. Yeah, definitely.
Yeah.
And I still do it from time to time, too.
(04:24):
I still get kind of involved in it, especially with our
managed services and stuff that we have through our IT company.
I still like dabbling in it.
When you ran a machine for the first time, how foreign was that to you?
What was that like?
Oh, very much so.
Man, I didn’t know what I was doing to be
honest [laugh] . I was almost winging it really.
(04:44):
Probably at that point of my life, I was really more
concentrated on partying with my friends at that time.
The other part of the story is that I actually got fired from my first job.
Nice.
Yeah [laugh] . So, that’s the whole—that’s the truthful story of.
It.
But, yeah, it was one of those things that, you know, I was young, I was
(05:04):
still in my party phase, and you know, it was just a time in my life.
But you know, it built me to who I am.
So really, no looking back, but I had absolutely
no clue what I was doing on my machine [laugh]
. Do you want to tell us how you got fired
or do you want to keep that to yourself?
Uh… just take off too many days [laugh] . I’d call in sick, you know?
It’s— [laugh]
(05:25):
. Got to show up.
Oh, definitely.
But it’s… whatever, you know?
Okay, okay.
So, you were just having some fun, figuring it out.
No idea what you’re doing.
Run the machine for the first time.
And then what gave you the strong connection to keep going?
Because, I mean, going from computer networking compared to
machining, I feel like—I know computer networks pretty well,
(05:49):
and I feel like machining is a lot more complicated, man.
Yeah [laugh] . Yeah, yeah.
I mean, I would say, really, I was already in it, and I was looking for
another job, and that’s when I landed at the second place I worked at.
And I went there to apply for a machinist, and I had to take this little
pre-test, I guess, before getting hired, and they wanted to put me in QC.
(06:10):
And I was really like, “Well, if that’s the step I need to take towards
running a machine.” They’re like, “No, QC is where you’ll be at.
It’s not like there's any tiers to it.”
So, I went in there, and that’s, I think, when it really
kind of took off for me and really started to spark,
is, I don’t know, I like being around quality control.
I like the whole idea of that, and checking things, you know, just to
(06:31):
make sure everything was right, and that whole aspect of quality control.
And that’s really kind of when it started taking off for me.
So, making sure things are good, closing loops.
That’s like networking, you know?
Networking is just—
Yep.
There you go.
Closing loops, making sure the right stuff’s going to the right place.
And so, you end up at Coastal.
And what’s the ownership, what’s the leadership,
(06:52):
what’s the culture like at Coastal when you get there?
Yeah, so I got there, that was in 2010, and…
man, we probably had… there was four owners.
Two of them were active in the business.
The other two were silent at the time.
And we probably, I think we had four manual lathes,
two NC lathes, one NC mill, and one manual mill.
(07:14):
Not that many machines, and maybe 12 employees, if I had to guess?
Around there.
And the quality department was small.
I was just me and one other person.
That’s how it was.
And then the other quality guy that was there, he was no
longer with the company, and they just asked me if I wanted
to step up and kind of take over the quality department.
I was like, yeah, this is it.
(07:34):
This is what I came for, really.
You know, did that, man, and kind of helped finalize the ISO 9001 certification.
Then we were heavy in oil and gas, so we
had API Q1 quality certification as well.
So, I did that probably within the first year, year-and-a-half,
of really taking over the quality manager role.
And I just started doing other things besides that
(07:55):
in there, making my way to production scheduling.
I kind of brought that into there.
They really didn’t have a whole schedule.
I took the current ERP at that time and implemented that, and
you know, moving and helping with shipping and stuff like that.
And then I got into even the quoting side of it.
So, I started to help, all while still being a quality manager.
I wanted to do everything, really.
I wanted to do anything I could to kind of set myself
(08:18):
apart and try to better the company, to be honest.
I would do research, and see all these things, and study, and get on
forums, and hear people talk about all this other stuff, and I wanted
to implement that stuff because I wanted to see the company grow, truly.
I liked it there.
I loved the ownership that was going on.
They really cared about their employees a lot.
And they did a lot of things for us at the time.
(08:39):
So, did that.
Eventually moved into an operations manager role.
That was two or three years worth of that, and then I became a partner.
They gave me equity in the company.
That was the beginning of 2023, so I am now the fifth partner in the company.
That is fantastic.
So, from standing in front of machine having no idea what the hell it does—
(09:02):
Yeah [laugh]
. — [laugh] winging it, making parts to an equity partner in a company
that—so you said 12 employees and a handful of machines when you started.
And where’s Coastal today?
Today, we’re at 53 employees, 21, 22 machines.
I’d have to double-count again.
We just added one, so—
(09:23):
Yeah, you just got a new one, right?
Yeah, yeah.
So, I think we’re at 22.
And running on two shifts now.
Yeah.
How’s the new machine going so far?
Amazing.
Love it.
I remember your post right around Christmas time.
You said something like, “Santa came early.”
Little did you know the snow would follow.
Yeah [laugh] . True.
Yeah, and we actually ordered two machines at that time.
(09:45):
So, we have another one coming in June,
middle of this year, it should hit the floor.
So.
Awesome.
So obviously, you’re investing in machines, you’re
investing in equipment, you’re investing in technology.
How would you describe the culture of the shop today?
Not just in terms of technology, but I know I’ve seen—as
I was getting to know you guys, I’ve seen on LinkedIn,
(10:06):
you have some pretty good traditions down there.
Yeah, yeah, we do.
It’s, you know, one of our core values is family orientation, and that’s
something that’s been here, like I said, since I got here day-one.
It’s everything.
It’s making their employees feel at home here.
Because, I mean, they spend a lot of time here, when you think about it.
You know, during the week, they hear more than with their
(10:27):
family, so you know, we want them to feel comfortable.
We want to make it an easygoing place for them.
But, I mean, we have annual crawfish boils, kind of,
family fun days where—I mean, we boil tons of crawfish.
They come with their family, and their kids, and we have fun [jumps]
for the kids, and stuff, and water slides, and snowball machines,
(10:49):
and ice cream trucks [laugh] , and everything comes through here.
And, you know, we provide lunch also for the whole company twice a week.
So, we have a—
Wow.
—yeah, we have lunch catered twice a week over here, Mondays and Thursdays.
We do a lot, man.
It’s not only that.
It’s just the other benefits we do for
tenured employees that choose to stay with us.
So, something as big as, once you’re here ten years, we pay all of
(11:11):
your health insurance, a hundred percent for you and your family.
Really?
Which—yeah, yeah.
I have not heard of that.
That’s fantastic.
We want to return a favor for them, hanging out with
us, I guess, all this time, and sticking it with us.
So, it seems to work pretty good.
So, I mean, it definitely sounds like the original
ownership group really emphasized taking care of people.
(11:33):
Obviously attracted you to stay there, room
to grow, plenty of opportunity to succeed.
And that’s continued for you.
To them, to the other partners.
I appreciate everything, you know?
I owe a lot to them, and they’ve taught me a lot along the way, too.
Great story.
So, I mean, you mentioned new machines.
What kind of investments have you guys
(11:53):
been making in the last year to two years?
Quite a bit.
So, we brought on Paperless Parts beginning of last year.
So, we did that, and that has helped a lot on the quoting side.
I mean, what they’re doing in regards to AI and all that stuff is
just making setting up quotes easy, a breeze, and we can do it fast.
(12:13):
I think on average, between three-and-a-half people
quoting, we can put out 900 parts a month now.
So, just pretty crazy, yeah.
And then we, you know, we bought our first pallet-changing five-axis machine.
That’s the one that just hit the floor late last year, and that’s been a
tremendous boost, as we’re, kind of, really diversifying into the space
and defense world, trying to bring on more production runs and production
(12:35):
quantities to support some of these customers, and the larger OEMs.
So, did that.
And then, obviously, we just brought on Datanomix, which you know, just in
the past two weeks that we’ve had it, we’ve seen tremendous value in it.
So, we’ve done a lot, man.
Technology is something that I always try to stay on top of, and that’s
something we’ve always done over here, is try to stay on the forefront of it.
(12:56):
Because, to be honest, if you don’t stay on top of it, you’ll get left behind.
I mean, you just won’t be able to keep up with what everybody else is doing.
Love hearing that, and love hearing that
more and more, really, across the industry.
I mean, there’s such a strong pull right now to instead of saying,
“Man, we’re behind on tech,” it’s just, “How do I get ahead of it?
(13:16):
How do I do the right thing?
What do I need to be investing in?” You mentioned one thing, Kody, that I want
to drill into, which is that you guys have been preparing for and morphing for
more aerospace and defense work, and I’m sure that’s not a simple undertaking.
What was that process like?
So, we’d made that decision to diversify the company in 2020, when Covid hit.
(13:40):
Yeah, so we’ve been always oil and gas down here, obviously, South Louisiana.
In 2020, we kind of made that decision.
We have ProShop ERP, and the way they have their ERP set up is just, it’s
suitable for AS9100 certification, and to kind of go off to that work.
So, we said, why not?
You know, we just can’t keep doing the downturn of the oil and gas.
(14:02):
When it’s good, it’s great, and when it’s bad, it’s bad.
Right.
It’s just volatile, Man.
Exactly, exactly.
And it’s hard to keep—you have good employees, and if
you have to go through a layoff, man, it’s just tough.
You have to try to make those decisions, and it’s very, very hard.
So, we wanted to diversify and kind of stabilize things here,
(14:23):
and to attract other talent around the area, too, that, you
know, we can say that we’re not so heavy in oil and gas.
Look at the things we’re building, stuff for rockets, and
satellites, and missiles, and you name it, especially that younger
generation that you have to try to get in front of right now.
That’s kind of what we wanted to go after.
So, it’s been a push.
(14:43):
I think we’ve done a lot for what we’ve did in the past three years.
I think beginning of ’21 we got our AS9100 cert, and then we
became ITAR registered about a month-and-a-half after that.
We had our first aerospace job in… a month later after that.
So, it’s been a learning curve, for sure.
We’re not used to machining on the aluminums and stuff like that.
(15:05):
It’s just been different in regards to the GD&T and the tolerances
and just the approach to manufacturing a lot of those parts is just
totally different than some round, tubular parts that going down whole.
It’s been a learning curve, but man, you know,
we’ve done a lot in the past three years.
And I think last year, space and defense
(15:28):
probably combined was about 15% of our business.
And this year, we’re expected to grow it even more.
Hopefully we can get up to the 20% range, 25%.
But it’s been fun.
It really has been fun [laugh]
. Some of those new machine toys, right, in service of those more difficult parts.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
And tolerance is better, for sure.
Are you thinking Kody that you’ll continue to diversify the business
(15:52):
further and add additional industries to the bucket or good with those two?
I think so.
I mean, semiconductor is kind of on my radar.
So, I know that industry probably—I think it was going a little
slow at some point last year, but I hear it’s kind of coming back.
It’s definitely one on my radar, for sure, another one.
So really, get to three major verticals and try to balance that?
(16:15):
Yeah, oil and gas, space defense, and then
semiconductor, if we can get to there.
In terms of recruiting talent, right, everyone talks about labor force.
I mean, it’s clear you guys have a fantastic culture.
That’s, no doubt, a draw.
There’s got to be tremendous, you know, word-of-mouth and I’d say,
you know, if you can build the culture you’re talking about in
(16:36):
Southern Louisiana, man, you should be able to do that anywhere.
So, what are the secrets?
How do you do recruiting?
How do you do training?
I mean, it’s a lot of it is word-of-mouth, to be honest.
You know, I’ll post some stuff on Facebook, and we’re really just kind
of picking up our marketing efforts right now, starting this year.
(16:56):
So, we’re about to be a lot more active on social media.
Another great investment.
Yeah, yeah.
You know, there’s some little preliminary stuff we’re doing that
that marketing team’s already showing us is just crazy, so I’m very
excited to see that’s actually kicking off the beginning of February.
Good for you.
That will make a huge difference.
Yeah, I think so as well.
You know, I’ve always tried to do it every now and then.
(17:18):
I just don’t have the time [laugh] —to sit there
and make posts on Facebook or LinkedIn or anything.
But, you know, a large part has been word-of-mouth around here.
And then we’re really starting to get into more of just
taking very green young people that I just want somebody that
has a great attitude and that wants to learn it, you know?
(17:38):
I don’t need all the experience right now.
We’ll train you up exactly how we want things to
be run here, kind of how we expect them to be.
It’s just sometimes it’s the best way because, you know, you
get somebody from another shop, and they’ve done in a certain
way for so long, they think that’s the only way to do things.
So, I think we’re really kind of concentrating on bringing on new, green
(17:58):
people that have never been experienced to the manufacturing industry.
So, we have two right now that are actually kind of going
through our beginning stages of what we’re trying to implement
of just, kind of, on-the-job training apprenticeship programs.
And is your main recruiting ground for that people in
the networking program at technical college [laugh]
(18:18):
? [laugh] . Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
“Hey, I got a better career for you.”
Yeah
[laugh]
. No, that’s fantastic.
And I mean, your willingness to invest in that type of employee or potential
employee as well, I don’t know that a lot of shops are willing to dig in to
(18:40):
that degree, and take someone truly green and figure out how to make it work.
I’ve realized having employees, you know, just like
your sales pipeline, you have to have a talent pipeline.
I mean, it’s an employee pipeline because you never know, somebody just might
pick up and leave the next day, and it’s, how are you going to replace them?
So, you have to have employees constantly trying to funnel in here,
(19:03):
whether it’s new employees or just people waiting to get on, get
in the door, but you just have to keep that funnel full, for sure.
That is such a great analogy.
You’re investing in tech and software, you’re investing
in better machines, you’re investing in marketing, and
you see recruiting as a never-ending cycle, which is—
Absolutely.
Fantastic.
(19:23):
And it’s so important, especially if you’re in a growth
phase of the company, that’s even more important because if
you know you’re going to be buying machines later on, it’s
like, okay, well, how are you going to fill these machines?
You have to start recruiting now, you know,
months ahead of you even ordering the machine.
I mean, that’s an investment mindset too, right?
Not everybody thinks that way.
Some people would wait until the machines are already there, with nobody to run.
(19:46):
Yeah.
And you’re already six months behind like that.
Right [laugh] . So, what do you see the next year or two holding for Coastal?
How’s your optimism, you know, how’s your outlook?
I know the defense side for us is going to be crazy busy this year.
We have some good outlooks with some of our current
customers, and then especially on the space side as well.
(20:08):
And then we’re bringing on some newer, bigger customers, too.
And hopefully, oil and gas picks up.
New administration in the office, it seems like it will.
The famous words of, “Drill, baby drill,” that’s what we want to hear.
So, if you know, they can pick up a little bit.
We’re not trying to heavily rely on oil and gas, but it’s
obviously tough when it’s low because when it’s 85% of
(20:30):
your business, it kind of makes it harder on everyone.
So.
That’s a big mountain to just try to avoid if it’s not where you want it to be.
The revenue is so different between oil and gas and space and
defence, just because of your material content and stuff like that.
And the size of parts that we do in oil and
gas is way bigger than space parts we do.
(20:50):
Our oil and gas—
Really?
Parts are—oh yeah.
I mean, we have our lathes are 120 inches between centers with ten-and-a-half
inch throughholes in the spindles, and then we can hang parts out of the
wall, out of the shop [laugh] . So, you know, we can put in a 240-inch-long
part in the machine that has a ten-inch OD, 12-inch OD, like it’s nothing.
(21:10):
When your material content is 40, 50% and it’s so expensive, too, so
it’s percentage-wise, between oil and gas and the space and defense
industry, it’s just hard for space and defense to creep up into it.
But the biggest reason that is just because
of the revenue of oil and gas when it’s busy.
Well, I mean, like, you say, I hope the, “Drill, baby drill,”
(21:30):
comes true for a lot of reasons. I think low gas prices, low energy
prices, there’s almost nothing that can touch more surface area
of the economy than stable, predictable energy prices, right?
It throws everybody for a loop when it’s not stable and it’s confusing.
(21:50):
Yeah, absolutely.
Awesome.
So Kody, the way that we like to wrap up the episode is—and I can picture
this, so it’s going to be fantastic—is, you’ve got to go back in time, and
you’ve got to talk to the Kody that’s standing in front of machine, looking
over his shoulder, making sure nobody’s watching when he thinks he’s going
to hit the wrong button, and you got to give him some advice for what it’s
(22:12):
going to take to make it in manufacturing, and to ultimately be successful.
So, what do you say to him?
I mean, the first thing I tell myself is show up to work.
[laugh]
. [laugh] . Don’t call in sick on Monday [laugh]
. [laugh] . And then again Tuesday and Wednesday?
Yeah
(22:32):
[laugh] . And then tell myself, don’t wait a year and a half.
This is what it is.
I don’t know how much that year-and-a-half would have made
a difference in regards to getting, you know, my torch lit
on the manufacturing side, but it could have, you know?
Who knows.
But, you know, everything happens for a reason.
I’d almost tell myself, don’t change anything, you know?
Do everything I love where I’m at right now.
(22:53):
I couldn’t imagine being in a different place, at a different
company, and have a different set of employees that we have right now.
So, it’s been great.
What I love about it, and in hearing so many of these
different stories is, there are no straight lines.
There are no simple paths.
And I mean in your particular case, standing in front of a machine having no
idea what it was doing, to now an equity partner in a thriving and growing
(23:18):
company that’s diversifying, you know, the industries that it’s serving,
that’s investing in technology, I mean, all’s well that ends well, right?
So, you know, the getting fired, the calling in sick, the maybe partying
a little too hard, whatever was going on back then, man, you know what?
This is why America is a great country [laugh] . This
is why opportunity is unbounded, and that’s important.
(23:42):
And I just, I love hearing your story, and, you know, I got to say, congrats
for how you got there and how you went through it because it’s inspiring.
Thank you.
Really appreciate it.
It’s been a journey.
Yeah, that’s what it’s supposed to be.
Yeah.
That’s what it’s supposed to be.
Awesome having you on, Kody.
Really appreciate you being willing to share the story
with us and continued success, and drill, baby, drill.
(24:05):
Yeah, that’s it.
Thank you, man.
Appreciate it.
Thank you for listening to Manufacturing Mavericks.
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