Todd Schultz with KIPP USA

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Todd Schultz, KIPP Inc, Marketing Manager, Precision components, Threaded hardware, KIPP handle, Machine components, Spring plungers, Toggle clamps, Manufacturing innovation, German company, Industrial solutions, Custom manufacturing, Work holding, Market trends

00:00

Hey! This episode of Industrial Talk is proudly brought to you by MD&M West and the incredible News and Brews team. MD&M West delivered big med tech, automation, packaging, plastics, and design all came together under one roof. The innovation, the energy, the conversation it was everything that makes this industry extraordinary. I was on the floor capturing the stories, the breakthroughs, and the leaders who are shaping the future. Thanks for tuning in and celebrating the people driving industrial innovation. Industrial Talk powered by MD&M West and the News and Brews team.

00:47

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 go!

01:05

All right. Once again, welcome to Industrial Talk. Thank you very much for joining the number one industrial-related podcast in the universe that celebrates industry professionals all around the world. You are bold. You're brave. You dare greatly. You innovate. You collaborate. You are solving problems each and every day. That's why we celebrate you on Industrial Talk. You are the heroes in this story. We are here at MDNM West Anaheim, broadcasting on site with the News and Brews crew, and we're telling the story of all of the individuals here, all of the technology, all of the innovations, all of the solutions that are making the world a better place. They are all here. Do not, and I mean do not. If you're not here this year, you need to be here next year because you get incredible individuals, incredible people. You get to network, and one of them is sitting right across from me. His name is Todd Schultz. He is the marketing manager for KIPP Inc. Yeah, I got it. Precision engineered components. Let's get a cracking. All righty, ready, ready. He's the first one out of the gate. Last day.

02:15

Not a bad thing.

02:15

It's all quiet. It's creepy quiet. Yeah, we walk around. It's just it's the funniest thing. Sometimes at these shows, the the people who work the show that put the chairs out and the carpets out and all that stuff. There are many times when we're still talking, and then you see them because they just want to move and get this thing cleaned up for the next whatever, and they're rolling the carpets in front of you, and it's always quiet. Anyway, how you doing? Doing

02:46

good. You know, this is it is kind of bizarre being here this early because it's it's really quiet.

02:52

Yeah, yeah.

02:53

You get good at a show of knowing what's the baseline level of this level of noise is just all the exhibitors, and then when there's attendees, this level of noise is the attendees. Yeah, are you having a good

03:06

show? I mean, is it is it been a decent show for you?

03:09

It's been a good show. We were just talking about that the other day. That I think this is the first show where it feels normal again since the pandemic.

03:18

Son of a gun! I got to tell you, that's that's pretty good because that's I agree, and I think it's maybe from my perspective. I think it's just going to go up from here, and I agree with you 100%. I think the the level of technology innovation and the challenges that companies are dealing with and they're looking for solutions. I think this has just grown, and I think I could be completely wrong. I think there's a I sense it a crackling of a sort of manufacturing renaissance that I think that could take place. I just like we need to expand. We need to do this. The market is this. I don't know how you guys do it, quite frankly. You know, I just don't. I have no clue. However, give us a little background on who Todd

04:09

is. So I am the marketing manager for KIPP Inc. And I came to the industrial world, you know, like a lot of people through a different route. Yeah, I started off in public relations and marketing, and worked for a credit union, several credit unions in marketing for financial services. And then it came along that the company I was working for it was not quite the right place for me anymore. And so I started looking around for who is in the neighborhood and who could I go to work for. And that's when I found KIPP. And for me, it was a natural fit, just because my whole life I've been interested in things mechanical, in things technical. Yeah, and it was just a great fit. We specialize in in threaded hardware and threaded components, and so it went back to you know one of my jobs while I was in college was working at a hardware store, and I always liked helping people in the. Nuts and bolts. I'll figure out what thread they needed, and so that was one of the things that laid a groundwork for knowing how to get into this industry. And so it's just been fun ever since.

05:11

You know, it's interesting. You bring up an interesting analogy. Going to the hardware store, what always fascinates me, outside of the fact that these are all manufactured and there's an endless array of options to consider when buying a bolt, right? But that there's that market that is there to be able to say, yeah, we need that. There's a demand for that mark, that whatever that bolt is, and of course it might create confusion on my side because I just want this one, whatever that one is, and I have to go through a whole thing. But let's talk about KIPP. Give us a little, just sort of an an overview of what KIPP does, and then we'll just start talking a little bit about you know problems that KIPP solves.

05:58

Sure, we are 100 year old family owned German company. You know how many

06:04

companies are German that come across.

06:06

There's a lot. Yes, there is.

06:09

Okay, continue.

06:10

07:25

hold it, hold it. You're pulling on a thread here. A KIPP handle is sort of that ubiquitous term to for whatever that tool is.

07:34

Exactly.

07:35

No way.

07:36

Yeah.

07:37

That's pretty cool.

07:38

That is pretty. That is cool. I mean, it's

07:40

like Coca-Cola.

07:41

Exactly. Okay. You know, when you talk to Nicholas KIPP, who's the managing director of the company today, it was his grandfather who invented it, and he said, "Yeah, you know, when Grandpa started that, he put all of his money into machinery, and so we didn't have any money for a building. So the first production was done in barns, you know, old agricultural buildings, and that was what got things going.

08:06

Yeah, it's funny because you you have to love hearing those stories because it there is a consistent message throughout stories like that. These family-owned business, it started well. We did this, and then we, you know, over the years we started doing that. But we had a barn or a garage or some sort of shed, and then that's you know that was the genesis of our our solution and the manufacturing. And then of course goes from there. So the the so you do more than just a KIPP.

08:42

09:36

The and I didn't mean I wasn't trying to be rude, while I was on my sofa, I needed to find out what a KIPP handle looks like. And you're absolutely right; it's it looks like a bolt with a handle on

09:49

it. Yep.

09:50

And and you can probably torque it down pretty pretty decently. So when I look at the manufacturing of this particular product, where does. KIPP manufacturer, and I'm just talking about. I'm I'm assuming all the other products that KIPP delivers to the market. Where where do you manufacture these these products?

10:10

So that is done in a little village called Holzhausen, which is next to Zoltzamnecker, which is about 45 minutes southwest of Stuttgart. Yes, is

10:20

is it? I have an image in my head about rolling hills, and

10:26

you have exactly the right image. It's that German thing where you've got this glass-fronted factory out in the beautiful farm fields.

10:34

Is it really?

10:35

And and yeah, and then you go up. There's this third-floor conference room where we do a lot of work when we visit, and you just look out and there's the rolling hills and everything is German and and and then oh wait a minute just above that tree line there's the McDonald's arches sticking up from where the exit ramp off the Autobahn is and there's a McDonald's you can't escape America but

10:57

that is so funny because that's that's the image how do people get work done when you're looking out of that that that beauty? Okay, yeah, whatever you want to do with that KIPP handle, yeah, change it,

11:07

man. So you

11:08

have you have it manufactured over there.

11:10

Yep, exactly. So it's it's in our own facility, and one of the primary versions of the handle is diecast zinc. So we diecast the zinc in house. It goes out to be powder coated, but then all the threaded components we manufacture in house as well. How does

11:26

how does KIPP take? I mean, you get this, and as I look on my handy dandy cell phone, how do you, as a company, I mean, it's pretty impressive, quite frankly, the the level of design. How do you how do you respond to the market? How do you? I mean, I it's just a fascinating thing. It's just like oh, I see a KIPP handle, but what about if I want a KIPP handle that's smaller, larger, different threads, this that you have that you know? I mean, it's you know that's the the beauty of the market. They're always saying we need something that's a little different. Whatever. Yeah. How do you do that?

12:05

You know, if it's if it's just threads or thread length, that's quite a common thing. Yeah. People come to us all the time and say, "I want a different length. I want a different thread." We can do that. Or if they want a custom color, you know, we have manufacturers who come to us and they're putting it on their machine, and their machine is a certain color. So then we have it powder coated to, or if it's the plastic one, injection molded. We do that in house as well. Injection molded in their color, and so then there's also the bigger leaps of you know someone says, okay, I want it to have more clamping force, and so then we came up with a version that has an axial needle bearing that gives you a big pad that when you turn that for the same amount of torque you get much more holding force because you have a bigger area. We have versions with a brass tip on the end so that you're not marring the thing you're clamping into. We have low profile versions where the handle instead of coming up at an angle is 90 degrees to the stud, so it can slide under something. Just all sorts of different variants, and it all comes back to from what people want. There's even one handle. Yeah, but here, see here.

13:11

This is this is what's so fascinating about anything that's with manufacturing. If I came to you, Todd, and I said, "Wow, I want mine. I want my handle to be, you know, orange, and and I have these specific requirements, and and the market is just me one. You you have to take into considerations like, hey, I appreciate that, Scott. We might have something that might meet your needs over here if you, you know, but but I'm just a market of one. That's a lot of work that you guys got to do, and say, yeah, we'll we'll make we'll we'll modify our manufacturing capabilities to be able to accommodate this because we see the market is in demand of that. But if I come to you and I think, oh, well, my orange with green tips or whatever like that, you're saying, nah, I can't do that. It

13:59

all depends on quantity. If you want to change something simple like threads, you know we can often do that. If you're willing to pay a little bit more than normal, you know 50 pieces we could do. 100 pieces we could do. If it's just changing the threads, if you're getting into powder coating, all that you know gets into a few more. If you're customizing more than that, then you know we need a bigger minimum. There's one company out there that we make a handle for a European MRI machine, and it is completely different than anything else in our range. It is not taking advantage of any other economies of scale. They basically came to us and said, "We want this thing. We want it exactly like this. We don't care that it's completely different, we'll pay what it costs, and so, you know, that's one extreme. Amazing. The other extreme is where

14:47

amazing

14:47

will oftentimes help people out and say, "Hey, wait a minute, you just need four of these handles for something, and you need a stud length that's different. Well, why don't you buy the internal thread, the female thread version, and lock tight in?". A length of threaded rod that meets your spec.

15:03

Yeah,

15:04

and you know that's that's another way around it. And so, so we try to help people out, even if even if they can't get into custom production. Yeah, there are ways around

15:13

it. Yeah, I you're not going to leave Scott Scott manufacturing hanging. You're going to try to come up with a solution that meets my needs. I I can I can imagine that. Take us through some other products that are you're here at this particular show. What are you hearing? What what's what's what's on your what's hitting your ears and people are saying, hey, how about this that the other? What what's happening there?

15:41

I think the thing we hear the most is people will come by and say, "Oh, I was trying to make this myself. I didn't know there was a stock part on the shelf that did that that I could just buy."

15:52

Yeah,

15:53

and that's really where we come in.

15:55

Right.

15:55

You know, it's maybe a little too humble, but I will I will say that very rarely do people put us on their list of I need to go visit that company at the show. Right, or the happy accident along the way where they see our display and go, Oh, I can buy that. I don't need to make that. That already exists. I'm going to eliminate that

16:13

frustration from my life.

16:14

Exactly.

16:15

So that's one thing. So that's good. It's like, Hey, check it out. I got it. That's fantastic. What do you see happening in the future? What what are you hearing out there in the marketplace in this particular? It's like, hey, KIPP's got to be on top of this. We've got to, you know, we're we're hearing things.

16:31

You know, is there anything?

16:34

There's always there's always interest, and there's always people who are looking to solve problems, yeah, you know the the tariffs have been challenged to everybody, yeah, and you know we've won some business because of it. We lost some business because of it, and that that whole kind of unstable situation we're in right now is no fun, but we still see lots of strong interest and lots of people building things and making things and trying to figure out how to do things, and so we're we're very excited to see how things are going right now. You know, it's it's a good time for us. We're growing, and we feel good about the world.

17:12

Yeah, I I got to tell you, I I agree with you 100%, Todd. I I think you know once things start settling down, things get a little normal. I again, yeah. There might be frustrations with the tariffs, and I don't know where they're going. They're way above my pay grade, quite frankly. But the reality is, I think things will start to settle down, and I think it will just get back into sort of a more vibrant manufacturing. How do people get a hold of you, Todd?

17:40

Well, you can find me on LinkedIn, and you can find the company at KIPPusa.com.

17:45

All right, Todd Schultz, marketing manager, KIPP Inc. He's he's in the house, so he's the dude. You were great, KIPP. Todd, look at it. Jeez. Okay, first one out of the gate. You're great, Todd from KIPP. Now, thank you very much for being on Industrial Talk. I really enjoyed the conversation. And again, I didn't mean to look like I was ignoring you, but I had to pull up what a KIPP handle was. Yeah, I just had to. I had to see what it was. All right. Once again, thank you very much for joining. We're going to have all the contact information for Todd, not KIPP. We'll have KIPP out there too, but Todd out on Industrial Talk. Reach out to him and and just pick his brain because he is here to help you succeed. All right, we're part of the News and Brews crew here at MD&M West, and we're just having great conversations like we just had with Todd. So stay tuned. We will be right back.

18:42

You're listening to the Industrial Talk Podcast Network.

18:54

Another great conversation. MD&M West knocking it out of the park. Dodd Schultz, KIPP. I'm looking at his stat card. Of course, he's got mad experience everywhere. So, so you go to these shows, these manufacturing shows, and MD&M West just leads the way. Just don't get me wrong. You go to that show and you see everything that gets manufactured. So you have a conversation with Todd, and you're saying, "Hey, hey, Todd, tell me a little bit about KIPP." And so it goes into that history, as you heard the conversation. If you go out to the website, you come to realize how much manufacturing just impacts our work, what we do, our life. Everything's manu. Everything is manufactured. And here's KIPP. Here's their website, and I'm looking at the stuff that they manufacture, and I'm thinking to myself, "Wow, you do that too." It's it's really pretty cool, by the way. You know, and it and I and it's it's a profession that we take for granted. Just anything that manufactures every. I'm just looking around, but I go out there and who who would have thought that I need a clamping component? Somebody said, "Hey, I'm tired of doing the wrench." Hey, KIPP, can you create this clamping thing that ratchets it and holds my stuff down because somebody's stealing my wrench? Come on, that's innovation, baby, and it never stops in manufacturing. It's outstanding. It's outstanding. All right, you need to reach out with Todd. He's a good guy. As you can tell, he loves what he does. KIPP USA. A lot going on there. All right, you need to put MD&M West on your calendar, and and and be a part of it. It's in Anaheim. Never disappoints. It's massive. You get to see everything, everything that you can imagine in the world of manufacturing being done there. You want hinges? Yeah, it's there. KIPP does it. I saw it. They they have hinges. Anyway, you got it. You got to put this one on your calendar. Great people, part of the the news and brews crew, outstanding. All right, be bold, be brave, dare greatly. Hang out with our friend Todd, and you will be changing the world. We're gonna have another great conversation shortly. So as always, stay tuned.