Chris Pepin with Progressive Reliability

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

people, reliability, industrial, place, opportunities, conversation, chris, next generation, teams, progressive, world, trust, focused, trends, work, solve, industry, camaraderie, challenges, knowledge

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Welcome to the Industrial Talk Podcast with Scott Mackenzie. Scott is a passionate industry professional dedicated to transfer and cutting-edge industry focused innovation trends, while highlighting the men and women who keep the world moving. So put on your hard hat, grab your work boots. And let's get

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around once again, thank you very much for joining Industrial Talk. And thank you very much for your continued support of a platform that celebrates industry professionals all around the world. Because you're bold, you're brave, you dare greatly you innovate you, you just solving problems, you're making the world a better place. That's why we celebrate you on Industrial Talk. And we are broadcasting from SMRP 31. And we are in Orlando, and it is an organization that you to put this on your to do list, an organization that you need to connect with. You need to just go out to SMRP.org SMRP.org Get connected, and you get to connect with individuals like Chris, who is in the hot seat. So let's get cracking. Hi, Chris. Hey, how's it going today? Scott? Really well, I'm so glad to meet you in person. Because it's it's Yeah, it really is. good listeners. I was out there. And we did a great conversation if you need to catch his conversation we had on Industrial Talk. How long ago?

02:34

Was it? Six months plus? Yeah,

02:38

somewhere, find it, because you'll be a better person because of that.

02:40

It's, it's true.

02:43

It's a fact. It's like air and water.

02:46

It's a fact. Anyway.

02:47

So you're having a good conference?

02:49

I'm having a great conference. Why? For one person, it's a great community. That's why we that's why we got into it and stuck with it.

02:58

Pro rely

03:00

impressive reliability. Yeah.

03:03

See, what's interesting is that you're serving a very important niche. And it's a dynamic market is because I've just this, my wife will be there just sneezing. But it's a dynamic market and I, your services, your solutions, the way you approach, it is very unique.

03:26

It's a changing world. So not only is technology changing everything rapidly, but we've got inner generational changes taking place. And we've had complete change in the way that work has been looked at in the last two or three years. I mean, there's a lot of disruption and where there's a ton of disruption, there's always opportunity

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to take us through a little bit of that disruption to sort of level set on what's taking place out in the marketplace.

03:55

So I would say within this is probably the largest disruption in terms of how work is performed, who it's performed by where it's performed, as well as, you know, the Exodus and the retirement of a tremendous generation all taking place at once. It's it's quite a lot to unpack. Yeah.

04:19

Yeah, no, I never thought of it that way. But you're right, you're absolutely you got you got people leaving. You have sort of entrance. It's not as you finding that because you're in the I'm trying to formulate this question because things are popping in my head. Are people aggressively looking to become involved in their reliability split the space so what do you see? That's because, because there's I think there's a lot more people leaving than coming in.

04:55

You would however, the need for reliability has grown dramatically. So there are less people entering the trades and entering the industrial world. And therefore, the need to approach the industry in an efficient way has gone up dramatically. And so, whereas you could throw, you can just throw people at, you know, fix it faster. There's not enough people to fix it faster anymore. Now we need to make sure it doesn't break. And that the vacuum that we stepped into when we opened the doors,

05:29

but how do you backfill in I mean, there's, there's, there's frothiness, that happens, people come and go and then move to different companies. And then that's all good. And that's an that's healthy. But it's like, you know, when I come to when I come to SMRP, I see the same people. Yeah.

05:48

So the way that pollination takes place is gonna change. Whereas people have been siloed, within their career within their company. For years, we have this tremendous opportunity, which I like to call failed retirees. There's folks that go, they have they finally reached retirement, they finally leave their company, they have all this knowledge, all the skills, and it's all kind of taking place in the two or three places they've worked. Now, they find that they might not want to sit at home all day. And which took me a week. Yeah, exactly. It's not what you thought. So you're a great testimonial. But look at what you built, right. And it's the same. So we work with a lot of folks, I've got several on contracts right now, who they're not going to work 60 hour weeks, but they have all this knowledge, they want to hand it to the next generation. And they can go on the site, tell them the baby's ugly, use all the skills and wisdom they have apply it, apply the methodologies within different protocols and within different types of sites handed off to next generation, and then be able to go on vacation and play with your grandkids for three or six months, a lot of people have been doing that. And that's an opportunity that we've been offering. So the knowledge hasn't left. It's just migrating. And we have so many digital opportunities to capture that knowledge. There's more tools and ability to do knowledge capture than ever before paying attention to video. Yeah.

07:15

Does Progressive Reliability keep up with all of the changes that are taking place? I mean, you have to I mean, it just seems that the velocity is just blistering.

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So this is the reliability fundamental is to be proactive and not reactive. So we take a proactive approach to the knowledge base that exists a proactive approach to Okay, how are we You mean, it's like a hockey analogy, right? You want to go where the puck is going to be, you know, not where it is today. And so that's exactly what we're doing is we're getting out in front of the market, we know where things are going, we have enough vision to see, okay, this is this is what's happening, this is where the trends are, because we're able to take a nationwide viewpoint and create services that get in front of where things are going to

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see. And because of your your base, the people that you interact with, you do stay current, you have those conversations, it is feeding your organization in a very positive way, right?

08:13

Yeah, when you train an experts, it kind of helps you pick up advice, that this is kind of a natural byproduct and what we do.

08:21

That's awesome. And never thought of it that way. But it's true. And so, so when when talking to you and others within your team, there's a sense of authority in a not in a negative way, but an authority of where the market is going.

08:37

It's an experience, you know, I wouldn't dare say authority and in any business to the moment you think you've got it.

08:47

So we're very confident, let's put it this way, competent talking to you.

08:51

Yeah, well, and again, the noisiest, most confident person isn't really asking the right questions either. So we tread that line respectfully, in terms of we've got an opportunity to develop something, it's really it's more a matter of what are we trying to solve for. And the equation trying to solve for for us is meaningful work. So by staying focused on finding meaningful work, we're able to adopt whatever tactics we need to ensure that we're not only working with the best people, but putting the best people in places where they're really able to scratch the itch of learning and transferring that knowledge.

09:26

In an analogy, that I see you or the use case. Let's say I'm a reliability professional. I've had, you know, 30 years of experience and I'm interested in, in, in looking at other opportunities I can I can approach Progressive Reliability. Absolutely. I can just say, Hey, I've got this gem, shall we say? But then the other option is, I'm a company and I, I see that I have a gap of some sort and I need that gap to The Bridge somehow with professional.

10:01

Yeah, it's it's interesting one hand washes the other a lot of times the clients we work with and work well with, you'll have a leader who's done, maybe they're on their second or their third, actual role implementing reliability. And eventually, they want to be able to help the next generation that's going up during the new release. Yeah, so we have clients who, hey, in the next three to five years, hey, once I get these next five sites set up, I'd like to look and explore what consulting looks like, what are other opportunities out there, because people want to find a different way to solve the problem and different teams and solve the problems with. So there is a natural progression.

10:40

You just that makes sense. But what I'm sensing and what I'm observing in our conversation, is that it's you, you do, and I'm not, I'm not trying to blow smoke or anything like that. But I think that given the position that you guys are in your team, you get to really see what's taking place out there.

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We do and we we really get to hear people's story, we get to understand the frustration. So we're able to see trends from a viewpoint that most would, is this, a site specific issue? Is this a nationwide trend, and we're really able to stay ahead on that. And that's, that's how we're able to kind of advise people more.

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That's that that capability

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Exactly. And that's what we're able to level set, because we're, again, being focused on the meaningful work, we want to put people in roles that they truly enjoy. And it's not always easy, by the way, there's no, it's a really good role and a really good opportunity, there's going to be challenges. That's why we work so hard to evaluate these career moves to make sure that it is the right set of challenges for somebody to be able to engage in and be able to grow from so by being able to do that we've we just are creating more and more testimonials and frankly, finding more

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opportunities. With that said, because you you you see what's taking place in the marketplace, you have a unique perspective. And do you where do you see some things were some new changes that are happening? What do you see happening?

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I, for one, I think that there is a lot of attention being put on taking great care of your teammates. And so, you know, we see a lot of the classic things are, you know, the fundamentals never go away right now. So that we never do. So, you know, I hate to say there's, of course, there's all kinds of bells and whistles, and we can talk about GPT and all that stuff, look, taking great care of your people growing your people. That's what matters. And the one thing that attracted me the most to this industry is the level of camaraderie and the level of respect people have for one another. So you can fall back on the comfortable blame the next generation blame, you know, people this isn't that blame video, you know, whatever it is you want to you want to blame, it's fine. Ultimately, there's going to be those few who are focusing on how to groom their people, how to grow their people, how to support them, how to support their families, how to support the quality of their life. And those are going to be the teams that win. So we don't need to boil the ocean and work with everybody everywhere. We need to work with the teams that are really focused on improving the quality of life that people have both inside and outside the company. Those are the places that we go. And again, the classics, that's really the best strategy is what has always worked.

13:41

I think that you touched on a really important component. And I think that if if anybody is contemplating or considering getting into the reliability world, you come to SMRP and you come to this event and you you do you see this camaraderie, this willingness to at least have this conversation. I've got this challenge. Well, and it's just above board. It's It's all so unique, collegial environment.

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difficult environments, create some of the best relationships and it's in it's the challenges your best day at work. Isn't the day where everything just went right. And it was just perfect and you barely even yesterday existed because everything was no it's the day where what you met and overcame one challenge after the next was people you trust and created and found your way and resolved in that those the moments that we're all the most proud of those the moments we're looking for. And those are the moments that really count.

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Yeah. Again, you touched on something that trust because there's there's a high level of trust and a desire to really help people no matter what right it's really pretty good. And I liked the way your your you pointed out the fact that that that Hold camaraderie that that that to me is that is so unique. So how do people get a hold of you? They want to find out more about you and Progressive Reliability. But you can

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go to our website PR o r e li.com. On LinkedIn, we're doing a lot of work on LinkedIn right now posted a lot of videos and information there. So look up Progressive Reliable

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comm on my phone. I'm gonna follow you, following you, because I'm not seeing the dog on posts.

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I know I will. All right, we're gonna have another, we're gonna have all his contact information. Chris has contact information out on Industrial Talk. So if you're not reach out to this gentleman, get it just at least at a minimum have a conversation. We're broadcasting from SMRP 31. Go out to SMRP.org Can't get engaged. Again, you get people like Chris and that's all wonderful and hunky dory. All right, we're gonna wrap it up on the other side. Stay tuned, we will be right back.

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You're listening to the Industrial Talk Podcast Network.

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Great conversation with Chris. He never disappoints. I think that's a second time being on the Industrial Talk. That was first time I ever met him. That's MRP. Speaking of which go out to SMRP.org get engaged. That is a must. You get to meet people like Chris, great conversation. All right, building a platform, Industrial Talk is building that platform, that platform that celebrates industry professionals. We have education, we have collaboration opportunities. And also we've got that innovation that we constantly focus in on be a part of this ever increasing ecosystem. Go out to Industrial Talk.com and just connect, talk to me about opportunities that we can collaborate on. I'm all ears, which I am pretty much all ears I got big ears. But anyway, that's what Industrial Talk is all about. We have some latest in our learning management system wrapped around leadership as well as marketing so it's so how it's all out there. Be bold, be brave. They're greatly hanging out with Chris change the world. We're gonna have another great conversation show