Arthur Field with Machine Shop Tech Talk

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Industrial innovation, manufacturing, machine shop, CNC, technology, automation, culture, young professionals, education, collaboration, trust, podcast, video content, industry leaders, economic growth.

00:00

Scott. Welcome to the industrial talk podcast with Scott Mackenzie. Scott is a passionate industry professional dedicated to transferring cutting edge industry focused innovations and 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 all right

00:22

once again. Welcome to industrial talk. You industrial Gladiator. We celebrate you on this particular platform because it You deserve it, because you're bold, brave, you dare greatly, you innovate. You're always collaborating. You're saying, hey, I want to solve problems. That's why we celebrate you. That's why we want to amplify your message each and every day. And all the individuals that have been on the platform, kudos to you. All right, again on my journey, as I continue to say, hey, we need to, in industry, amplify more voices, celebrate more voices and and bring as much information as possible. Arthur field. He is. He's the voice behind machine shop Tech Talk, and I'm always just as you know, I'm geeking out. I've got, I've got so many other conversations out there, and I want to understand why, why these, these influencers, these podcasters, are putting themselves out there, telling the story so that we, we collectively, including you, inspire the next generation of industrial leaders. That's what we're all about. Let's get cracking with the conversation. Yeah, it's a must. I've been on this kick. It sort of hit me upside the head. It made me even uglier, which is easy. It's not that that's a low bar, but the reality is one, we have all this wonderful economic things going on out there in industry. We want to bring more, you know, manufacturing back. We want to be able to sort of saying, hey, it is time. It is now. And let's just sort of amplify that technology, that solution, that voice, it's all right now. And you know what I always get down to, right? Just get right down to it in the trenches right here. You're going to experience it. People. Oh, this is great. All of this is wonderful. And I mean, I'm having conversation after conversation after conversation. You know what? The constant theme with many of these, outside of the fact that technology is outstanding and I and and the companies are incredible, it's just people. Where do we find it? How do we continue to sort of push forward a business that is resilient? That means I need people. I can only do so much automation, but I still need people. I still need that team of individuals that are rowing in the same direction. So I've got to focus on culture within the organization, meet the people where they're at, and be able to get just rowing in the same direction and being able to do it with passion and zeal. So that's one thing. But then how do I take that culture, take that energy and be able to inspire young professionals now, not now we need, we need to be able to plant those seeds. And I'm talking about going back to all the way to elementary school. How do we inspire those young professionals to look at industry as a career, a profession, something to be really geeky about that that's excitement, and I'm here to task and challenge you, just like Arthur, just like all the other individual voices that are out on industrial talk, challenge you to do the same. If we don't, we don't have the people we need people, and we need people to say, Yeah, this is a career for me, because you know, as well as I do. And if you've been listening to industrial talk, you know that the technology is blistering fast. Solutions are coming at you fast and furious, and we still need people. We need to make that investment. We need to do that. That's my that's my soapbox. Yeah, Arthur field, he's right on us up by. He's right right next to me. If you could see it when we have this conversation, he's right there. That's, that's what drives, drives people like Arthur and others to continue to carry that flag, that passion, because it's exciting out there. I, as you could tell, I geek out on it and and, trust me, you need to, let's get on with the conversation. So Arthur was that Arthur came through a friend of mine, also Jim Mayer. He, he has a podcast, it's manufacturing. It's, it's incredible. He has an interview out on industrial talk. And you know what? It was incredible. Of course, it was incredible. Everybody in industry is incredible. I'm such a I just, I just love industry. But Arthur came through, had a conversation he's doing absolutely some incredible heavy lifting to keep that industry, CNC, the machine shop, moving forward, and saying, This is where it's at. You'll see his passion. It's, it's, I don't know, it's infectious. That's what I always look at. All right, let's get on with a conversation. Here is Arthur. Arthur, welcome to industrial talk. How are

06:16

you doing today? Scott, good to see you. Scott. Man, I'm doing good buddy.

06:20

Good. It's been 20 minutes since we last spoke.

06:23

I wondered if we're gonna mention that. Yeah, it's a part. I just had you over on machine shop Tech Talk, so I get to sit down with you two hours back to back. I'm feeling a little spoiled. I'm not gonna lie, buddy.

06:35

Yeah, I changed my shirt and my hat. I don't like the same.

06:40

Oh, I changed nothing. I sat in the chair answering emails.

06:44

Yeah, you know, it's funny. I did a podcast with Chris Lukey, and we were having power problems, and so no, so it. You know, we're talking, talking, talking power. Go out, frees up, comes back. Try it again. We did that four times. And then finally, I just said, Uncle, I'll give up. And we came back the next day. I'm wearing a different shirt. And then it was appalling. Then I saw it, Scott, she couldn't even look the same. I thought, Oh no, I'm shooting things up.

07:19

Hey, hey, doing it consciously. I mean, if you're going to have troubles though, Chris Luke, he's a great guy to have troubles with, because he is such an understanding dude. He's got such a big heart. He's just, yeah, stellar human, yeah

07:33

podcast, but manufacturing happy hour,

07:39

that is so cool. I wish I was in the US more, because, like, like, when it's actually going on, because those look like a hoot. I went to at IMTS, actually, I went to, he did a rock night, a 90s night. And I was like, Okay, well, that's my thing, so I'm going. And that was wild. He throws on a great event.

07:58

Yeah, he does even Chris a little bit about pulling plug, a

08:04

little bit a little bit good people. Good, good people. It's hard not to, man, come on,

08:09

yeah, the community's really tight, very small when it comes to people that like to talk about industry so, and that's why you're on. But give us a little background on who Arthur is. Just, just yeah,

08:21

10:04

Yeah, that's, that's funny that you mentioned that because I've, I've been exposed to my my brother in law's had, uh, a couple of CNC shops. And what always happened when we'd have family gathering, we go there and I'd say, Hey, can I go to, can you go to your shop? Hey, yeah, cool. Come on. And then one of my brother in laws would just geek out on what they were making. Just geek just just you're slipping in weakness. And they just love it to no end. And it's so fun to watch and listen to them just have a ball doing what they're doing and programming and whatever. It's just, it's great. Hey, you mentioned M M T, M T, M T D,

10:49

11:37

See, that's a great segue into our conversation. What was the driver that? That passion? They just said, Hey, I got a solution for you. I've got I you have a problem. I have a solution. Here it is, and be able to communicate that, right? That. I mean, sometimes good job at communicating. We just,

11:58

which, okay, look, if you're finding this conversation after you've before you found the conversation where I had Scott on my side, we give you ways to get in action and ways to speak up, because it's your voice matters more than mine, I promise. But it's it's giving these really technical people look. I because I can take my own story. As a machinist, when I was on the shop floor, I was like, Look, man, look at these numbers. You should know why this set of numbers is better and why I deserve the money. That was it. I was very cut and dry. The reality is is the people that move the money, that control the money, that run the companies, are visionaries that run on stories, and they don't always get it. So we go, it's about covering these successful companies that have faced a problem, have done the hard thing. They've chosen to trust somebody. They've been successful, and now they're bragging about it. They're like, Look, guys, like, we had this problem. And then we met. I don't want to plug anyone specifically, because we've got so many clients, but I met this. Yeah, we met Acme Solutions, and oh my god, dude, it's been night and day, and then we ask stuff like, Well, what was like? How did you even find them? How did you even know it was the right solution? Well, this, that and this, and we talk about it to help them share, you know, what made it the right solution, so that hopefully the people out there that are just a little less brave will identify with that story and be like, okay, they trusted them. They had good success. We're going to trust them, right? There are

13:23

two things that I want to miss. Yeah, there's two things that I want to sort of pull on. One trust. Trust is such an important component to any relationship trust and and I find shops and and in industry in general, manufacturing in general, that that I trust, but do I have the bandwidth to try to figure out how to solve this challenge, sit down and get into the nitty gritty of being able to say, Okay, if we do this, that, and the other thing I just find people are it's they're too Busy, and I don't trust anybody, and I'm wasting to too much time, energy and effort, and therefore I just like, Yeah, whatever,

14:06

15:43

Yeah, see, that's it. That's the two things I like. The fact that you're, you're identifying people that they can trust. That takes away a huge worry on my part. And then two, I can wet my whistle and say, Yeah, I there. Oh, it's, it's how I it's how I cook. I'll go out to YouTube. I did a pork belly, and, of course, I said, the best pork belly, and I did it, and it was on YouTube, and it showed me,

16:09

yeah, and I bet you it turned out pretty good. Wow,

16:12

it's delicious. But I said, yeah, there you go. But the same thing within the world of what you do, in the world of manufacturing, it's, it's just, it's all available, and it's, come on, it's not that expensive.

16:27

16:50

Nothing wrong with that, and why? Why did they double

16:53

it? Well, they spent 50 grand a year. So what's that? 100 grand investment to get $4 million in sale, then that's per year, right? That's not total sales. Yeah, they were doing 4 million a year average, and after two years, they were up to over 8 million a year, yeah, for 50 grand per year investment.

17:13

Not bad, not bad at all. But then, but it's, it's always you get sort of dialed in on that. Do? I can, I will, I people,

17:25

yeah, in in, oh, my guys, don't watch video bullshit. You're watching video possibly, right now, we're listening to us. You're not an exception. Most of the people in the workforce, 44 and under, are going to video first

17:40

if I'm going to make a decision, and I today, if I'm going to make a decision, I'm going to buy something. What do I do? Yeah, I find a video. I find a video on on anything. Yep, anything. It's just anything.

17:54

I bought a 3d printer. I spent probably too long doing research, because I like to do way too much research before I bite the bullet and do something. I ended up on a bamboo was it the best? I don't know, but they had the most videos and the most resources, and I was able to train myself up on what a good 3d printer is, what a bad 3d printer is, the headaches that can happen and I really like they're all inclusive ecosystem. I don't have to do all this little piecemeal bullshit.

18:24

Yeah, okay. So so as you can tell listeners, we're sort of dancing around the fact that we are both very passionate about getting your message out, amplifying that message, getting the attention that you need, because you're that important. Whoever's listening out here. You are important, and that's why we celebrate you on on these platforms, just because you are very needed within the economy and whatever you do, and, and we're here to tell you, and that's why we Arthur's on. He does a podcast, he does videos and, and we're going to sort of dive into why that's important, why you need to and this is sort of a continuation of my podcast, industrial podcast series, where I'm highlighting other voices just because I want to hear why, and I, you know, you know what the reason I want to hear your voice and I want and that's why talk to Chris or Jim or or Nikki, or any of those other ones that have have a pretty decent following, is that I'm not alone in my struggle.

19:28

Oh, dude, I feel you on that. It's such but it is. And look, guys, Scott is not blowing smoke. Yeah, if you're listening to this, you need to understand that you're in a group of less than 10% of human beings that actually give a shit about getting better and doing better every day, less than 10% yuck.

19:47

That's, that's, that's, it's awful. Come on, hey, dude,

19:51

that's 800 million people. Okay, we got it. What? 8 billion? So that's, what 800 million, if I can do percent, that's still a lot of human beings. This rod, but it's a very small percentage.

20:06

It is, yeah, and you know, it's interesting, when you started doing videos, you started out doing videos, and for whatever reason, you said, Hey, Arthur, you got to do these videos and I and you got to go down that road, and you got to start commuting. Tell us, take us through that journey about why wanted to do that, and then, and then sort of dovetail into, hey, I could do podcasts too. Yeah.

20:30

So I started doing videos because I came into my direct sales role right as at the distributor. And I, like I think I mentioned is I hate a shop closing its doors, and so I realized that I could only talk to so many shop owners in a day. My physical body could only get into front of so many people. And on it was, let's be real, it was eight on a good day. I live in Vancouver, traffic is terrible, and our congestion is ridiculous. So eight was a good day. That means I was less than an hour in each location. Okay, yeah, now I realized really quick that video was the only way I was gonna get to reach more people. And I know I was just talking about 10% of people give a shit about getting better. It's about that for shop owners, probably around 5% in my lived experience, my anecdotal experience, but it's less than 5% that care about improving their shop. The rest of them just want to run it to the wheels fall off because they're hoping to retire before that happens.

21:31

Wow, that's a statement. I didn't know that. Yeah, but you touch upon compounding. Yeah, you're absolutely right. There's that physical element. I'm driving to the car. I gotta go to that shop. I'm going to be talking to them. I'm going to sit there and drink their coffee and then buzz on out next journey, whatever it is. And you can only do so many in a Yeah, no, it's compounding. You got to compound,

21:57

yeah? And that's it. That's it's the compounding interest of doing it. On top of that, it was part of my goal to get better and more comfortable talking to people, because there were times when I was paired with the right human and I was able to say what I had to say, and they're like, Dude, I am so glad you said that. Like that has made a profound impact on me. You're gonna save me money, or I'm gonna whatever. And I was like, Dude, I wish I had the I was brave enough to speak up more. So I did two things. The video thing was part of it. And the other thing is, is I taught Red Cross first aid on weekends for three years straight, which is the length that your license is valid. I taught every weekend, almost for three years, because I wanted to get better in front of groups of strangers. And so every weekend I would have 15 to 30 strangers from 14 to 87 that I had never met before, that I had to teach and help them learn something they had never done before. So it was part of that. It was part of that because I wanted to be able to have conversations like this, I knew that they would make a difference. And I was terrified,

22:56

you know, and that's so that's inspiring Arthur, that that's true. You know, when we all start we, you know we're not, we're not sitting there going and we're professional speakers and we're professional entertainers and and that doesn't, that doesn't exist, that exists on TV, but it doesn't exist in industry by any stretch of imagination. And if you're thinking that 5% Can you imagine the voices that exist out there just are trying, trying to push this rope up hill to say you guys are very valuable. You can do better. You can do more. You just gotta, gotta trust us again, back to trust

23:40

it almost everything, dude, you're listening to a guy that I got into machining because I hated people, and my goal was to never talk to another human again. Go to work, run my machine, come home, play video games, rinse, repeat. That was my vision for my life, well, and my son, because my son was in a womb at the time when I got into machining. But that was my vision, come home to my family, little bit of video games. That was it. I didn't ever wanted to talk to I could have not talked to anyone, and I would have been fine. But it was like you said, you that small group of people that are are willing or can see that there's something better, that it's worthwhile, right? Like I butt my head. I butted my heads with so many shop owners when I was working for them on the shop floor, and it was like, I'm gonna go talk to enough guys. I'm gonna find the guys that give a shit about their company, that actually invest in their people, in their equipment, in their processes. That's that's

24:35

energizing. It's sort of, it's like, that was a good conversation. I like that man that was, that was inspiring. And then you realize that there's a lot of great people out there telling a great story and doing some great stuff. And you know, I always say I'm living my discovery channel dream, because I get to say, really, you do that? And if he's listening out there, which I doubt it. But. Going to make a plug. If Elon Musk is listening, I want you to be on the show because I am a geek about SpaceX. Just Damn

25:07

that would be a hell of a conversation. Man, oh,

25:10

God, I would know how to end it. Well, I would know,

25:15

yeah, I so the key that I read about him is you've got to be able to ask interesting questions. Yeah, because he's tired of the same old reporter interview bullshit. I follow him on Twitter. I Yeah, say what you will about some of his choices, but dude is always pushing for that next thing that he sees is important, and he is always moving towards it.

25:37

Always. Have you watched the starship launches?

25:41

Uh, I've watched a couple of the landings. I don't sit down to watch stuff very often.

25:48

Oh, it's like, Yes, go. And, you know, what's interesting about SpaceX, they everybody's sort of rowing in the same direction. So they have this massive amount of people just sort of watching the launch, right? And they're all just, you know, go, just thinking about this thing, and Eric just inspiring off. And there's like, yeah, and it was, it's always inspiring to go, how do you create that culture? You have to have that culture. You have to be able to just pursue excellence, because you're doing something that nobody's doing, nobody. You're creating something new, that little battle well,

26:29

and you've got to have people around you that are lit up by that literally, like, from what I understand, his hiring practice is extremely thorough to filter for that culture. Yeah. I Yeah, yeah. I don't know how I know people that have been hired on in different capacities, oh and so. And they just yeah, obviously they don't share anything except for, you know, their personal experience. And they're like, Dude, it's not good or bad, but it's just most thorough interview, and they really felt like, when they made it through, that they finally found their people that they wanted to work with. Wow. And I was, okay, that's huge.

27:12

That is, that is argumental. That's so

27:16

cool, well, and when you're talking about, like the people out there with their experience, that's, that's how I transitioned into podcasting, as well as because I was like, Man, if I know what I know, I know I don't know a ton of stuff. So I want to reach out, and I want to get connected to, I think Sandvik coremont was one of the first companies. I was still at the distributor, and they started letting me interview their application engineers. And I would just literally be like, okay, look, here's the problem. How would you solve it? And we would go through the conversation, wow, wow.

27:45

Yeah. And everybody's interesting. If you can ask good questions, everybody's interesting. And it's true. Oh, 100% Yeah. I I always, I always find myself I have more, but I always look at these three legs of the stool. Maybe it's not so stable, but it's three legs nonetheless. Uh, education. Gotta educate, especially now everything is moving so fast. So if you're not committed to education, you're you're being left behind, you're missing out on really incredible things. But just educate. And the next one is collaborate. You don't have all the answers. Find people who have answers. Find people who are ever so passionate about solving your challenges so you educate collaborate, and then you cannot avoid innovating. You can't just say we this is the way we've always done it. You have to innovate, and you got to find time doing that. It's a non negotiable, yeah, but

28:43

innovating specifically is the leg of the stool going with your metaphor. That's been the biggest thing for me has been remembering to have time in my life where I have, like, zero stimulation, meaning I don't have a phone in my hand, I don't have something on the TV, I don't have music on, I don't have a book in my hands, nothing. I'm not I'm just chilling. Maybe I'm sitting in the backyard, maybe I'm sitting in the office. Maybe I'm driving down the road with the music off and listening to the road noise. Maybe I'm in the shower, whatever, just something where it's just me, my brain and existing, no conversation, just and oh my god, it when I remember, it's freaking fantastic, dude, because I'll go from feeling overwhelmed and like I'm drowning to oh, oh, wait, what if I did this? I've been doing 3d part design, right? And when I'm designing, I'll just sit there, I'll put everything down, I'll leave my phone down, and I'll just sit back, and I'll just like, breathe. And then, you know, sometimes it's two minutes, sometimes it's 20 minutes. And then I'm like, I got it, but if I would have picked up my phone, I probably would have changed projects in

29:50

life. Yeah, see, that's, that's brilliant, because I, I'll do the same thing, where I'll my wife and kids, they'll know that that, you know, some fires burn. Running in my head, and I'm just thinking, and if I if I was rash, and I just jump to, yeah, go over this way, and I'll just do it. Then I really, I'm I make a mistake, and I don't like making mistakes, so I'd rather just sort of noodle on it for a little while and get the right,

30:19

get the right. Such a fun expression, noodle on it. I like noodle on it, wow, yeah. Since I heard that one, noodle on it,

30:28

noodle on it, yeah, yeah. Hey, before we depart, give us a parting shot of why manufacturers specifically in the CDC world, why they have to put themselves out there, why they have to tell their story and do it consistently. Don't back off people. Just say one and done. I didn't get a thumbs up when I posted thumbs up. Nobody's watching it.

30:54

32:13

And it's I, I send my my family texts, so I'm on my distribution list, I send them a text. And this is from Gary V and it's about about committing to sort of the social platform and doing it. And it was like he says, Hey, here's the reality. Everybody starts at zero. So don't say that you're going to start at 100 or 500 or 500 or whatever. Everybody starts at zero. But I think the one that, and these are, there's 19 values, 19, yeah, yeah. But one is, is, there's, like, you do it, and the other one is patience. Because if you think you're going to be, you know, lighting the world on fire, because you're that, that's the wrong you're there to tell your story and solve other people's challenges. That's what I think, do it

33:08

34:02

That is. It's a good parting shot. How do people get a hold of what's the name of your podcast?

34:08

Machine shots, the Tech Talk. Machine Shop. Tech Talk.

34:13

All right? And what's the best way to get a hold of you? LinkedIn. Hey, I want to get a hold

34:19

of LinkedIn. Like LinkedIn, you can search Arthur field or meet Arthur M, E, E, T, A, R, T, H, u, r, and I will come up or you search my name on screen as Arthur field, I will come up all over your Google, my website, my YouTube, everything.

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Fortunately for everybody out there, this is a must connect, and I will have all of his connections out on industrial talk. So fear not go out to industrial talk. Click on those links, you will find Arthur. That's that's how I roll, and his podcast. Everything's so awesome, man. Thank you so much, Scott. This has been rad. All right, listeners, we're gonna wrap it up on the other side. We're gonna have all the contact information for Arthur out. On industrial talk. Stay tuned. We will be right back.

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You're listening to the industrial talk Podcast Network.

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Arthur field, don't put an S on the back of field, just it's field Arthur field, his contact information. As you can tell, he's passionate, you need to subscribe to the machine shop Tech Talk podcast. Keep current with all the information that he's firing out. It was great all and I mean, everything you just go out to industrial talk, you're saying, Scott, make it easy for me to connect with Arthur. You know, say yes, industrial talk, find Arthur. There it is. Everything that you need, you know, LinkedIn and, of course, his podcast. It's all out there. That's what I'm talking about. All right, you could tell I'm on on fire about how we inspire the next gen. I'm asking you to join industrial talk to be able to be a part of that solution. We need to educate, we need to inspire. And it's all up to you. I'll make it easy. Contact me. Industrialtalk.com. Be bold, be brave. Dare greatly. Hang out with Arthur. You will change the world. We're gonna have another great conversation shortly. So stay tuned.