January 13, 2025 • 23 mins
Brandon's interview reveals a transformative approach towards workforce development, focusing on reentry programs for incarcerated individuals in manufacturing. He emphasizes the importance of soft skills and collaboration, showcasing the potential of second chances within the industry.
• Exploring the impact of reentry programs on workforce success
• Building essential soft skills for a stable employment foundation
• Cultivating a positive employee culture through community involvement
• Importance of partnerships for expanding business opportunities
• The benefits of transparency and collaboration in the industry
• Inspiring employee morale by showcasing success stories
• Vision for a diverse and inclusive manufacturing workforce
• Shaping the future of manufacturing through community engagement
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Ryan Nelson w/ Circle of 5 (00:00):
All right, folks, you have been
waiting for part two ofBrandon's interview, or my
interview with Brandon, and thisis really an interesting thing.
He shares a little bit aboutthe fact that they work with
individuals that are inincarceration in their shop and
he talks a little bit about howthey invest in reentry and a
role that I play with theirorganization.
He talks about why would Zephyrhold a shop tour for their
(00:23):
competitors Sometimes people geta little bit nervous about why
would I invite other people inthe industry into my space and
he shares some of hisperspective.
He talks about some of theother initiatives that the
KCNTMA is doing in 2025.
I'm excited about that.
And then you get to experiencethe speed round with Brandon and
hear his response to the speedfeed questions.
(00:43):
So check out episode five ofpeople in production podcast.
It's seat that Zephyr.
(01:04):
Can you tell us a little bitabout that journey?
Brandon Herring w/ Zephyr Pro (01:07):
I don't know.
I guess I wasn't in the seatI'm in now.
I think for the time, at thetime, it was the right seat.
So I was started out here as anestimator, and I was an
estimator for I don't know fiveyears.
But then, so in the nature ofour business and our workforce,
we currently, for those of youwho don't know, we have 200
(01:28):
employees, but 100 of thoseemployees are currently
incarcerated with the state ofKansas, and so what I realized,
and some of my colleagues, is alot of these gentlemen had never
had jobs before.
So we need to develop anenvironment that will allow them
to flourish, and so, inaddition to teaching them a
trade, which is great we need toteach them how to be at a job.
We need to teach them not onlyhow to be at a job, but we need
(01:51):
to teach them how to besuccessful at a job, and then
hopefully, you know, eventuallythey will be released into
society.
So we need them how to.
We need to teach them how toretain gainful and meaningful
employment, and so we didn'thave any of these reentry type
programs and soft skillsprograms.
And then, ryan, that's how youand I met we started developing
and working with groups likeInCircle and Johnson County
(02:16):
Community College.
So not only do we need to comeup with a curriculum that will
help our people, something assimple as being at your station
on time, you know employeeetiquette or how to deal with a
supervisor in a instruction orinstruction, you know supervisor
, employee role as opposed toauthoritative figure, victim
(02:36):
role.
We got to get out of thatmindset and get into a workforce
mindset and then just teachingthem.
You know community, effectivecommunication, teamwork and
there's a lot of things herethat a lot of companies should
be doing.
Anyway, we just really realizedit because we were having
turnover right out of the gateand we realized that a lot of it
had to do with just businessethic, just entry level work
(02:59):
skills, and so soft skills,communication skills that you
know.
Frankly, when I share that withother customers that have all
civilian workforce, they're like, well, we need that with our
company.
So I think it's kind of auniversal thing.
You know, just teaching peoplehow to be at work and how to be
successful at work, and whetherthey stay with you or not,
they're going to take that onwith them and they'll be
(03:20):
successful in their lives, andso so my original.
So when I so I took a positionwhere I was uh personnel
training and development andthat's where we developed a lot
of these programs, and some ofthe additional programs that
were uh needed also is for usspecifically that's specific to
our stories re-entry programs,like how do we get these guys uh
to be successful when they getout.
(03:41):
So those would include and likein some of the stuff that
you're involved in, where we'reteaching guys how to how to
build a resume, how to do mockinterviews, how to find some
simple finance things, like guysnever had a checkbook, a credit
card, you know and never got aloan before.
So do's and don'ts on all thesethings.
You know now that they've beenmaking money while they're
incarcerated, we need to have astructure for them so that when
(04:03):
they do re-enter, then not onlycan they maintain gainful and
meaningful employment, they havea technical skill that they
that is marketable, and sothat's another thing.
Here is, after we try to make,stay ahead of the technology
curse or teaching our guys thatthat's the technology that's
relevant, they can get a job in,but also how to be uh, maintain
that gainful and meaningfulemployment, as well as certain
life skills to help them be moresuccessful when they go back
(04:25):
into society and they're withtheir families and they can be
your neighbor and be a positive,contributing member of society
and break those generationalcurses and be able to uh, you
know, start over again.
Ryan Nelson w/ Circle of 5 (04:35):
So yep, and I think you're right.
You, you stated that well andyou indicated that it wasn't
necessarily that you were in thewrong seat, but you used your
innovative spirit, you used yourpassion for investing in the
workforce and you created asolution.
But then you realized there wasa role that you could play even
better within the organization,and that's when you made the
(04:56):
shift over to sales.
Is that a fair way to summarize?
Brandon Herring w/ Zephy (04:58):
That's a fair way.
So I actually, previous to mylife here at Zephyr, was in an
outside sales role for manyyears in custom software that
was focused on telecom, and so Icame from an outside sales role
, which was a job shop just insoftware, not metal, and so I
did a lot of the same types ofthings here.
So I had that previousbackground and that is.
(05:21):
You know, though, I lovedeveloping programs to help
people be more successful and Ithink it really had shifted the
culture here at zephyr and we'veseen a lot of growth just in
our employee base and wecontinue to uh, my jobs and the
way I and where I was groomed asfar as the career goes is in
the position I'm in now yeah, Ilove it, man.
Ryan Nelson w/ Circle of 5 (05:40):
So let's get back to this
conversation about when you seea project that's not right for
you.
You talked about hey, who do Irefer this to?
So how do you buildrelationships with other people,
companies that you might refera job to because you know
they're better suited for itthan what you are?
Brandon Herring w/ Zephy (06:00):
that's a great segue into uh, ntma or
national tooling and machiningassociation.
Uh, specifically of kansas city.
We got about 40 members of thischapter that a lot of them are
in precision machining.
But everybody has their littleniche in that precision
machining Now, whether it's CNCmills, lathes, you know, or some
(06:21):
sort of making screws to youknow, whatever their niche is
that we use precision machines,right, and so having that tool
in your toolbox, you have alitany of these other companies
that could be extensions to yourshop, right, and so having that
understanding of what thosepartners can do has been really
advantageous for us.
We, unlike many of our fellowmembers in the NTMA group, they
(06:46):
are serious machine shops.
We have a very minimal machineshop to date, and so that's been
a really big help for us.
So parts that aren't necessarilygood for us, like maybe one
part of an overall assemblythat's very intricate machine
having these partners in thisgroup in TMA has been awesome
for us, because these guysthat's what they do, and so
(07:07):
we've been able to leverage andcreate a lot of synergies with
some of those guys so that wecan get what we need and then
obviously in return we are doingstuff that we're good at laser
form, weld and powder coatingfor them, you know, and so, uh,
and so we have been able to, um,not pass on so many things
lately because of thatleveraging those relationships,
(07:30):
uh.
But you know, there still comestime where like, uh, you know,
there might be some stuff that'sjust, uh, maybe they want it a
little bit more assembled thanwe do, like we're doing like
electrical components and thingslike that.
But more and more, the morethat I dive into NTMA, there's
guys in there that do that.
So it's like, you know, I justcame out of another meeting just
now and we were talking aboutthat.
We're like, well, we don't wantto get into that.
(07:51):
So we probably should startleveraging more of these
relationships that we have.
So we don't pass up on thisstuff, because if it's lucrative
for for us and it could also belucrative for them too, and
then kind of like the mission ofwhat we're trying to do this
year and into means we're tryingto bring more manufacturing
back to the Kansas City area,and so having those types of
conversations, understandingwhat you have in the toolbox in
(08:12):
TMA, is going to be reallyadvantageous thing for all
members that are a part of thisgroup and any groups like that,
to be able to get moremanufacturing back into our area
and just to just to create alarger business ecosystem all
around you know, in 2024 you allactually hosted a shop tour
(08:33):
where you invited any mtmamember that wanted to to come
and have breakfast at yourfacility.
Ryan Nelson w/ Circle of (08:41):
There was a presentation.
You guys talked about yourorganization and your philosophy
of staffing and some of thesuccess stories of people who
have come through the program atZephyr, and then you literally
had your key leaders in theorganization give people tours
of your facility.
And someone might say why theheck would you do that?
(09:02):
You're actually letting yourcompetitors into your facility.
Uh, and why?
Why would you do that?
Isn't that a threat to yourbusiness?
Can you tell me a little bitabout the mindset that someone
who hosts an event like that hasto have?
Brandon Herring w/ Zephyr (09:16):
yeah , that's another great question.
So I think a lot you know,unfortunately.
Uh, that's a barrier that weneed to overcome in our industry
, like uh I think there's been alot of like playing your cards
really close to your chestbecause you don't want, uh, you
know people to know who yourcustomers are.
Hey, we need to get real.
Man, we all lit, we all are inthe same area and we all, mostly
(09:38):
, are doing parts for the samecustomers.
It's just a matter of whichparts you're doing when, right.
And so it comes down to therelationship.
And so, like, if I feel andknow, and I have confidence in
my team based on all the moraledevelopment that we've done,
based on the stuff we justtalked about, the positive
projects we do, that developstronger relationships with our
customers, so we gotta lean onthat, right.
So, like, I'm not just I'm notgoing to just deliver everything
(10:00):
over to my competitor on asilver platter but at the same
time, man, they could learnsomething from us.
They might see something thatwe do, uh, that they don't, that
they have an opportunity forthat.
Now they're like, okay, well,maybe we should make a, we can
be friendly competitors and wecan work together on some
projects, right, so thatactually happened on two
different um opportunities thatwe did when we did the shop tour
(10:21):
.
So, yes, we and, and, and Ithink every company has that
where you get some of this oldschool mentality that, okay, if
we can't have our competitorscome into our shop, they're
going to steal our parts.
I mean, in my mind, if you want, if somebody wanted to be that
petty, then you know they wantto do something like that.
Then fine, I'm confident'mconfident enough in our
relationships.
That wasn't going to be a bigdeal, um, but it actually, I
(10:42):
think it turns.
It turns a lot moreopportunities to create
synergies and and having thoseopen communications and allowing
people to come into your shop,uh, creating more awareness to
the, to the folks that were kindenough to come to see what type
of capabilities we had.
That will ultimately nurturemore business.
Ryan Nelson w/ Circle of 5 (10:59):
And Brandon, I'd also suggest that
maybe there's a message to yourteam as a leader of an
organization that says I'm proudof who we are and I want to
showcase our people, ourfacilities, our resources to
other people because there'ssome pride here, are resources
to other people, because there'ssome pride here.
(11:20):
And I think, organizationally,when you have the courage to
open up a shop like that and yousee 70, 80, 90, 100 people
walking through the shop, thepeople on the floor take some
pride on our leadership,believes in us enough to
showcase to other companies andI actually think it raises the
morale for the team as well.
Brandon Herring w/ Zephyr Pro (11:39):
I couldn't agree more, you know,
especially since, to your point,you know we have some of our
success.
So we have many success storieshere, but we had some of the
success stories.
You know.
Get up and give a littletestimony on their experience
with the program, because theycome through our program.
You know, I would say thatanybody works here that's a
civilian uh could go workanywhere and make parts, but the
(12:01):
majority if not all of us arehere because of more, here
because of the program.
Right, we're not just makingparts, we're making quality
people, and so we are workingwith people that had a tough run
because they may have made adecision someplace in their life
that changed the wholetrajectory of their lives.
But most of the people that endup here, that stay in the
program, are people that aretruly trying to change, and so
(12:21):
we want and so I think we wantto contribute to that change.
So we feel like we're doingcommunity work here just as much
.
That guy or gal could end upbeing your neighbor someday.
If we tool them up, give themthe right education, the right
opportunities, they're going tobe successful when they get out.
And so you know we have a veryhigh success rate with our
program.
We're very proud of that.
And, to your point, when we areshowcasing those stories and
(12:43):
those are sorry, thosetestimonies and the other, the
other members on the floor seethat they're very proud.
They're very proud that one oftheir own is has made it, and
they want that.
They want that too, right, sothat creates that's, that's
contagious and contagious.
And so, yeah, I couldn't agreemore.
It was, it was, it was just asmuch, if not more, an internal
um morale booster uh than theopportunities that came from
(13:05):
that I love it, hey.
Ryan Nelson w/ Circle of 5 (13:07):
One more question about your role in
mtma.
You've been on the board formtma.
You're going to be on it again,um, in 2025.
Um, a lot of people that I seeat MTMA.
They are the CEOs or the shopmanager and stuff.
It's kind of interesting tohave a sales guy representing
the company in MTMA.
Brandon Herring w/ Zephyr (13:28):
Yeah , I think I'm the only one
that's not an owner, or?
Ryan Nelson w/ Circle (13:31):
president .
So tell me about that dynamic,because I think there's a cool
aspect to recognize that it'snot just the machinist and it's
not just the shop supervisorsand the owners that have a
representation of the company.
I love the fact that you'rerepresenting another side.
Tell me a little bit about whya salesperson would want to
(13:51):
invest in the NTMA experience.
Well, first we'll get this.
Brandon Herring w/ Zephyr Pr (13:57):
So , from the selfish perspective,
obviously I'm a sales guy so I'mlooking for more relationships,
right.
But I also, you know, when Ifirst my first experience with
MTMA wasn't that wasn't awesome.
You know, like I went there andjust a bunch of people standing
around and talking, which isfine for, but there wasn't a
whole lot of energy.
I guess you say, and so nowthere's some new people that
(14:19):
aren't your typical folks thatwould be there has really
created a really great energy inthis group, and now you've seen
it expand pretty substantiallyover the last year or two.
That's just really put a sparkin this group.
And so I think you know, andthen traditionally, which I love
them, I love all the guys thatwere on the board before that,
but they've been there a longtime and so I think you bring
(14:42):
new blood in, you get new ideasthat create new energy and I
think even they saw that andthey were like, ok, maybe we
need to to make some changes forthis for the sake of the group,
so that the group can continueto flourish, and I think that
we'll see even more of that in2025 as we start to do some
things that are way outside ourcomfort zone, like trying to
have a our own uh, you know, uhtrade show and you know here in
(15:05):
kansas city, and things likethat, which I'm really looking
forward to.
Those opportunities, becausethat will, uh, that will.
That will spark a will spark alot of new business
opportunities, and the one thingthat I have in common with all
those owners and presidents isthey're trying to expand their
business, right, and so my jobis to expand Zephyr's business,
uh, and so, though I'm not in anexecutive role, my, I'm the
(15:26):
only outside salesperson here,and that's exactly what I'm
supposed to do, you know, is toexpand those things, and so
that's in order to do my job andto provide value back to my
company.
Um, while I'm with my time inmtma, um, it's also going to
benefit the mtma group, becausethat's what I'm doing for my
company and that's what we'regoing to be doing for that group
, so I think it's a, it's adouble, it's a, it's a win-win
(15:53):
so good man.
Ryan Nelson w/ Circle of 5 (15:54):
Love that, love your energy.
I love the outlook that youhave.
I also know that there's goingto be a combined event in april
between kc ntma and st louisntma and that's going to be in
the kansas city metro area tiedto the bots kc event, and so
it's super cool to see theenergy and the fact that KC NTMA
(16:14):
isn't just trying to grow thenetwork of people in Kansas City
, we're reaching and buildingrelationships with other areas
and it's going to create moreopportunities for excellence in
the industry.
Brandon Herring w/ Zephyr (16:26):
Yeah , it's going every direction.
We got not only just the NTMAinitiatives, but we have a
spinoff group with she Leads.
We got just not only just theNTMA initiatives, but we have a
spinoff group with she Leads,like we have all these women
that have seen this energy thatwe're doing here and like well,
hey, you know, let's get womenthat empower women in our
industry, which we lack.
You know, we need more women inour industry.
We do.
It's just this.
Ryan Nelson w/ Circle of 5 (16:44):
And they want to show the excellence
that women contribute to theindustry so that there's more
diversity within the industry.
Brandon Herring w/ Z (16:51):
Absolutely and we need that desperately in
our, in our industry, you know,and so I'm so happy for that.
And then you see this box kc,where you're getting students to
engineer these, these machinesthat fight each other with that.
That's entertainment too.
And then we have, you know,we're going to have this uh,
internship program where wethese, where folks can, you know
, students who come in and we'retrying to create more awareness
(17:12):
and more interest generatedwith the younger, with the
younger minds coming out ofschools and such to come into
our industry.
But in addition to that, fromanother selfish perspective, I
want that program for our guys.
You know, that's anotheropportunity for people coming
out of being incarcerated tofurther their at the further
education and their career in apath that we need more people
(17:33):
and we need.
We need more people that areinterested in manufacturing, and
so there's so many facets thatare happening in this that I
think are going to continuallyto generate a bigger ecosystem
of of business here that we'rereally on the precipice of
something really big and kcntmais currently led by an executive
director by the name ofCatherine O'Toole.
Ryan Nelson w/ Circle of 5 (17:54):
She is a go-getter.
I did a podcast interview withCatherine a couple episodes ago.
Check that out, and the energythat you see in Catherine on
that podcast is how she shows upevery day, and so I think
that's part of the momentum ofthe organization is that she is
on fire to get things done andit's showing up every session.
Brandon Herring w/ Z (18:14):
Absolutely .
I couldn't agree with you more.
She's a beast Awesome.
Ryan Nelson w/ Circle of 5 (18:18):
Hey, so time for the speed feed
questions.
All right, you ready?
Brandon Herring w/ Zephyr P (18:23):
for this.
Man, I hope so, man, I hope so.
Ryan Nelson w/ Circle of 5 (18:26):
All right, here's what we're going
to do.
Let's start with this.
When it comes to those earlymorning meetings or you're on
the shop floor before hours andstuff trying to see on a project
before you call a customer, areyou a coffee energy drink guy
or some other caffeine kind ofguy?
How do you get your energygoing in the morning?
Coffee and a workout, coffeeand a workout oh, you combine it
(18:48):
with the healthy stuff.
Nicely done, all right.
Let's ask you this If you couldgo to a Chiefs football game
with any it doesn't even have tobe a famous person, it could
just be any person of yourchoosing who would you want to
go with?
Do they have to be alive?
Brandon Herring w/ Zephyr (19:03):
Nope , they don't have to.
You can even go.
My hero is Jesus Christ, but ifI could go with anybody alive,
it would be I could go withanybody alive, and be my
daughter, all right, I love it.
Ryan Nelson w/ Circle of 5 (19:11):
I love it.
It'd be interesting to go to,especially a Chiefs football
game with Jesus.
That could be an experience Forsure.
All right, especially if it'sChiefs Raiders.
Could you imagine how Jesuswould react to that?
But it'd be great, all right.
Hey, so let's ask this From asales perspective what's the
greatest threat to themanufacturing industry in your
(19:33):
opinion?
Brandon Herring w/ Zephyr P (19:37):
The greatest threat is?
Well, I guess that's a loadedquestion, but I mean there's a
lot of different facets to it.
I guess one would be you know,we lack the ability to, or the
want to do more, do better anddo it more efficiently.
Obviously, you know materialprices and things like that can
(20:00):
play a factor, or whethercompanies are reshoring or
offshoring, but you know, Ithink it's just initiative,
right?
So how are you going todifferentiate yourself, how are
you going to stand out amongstyour, your competition, and then
just getting out there and uhand sharing that, making more
awareness to your brand?
Love it, man you.
Ryan Nelson w/ Circle of 5 (20:20):
I see you on a regular basis.
You are definitely a leader.
I have to ask you this what'sone tool you couldn't live
without in your leadership role?
Uh, tool belt.
Brandon Herring w/ Zephy (20:30):
Buy-in , okay, buy-in and, uh, you know
, accountability, uh, but butbuy-in communication, uh, yeah,
are, are, are are key factors.
But I think to to be a leader,you have to be willing, uh, to
roll your sleeves up and getdown into the trenches.
People respect and follow.
People they know can get a jobdone, not just being told what
to do.
(20:50):
They've read it somewhere.
But if you know, uh, and notscared to get down there with
them, uh and get and get into,get in there to the nitty-gritty
man people, people are loyal tothat and so yeah, that's
awesome.
Ryan Nelson w/ Circle of 5 (21:02):
Dude love that.
So what's one?
If you could master any skillinstantly, what would it be?
Oh god, um as a chiefs fan, Ithought you'd say field goal
kicking.
But what would it be, oh God?
As a Chiefs fan, I thoughtyou'd say field goal kicking.
Brandon Herring w/ Zephyr Pr (21:18):
No , yeah, I mean Chiefs.
Why not Field goal kicking?
Or yeah, I always.
Honestly, this is completelyunrelated, but I wish I could
master application programming.
Ryan Nelson w/ Circ (21:35):
Interesting Love, that that is a fun one to
hear you say.
And then last question really,what's a question I should have
asked you that I didn't ask you?
Brandon Herring w/ Zephyr Pro (21:42):
I don't know.
Honestly, that's a goodquestion.
There's not one that I canthink of.
That would have been amazing.
Other than you know, you couldhave answered like what's the
key or what's the secret to life?
I don't know.
Ryan Nelson w/ Circle of 5 (21:56):
Well , so I think what you're saying
is we picked your brain prettythoroughly.
Brandon Herring w/ Zephyr (22:00):
Yeah , pretty thoroughly.
Ryan Nelson w/ Circle of 5 (22:01):
All right, man.
Hey, it has been such an honorto have this opportunity to sit
with you and just engage at thislevel.
Thanks for all you do for KCand TMA, love your investment in
the manufacturing community andjust really grateful for you,
brandon thank you, thanks forhaving me.
Brandon Herring w/ Zephyr Pro (22:18):
I appreciate your time.
You guys, you take care.
Bye you too.
Bye, bye all right.
Ryan Nelson w/ Circle of 5 (22:27):
That wraps up our interview with
brandon.
He did such a great job.
Love his insight and the uniqueperspective he brings to the
conversation.
Remember to subscribe to thispodcast, in whatever vehicle
you're listening to it, andleave a comment below expressing
to Brandon what you appreciated, some insights that he shared
that you found meaningful, andalso be sure to share this in
(22:49):
your LinkedIn profile.
Let other people know about theconversation that's going on
here at the People in Productionpodcast.
Thanks for joining us.
Be sure to check out our nextepisode coming out next week.
All right, folks, you have been
waiting for part two ofBrandon's interview, or my
interview with Brandon, and thisis really an interesting thing.
He shares a little bit aboutthe fact that they work with
individuals that are inincarceration in their shop and
he talks a little bit about howthey invest in reentry and a
role that I play with theirorganization.
He talks about why would Zephyrhold a shop tour for their
(00:23):
competitors Sometimes people geta little bit nervous about why
would I invite other people inthe industry into my space and
he shares some of hisperspective.
He talks about some of theother initiatives that the
KCNTMA is doing in 2025.
I'm excited about that.
And then you get to experiencethe speed round with Brandon and
hear his response to the speedfeed questions.
(00:43):
So check out episode five ofpeople in production podcast.
It's seat that Zephyr.
(01:04):
Can you tell us a little bitabout that journey?
Brandon Herring w/ Zephyr Pro (01:07):
I don't know.
I guess I wasn't in the seatI'm in now.
I think for the time, at thetime, it was the right seat.
So I was started out here as anestimator, and I was an
estimator for I don't know fiveyears.
But then, so in the nature ofour business and our workforce,
we currently, for those of youwho don't know, we have 200
(01:28):
employees, but 100 of thoseemployees are currently
incarcerated with the state ofKansas, and so what I realized,
and some of my colleagues, is alot of these gentlemen had never
had jobs before.
So we need to develop anenvironment that will allow them
to flourish, and so, inaddition to teaching them a
trade, which is great we need toteach them how to be at a job.
We need to teach them not onlyhow to be at a job, but we need
(01:51):
to teach them how to besuccessful at a job, and then
hopefully, you know, eventuallythey will be released into
society.
So we need them how to.
We need to teach them how toretain gainful and meaningful
employment, and so we didn'thave any of these reentry type
programs and soft skillsprograms.
And then, ryan, that's how youand I met we started developing
and working with groups likeInCircle and Johnson County
(02:16):
Community College.
So not only do we need to comeup with a curriculum that will
help our people, something assimple as being at your station
on time, you know employeeetiquette or how to deal with a
supervisor in a instruction orinstruction, you know supervisor
, employee role as opposed toauthoritative figure, victim
(02:36):
role.
We got to get out of thatmindset and get into a workforce
mindset and then just teachingthem.
You know community, effectivecommunication, teamwork and
there's a lot of things herethat a lot of companies should
be doing.
Anyway, we just really realizedit because we were having
turnover right out of the gateand we realized that a lot of it
had to do with just businessethic, just entry level work
(02:59):
skills, and so soft skills,communication skills that you
know.
Frankly, when I share that withother customers that have all
civilian workforce, they're like, well, we need that with our
company.
So I think it's kind of auniversal thing.
You know, just teaching peoplehow to be at work and how to be
successful at work, and whetherthey stay with you or not,
they're going to take that onwith them and they'll be
(03:20):
successful in their lives, andso so my original.
So when I so I took a positionwhere I was uh personnel
training and development andthat's where we developed a lot
of these programs, and some ofthe additional programs that
were uh needed also is for usspecifically that's specific to
our stories re-entry programs,like how do we get these guys uh
to be successful when they getout.
(03:41):
So those would include and likein some of the stuff that
you're involved in, where we'reteaching guys how to how to
build a resume, how to do mockinterviews, how to find some
simple finance things, like guysnever had a checkbook, a credit
card, you know and never got aloan before.
So do's and don'ts on all thesethings.
You know now that they've beenmaking money while they're
incarcerated, we need to have astructure for them so that when
(04:03):
they do re-enter, then not onlycan they maintain gainful and
meaningful employment, they havea technical skill that they
that is marketable, and sothat's another thing.
Here is, after we try to make,stay ahead of the technology
curse or teaching our guys thatthat's the technology that's
relevant, they can get a job in,but also how to be uh, maintain
that gainful and meaningfulemployment, as well as certain
life skills to help them be moresuccessful when they go back
(04:25):
into society and they're withtheir families and they can be
your neighbor and be a positive,contributing member of society
and break those generationalcurses and be able to uh, you
know, start over again.
Ryan Nelson w/ Circle of 5 (04:35):
So yep, and I think you're right.
You, you stated that well andyou indicated that it wasn't
necessarily that you were in thewrong seat, but you used your
innovative spirit, you used yourpassion for investing in the
workforce and you created asolution.
But then you realized there wasa role that you could play even
better within the organization,and that's when you made the
(04:56):
shift over to sales.
Is that a fair way to summarize?
Brandon Herring w/ Zephy (04:58):
That's a fair way.
So I actually, previous to mylife here at Zephyr, was in an
outside sales role for manyyears in custom software that
was focused on telecom, and so Icame from an outside sales role
, which was a job shop just insoftware, not metal, and so I
did a lot of the same types ofthings here.
So I had that previousbackground and that is.
(05:21):
You know, though, I lovedeveloping programs to help
people be more successful and Ithink it really had shifted the
culture here at zephyr and we'veseen a lot of growth just in
our employee base and wecontinue to uh, my jobs and the
way I and where I was groomed asfar as the career goes is in
the position I'm in now yeah, Ilove it, man.
Ryan Nelson w/ Circle of 5 (05:40):
So let's get back to this
conversation about when you seea project that's not right for
you.
You talked about hey, who do Irefer this to?
So how do you buildrelationships with other people,
companies that you might refera job to because you know
they're better suited for itthan what you are?
Brandon Herring w/ Zephy (06:00):
that's a great segue into uh, ntma or
national tooling and machiningassociation.
Uh, specifically of kansas city.
We got about 40 members of thischapter that a lot of them are
in precision machining.
But everybody has their littleniche in that precision
machining Now, whether it's CNCmills, lathes, you know, or some
(06:21):
sort of making screws to youknow, whatever their niche is
that we use precision machines,right, and so having that tool
in your toolbox, you have alitany of these other companies
that could be extensions to yourshop, right, and so having that
understanding of what thosepartners can do has been really
advantageous for us.
We, unlike many of our fellowmembers in the NTMA group, they
(06:46):
are serious machine shops.
We have a very minimal machineshop to date, and so that's been
a really big help for us.
So parts that aren't necessarilygood for us, like maybe one
part of an overall assemblythat's very intricate machine
having these partners in thisgroup in TMA has been awesome
for us, because these guysthat's what they do, and so
(07:07):
we've been able to leverage andcreate a lot of synergies with
some of those guys so that wecan get what we need and then
obviously in return we are doingstuff that we're good at laser
form, weld and powder coatingfor them, you know, and so, uh,
and so we have been able to, um,not pass on so many things
lately because of thatleveraging those relationships,
(07:30):
uh.
But you know, there still comestime where like, uh, you know,
there might be some stuff that'sjust, uh, maybe they want it a
little bit more assembled thanwe do, like we're doing like
electrical components and thingslike that.
But more and more, the morethat I dive into NTMA, there's
guys in there that do that.
So it's like, you know, I justcame out of another meeting just
now and we were talking aboutthat.
We're like, well, we don't wantto get into that.
(07:51):
So we probably should startleveraging more of these
relationships that we have.
So we don't pass up on thisstuff, because if it's lucrative
for for us and it could also belucrative for them too, and
then kind of like the mission ofwhat we're trying to do this
year and into means we're tryingto bring more manufacturing
back to the Kansas City area,and so having those types of
conversations, understandingwhat you have in the toolbox in
(08:12):
TMA, is going to be reallyadvantageous thing for all
members that are a part of thisgroup and any groups like that,
to be able to get moremanufacturing back into our area
and just to just to create alarger business ecosystem all
around you know, in 2024 you allactually hosted a shop tour
(08:33):
where you invited any mtmamember that wanted to to come
and have breakfast at yourfacility.
Ryan Nelson w/ Circle of (08:41):
There was a presentation.
You guys talked about yourorganization and your philosophy
of staffing and some of thesuccess stories of people who
have come through the program atZephyr, and then you literally
had your key leaders in theorganization give people tours
of your facility.
And someone might say why theheck would you do that?
(09:02):
You're actually letting yourcompetitors into your facility.
Uh, and why?
Why would you do that?
Isn't that a threat to yourbusiness?
Can you tell me a little bitabout the mindset that someone
who hosts an event like that hasto have?
Brandon Herring w/ Zephyr (09:16):
yeah , that's another great question.
So I think a lot you know,unfortunately.
Uh, that's a barrier that weneed to overcome in our industry
, like uh I think there's been alot of like playing your cards
really close to your chestbecause you don't want, uh, you
know people to know who yourcustomers are.
Hey, we need to get real.
Man, we all lit, we all are inthe same area and we all, mostly
(09:38):
, are doing parts for the samecustomers.
It's just a matter of whichparts you're doing when, right.
And so it comes down to therelationship.
And so, like, if I feel andknow, and I have confidence in
my team based on all the moraledevelopment that we've done,
based on the stuff we justtalked about, the positive
projects we do, that developstronger relationships with our
customers, so we gotta lean onthat, right.
So, like, I'm not just I'm notgoing to just deliver everything
(10:00):
over to my competitor on asilver platter but at the same
time, man, they could learnsomething from us.
They might see something thatwe do, uh, that they don't, that
they have an opportunity forthat.
Now they're like, okay, well,maybe we should make a, we can
be friendly competitors and wecan work together on some
projects, right, so thatactually happened on two
different um opportunities thatwe did when we did the shop tour
(10:21):
.
So, yes, we and, and, and Ithink every company has that
where you get some of this oldschool mentality that, okay, if
we can't have our competitorscome into our shop, they're
going to steal our parts.
I mean, in my mind, if you want, if somebody wanted to be that
petty, then you know they wantto do something like that.
Then fine, I'm confident'mconfident enough in our
relationships.
That wasn't going to be a bigdeal, um, but it actually, I
(10:42):
think it turns.
It turns a lot moreopportunities to create
synergies and and having thoseopen communications and allowing
people to come into your shop,uh, creating more awareness to
the, to the folks that were kindenough to come to see what type
of capabilities we had.
That will ultimately nurturemore business.
Ryan Nelson w/ Circle of 5 (10:59):
And Brandon, I'd also suggest that
maybe there's a message to yourteam as a leader of an
organization that says I'm proudof who we are and I want to
showcase our people, ourfacilities, our resources to
other people because there'ssome pride here, are resources
to other people, because there'ssome pride here.
(11:20):
And I think, organizationally,when you have the courage to
open up a shop like that and yousee 70, 80, 90, 100 people
walking through the shop, thepeople on the floor take some
pride on our leadership,believes in us enough to
showcase to other companies andI actually think it raises the
morale for the team as well.
Brandon Herring w/ Zephyr Pro (11:39):
I couldn't agree more, you know,
especially since, to your point,you know we have some of our
success.
So we have many success storieshere, but we had some of the
success stories.
You know.
Get up and give a littletestimony on their experience
with the program, because theycome through our program.
You know, I would say thatanybody works here that's a
civilian uh could go workanywhere and make parts, but the
(12:01):
majority if not all of us arehere because of more, here
because of the program.
Right, we're not just makingparts, we're making quality
people, and so we are workingwith people that had a tough run
because they may have made adecision someplace in their life
that changed the wholetrajectory of their lives.
But most of the people that endup here, that stay in the
program, are people that aretruly trying to change, and so
(12:21):
we want and so I think we wantto contribute to that change.
So we feel like we're doingcommunity work here just as much
.
That guy or gal could end upbeing your neighbor someday.
If we tool them up, give themthe right education, the right
opportunities, they're going tobe successful when they get out.
And so you know we have a veryhigh success rate with our
program.
We're very proud of that.
And, to your point, when we areshowcasing those stories and
(12:43):
those are sorry, thosetestimonies and the other, the
other members on the floor seethat they're very proud.
They're very proud that one oftheir own is has made it, and
they want that.
They want that too, right, sothat creates that's, that's
contagious and contagious.
And so, yeah, I couldn't agreemore.
It was, it was, it was just asmuch, if not more, an internal
um morale booster uh than theopportunities that came from
(13:05):
that I love it, hey.
Ryan Nelson w/ Circle of 5 (13:07):
One more question about your role in
mtma.
You've been on the board formtma.
You're going to be on it again,um, in 2025.
Um, a lot of people that I seeat MTMA.
They are the CEOs or the shopmanager and stuff.
It's kind of interesting tohave a sales guy representing
the company in MTMA.
Brandon Herring w/ Zephyr (13:28):
Yeah , I think I'm the only one
that's not an owner, or?
Ryan Nelson w/ Circle (13:31):
president .
So tell me about that dynamic,because I think there's a cool
aspect to recognize that it'snot just the machinist and it's
not just the shop supervisorsand the owners that have a
representation of the company.
I love the fact that you'rerepresenting another side.
Tell me a little bit about whya salesperson would want to
(13:51):
invest in the NTMA experience.
Well, first we'll get this.
Brandon Herring w/ Zephyr Pr (13:57):
So , from the selfish perspective,
obviously I'm a sales guy so I'mlooking for more relationships,
right.
But I also, you know, when Ifirst my first experience with
MTMA wasn't that wasn't awesome.
You know, like I went there andjust a bunch of people standing
around and talking, which isfine for, but there wasn't a
whole lot of energy.
I guess you say, and so nowthere's some new people that
(14:19):
aren't your typical folks thatwould be there has really
created a really great energy inthis group, and now you've seen
it expand pretty substantiallyover the last year or two.
That's just really put a sparkin this group.
And so I think you know, andthen traditionally, which I love
them, I love all the guys thatwere on the board before that,
but they've been there a longtime and so I think you bring
(14:42):
new blood in, you get new ideasthat create new energy and I
think even they saw that andthey were like, ok, maybe we
need to to make some changes forthis for the sake of the group,
so that the group can continueto flourish, and I think that
we'll see even more of that in2025 as we start to do some
things that are way outside ourcomfort zone, like trying to
have a our own uh, you know, uhtrade show and you know here in
(15:05):
kansas city, and things likethat, which I'm really looking
forward to.
Those opportunities, becausethat will, uh, that will.
That will spark a will spark alot of new business
opportunities, and the one thingthat I have in common with all
those owners and presidents isthey're trying to expand their
business, right, and so my jobis to expand Zephyr's business,
uh, and so, though I'm not in anexecutive role, my, I'm the
(15:26):
only outside salesperson here,and that's exactly what I'm
supposed to do, you know, is toexpand those things, and so
that's in order to do my job andto provide value back to my
company.
Um, while I'm with my time inmtma, um, it's also going to
benefit the mtma group, becausethat's what I'm doing for my
company and that's what we'regoing to be doing for that group
, so I think it's a, it's adouble, it's a, it's a win-win
(15:53):
so good man.
Ryan Nelson w/ Circle of 5 (15:54):
Love that, love your energy.
I love the outlook that youhave.
I also know that there's goingto be a combined event in april
between kc ntma and st louisntma and that's going to be in
the kansas city metro area tiedto the bots kc event, and so
it's super cool to see theenergy and the fact that KC NTMA
(16:14):
isn't just trying to grow thenetwork of people in Kansas City
, we're reaching and buildingrelationships with other areas
and it's going to create moreopportunities for excellence in
the industry.
Brandon Herring w/ Zephyr (16:26):
Yeah , it's going every direction.
We got not only just the NTMAinitiatives, but we have a
spinoff group with she Leads.
We got just not only just theNTMA initiatives, but we have a
spinoff group with she Leads,like we have all these women
that have seen this energy thatwe're doing here and like well,
hey, you know, let's get womenthat empower women in our
industry, which we lack.
You know, we need more women inour industry.
We do.
It's just this.
Ryan Nelson w/ Circle of 5 (16:44):
And they want to show the excellence
that women contribute to theindustry so that there's more
diversity within the industry.
Brandon Herring w/ Z (16:51):
Absolutely and we need that desperately in
our, in our industry, you know,and so I'm so happy for that.
And then you see this box kc,where you're getting students to
engineer these, these machinesthat fight each other with that.
That's entertainment too.
And then we have, you know,we're going to have this uh,
internship program where wethese, where folks can, you know
, students who come in and we'retrying to create more awareness
(17:12):
and more interest generatedwith the younger, with the
younger minds coming out ofschools and such to come into
our industry.
But in addition to that, fromanother selfish perspective, I
want that program for our guys.
You know, that's anotheropportunity for people coming
out of being incarcerated tofurther their at the further
education and their career in apath that we need more people
(17:33):
and we need.
We need more people that areinterested in manufacturing, and
so there's so many facets thatare happening in this that I
think are going to continuallyto generate a bigger ecosystem
of of business here that we'rereally on the precipice of
something really big and kcntmais currently led by an executive
director by the name ofCatherine O'Toole.
Ryan Nelson w/ Circle of 5 (17:54):
She is a go-getter.
I did a podcast interview withCatherine a couple episodes ago.
Check that out, and the energythat you see in Catherine on
that podcast is how she shows upevery day, and so I think
that's part of the momentum ofthe organization is that she is
on fire to get things done andit's showing up every session.
Brandon Herring w/ Z (18:14):
Absolutely .
I couldn't agree with you more.
She's a beast Awesome.
Ryan Nelson w/ Circle of 5 (18:18):
Hey, so time for the speed feed
questions.
All right, you ready?
Brandon Herring w/ Zephyr P (18:23):
for this.
Man, I hope so, man, I hope so.
Ryan Nelson w/ Circle of 5 (18:26):
All right, here's what we're going
to do.
Let's start with this.
When it comes to those earlymorning meetings or you're on
the shop floor before hours andstuff trying to see on a project
before you call a customer, areyou a coffee energy drink guy
or some other caffeine kind ofguy?
How do you get your energygoing in the morning?
Coffee and a workout, coffeeand a workout oh, you combine it
(18:48):
with the healthy stuff.
Nicely done, all right.
Let's ask you this If you couldgo to a Chiefs football game
with any it doesn't even have tobe a famous person, it could
just be any person of yourchoosing who would you want to
go with?
Do they have to be alive?
Brandon Herring w/ Zephyr (19:03):
Nope , they don't have to.
You can even go.
My hero is Jesus Christ, but ifI could go with anybody alive,
it would be I could go withanybody alive, and be my
daughter, all right, I love it.
Ryan Nelson w/ Circle of 5 (19:11):
I love it.
It'd be interesting to go to,especially a Chiefs football
game with Jesus.
That could be an experience Forsure.
All right, especially if it'sChiefs Raiders.
Could you imagine how Jesuswould react to that?
But it'd be great, all right.
Hey, so let's ask this From asales perspective what's the
greatest threat to themanufacturing industry in your
(19:33):
opinion?
Brandon Herring w/ Zephyr P (19:37):
The greatest threat is?
Well, I guess that's a loadedquestion, but I mean there's a
lot of different facets to it.
I guess one would be you know,we lack the ability to, or the
want to do more, do better anddo it more efficiently.
Obviously, you know materialprices and things like that can
(20:00):
play a factor, or whethercompanies are reshoring or
offshoring, but you know, Ithink it's just initiative,
right?
So how are you going todifferentiate yourself, how are
you going to stand out amongstyour, your competition, and then
just getting out there and uhand sharing that, making more
awareness to your brand?
Love it, man you.
Ryan Nelson w/ Circle of 5 (20:20):
I see you on a regular basis.
You are definitely a leader.
I have to ask you this what'sone tool you couldn't live
without in your leadership role?
Uh, tool belt.
Brandon Herring w/ Zephy (20:30):
Buy-in , okay, buy-in and, uh, you know
, accountability, uh, but butbuy-in communication, uh, yeah,
are, are, are are key factors.
But I think to to be a leader,you have to be willing, uh, to
roll your sleeves up and getdown into the trenches.
People respect and follow.
People they know can get a jobdone, not just being told what
to do.
(20:50):
They've read it somewhere.
But if you know, uh, and notscared to get down there with
them, uh and get and get into,get in there to the nitty-gritty
man people, people are loyal tothat and so yeah, that's
awesome.
Ryan Nelson w/ Circle of 5 (21:02):
Dude love that.
So what's one?
If you could master any skillinstantly, what would it be?
Oh god, um as a chiefs fan, Ithought you'd say field goal
kicking.
But what would it be, oh God?
As a Chiefs fan, I thoughtyou'd say field goal kicking.
Brandon Herring w/ Zephyr Pr (21:18):
No , yeah, I mean Chiefs.
Why not Field goal kicking?
Or yeah, I always.
Honestly, this is completelyunrelated, but I wish I could
master application programming.
Ryan Nelson w/ Circ (21:35):
Interesting Love, that that is a fun one to
hear you say.
And then last question really,what's a question I should have
asked you that I didn't ask you?
Brandon Herring w/ Zephyr Pro (21:42):
I don't know.
Honestly, that's a goodquestion.
There's not one that I canthink of.
That would have been amazing.
Other than you know, you couldhave answered like what's the
key or what's the secret to life?
I don't know.
Ryan Nelson w/ Circle of 5 (21:56):
Well , so I think what you're saying
is we picked your brain prettythoroughly.
Brandon Herring w/ Zephyr (22:00):
Yeah , pretty thoroughly.
Ryan Nelson w/ Circle of 5 (22:01):
All right, man.
Hey, it has been such an honorto have this opportunity to sit
with you and just engage at thislevel.
Thanks for all you do for KCand TMA, love your investment in
the manufacturing community andjust really grateful for you,
brandon thank you, thanks forhaving me.
Brandon Herring w/ Zephyr Pro (22:18):
I appreciate your time.
You guys, you take care.
Bye you too.
Bye, bye all right.
Ryan Nelson w/ Circle of 5 (22:27):
That wraps up our interview with
brandon.
He did such a great job.
Love his insight and the uniqueperspective he brings to the
conversation.
Remember to subscribe to thispodcast, in whatever vehicle
you're listening to it, andleave a comment below expressing
to Brandon what you appreciated, some insights that he shared
that you found meaningful, andalso be sure to share this in
(22:49):
your LinkedIn profile.
Let other people know about theconversation that's going on
here at the People in Productionpodcast.
Thanks for joining us.
Be sure to check out our nextepisode coming out next week.
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