Community, Connections, & Commerce Episode 20 feat. Shale Cresent Pt. 2

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:19):
Welcome back everyone. This is why Anderson's sitting in for
the host right now for Drake Watson who is at
school doing his class work. And I am very excited
to have Sam from the bloom Daddy experience as my
co host today.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
I dam sitting back here in the important seat behind
the board.

Speaker 1 (00:41):
Yeah, look at me now. Nice seat, nice cushy seat.
I love it.

Speaker 2 (00:45):
You're in the driver's seat. So you have you.

Speaker 1 (00:50):
Are with us at Community Connections and Commerce. This is
a podcast that we're doing with Ohio University Eastern and
if you have any question that you would like us
to address, please send them to oh UE podcast dot
Ohio dot edu. Again OUI podcast dot Ohio dot ed U.

(01:12):
So I'd like to welcome back for a part two
to Grey Casara and his lovely wife Linda, who is
sitting in here and he has referred to her a
couple of times so which is awesome, So thank you
very much.

Speaker 3 (01:25):
He is one of the things I've learned about Linda,
and I think maybe all of us should look at
our spouses a little differently. There's more to her than
meets the and when we got engaged in business together,
I never ceased to be amazed that how quickly she
learns and how big an asset she's been, not just

(01:48):
to me, but to She'll cress him because they're just
she looks at the world differently than I do, and
that's important.

Speaker 1 (01:55):
And that's what makes a wonderful marriage. Honestly, two separate
ideas coming together to share. So good for you, all right,
And she runs.

Speaker 3 (02:06):
An awesome trade show that she well that that whole,
but she did it. Select USA was phenomenal because she's
not afraid to engage people. There were people walking by
that she would just start to talk to, and.

Speaker 1 (02:20):
That's what's important. And a trade show.

Speaker 3 (02:22):
We're working an active company from India that would have
walked by had she not reached out to them. And
now they're dead serious about coming to our region. And again,
if she just sat there and kind of waved. But
that's the stuff that makes a huge.

Speaker 1 (02:40):
Engagement, and that is what makes a trade show very successful,
is the engagement. I've been to several and they just
sit doing nothing, like we're here, we're getting paid for
just eight hours of sitting. Not you, Linda, You go
after them, You go girl. Okay, So Greg, let's fit

(03:00):
what we were talking about before on when we've last
left you. So you were talking about this company that
was coming, mister.

Speaker 3 (03:08):
Molly Chemicals, and they're not coming. They're here, okay, TCL.
They've actually had they've got some offices that they're using
up in the Wheeling area here right now. But their
plant is under construction down outside of New Martinsville, Okay.
And what's fascinating, and this is what's so important for
folks in the region to grasp is the product that

(03:30):
they were going to make here in the US starting
in twenty five, was being made in India. Now, the
energy that takes to make that, a lot of that
was coming from the United States. So imagine we're shipping
our energy and some of our raw materials to India
they make this product, or they were getting from the
Middle East, and they shipped the product all the way
back here to the US. Well, they looked at it

(03:52):
and said, you know, all our customers, most of them
are in the US anyways, So they decided to bring
the plant here. Now they were looking dead they were
really dead serious about the Gulf Coast. And we saw
them at UH. It was at UH the World Petrochemical Conference,
and began to convince them and some of those studies
we did with with the first the first study, what

(04:17):
did we did with I just marketing? That moved them.
Their project manager was able to take that to the
board of directors, into the CEO and said, you know,
we really need to take a serious look at the
golf at the Schell Crescent region. And because they had
no idea, they just figured, well, of course you go
to the golf coast, that's where it is. And one
of the things that moved them a was we have

(04:40):
they literally have Jerry James actually helped them cite the
plant because he showed them there's those uh, we have
the fractionators down there to take the natural gas liquids
and turn them into fane, butane, pro propane, that kind
of stuff. So he said, you know, if you're going
to build this thing, he said, here's an area you
might want to consider. And it literally is right where
they built it. Whether they found that property from Cafestra,

(05:03):
So they built the plant there and they literally are
on top of their feed stock. Wow, I mean that's
where the gas and natural gas liquids are right there,
and they're in the middle of their customers. And the
other thing that that their CEO brought up that they
hadn't even thought about, is we don't have a hurricane.

(05:23):
Was devastating for that plant there in India. They're used
to floods where theyre located, where their plant is in India,
They've never had to deal with a hurricane. And when
we explained, the guys on the golf coast never told
them this stuff. Okay, so when they're talking to them,
he said, well, you know, we don't have hurricanes up there.
You mean there's hurricanes in the golf Yeah, so, but

(05:46):
can imagine they're on top of their energy and feedstock
in the middle of their customers. And their CEO told
us this. We had a meeting in Charleston and he said,
usually I have to decide when we're going to build
a do I build where the customers are or I
build where the raw materials are. He says, this is
the first time in my entire career that I didn't

(06:09):
have to make that decision because the energy's here, the
right materials are here, and the customers are all here.
And can you imagine them why they can expand that plan? Sure,
because the money they save from shipping. They're going to
be wildly profitable because now you say fifteen to twenty

(06:30):
thousand miles plus the natural gas and the liquids are
a tenth of what they are in India. So when
you do that, they're profitability is good. And what are
they gonna do. They're gonna hire. They're hiring local people
to do all this work. So it's not just to contractors,
but these are good, high wage jobs that are that's

(06:51):
real important for our region. So that's the kind of
stuff that that's just the beginning. But can you imagine
that opportunity. And we're seeing that across the board. And
what I love about it is then and I because
of our travels, we get to meet some of these
jobs and we're getting we know those folks that they're
Molly Camrall folks. We know those guys. We helped to

(07:11):
bring Shell Crescent was involved in bringing a facility to
Pennsylvania from Costa Rica. And they take plastic waste, mixed
plastic waste and they put it into a put into
a conveyor, they grind it up and they turned out
these little pellets that they had to concrete block to

(07:32):
make the block lighter and stronger, but they're getting rid
of two tons of plastic in our we call it waste.
They call it feedstock. And they're in York, PA. And
we actually got a chance to go up there and
meet the jobs that we helped bring to the region.
And we're seeing the same thing here in these plants
that are expanding. And the biggest I think the one

(07:54):
message that your listeners really need to know and understand
is it's not hard to bring companies here. But the
second question is the one that we really have to
work hard on, is I'm coming now, tell me about workforce.
And that's the challenge we are real problem now is

(08:18):
we need workers. And you can go up and down
the Ohio Valley and find people that are looking for workers.
And we have got to develop that. That has got
to be a priority. Because I mentioned Buddy Malone and
the Parkers out of building trades. His problem. He's got
all of his trades. People are living or live there

(08:39):
sleeping at home.

Speaker 2 (08:40):
Now.

Speaker 3 (08:40):
All the jobs are right there in the region, he said,
but I need apprentices. I got to and a lot
of these folks are let's put it this way, they're
getting close to retirement. Time, so you get that issue,
and they're finding creative ways to help these retirees. Some
of them don't want to work. They want to travel
in the winter time, but they'd like to work a

(09:02):
few months in the summer. So what they've done is
some really creative things of helping these folks. That one
is still keep their keep it, stay involved, but they
don't want to work forty hours a week fifty two
weeks a year. They want to go to Florida, they
want to travel, they want to do something. But what
he's found is, well, we can bring them back in

(09:22):
the summertime. And so when our young people want to
go on vacation, we've got these seasoned workers that know
what they're doing that just want to maybe they only
want to work twenty hours a week. We can accommodate that.
So I think we need to think in terms of
two things. The young people bring them along, but for
the season's work, these experienced folks that have done this

(09:44):
for years, that don't want to work eighty hours a
week anymore forty hours a week, they want to do
something different. We can find ways to comminate them. And
if you think about it, some of those folks have
forgotten more than some of the people who already know.
So let's take advantage of their experience and expertise.

Speaker 1 (10:04):
And I love that he's capitalizing on the work life
balance and that is like that seems like to be
the thread and all of our podcasts that we do,
it's that work life balance. And I'm so happy to
hear that, because You're right, some of these retirees are
forgotten and they only want to work a few hours,
twenty hours a week, maybe twenty five hours a week.

(10:27):
But what they have to mentor these younger people is
you just can't. There's no price on that. That is
crazy that they forgot, they're forgotten. But I love this
that he is really working on that work life balance
and being creative in his in the human resource area.

Speaker 3 (10:50):
And I think that's something if other companies consider that
that and you have you know, I remember just few
years ago, I was up a long route fifty in
West Virginia. I was surprised at all the water truck drivers.
How many of those were women? And I asked someone

(11:10):
they said, well, they said, that's a great job for
them because they can be home see their kids off
the school. In the morning, they can drive this water
truck and actually they don't need to work eight hours.
They can work from like nine to.

Speaker 4 (11:27):
Two and be home when the kids come off from school.

Speaker 3 (11:32):
But they're getting a good wage. But they're providing a
service that's needed. And I think the challenge for a
lot of employers is to be thinking creatively how can
we take advantage of different parts of our workforce. And
you know the other thing, we were at a Plastic
News executive conference a year ago. It was down in

(11:54):
Florida and it's the high level of business owners and
they gave an award for the ten best places to work.
And what was fascinating to me is they had all
these programs again work life balance, and they were very
worker focused. But you know what the amazing thing was

(12:16):
is the ten most profitable companies and those ten companies
that were the best places to work just happened to
be the same darn companies. Really.

Speaker 4 (12:28):
So the message really is if you take care of your.

Speaker 1 (12:30):
People, oh they'll take care of you.

Speaker 3 (12:32):
They'll take care of you absolutely.

Speaker 2 (12:34):
Isn't that a message that a lot of employers have
come to realize post COVID because working with a lot
of different industries. In my job, hiring and recruitment is
a major issue, and I think companies are beginning to
realize the importance they need to put behind their workers absolutely, and.

Speaker 3 (12:56):
They're still I think, what's happening, sam is some of them.
It's almost like they got to get beat over the
head because here's what happened. This one gentleman, I always
liked to know the rest of the story, and he
talked about what had happened with Oh. There. It was
an engineer and this engineer they were making a part

(13:18):
for General Motors, the one of the cars, and he
couldn't reach the senior VP. So this engineer made a
three million dollar decision to buy these hollow ball bearings
from Italy, and he made the decision. They got the
part and it worked. General Motors was thrilled, and I

(13:43):
asked the gentleman at the fire pit that night, I said,
what would you have done if he had failed? And
I was I work corporate long enough to know that
there are companies that I worked for and if I'd
have made that decision, it would have been it would
have failed. They'd have fired me. And this guy looked
at me. He said, well, Greg, He said, I can't

(14:05):
fire him. I've got three million dollars invested in his education,
so we would learn that. You know, it's all about
again how you treat people. But the other thing, he added,
I said, do you have any problem getting folks? He
starts laughing. He says, Greg, He's I got to tell
you something. He said. He said, my competitors have no idea.

(14:27):
But HR has a list of some of the best
people working for my competitors that have came.

Speaker 4 (14:34):
They came to us and said, look, when someone quits
or retirement, can you fire me? So he says, my
competitors have no idea that their best people want to
leave and come to work for me because of the
way we treat our people well.

Speaker 2 (14:50):
And that ties directly into a High University Eastern, who
is partnership with this podcast. The different companies that you're
talking to, whether it's the Italy Company India for the
students that are currently in school, whether it's a high
University Eastern or a trade school, what are the most
in demand jobs that they're looking to fill.

Speaker 3 (15:13):
I'd say, what we're looking at A lot of these
are manufacturing jobs, but they're not they're we're seeing a
lot of robotics, and it's not just running that stuff,
but you've got to have people that can program it.
You've got to have people that can repair it. So
those are the high tech jobs we're talking about. These
manufacturing jobs are not A lot of them aren't on

(15:35):
the floor. They're in a like our doctor's son works
in a control center. He loves it, but he doesn't
even get his hands dirty. So there's a variety of
different opportunities out there.

Speaker 2 (15:48):
That manufacturing terminology is not of the days of on
the floor.

Speaker 1 (15:55):
We have to expand that thought process of what manufacturing is.

Speaker 3 (15:59):
But my grandfather was in manufacturing steil. I did not
want to do that exactly.

Speaker 1 (16:07):
And so these kids can get a two year degree
and go on to make lots of money, but not
only that, stay here in the valley. The Ohio Valley
is really where we want them to stay.

Speaker 3 (16:22):
And I think what's happening today is they're going to
get that choice if they're trained. I mean, that's the
key part, sure is. And some there's some programs that
I know some of the high schools even starting this stuff.
But I think it's really important. I think this podcast
is important so that young people understand that they do
have options. That two year degree I mentioned my students started.

(16:47):
Can you imagine starting at sixty grand with a two
year degree I got, I coached high school soccer. I
got soccer kids that graduate with four year degrees that
aren't making sixty grand a year. But sixty is just
the beginning. Because our doctor said, I know he's six
figure now, and that doesn't cut his bonuses. So you're

(17:08):
talking one hundred grand a year plus vacation, plus all
the benefits with a two year degree, and he can
raise three kids on and have a new pickup truck
and have a house. But that's the beginning. And then
I guess whenever he gets time, when the kids will
let him, one of these days will get his Mountaineer
seasoned football tickets. But that's the opportunities that we have.

(17:29):
And I think it's really important that young people, to
your point, Sam, understand that this is not Grandpa's manufacturing.
And even from a there's people that are out there
thinking when they think of manufacturing, they think of smoke stacks,
and these aren't these aren't these are You wouldn't even
know when you drive by these facilities. Now you wouldn't

(17:52):
even know they're making anything in there because there's no
smoke stack. I mean these are and actually, from an
environmental standpoint, this is some of the best stuff going
because we're using our energy under our environmental law. We're
making the stuff that we need and we're not having
it chipped in. And you know, I'd mentioned you guys

(18:15):
earlier after show after the pandemic started, we did it.
We put a pitch. We shell Crescent talked about why
made in America is now a must because people were
mad that we have to wait on ventilators from China.
What's wrong? People didn't know we don't make We didn't

(18:35):
make rubber gloves here. We couldn't get hand sanitizer, and
all of a sudden, now those were making gloves in Ohio,
they're making hand dial came online in Charleston added a
full line start making hand sanitizer. I mean, that's the
kind of stuff that we're now making these products. But

(18:56):
another good point from the podcast standpoint is America's got
to know that we can't fall off the wagon. We
can't allow these manufacturing jobs to go away again. And
we don't have to, but I think that's that's really
important that the more stuff we can make here, it's
good for the country. It's it's environmental job, it's good

(19:17):
for the environment, good for the country, and it's a
win for for all these regions.

Speaker 4 (19:21):
And it's security absolutely, it's.

Speaker 2 (19:23):
Security of our nation also absolutely, And I think the
challenge is.

Speaker 3 (19:29):
And one of the problems we see going forward is
we need more electricity, not less of it. Right at
the Business Summit, they were talking about these data centers
and AI and to do AI you need ten times
more of the process, more processing power than you do
for a Google search. So all these all these things.

(19:50):
We have data centers that are looking to come in here.
And now those aren't great job creators, but they do
support other jobs that are.

Speaker 1 (19:59):
So even though they're not great job you know, promoters,
but it's the people that work there will get the
paycheck and they'll go out and go to restaurants and
they'll buy their groceries and they'll stay here at local
they'll buy their gas and their cars and whatever. So
it's all important. So what can you for a student

(20:21):
in college? What would you say the most important studies
would be?

Speaker 3 (20:29):
Wow, of course the technical studies are important, there's actual
hands on but you know what I would recommend is
the one weakness that I see from a lot of
students is people skills. You've got to be able to communicate.
And this one my wife goes crazy because our granddaughter's

(20:50):
in the backseat of the car and sensor a text message.

Speaker 1 (20:55):
I understand.

Speaker 3 (20:56):
And you've got to be able to talk to someone
like we're doing right now, and even writing, to be.

Speaker 1 (21:04):
Able to write.

Speaker 3 (21:07):
Something and haven't made.

Speaker 1 (21:08):
Got down on paper at least ask a question. I
have the same question, this same issue in the in
different things that I do. These kids their head is
their faces and their phones, and they don't look up.

Speaker 3 (21:23):
They don't know.

Speaker 1 (21:24):
Their social skills are almost gone.

Speaker 3 (21:27):
And that's a challenge that we got to find a
way to keep that because you know, when you look
at the world when we have problems in industry, and
it's just like we got two friends of ours willing
d Jolly do a marriage program. It's it's on tonight,
matter of fact, and they talk about the number one

(21:50):
thing that kills relationships is communication. And when I go
back to my corporate career, the number one place we
had when there was an issue. It was communication, and
that is so important. It doesn't matter whether you're you
know you're doing, it, doesn't matter what the product you're

(22:13):
making is, but that manufacturing process, you've got to be
able to communicate. You've got to be able to tell
your story and tell you one thing I did, even
as a as an instructor at Pierpont, I made sure
that when they were I wanted my students to present.
I wanted them to stand in front of the class

(22:35):
and be able to tell a story, to be able
to explain things. And I'll never forget the first class
that did. These guys. After three of them, I just
I got so frustrated. I shut it down. They had
their hands in their pockets, they're looking at the floor,
and I said, finally, okay, guys, time out. Forget the assignment.
All I want you to do is, I said, you know,

(22:56):
everybody in here, it's not a big class, stand in
front of the room and just tell your fellow students
what you did this weekend. They knocked it out of
the park and it's all they had. I said, that's it.
That's all it is. But you've got to be able
to communicate, to tell a story and I'll tell you

(23:18):
how powerful that it is. A couple of years later,
one of my students graduated and we were touring Dominion's facility.
It was in Clarksburg and he's leading the tour in
front of thirty of us seasoned industry professionals at the time,
and it's like, Wow, he got it. He had no
problem talking to thirty experienced people telling the Dominion story.

(23:41):
And that's what That's what we need our students to
be able to do because if they can talk to
a large group, they can talk to a small group.
But communication is essential and it's not just for work,
it's for relationships.

Speaker 1 (23:56):
It is well, i'll tell you what we have to
it up. But Greg, this has been really eye opening,
a great experience, and I'm gonna see if we can.

Speaker 2 (24:06):
Get you to come back on.

Speaker 1 (24:09):
Thank you so much for coming in. Greg Cauzarah, director
of marketing for Shell Crescent USA, and his wife Linda.
Thank you so much. Sam. Thank you for being my
sidekick today again. Wendy Anderson in for Drake with Drake Watson.
If you have any questions for Community Connections and Commerce,

(24:34):
which is our cop podcast, please send them to OUE
podcast dot Ohio dot ed U again. That's Ohio University
o u E podcast dot Ohio dot ed U again.
Wendy Anderson in for community connections and commerce along with Sam,
we'd like to say goodbye, good bye Mar