Robotics with Paul Carucci – Dusty Jobs Podcast – E9

by Erin Long | Nov 9, 2020 | Uncategorized

In this episode of the Dusty Jobs Podcast our guest Paul Carucci talks about Robotic automation and how to integrate a new system. Paul mentions how he started up and what you might need or look for when looking for a robot. Donovan and Paul also discuss what the future might look like with robotic automation.

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Dusty Jobs Podcast Episode 9 – Robotics with Paul Carucci

Narrator: Welcome to the Dusty Jobs Podcast from Imperial Systems. Industry knowledge to make your job easier and safer.

Donovan: Hello. Welcome to another episode of the Dusty Jobs podcast. Today we’ve got Paul Carucci with us from P.A. Robotics with us. How are you doing today, Paul?

Paul: We’re doing good. Thanks for having me.

Donovan: Thanks for coming in. We’re just going to be talking a little bit today about robotics and automation. You’re company has been in existence for how long now?

Paul: Seven years.

Donovan: Seven years, but you’re been in the industry for…

Paul: Over fourteen

Donovan: Over fourteen years. You have a little bit of knowledge in this, and experience.

Paul: Theres a little bit there. I wouldn’t call myself an expert by any means.

Donovan: You know more than I do. I know that much. We really appreciate you coming in today and helping us understand a little bit more about the robotics industry and kind of what’s going on there, where it came from, where it’s going. We were talking a little bit before this. The first one you did was fourteen years ago. Where did that start out at?

Paul: It went up to New York. It was a mower manufacturer.

Donovan: A mower manufacturer?

Paul: And it’s still in production today. It’s pretty neat, seeing the old machines. When you have your first on that’s still out there. It wasn’t my company at that point, but it was still neat that it was the first one I had built, first one I had installed, programmed, trained, taught the guys and the original guy is still there.

Donovan: The original guy is still running it?

Paul: He’s over the department, but he’s still there and plays with it everyday.

Donovan: I’m sure that’s part of the reason it’s still going too, you know. If you get somebody in there for a while and they take care of it. So move us forward from there. That was your first robot. You were working with a company, and you did that for…

Paul: Until 2013. They closed their doors. They weren’t doing what they wanted to in the industry. They were expected it to grow exponentially faster than they were. They just decided to get out, and I wasn’t ready. I liked what I was doing. So, it was a trying time, and it was a decision to make, to jump two feet into it. My wife is always behind me and very helpful. So we jumped into it. It took about a year to get going, to get people to realize that you can do what you used to do without all the infrastructure behind you. My biggest customer today bought the first machine off of me. When it came in on their floor he took me to the side and said, “I just want to let you know that I’m impressed. When you’re on your own it’s a little bit different that what you had before. I actually like this way better than what you guys had before.” It was a super booster for me to get going.

Donovan: Well, I would imagine too when you’re all on your own and able to make the calls you can do it the way you want to do it.

Paul: Everything I wanted to change that they wouldn’t allow me to change got changed right now.

Donovan: You got a little more maneuverability, a little flexibility.

Paul: You have to listen to the customer. The customer drives everything. If you’re not willing to listen to what they didn’t like about your system, you might as well not be continuing because eventually you’re going to go out the door.

Donovan: That’s right. That’s how it goes.

Paul: Customers motivate and drive a lot of things.

Donovan: They pay your paychecks, right? So, when we’re talking about customers, we start to think about a robotics system, when you look at that. We might have some people out there listening now that are thinking about getting a system. How do you help walk a customer through qualifying whether they need a system, whether they don’t. What are the things you look for whenever you go into a company? Maybe they give you a call, “Hey Paul, can you come down and look at this? I think we need a system.” What are some questions you would fire out there for someone who’s looking at a system? What makes sense, what doesn’t make sense, stuff like that.

Paul: Well, we look at production volumes. You know, are you making big batch runs? Small batch runs? Parts? Do you make fifty of this part a year or do you make 100 parts a year? Are you a lean manufacturer and you do small batch runs but all year long? Do you do large batch runs? How big are your parts? How much welding time are we looking at per part? We want to make sure that return on investment covers everything and we’re not missing anything.

Donovan: So lets pretend I’m a customer right now. I look at you and I think I’m making a lot of parts. What would you define a lot of parts as when you’re saying a big batch run or a small batch run?

Paul: Do you have enough parts to keep a machine busy for forty hours a week? If you’re not keeping it busy forty hours a week it’s tough to make that jump. If you’re going to run it twenty hours your ROI is twice as long. Companies do single shift versus three shift too. You definitely have to keep it busy. So if a man’s doing the job, or if you have three to five people doing something, a robot is going to do three to five what a single person is going to do. So if you take your basic welder, and he’s putting out parts, the robots going to do three to five times as many. Where a single man loads everything up, and welds the parts in a fixture, and pulls it out, now you’ve got one person loading a fixture, and while the robot is running he’s loading the other fixture.

Donovan: I’ll play a little devil’s advocate here, right? If I’ve still got a guy standing there, why do I want to robot? Why don’t I have that guy doing the welding?

Paul: You don’t necessarily need your welder level ready guy to run the machine. So, you have a programer for the robots. You’re always creating a higher level job any time you bring a robot in. Somebody has to program it, and make sure it’s doing what it’s supposed to do. Then, you can have more of an operator level guy run the machine. Keep your welder for welding.

Donovan: I’ve got you. On those custom jobs, on those one off pieces. You can let this thing run and do the mundane task that maybe sometimes guys get a little bored doing. Their work might not be as accurate because it’s not engaging enough. Things like that, that’s what you’re saying.

Paul: A normal welder will get bored if he does the same thing all day every day. Now, not everybody. There are people who love that work. They’re far and few between compared to the person who wants to do the harder level stuff.

Donovan: If you’re just running the same line all day long for and eight to ten hour shift, I can imagine that would be harder and harder to pay attention to running that same line.

Paul: I wouldn’t like that job.

Donovan: So what’s the industries that you see as the most commonplace when you are going into it? We’ve got some people out there thinking, “Well, would this work in my industry?” What are some go to’s and somethings you would always say no to?

Paul: We do a lot of welding applications. You can use a robot for just about any task you want. Production is a big thing. The industry doesn’t matter necessarily. If you’ve got parts that you need welded together, you can look at robots. Do you have productions to justify the robot? That’s one of the bigger things. I don’t know what industry wouldn’t…if you have an industry where you have repeatable work…you don’t want the robot for something that’s inconsistent. It does the same thing every day.

Donovan: So when you’re looking at qualifying whether you want a robot or not, if I’m hearing you right, the question is, “Do you have enough volume? Do you have enough hours for it? Do you have a repeatable job? Do you have the facility for it?” That would probably be the three qualifying factors, right?

Paul: Yeah, and “Do you plan to grow?” The biggest reason people are bringing robots in, too is because of production costs. If you can ramp your production up with the same amount of man power, everybody thinks “Oh, we’re replacing jobs.” It’s not. What you’re doing is creating more throughput through the facility. Now it take more people for the backend – both ends, beginning before it. You’re creating more parts to bring in, and you put more parts out. It grows a company. I’ve never seen a company loose manpower because they brought a robot in. They always grew.

Donovan: I always think about our own facility here. We have our guys that are welding, and we have guys that are building things, putting things together. They’re the assembly team. I can imagine that if were able to get a couple things through the weld section faster that means you would need more guys in the production to build it faster. It kind of just speeds everything up. I would imagine it kind of helps with the accuracy of everything too. I would imagine that’s a big draw to it.

Paul: You have to have good parts in to get good parts out though. A lot of people think they can just throw it at a robot and it’s going to be magic and come out great. If you have junk you can’t expect miracles. Now, a robot with touch sensing, we can cover a few variables, seam tracking and different things.

Donovan: Now, when you say touch sensing, what does that mean? I’m a rookie to this.

Paul: Say you have a part that’s fairly close, but it may vary an eighth inch. So your weld seam is going to be off an eighth inch. That’s way outside of tolerable levels of movement. So you can physically touch the part, find out where it’s at, and relocate your weld equipment.

Donovan: It’s touching it. It can read where the weld…

Paul: Finding the offset.

Donovan: Nice. Well that’s very helpful, I’d imagine.

Paul: You’ve got to have a good start point for seam tracking. I can actually, during a fillet weld, can actually track a seam if the seam is moving during the weld process.

Donovan: Really?

Paul: Yeah, but you’ve got to have a good start point for seam welding.

Donovan: So, as long as you’ve got a good point to start on, it can figure it out from there?

Paul: Yes. Well, I mean it’s programmed, but if it varies slightly during the weld process it will track and follow it.

Donovan: I didn’t know it could do any of that stuff. That’s great.

Paul: There’s a lot of little things out there.

Donovan: What’s the most difficult application you’ve had to deal with? Have you ever had one that’s just been a line, like man this has been a challenge but it worked out well in the end?

Paul: Uh…

Donovan: I stumped you. I didn’t mean to stump you.

Paul: When you get big, odd parts. A person absolutely must automate the big stuff. That’s the biggest challenge, but it’s also the biggest reward at the end of it. When you get something that has a lot of variables and you go through and work out all the bugs…You know, tooling is a big part of robots. Good tooling allows you to handle a lot of things. You have to know where your zero base points are. Fixed versus the variable end of the part.

Donovan: So the bigger the part, there’s more places where you have to start, more places where you have to end, more angles to account for.

Paul: More variables.

Donovan: More variables, and that starts to become the challenge, getting the big stuff. But little stuff – zip, zip, zip, zip. Well, you know, we do a lot of welding here too. We’ve come up with some stuff and we’re trying to help the robotics industry, and that’s how we developed our relationship with you. So, that’s where we’re at. The future of our company is trying to move that way and help out robotics. Where do you see robotics going? Where do you think you might see more of it?

Paul: It’s only going to grow. It’s getting harder and harder to find people to fill the welding positions. I think in the united states we’re going to be bringing a whole lot more back with the COVID and everything that happened kind of pulled things back. Getting parts and stuff from overseas was tough. I think you’re going to see things grow within the US…I guess I lost track of where we were going.

Donovan: I mean, you’re saying we’re already kind of in a trade slump at that point. Unfortunately for years a lot of people didn’t look at welding and those types of jobs as an actual viable option. It might have been that our society and culture pushed us away from that. So we’ve got a little bit of a gap. We’re probably going to have to find a way to fill that here because of the COVID and because of other things. People are bringing things back to America. If you’re not a certified, qualified welder, well, maybe you can still help run the robot is what I’m hearing you say, right? We can still start bringing American jobs in and keeping people employed, especially at a time like this where there’s a lot of people shifting jobs and looking for new employment opportunities. Learning how to run a robots or supervise a robot might be a better option than learning how to weld.

Paul: It’s a definite. My best team for when I sell a brand new system, I recommend from the company that I need two guys, two people. I prefer a welder and an engineer level guy, a person that’s got a good head on their shoulders for the computer side of it. Those seem to make the best team. The computer level guy might have a CAD background or whatever for fixture and tooling but the welder guy – you can’t get away from working with welders without a welder for the industry that I focus in. So that’s been my best team going forward, is those two people. They need to work well together. The person running the machine doesn’t need that.

Donovan: So if you have two people on your team that understands those two traits. You need a computer person. You need someone who knows what a good weld is supposed to look like, what a good weld is supposed to be like. If you have those two helping out, you could put them on one of those machines. Maybe I could even run one, I don’t know.

Paul: Anybody can learn to run one.

Donovan: If anybody can do it, then I can probably do it. That’s encouraging. If this doesn’t work out for me maybe you can hook me up with a robot job somewhere.

Paul: I don’t think we’ll do that. Nothing against you. I don’t think you’re ever going to go down  here.

Donovan: Well that’s interesting. Have you seen more people because of the COVID, because of that kind of mentality? The robot doesn’t get sick, but you still need people to run it.

Paul: You do.

Donovan: It’s not an independent thing.

Paul: No. They don’t get sick but you still have to have inbound and outbound parts available. So there’s a definite need. But there’s a whole lot more that goes into a robot. That’s why I said, “People think they’re taking jobs, but they don’t.” They increase jobs, generally. Now, there’s automation out there that does take jobs away. A robot takes a certain job away, the actual welding aspect, but it creates more jobs on both ends of it. It never goes away.

Donovan: So if you’re thinking about buying a robot out there, and thinking, “Man, I could get rid of a couple people.” That’s not going to be the case.

Paul: Not generally.

Donovan: So that’s one aspect of it. We’re seeing more things go towards automation. Do you see anything else? Any big innovations come out? Anything that you think, “Man, this could really be a change point”?

Paul: I’ve been watching into the plasma welding industry. That’s something that’s new and coming up. It’s not super new, but it’s definitely developing. It’s similar to a TIG application. You don’t generally see a lot in the robotics industry in TIG. They’re out there. They’re getting more prevalent. It’s that the process is clean. Plasma is cleaner or as clean and a little bit faster. You can do a little bit of different things with it.

Donovan: Helping to create a little bit of a cleaner environment, and safer…

Paul: Parts. Yeah, you know. Clean up after parts. TIG is one of your cleanest processes. Plasma is falling into that, but you can do it a little bit faster. You can do thicker parts with it.

Donovan: So you can pick up your production time and do a little bit of a heavier part.

Paul: Yeah, getting penetration is the big thing. So, if you can get deeper penetration on your welds it’s a little bit of a faster process. You’ll never compete with MIG on speed, but the quality of weld is cleaner on MIG.

Donovan: So it’s got it’s strengths where it needs to have them.

Paul: Yup.

Donovan: Well, Paul, I don’t know if there’s anything else you’d want to give out there to anyone who’s listening when you’re thinking about robotics. Is there anything else we should consider whenever you’re doing that?

Paul: I mean, if you’re considering robots, don’t just look at the cheapest price. I’ve got a lot of guys that say “Well, I can get this cheaper.” Well, what are you getting for it? At the end of the day your integrator is your key to success. We’re a small integrator, but my focus in business is the customer. So, at the end of the day, if my customer is down I have a problem. So, a lot of the bigger manufacturers out there, bigger integrators, they don’t focus nearly as well as I do, I think, on keeping the customer happy and pushing that end of the business, the service end of the business. A happy customer for me gets me a lot further down the road than just selling the machine.

Donovan: Nobody likes getting that phone call when someone’s upset.

Paul: We answer the phone 24/7. You get me. I’m the owner of the business and you get me on the phone. Someday I hope I can push some of that off but when you have a down machine it’s my focus. If my guys can’t do it, whatever it is, I’m going to take care of you and get you going.

Donovan: Now that you’ve said that, I’m going to ask you, because you gave me another question here. What are some things that you kind of want to stay away from whenever you’re looking at a machine? What are some aspects – obviously price is going to give you a higher end machine. But when you’re looking at it, I mean I don’t know if I look at this if it makes it a better robot than that robot. Are you looking at your systems integration package? Your software? What are the things that really help set apart a top dollar machine from a bottom dollar machine, let’s say?

Paul: There’s obviously safety. Safety is a big thing. You have to fall under current codes. Are you making sure that you’re preventing everything possible, from a person getting hurt? We’re always looking at how we can make the machine safer. People always look for ways to defeat the safety. You’re always at that challenge of “How can you make it safer for long term?” There are companies out there that follow the absolute bare minimum to keep it cheap. That’s not necessarily your best bet though.

Donovan: That’s not good, if someone’s getting hurt or their health is at risk. That’s one of the things we focus on a lot around here. You know, the health and safety, that’s our mission statement here and it sounds like you guys have a very similar mentality when you go into it. You want to make sure the application is right for the person. You want to make sure it’s a safe application. You’re keeping the customer and the guy that’s running the thing in mind. I mean, I think that we’re all on that same common goal around here. We’re all trying to make sure it’s a healthy, safe environment for those employees and for the people that are running that. At the end of the day we want them all to go home to their families. We want them all to be safe and be able to come back and enjoy working the next day. Well Paul, thanks so much. If anybody wants to get ahold of you, what’s the best way to do that?

Paul: You can catch me on my website. That’s the best way.

Donovan: That’s www.pa-robotics.com?

Paul: www.pa-robotics.com and my phone number is one there. If somebody wants to talk to me direct, my phone number is right on there.

Donovan: And if you can’t find any of that just give us a call right here at Imperial and we’ll turn you over to Paul. Hey, thanks for coming on. We really appreciate your time. Thanks for giving us a minute. Thanks again for joining us. I hope you listen to us next time.

Paul: Thanks.

Narrator: Thanks for listening to the Dusty Jobs Podcast. Breathe better, work safer.

Which Dust Collector Do I Need To Buy?

by Erin Long | Sep 28, 2020 | Uncategorized

ANSWER KEY:

Question 1

The size and texture of your particulate will help decide what kind of dust collector you need. Large chunks or abrasive material might need a cyclone or other device to remove them from the air stream. Fibrous or sticky dust may require special filters. Particulate as small as weld fumes requires the efficiency of a cartridge filter like the DeltaMAXX Prime. Tell Mike to eat his sandwich outside and the birds will clean up after him.

Question 2

Many kinds of dust can ignite. The flammability and explosiveness of your dust decides what types of safety features you will need to meet safety standards. Combustible dust presents a serious hazard. Dave should not be lighting things on fire at work. Just saying.

Question 3

If most of the dust comes from one or a few machines, you may need a source capture dust collection system. It picks up dust at each area with an arm, hood, or table. If dust occurs all over the facility, an ambient system can exchange the air in the space with clean air to remove dust. Not sure what to tell you about Larry.

Question 4

Controlling dust protects from all these problems. Preventing accumulation of dust limits the potential for an explosion. Limiting worker exposure prevents health problems due to inhaled particles. Dust can contaminate other processes or get into places it doesn’t belong. And we all know that no one wants to hear Tom complain about his energy drink again. What is dragonfruit, anyway?

Question 5

Dust collectors may be found inside or outside. With combustible dust, a dust collector needs to have proper venting to the outdoors or a flameless explosion vent. Considering the size of a dust and fume collector, you may want it outdoors. If you plan to use it as a coffee table decoration, we recommend having a large coffee table and a reinforced floor.

Question 6

No one likes to shut down production to work on the dust collector. In reality, no one likes to work on the dust collector at all. Two bits of good news: first, choosing the right dust collector for your needs will decrease maintenance time, and second, you can schedule our ServiceMAXX team to do your dust collector’s needed maintenance. Please do not wait till something breaks. We’re sure you don’t do that. But you probably know someone who does.

Question 7

If the air entering the dust collector has high heat or humidity, this affects the functioning of the system. Regular filters, especially cartridge filters, might not tolerate the heat. Humidity can cause dust to stick to filters or weaken the material. We have options for heat-tolerant and humidity-resistant filters. We don’t know what’s wrong with George but it sounds like maybe he should try a better deodorant.

Question 8

Dusts that cause serious health problems need dust collectors with special safety features. The list includes carcinogens like hexavalent chromium and toxins like lead. HEPA filters capture very fine, small particles. HEPAs can work as a backup system to capture any tiny amounts of dust that get through the main filters, or if a leak occurs. And stop making things up about Steve. You know he hates that.

Question 9

You might have talked to some companies already. Maybe the people you spoke to didn’t impress you. We’ve talked to them, and honestly most of them don’t impress us much either. You’ve come to the right place, and we look forward to talking more.

Question 10

Trying to understand all the different dust regulations and standards will give anyone a headache. Even finding all of them can be impossible. If you don’t have time to dig through NFPA 68 to find the equation for an explosion vent angle, we don’t blame you one bit. Find a helpful resource (like us, perhaps?) to do the research and save you time. And don’t listen to Uncle Jim. He’s making it up. There’s no such thing as the “OSHA Five-Second Rule for Dropped Donuts”.

Business & Politics with Congressman Mike Kelly – Dusty Jobs Podcast – E8

by Erin Long | Jul 17, 2020 | Uncategorized

This episode of Dusty Jobs Podcast features our guest Congressman Mike Kelly. The Congressman shares his recent experience having the Corona Virus. He also talks about how he came into politics and his views on the current political climate. We also discuss American manufacturing and the importance of bringing back industry and what the future might bring.

If you have any suggestions for the podcast please feel free to email us at dustyjobspodcast@isystemsweb.com

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Dusty Jobs Podcast Episode 8 – Business & Politics with Congressman Mike Kelly

Narrator: Welcome to the Dusty Jobs Podcast from Imperial Systems. Industry knowledge to make your job easier and safer.

Donovan: Once again, thanks for joining us on the Dusty Jobs Podcast. We’re doing our special made in America edition. Joining us today is Congressman Mike Kelly of the Pennsylvania 16th district. Thanks for coming on today.

Congressman Kelly: Thank you. It’s good to be here. I’ve never been on a Dusty Jobs Podcast before, but being at Imperial, I’ve been here before. This is great. Glad to be here with you.

Donovan: Yeah, well we’re super excited to have you on. Mike, just tell us a little bit about yourself if you don’t mind. Maybe how you got started into politics. You’re in our district here so we just want to hear about you.

Congressman Kelly: Yeah, getting involved in politics for me really came out of a situation where in the Obama administration where General Motors had had some problems and they went to the government for assistance and they got assistance, but then part of the back part of that was then the government started to say, “Well, you’re going to have to get rid of certain dealerships, and certain people are not going to be allowed to be in business anymore.” One of the stores we have, we’re a Chevrolet Cadillac dealer…

Donovan: Because that’s your history, right? You’ve been in the car business fo ra long time.

Congressman Kelly: My mother and dad started our business in 1953. Both of them worked at a Chevrolet warehouse in Pittsburgh pre-World War II. My dad went off to the war, came back home, and back to work for Chevrolet. He was on the road for Chevrolet and in 1953 he got his first dealership in a little town called Verona in west Pittsburgh. So, you know, we got back a long way into that. In fact, if you looked at my family history the Kelly side, my grandfather Kelly was a conductor on the B&O Railroad. My grandfather on the other side of the aisle was in the fruit business. His name was McTighe (?). The other half of the Kelly combination was my grandmother, Mary Simulsburger (?), and they were in the livery business. My dad would alway say when I would say, “How did we ever get into the car business?” He’d say, “You know what, your Grandpa Simulsburger was in the livery business.” And maybe it was kind of a takeover from that, and we just kind of rolled, as it would be, into this business. So, my dad worked for Chevrolet from after the war until ’53. He got a chance to get his first dealership. He got a little one car showroom, about four service bays, and they would work seven days a week. At that time, we would stick the card – not me, I was just a child at the time. I was five years old. I used to go down to the railroad siding with my dad and he would take these cars off the train, he’d take them home in our basement. Back then you had to service the car to get it ready before you could sell it. He would do that work in our basement. The big thing then, the option, because pretty much the cars were standard, but he was good at sewing seat covers. So one of the accessories that they would sell to customers were seat covers, and my dad would make those seat covers.

Donovan: A little upgrade.

Congressman Kelly: Yes. So that’s how we get started. Moved to Butler in 1957.

Donovan: That is a great American history story right there.

Congressman Kelly: It really is, but it’s not uncommon.

Donovan: Right.

Congressman Kelly: So whenever you talk to people. When you say, “How does your family get into this business or that business?” A lot of it was just generational. Although for my dad it was different. He was the first one in his family. My grandfather Kelly was upset with him. My dad told him “You know what Pop, I have a chance to become a Chevrolet dealer, and I’m going to become a Chevrolet dealer.”

And my grandfather Kelly said, “My God George, what is wrong with you? You’re the first Kelly to ever wear a white shirt to work. They even give you a car to drive for nothing. Are you out of your mind?”

And my dad said, “You know what Pop? Look, its just that I’m kind of in the business I’m in now, I can’t determine my own future. If I’m in business for myself I can. So if I’m going to work hard I want to work hard for myself and for my family.” And that’s how we get in the business. So in ’57 we moved from Pittsburgh up to Butler. Chevrolet Cadillac Agency on Main Street in Butler. In 1997, as it were, then I bought the dealership from my father.

Donovan: Oh, okay.

Congressman Kelly: So, I became the dealer operator, owner operator in Butler. Then in 2001 I had the opportunity to pick up a Hyundai franchise, bought the Hyundai franchise, incorporated it on our dealership lot, and then in 2003 or 04 I got the Kia dealership. So we’re on a ten acre site that is actually the front corner of our farm.

Donovan: Oh, I got you.

Congressman Kelly: We’ve added on and added on, and it’s been an interesting run. It’s been good for the most part, but you have those days where you say, “Oh gosh, I don’t know how I’m going to get through this.” We go through good business cycles and bad business cycles. Surviving is the key and I think any of us that are in business know that you learn from your mistakes. Surviving near death situations really makes you smarter for the next time and you’re very cautious and I think you’re forced to be conservative in your thinking, and I think you required to be because everything is on the line everyday.

Donovan: Not just for you but for the people you’re taking care of, your employees. I think that’s a great story. So fast forward. You’re owning the dealerships now. You get to the point where the government is starting to interfere? Trying to tell you what to do?

Congressman Kelly: They took one of the franchises away. I got a letter, a twenty-eight page letter. The letter is kind of boiler plate until you get to the last paragraph. It says “Sign the release form included with this communication and you’ll no longer be a Cadillac dealer or you can go and fight this and say I want to go to arbitration.” So I got a call from General Motors and the zone manager said, “Listen, we sent you a communication.”

And I said, “Yeah, it’s twenty-eight pages.”

And he goes, “What did you think of it?”

And I said, “You must be kidding me. You don’t really want to know my answer.” I said, “I will tell you this. I’m going to arbitration.”

The guy on the other end of the line started laughing. He said, “You? Mike Kelly? In little Butler, Pennsylvania are going to go into battle against the US government? You can’t possibly win.”

I said, “Well, you know what? I don’t know about that. One thing I do know is that if I don’t go into the fight I for sure can’t win, but I’m not going to back away from this. It has taken a long time since 1953 to get to this point. I bought this business from my father. I didn’t inherit it. He didn’t give it to me. I bought it from him. I’ve got a big mortgage to pay. I’m going to fight you guys tooth and nail to try to keep the franchise.” And you know what? We actually got arbitration and we win.

Donovan: Nice.

Congressman Kelly: Yeah, we win. Then going forward we go through that first couple years of the Obama administration. We fight the fight. We win the battle, and the next thing I know there another election coming up. There was a gal named Kathy Dahlkemper who was serving in, at that time it was Pennsylvania’s third congressional district. Before Ms. Dahlkemper the was a guy named Phil English. Phil English had been there I think about fourteen years. I got a call from Phil. He said, “Hey, are you going to be in the dealership?”

I said, “Yeah, I’m here. I gotta be.”

And he goes, “I want to talk to you.”

So he comes to the dealership and I said, “Phil, it’s really good to see you. Sorry you’re not still serving in Congress.”

He said, “Well, that was a wave election. President Obama is in office. Ms. Dalkemper is now our representative.” He said, “But what I wanted to talk about what you running for Congress.”

I said, “Me? No, no, no. Listen, I got a pretty full schedule right now. We’ve got about 150 people that expect to be payed every two weeks. I think I better stay here and work at the business.”

He said, “Seriously. We need people from the private sector serving in these positions because its too much about professional politicians and people who have never had a worry about making payroll, people who have never had to worry about taxes. They have’t had to worry about that. You may be a guy that could make a difference.”

So, I talked to my wife. I talked to my kids. My wife initially said, “Absolutely not. I know how this works. They go after your kids. They go after you. They go after your family. It’s just not worth it. It’s horrible.”

I said, “Well, the alternative is if someone from the private sector doesn’t serve, you’ll keep the same model that you’ve got going on now.”

But my kids said, “Dad, no, at least try.” So I was one of like fourteen or fifteen candidates in the Republican primary for the election in 2010, the fall of 2010. Got through the primary and then got into the general election and then won in the general election. So I went into office in 2011. So we’re finishing up since 2011. It will be ten years.

Donovan: Yeah, so you’ve been in the private sector in 2008 when things were a little bit tough. Now you’re on the other side during this current time where its a little bit, kind of getting a little tough again, huh? But you’ve gone through some tough stuff. You just had the COVID-19.

Congressman Kelly: Yeah, I had the coronavirus.

Donovan: So tell us about that. I mean, how did that affect you? How did you feel? Is there a lot of misconceptions about it out there? From your persona experience, what do you think?

Congressman Kelly: My personal experience, because we were home from Washington, and it was St. Patrick’s week in the middle of March, and we were working every day. We were working every day, and I come home from work my wife said, “You don’t look good.”

And I said, “Well thanks.”

And she said, “No seriously, you don’t look like you feel good.”

I said, “I feel fine.”

She said, “Well, I’m not sure that you do or not. You’re going to bed early. You’re getting up early to go to work, but it seems to me that you’re sleeping a lot more than you normally would.” Well, you know, I wasn’t seeing it the way she saw it. First off, you loose your appetite. I had no appetite at all. You have no sense of taste. You can’t taste things. I had muscle spasms. I had headaches. The biggest part of the coronavirus is the respiratory problem. I did not have the respiratory problem, and I had friends that had it the same time I did and they said, “Are you on a ventilator?”

And I said, “Of course I’m not on a ventilator. I couldn’t be talking to you.”

They said, “Are you on oxygen?”

And I said, “I’m not on oxygen.”

“Are you in the hospital?”

I said, “No, I’m at home.”

They said, “Really? What do you think the difference is?”

I said, “Well, you know early on my wife said “Please go get tested for this.”” So the test is a long swab they insert up your nose and really  you think its going to come out the corner of your eye. No, I’m serious. It’s very uncomfortable. A couple days later my doctor called me back and said, “How are you feeling?”

I said, “I feel fine. Tired.”

He said, “You know what? You tested positive.”

Donovan: Oh man.

Congressman Kelly: So I said, “Okay, well Bill, then what do I do? I know I can’t be out in the public, so we’ll self quarantine for a couple weeks.”

He said, “No, this is going to be more than that for you. I want you to look into something. There something called hydroxychloroquine. Your general health is good, but I want you to read up on it, and I want you to discuss it with Vicky and see that you think. I think it’s something you may want to try, because if this settles in your respiratory system it’s something that can be very serious.”

I said, “Let me read up on it.” Read up on it. Got back to him a day or two later and said, “You know what, Bill? I’m going to try it.” So very early on in my battle with the coronavirus I was taking hydroxychloroquine.

Donovan: And that worked for you?

Congressman Kelly: And you know what, for me it worked. I know there was some controversy over it and most of the controversy came down to well if President Trump endorses it, it must be bad. Well, because, listen, with some people, no matter what the President does its wrong. But it has been since proved to be an alternative that you should look forward to. The good part about having the coronavirus and recovering fully is that you get your blood tested and I have the antibodies. So, because you have the antibodies you can now enter into this immune therapy where they will take the plasma from your blood and they’ll use that in trying to develop a vaccine that could defeat the coronavirus and maybe keep somebody alive. Easy process, painless. You go to the blood bank. They take your blood. Your blood goes right back into your body minus the plasma that was taken out. I’ve done that three times now. I’ll probably do it another three or four times. I can do it about every ten days. For that part, that’s been good.

Donovan: My wife and I also just went to give blood to see if we had the antibodies and see if we can help out. We came back negative, that we didn’t have it, but I know exactly what you’re talking about. We were actually hoping maybe we had it so maybe we could try to help out like you’re helping out.

Congressman Kelly: As I said, even out of the worst situations usually there’s something good. So for me and my situation, was I sick for a while? Yes, I was sick for a while. Uh, loss of appetite. I lost thirty pounds in about ten days.

Donovan: Oh my.

Congressman Kelly: Yeah, well I put a little bit back on. It was just because I had no desire to eat. I couldn’t taste anything. So I was trying to drink water and eat little things of applesauce. That was about it.

Donovan: So in the same way the coronavirus kind of caused you to slim down, I think we’ve seen a little bit of the slimming down of the American economy. I know you probably have a little bit of a different perspective of that because you’re seeing it more at a federal level and seeing how things are playing out. I’m just trying to get your opinion on that. How do you feel that the economy is doing right now, and maybe how it’s going to go in the future? What do you think about that?

Congressman Kelly: I think the president’s reaction right away was to go get some programs put together so working in conjunction with the Congress to come up with economic relief programs that would really help out. The PPP program is one that is very essential. We look back at that now. Over five million businesses were able to participate in this loan process. 51.1 million American workers were able to still get that paycheck. They didn’t get laid off. They were able to still get paid. I think people loose the concept of what does that mean. Well here’s what it means. If you’re not laid off, you’re not on unemployment compensation. If you’re not laid off and you’re being paid, that means you’re still contributing with your wage taxes into the Social Security and the other taxes. You get taxed on that money, and for the businesses it mean that they were able to stay open. Now in Pennsylvania Governor Wolf and Secretary Levine had decided that there’s non-life essential businesses and so a lot of businesses were forced to shut down but it wasn’t because the business had a flawed business philosophy. It wasn’t some kind of a blunder. It was something decided by the administration, the Pennsylvania administration, that these businesses would be shut down. In some cases it was controversial what was being shut down. States that surround us didn’t have the same restrictions. In some places your competing in a market where right across the state border they are wide open and yet you’re shut down.

Donovan: We’re sitting twenty minutes from Ohio right now. They were definitely on different regulations. Some of our employees are even from Ohio. We’re very familiar with what you’re saying as far as different businesses didn’t quite make the playing field as even in the economy at that point whenever that was going on. We are glad for everything that’s going on as far as the federal government and what they’ve done to try to help out. Do you see anything else coming down the line that might be kind of helping getting things going?

Congressman Kelly: Yeah, I do. I think that the president is very aware. Thank God we have someone from the private sector, not a professional politician who has never had to worry about their business being successful in order to still make payroll, and never had to worry about regulations holding you back from being able to produce a product or the service that you’ve done. You look at the regulations sometimes like, “Who came up with these ideas?” Not anybody that’s ever been in business. It’s the politicians and policy makers who have never actually walked that walk. So they’re coming up with those ideas. I’m not saying that they’re bad people. I’m saying that while they may have been well intended, they were flawed. So we look at that. I think any of us from the business world, the private world, I think we look at things so differently because we can’t afford to make a mistake. You’re walking a high wire without a net underneath you if you fall to catch you. You actually hit the ground and you get hurt. I just think that, what we’ve always been in America, we’re a country made up of people who love to work. They love challenge. They love something in front of them that people say, “You can’t possibly get through this,” and they say, “You know what, watch me. I will.” So, I think that’s basically who America is. Now I think one of the things that’s happened, though, and again, politicians making policy and not having any background in the businesses that they’re making policy for. So, why do I say that? Well, I will tell you this. When we went away from America making things in America, being supplied by America and we’ll use foreign entities because it’s a little bit cheaper. So the finished product will be a little more affordable. We found out during the pandemic that, you know what, these people from around the world are going to help you when it’s profitable for them. They’re not going to help you when it’s not. When they can take advantage of that, they’ll take advantage of that. There’s nobody that has shown up more in Americans’ mind than, I think, China. China has done a number on the United States and for years I sat and would listen to policy makers and talking about trade because the committee that I’m on, on Ways and Means, because part of our jurisdiction is trade policy I would hear people say the most outlandish things. People that grew up in America, that live in America, that represent Americans saying, “Well, I would rather it come from China. I would rather it come out of Vietnam.” I would rather, I would rather, and my question is wouldn’t you rather it came right from the state you live in? Wouldn’t you rather it came from the town that you live in? Are you kidding me? What don’t you understand? It always came down to “Well it’s too expensive sometimes to make it in America,” and I say, “The greater expense is not making in America someday, when not only our jobs but our national defense will be threatened and our national security because we’re relying on somebody from outside our country to help us to build what were building. So, I think we’re facing that right now. Like the USMCA, The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. Why did the president want that renegotiated? Jobs! He said, “Why? Why would we allow this to happen?” So we did the USMCA, and it has been a lot of jobs back. He’s looking now at the other trade agreements we have around the world. I think he’s smart when he says, “You know what? I would rather do one on one trade agreements than the United States versus the Pacific, the countries in the Pacific Ocean.” No, we’re not going to do it that way. He’s got a completely different approach to it. His reason is different because he’s actually had to make payroll. He’s actually had to keep his businesses open. He’s had to actually go to banks. He’s actually gone bankrupt a couple times, and fought his way back to the top again. So you have that type of real life experience, and it’s the old story you tell your kids when they’re growing up. Be careful. Don’t touch the stove. It’s hot. All of us that have children know that a child has got to touch the stove because they don’t know what hot means. Once they’re burnt they understand it. I think America has touched the stove a lot of times, got burnt, and understands. Don’t touch that. It’s a hot stove. We’ve got to protect ourselves.

Donovan: I know for the guys in our shop, when we talk to them, one of the things that they really like is the whenever they’re buying American products it feels like when you purchase that, or when we get American steel, it’s not only that you’re helping to keep that money here, you’re actually helping to provide a job for your neighbor. You can provide a livelihood. You can pay for someone else’s kid’s college by giving them a chance to work as opposed to that money going overseas. I know in our shop and around here that’s the way we feel whenever we see that. American made, you know, and bringing jobs back to America. Do you think because of all this that we’ve experienced throughout this pandemic that this will drive some manufacturing back to the United States? I mean, do you see that coming?

Congressman Kelly: Definitely. I definitely do and I think more than anything else. I did reference the president already because his whole life has been in the private sector. Has he been successful? Yes. Has he had his failures? Yes. Has he had to fight his way back? Yes, but also now you have more people from the private sector looking at serving in public office. I don’t care if its a school board. I don’t care if its a township, working in a township, working in a county, or even at the federal level. You need to have that balance of the policy makers having actually been on the field and played and have their nose bloodied a couple times and had some defeats and learned to come back from it as opposed to people who are really good. I use this term sometimes and people get mad at me for saying it, but it’s the truth. A lot of the people I work with are great on a laptop, but they’ve never been on blacktop, and there’s a huge difference. There is a huge difference. Somebody will say, “Well, let me draw it up and I’ll tell you how it works.” Better yet, tell me what you’ve done in your life because if you’ve never done it you can’t possibly draw it. You can conceptualize, but unless you realize, unless you’ve walked that walk, I don’t really want to hear what you have to say. I’ll consider it, but I’m not buying it without actually trying it.

Donovan: Right, right. Well, I’m trying to think if there’s anything else that you wanted to talk about, or anything else we could cover.

Congressman Kelly: Let me say this because I think the key to a lot of what happens in our country, and the same right here. If I were to ask you “What is Imperial?” And you say, “Well we do this.” No, no. What is Imperial. And you would say, “I’ll tell you what Imperial is. Let me take you out in the shop and introduce you to our welders. Let me take you to our design people.” It’s all the teams that we build, right? So, we’re all looking for that talent and I don’t care if you’re serving in Congress. I have to tell you, the staff that works for Pennsylvania’s 16th Congressional District. They do not work for me. They work for Pennsylvania’s 16th Congressional District and all our constituents. They are the hardest working, most blessed people in the world. During this pandemic they have been working from home. They have been fielding an excess of 4,000 calls a week. Now, I’m not talking about fifty or sixty people. I’m talking about sixteen or seventeen people that get up every day and do the same thing everyday and that is serve, serve the constituents. People tell me, “Well, you konw, hey Kelly. I just want to thank you for what you did. I didn’t vote for you.” I said, “Well first of all, let me tell you this. You don’t need to thank me. Write up a thank you note and send it to the staff. Secondly, I didn’t know you didn’t vote for me until right now, but that’s not going to affect it. We’re going to work the best way we can to make sure we serve the people that put us in office. Getting back to what makes Imperial great is the team. What makes America great is when America is a team. I think that right now, I would hope people would look past some of the verbiage that’s out there today. I’ve never seen us more divided or more polarized as a country. When I talk to people I say, “What is it that bothers you?” Most of them will say, “Well, tweets.” I say, “Tweets? That’s what bothers you? Tweets?” What about the job market? What about your pension? What about the quality of our healthcare? What about what we’re going through right now with the police? My God. These men and women in blue that put their life on the line every day are not being chastised by a group of anarchist and vandals. When you look at the places this is happening, the people in charge of the safety and security of the people – why would they turn a blind eye to that? “They have to blow off steam.” You don’t allow people to break the law and say, “They’re just blowing off steam.” No. They’re destroying public and private property. You get arrested. You pay restitution. You don’t walk away from it. You don’t pull down our history and then celebrate it and say, “Well, you don’t know who this man was.” I say, “I do, and I know something else. You don’t have a freaking clue who you just pulled down.” So, look, our history is our history. We learn from our history. Was it perfect? No. It’s not perfect, but I will ask any of the people in America: Is there any other country that has to put up a wall to keep people out as opposed to keep people in? America is still the most desired address in the world. People go across deserts, go across oceans to come to America for the same reasons they always did, freedom and liberty. When I see what’s happening today I say, “My God, how can you talk despairingly about a nation where 1.5 million men and women in uniform gave their lives to give you that opportunity that you have today.” So please, quit looking at the TV and start looking at your life. Look at the place you work. Look at the place you worship. Look at the place you live, and tell me that you’re going to sit down tonight and make plans to move someplace else in the world because it’s just become so bad for you. It’s not true. America is still the greatest country, the greatest nation the world has ever known.

Donovan: I hear what you’re saying and I think the way I would sum it up is the way we’re going to get through this is by us depending on each other.

Congressman Kelly: Always.

Donovan: The American people and the American worker if there’s anything we’re good at is pulling ourselves up and figuring out a way to get through it. We appreciate having someone who has been there in the trenches before, and has been through a recession and is understanding how to tackle these problems in the government trying to help guide that and direct that for small businesses like us and for other small businesses out there. You have a real world perspective on what it takes to get through some tough times and how to take care of some people that have been under your care for generations. It’s great. I just want to say thanks for coming on.

Congressman Kelly: Thank you, thank you.

Donovan: Thanks for everything you said.

Congressman Kelly: I just want to leave you with this thought. A couple of years ago at our fiftieth class reunion we were sitting around with a bunch of the kids I graduated with and I said “You know what, are we the luckiest people in the world to grow up in the town we grew up in, the times we grew up in with parents and preachers and teachers and coaches? Gosh, were we lucky or what?” Now there’s about ten people sitting there and they’re saying, “Yeah, you know what? We were lucky. We were really lucky.” Except for one girl. One girl looked at me and she goes, “I don’t think we were lucky.”

I said, “Seriously? You don’t think we were lucky?”

She goes, “No, I don’t think we were lucky at all.”

I said, “Well, Linda, if we weren’t lucky what were we?”

She looked me in the eyes and she said, “We were blessed.”

And I said, “I will never again in my life tell people I was lucky. I will tell them I was blessed.” I think that’s who we are as a nation. We are truly the most blessed nation on the face of the earth with a lot of responsibility for the rest of the world and we show up. We show up. If there’s a tsunami somewhere, we’re there. If there’s a hurricane somewhere, we’re there. If there’s a tragedy somewhere, we’re there. We’ve given not only our wealth, we’ve given our lives to defend people around the world. Theres no other nation in the world that’s done that. Only in America. Only in America.

Donovan: I think we’re going to make it through this.

Congressman Kelly: Yes, yes we will.

Donovan: And we’re going to come out helping people on the other side.

Congressman Kelly: We sure will.

Donovan: Mike, thanks for coming on.

Congressman Kelly: It’s good to be with you. I love being with Imperial. This is great. We love you guys. You make great stuff. Made in America, for Americans. It’s good.

Donovan: There you go. Trying to keep Americans healthy and safe, and create a better work place for them. Thanks for all your help you’ve been for us getting things going here. We just want to say thanks for joining us on the Dusty Jobs Podcast and we hope that you listen again next time, and have a good night.

Congressman Kelly: Thank you. Thanks so much.

Narrator: Thanks for listening to the Dusty Jobs Podcast. Breathe better, work safer.

July 4th Special with Imperial Systems – Dusty Jobs Podcast – E7

by Erin Long | Jul 4, 2020 | Uncategorized

On this episode we talked to a few people from Imperial Systems about what it means to them to work for a company that manufactures American Made products and also is American Owned. We talked to a little bit of everyone from all parts of the company. It was great to hear the pride everyone has being a part of an American Company. This episode is published on July 4th, 2020 to show how thankful we are for the freedoms we have.

If you have any suggestions on Dust Collection Equipment please feel free to email us at dustyjobspodcast@isystemsweb.com.

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Dusty Jobs Podcast Episode 7 – July 4th Special with Imperial Systems

Narrator: Welcome to the Dusty Jobs Podcast from Imperial Systems. Industry knowledge to make your job easier and safer.

Donovan: Thanks for joining us again on the Dusty Jobs Podcast. Today we’re live from our shop talking to our workers that work here at Imperial Systems. We’re kicking off our Proud to be an American Made in America month. We’re going to be talking to our workers about that and what it means for them to work at an American made and American owned company. So, first up is Justin Badger.

Justin: Thanks for having me.

Donovan: Thanks for coming on again Justin.

Justin: You’re welcome.

Donovan: So how do you fell about made in America? What does that mean to you when you hear the phrase “Made in America”?

Justin: When I think made in America, its quality and pride in production and manufacturing. When you buy something made in the United States you’re buying the best product that you can possibly buy. It’s important to me because I see that if I buy something made in America I’m supporting American jobs and not sending my money overseas to something being made in a third world country.

Donovan: Supporting you neighbor. You feel like if you buy an American product you’re supporting your neighbor. You’re putting food on your neighbor’s plate.

Justin: Absolutely. That’s important.

Donovan: How do you feel about working for an American made company? We’re American made and American owned. How does that make you feel when you come to work each day?

Justin: Well, being in sales I love it because I get to go out in the field and talk to other manufacturing companies that are actually making in the USA and attempt to hopefully sell them our products that we get to make here in the United States which supports jobs locally, here. It keeps our guys working and our ladies working shipping our product in the United States. Seeing our product after its been sold in the process where its being used, our dust collectors, making the health and safety of our customers better in their facility. I really think its cool full circle.

Donovan: Yeah, we’re helping to not only support our local economy but keeping Americans healthy and safe while they’re doing their jobs to boost our economy.

Justin: Absolutely. It’s really exciting.

Donovan: Thanks for your input. We really appreciate it.

Justin: Thanks for having me.

Donovan: We’re going to be having a few other guys.

Justin: Alright. Have a good day.

Donovan: We also have joining us Neina Morocco. She does aftermarket sales here at Imperial Systems.

Neina: I do, yes.

Donovan: The question today is how does made in America make you feel? How does that idea, that phrase make you feel?

Neina: It makes me feel great. It shows that we’re busy. It shows production, manufacturing, growth. So I love American made. I’m happy to work for an American made company.

Donovan: Thanks. Thanks for sharing that. In your role, how do you feel being an American made company. Does that help you in your role here at Imperial?

Neina: Yeah, I think people take great pride in American made products, so it only boosts our business if you will.

Donovan: Well thanks for coming on.

Neina: Yeah, thanks for having me.

Donovan: Yeah, appreciate it.

Donovan: Next we have joining us Lemoyne Moffett. He’s one of our welders here in the shop. So Lemoyne, what does American made mean to you? How do you feel when you hear American made?

Lemoyne: I think our workers are proud that they work somewhere that everything is American made. We’re using American goods to produce a product that we’re proud of and knowing that we’re supporting our families and other families.

Donovan: How do you like working for an American made company knowing that its American ownership and knowing that everything kind of stays here. How does that make you feel?

Lemoyne: It makes you proud knowing that you’re doing your part for America.

Donovan: Yeah, that’s it. Well thanks for coming on. Keep up the good work.

Lemoyne: Thank you. We will.

Donovan: Next is Dwayne King from assembly. He’s been working here for a while. He’s also a farmer. Thank you for doing that. Thank you for not only working here making American made products. How long have you been farming?

Dwayne: I’ve been around the farm all my life. I just probably got back into it in the last two or three years.

Donovan: Not only are you helping make American made products but you’re helping produce food for America.

Dwayne: That’s right, absolutely.

Donovan: So how does that make you feel? How do you feel working for an American made company helping make American made products.

Dwayne: Well, it really makes you feel good. A lot of stuff that we get doesn’t have “Made in America” on it. I try to buy anything that’s made in America. It makes me feel good when I do that. That way you’re supporting your local people and everything like that. I’m also a member of the Lion’s club so I’m in community service and stuff like that. Made in America is the only way for me.

Donovan: There you go. It makes you feel good at the end of the day when you go home and know not only that you helped build a good product but helped support those in your community.

Dwayne: Absolutely.

Donovan: Thanks for everything you do here. We appreciate it. Thanks for giving us a minute.

Dwayne: Sure thing. Thank you.

Donovan: Joining us now is Xavier Ranelli. He works on our press brake over there. You’ve been with the company for how long?

Xavier: Two years now.

Donovan: Two years. So when we say American made and American made products – I’m just trying to get a feel. What does that mean to you? What does that make you feel like? What does that bring to your mind when we say “American made.”

Xavier: When I think of American made I honestly think of better quality, more safe, better for the environment.

Donovan: With that all being said. We’re an American made company and American owned. How do you like that? How do you like working for a company that an American made and American owned company?

Xavier: I love it. Every piece of steel that I bend I have so much pride going into it knowing that there’s no chance that anything is going to mess up or break because its faulty.

Donovan: yeah, that’s it. Well thank you so much for what you do. Thank you for your time that you’re here. Thanks for coming on today.

Xavier: Of course. Any time.

Donovan: Joining us next is Mitch Augustine. Mitch does sales here at Imperial. Mitch tells us what you feel like when you hear the phrase “Made in America”.

Mitch: Well Donovan, two words really come to mind. The first of which that really stands out above all is quality. It just seems to me that everything made in America usually has a higher level of quality. It will just be built better and last longer than things that aren’t.

Donovan: So working for an American made and American owned company how do you feel about that? How does that make you feel at the end of the day?

Mitch: Pride would be the first word that comes to mind. Theres a real sense of pride about what we do and the industries that our product goes in. Being in sales I am extremely fortunate to be out in the field seeing first hand where our equipment goes and sizing and designing to that. I mean everything from cabinetry to lift trucks to, you name it, recycling. I get to see a lot of them. The finest places in America.

Donovan: You get to see other American made products being put together and helping our product help keep their people clean and safe and healthy.

Mitch: Absolutely. We see a lot of the foreign failures as well. We’ve had the chance to rip out some of that stuff and replace it with ours.

Donovan: Well hey thanks for coming on today. We appreciate it.

Mitch: You bet Donovan. Thanks for having me.

Donovan: Joining us next is Ian Weller. He helps with our programming here at Imperial Systems. Ian, when you hear the phrase “Made in America” how does that make you feel? What do you think about when you hear that?

Ian: How does that make me feel?

Donovan: Yeah, what do you think about? How does that phrase make you feel?

Ian: I’d say it inspires a bit of confidence.

Donovan: When you think of an American made product, what does that make you think about?

Ian: Honeslty the first thing that comes to mind if I were to describe it with like an adjective would be beefy.

Donovan: Nice. That’s good. So working for an American made company, an American owned company, how do you feel when you go home at the end of the day working for a company like that.

Ian: Pretty good. I mean, I feel good about it.

Donovan: Well good. Ian, thanks for coming on today. I appreciate your time. Thanks for what you do here.

Ian: Thanks!

Donovan: Joining us next is Randyll Bearer. He also helps with our computer department, programming, helping develop software at Imperial Systems. Randyll, when I say the words “Made in America” what do you think of?

Randyll: It’s a complicated phrase. For the most part its means to me that its being made by your neighbors, pretty much. It’s the people around you, same area. As long as everyone around is producing and consuming for each other, everyone is good to go.

Donovan: So with that in mind, working at a company that’s American made and American owned, how does that make you feel being part of that system that you just described. How do you feel at the end of the day?

Randyll: Other than exhausted?

Donovan: Ha! Yeah, other than exhausted.

Randyll: Theres definitely a sense of pride to it. I mean we’re becoming more and more of a global world for the most part. Being able to see that what you’re doing helps someone near you, that its a visible result, feels really nice.

Donovan: Well we really appreciate what you do here. Thank you for all your work, and thanks for coming on today.

Randyll: Yeah, thank you. I appreciate it.

Donovan: Joining us today is Jeremiah Wann, the owner of our company. Thanks for coming on Jeremiah.

Jeremiah: You bet.

Donovan: Today we’ve been talking about American made and we’ve had a lot of people from our company come on and just talk about what it means to them to not only work for an American made company, and develop that product with American made products, just what it means to them in general. When they see a product that is American made how that makes them feel. You as the owner of the company helping drive an American business forward to help in development, to help strengthen our local economy and really put products out there for everybody. When you see American made, what does that mean to you? How does that make you feel, like helping to make that part of an American reality?

Jeremiah: I don’t have a problem with something being made in another country, or do I have a problem with another country whatsoever. I’m totally fine with that and I know that in some other countries they make better products than we make here. Theres just no way around that, but especially in recent days with the COVID virus and the shortages we were having with our supply chain and some different issues. Today I think its more important than ever to make sure we are vertically integrated meaning we bring everything in house that we can. We make it right here in Mercer, PA or wherever we’re at within the US, and our suppliers. We went back through our supply chain and said, “We don’t buy very much internationally at all for supplies, but there are a few items that we either felt like we didn’t have a choice to go overseas because maybe they weren’t made anywhere else or we just didn’t know because we were buying through a third party. So we went through and we identified the ones that were made overseas. Really they kind of identified themselves in a way that when we were going through the tougher times and we’re in somewhat of a green phase right now. We’re not out of the virus at all. We’re still in it. But those items identified themselves because they weren’t here. They didn’t show up.

Donovan: They weren’t available.

Jeremiah: Yeah. We had some hinges on some of our lighter products that we were just buying from a supply house and we started tracking it down and found out that they were made in China. So, we said “Can we get US made hinges?” So we went back through thinking, “Man, its going to be a lot more expensive.” Come to find out that they weren’t much more money at all. They had a higher rating, as far as a load rating, and they’re made right here in the US. So it was a simple decision for us to do that. So we’re doing our best right now to buy everything US made. All of our steel is made in the US. Sometimes we get some stuff from Canada. We don’t have complete control over that. 99% of it is made right here in the US. Theres definitely a certain level of pride with that. I talk about a lot that I think that my grandfather’s generation was very proud of that because they were the World War II generation and their parents were the World War I generation. So they fought, and they had brothers and sisters and family members that died fighting for the freedom we have today in this country to do what we’re doing right here, in this podcast, right?

Donovan: Right, right.

Jeremiah: And to have this business and this opportunity to be in sales or to be in marketing or whatever the case may be. There were people that gave their lives for that. When I was a younger kid there was much more pride about the American flag and about that product being made in the US than there is today. Although I will tell you that now there seems to be more of a movement in the direction that people are very proud to have things that are made in the US. I’ll tell you a real life experience. The other day my wife and I were looking at lawn furniture for our backyard and I said “I’m not going to buy that if it’s not made here in the US.” Go try to buy lawn furniture right now that’s made in the United States. So we did some web searching and we found a company in New Jersey that makes beautiful lawn furniture that’s made right here in the US. I probably paid 20% more for it, but I’m happy to know that it was by American workers, by an American owned company, and that just made me feel better. It’s all personal preference. Being that we are a manufacturer here we know what it takes. We know the blood, sweat, and effort that is put into this every day. I feel hypocritical if I’m not supporting other US manufacturers.

Donovan: Yeah, I hear you. A lot of people here feel the same way. We’ve heard a lot of those same sentiments today on the podcast. Thanks for giving us a minute of your time, and to give us your heart.

Jeremiah: You bet. I’ll tell you one other thing too though that I think is just as important is that it’s not just American made but American owned, right? A lot of the companies right now are coming in from overseas. They’re setting up manufacturing in the United States, which is good. We’re glad to have them. All of that money goes back to overseas. So we’re trying really hard right now to build our economy, all of us are. We’re all in it together. We want a better economy. We want a better life. So if you really want that, then I encourage everybody to try to buy US made. Good luck buying your clothing made in the United States. It may look a little different than some of the styles you like or the brands you like, but try if you can. Nothing against other countries. We wish them the best. We want to help them too and support them. I know for them it would help them as well to strengthen their own economy by building within their own economy. So, I’m glad you guys are talking about it. I heard we’re interviewing some folks

I think also I would like to share another quick story about some of the patriotism that I have been seeing here lately. We are currently putting a project through the plant that is going to the Marine Corps base in Okinawa. I had kind of heard that we were putting this project through but I didn’t really. I kind of forgot about it because it was a month or so later and I was walking through the plant and one of the welder came up to me and said “Hey, that collector that’s going to Okinawa – my father was based in Okinawa.”

I said, “Oh, really? For the military?”

He said “Yeah, World War II.”

I said, “Okay.

He said, “Man, it just really brings back a lot of memories.” He was building the structure for it.

I said, “Oh, that’s fantastic. Thanks for sharing that with me.” I kind of moved on and the next day I’m standing out in the plant. I’m in that same general area and he comes over to me and he said, “Do you have a minute?”

I said, “Sure.” He literally had probably thirty photographs with him. You know, a big portrait of his father, and all these stories. They were real newspapers from Okinawa that were like – and I didn’t read them all – they were like, and I’m going to get the dates wrong.

Donovan: But they were from during that time frame?

Jeremiah: Yeah. ’46? ’45? I can’t remember the exact dates.

Donovan: That sounds about right.

Jeremiah: I’ll double check myself. Anyways, he was so proud of those photos. He was saying, “This thing is going to go to the same area where my dad was.” Now, at the time I don’t think that the Marine Corps base existed probably at that time, but a lot of our US troops were over there. Later the welders were saying, “Man this thing is going to the Marine Corps base in Okinawa.” The enthusiasm and patriotism has been shining through the whole plant right now, in sales and everywhere. Even up in accounting they’re talking about it. So, I don’t know. I don’t plant this stuff. It just kind of comes up. Thats just a true feeling we have as Americans. We’re proud about that. I’ll finish that story. So, he comes to me. He’s showing me pictures of his dad and all he did. I said “How’s your father doing now? How is he?” He said, “He passed away. I was seventeen years old.” So, the man fought through World War II. He started to raise a family. Then in his letters you could see where he was talking about the kiddos and stuff. Then he came home and when Lemoyne was 17 years old and his dad was in the backyard cutting a tree down the tree fell and killed his dad. So he never really got to know his dad. The emotion and how choked up he got was so authentic and so real. It hit me. I just told him, “Thanks for sharing that story with me.” I wanted to document it so I actually took some photos of Lemoyne and his love for his dad. For two thirds of his life – I mean, he probably doesn’t really remember what his dad was like except faint memories of him, but he still just absolutely loves him. I just reassured him. I said, “You’ll be with your dad someday again in heaven. You’re blessed for doing that, and thank you for letting me in on that part of your story.” That’s patriotism and that’s why we’re proud to be American made.

Donovan: Yeah, that’s a lot of stuff…

Jeremiah: Yeah, I know you didn’t ask for all that.

Donovan: No, it’s great! It’s great because it goes beyond just the pieces of steel that we’re welding together here. It shows that our community and our family of Imperial Systems and how we work together not just to build our economy and build a great product but how we try to take care of each other here in the plant. Theres a lot more that goes into it than just a product. So thanks for sharing that. It really helps us, and I think that really does talk a lot about what it means to be made in America and made by your neighbors, and made by people who share those stories and understand the sacrifices that we made and our grandparents and those before us made to allow us to have this opportunity.

Jeremiah: And some are still making today.

Donovan: They still are. Well, hey, thanks for joining us on the Dusty Jobs Podcast. We really hope that you’ll join us on the next one and for now be safe and God bless America.

Jeremiah: Thank you very much Donovan. Alright, buddy.

Narrator: Thanks for listening to the Dusty Jobs Podcast. Breathe better, work safer.

Dust Hazard Analysis for Your Workplace Explained by Bob Korn

by Erin Long | Jun 16, 2020 | Uncategorized

Dust hazards in the workplace continue to draw attention. NFPA Standard 652 on Combustible Dust has set a deadline of September 2020 to complete a dust hazard analysis. What is a DHA, though, and how do you do one?

Here at Imperial Systems, we were lucky enough to interview Bob Korn, a veteran process safety professional from DEKRA Process Safety. After doing many dust hazard analyses (and lots of other safety assessments), Bob broke down the process of how to do a DHA that will meet all your NFPA 652 standards.

Dust Hazard Analysis from a Pro

Bob has been in the field of industrial safety and protection for more than twenty years. He joined us for a podcast to clear up some of the mysteries about doing a dust hazard analysis.

Bob explains that there are three parts to a full dust hazard analysis. First, you need to know the characteristics of your dust. Does this mean you need to have your dust tested? Sometimes your industry has data that you can use in place of a test. The only problem is that this data needs to be on exactly the same dust as you have.

If you need a dust test, many companies can help you get one. They’ll give you a report that gives you information about how to handle your dust. You’ll need this report to be able to conduct a dust hazard analysis, and you’ll need to keep it available.

After you’ve had your dust tested, it’s time for the dust hazard analysis. Bob and DEKRA have a lot of experience providing many types of process safety analysis, so we asked him to walk us through the steps.

Dust Hazards and Finding Safety Risks

Testing your dust won’t be helpful if you just file the data away. You need this information to conduct your DHA. Bob and his colleagues conduct process safety analyses as a career, and Bob was kind enough to walk us through the steps.

Bob explains that there are four main areas of concern they focus on first.

1. Is the dust combustible?
2. Is the dust small enough to cause a deflagration?
3. Can enough dust loft into the air to cause ignition?
4. Are there likely ignition sources?

Bob also discusses how you can’t just look at what he calls “standard operating conditions” or “upset conditions”. Many companies only look at standard operating conditions, when everything is working normally. Bob says you need to consider the upset conditions when something goes wrong.

For example, you may think your dust hazard analysis has located and controlled the obvious ignition sources. However, if something goes wrong, you might have a brand-new ignition source. Bob asks “What happens if this belt comes off or this pulley gets stuck, or this sensor doesn’t work, and you know, what are the potential risks to associate with that?”.

Many combustible dust accidents happen when equipment wears out, a process changes or someone does something they normally don’t do (like hot work in a dangerous area). The infamous Imperial Sugar explosion, for example, happened because of an equipment change. Despite all the combustible dust, the explosion was ignited by a minor equipment change on a conveyor belt under the silos. A professional safety process analyst will look for processes that have the potential for failure or a dust explosion.

Conducting a Dust Hazard Analysis the Professional Way

Bob explains that after the dust testing, the process safety professional will plan a walkthrough of the facility. Several members of the company’s team can be valuable in this process.

Bob says, “You typically have an EHS person, one of their safety people. You want an operations person, someone that’s familiar with each of the unit operations that you’re going to be looking at. Maintenance people are very useful in the dust hazard analysis. They’re the people who really know the ins and outs of the facility.”

The team will walk through the entire building, looking at each process and each machine. The team also checks for fugitive dust or accumulations of dust. These housekeeping issues can be the cause of serious combustible dust accidents.

After the walkthrough and assessment, Bob explains the report that his company puts together for the client. If not using a company like DEKRA, a facility will need to put together a report themselves.

“They’ll prepare a report that certainly documents their observations and their findings,” Bob explains. “The team identifies the gaps in the safety measures that are existing, or just missing completely. And then make recommendations to close those gaps. We will then risk-rank those recommendations from high, medium to low.”

This rating allows companies to prioritize situations they need to deal with. Some lower-priority issues need to be addressed, but the health and safety risks could be much greater if a high priority issue slipped through the cracks.

Bob also notes that sometimes an issue is so severe that they will recommend the company stop the process or machine immediately until the problem is fixed.

What To Do After the Analysis

Once you’ve received this report or completed it yourself, the next step is to start addressing any problems that were found. Even if you can’t fix all of them right away, at least you can document the efforts you’re making to take care of them.

The high, medium and low priority ratings that Bob and his colleagues assign help companies spread out the money and resources where they’re needed most.

Bob also notes that employees at the company may not have a full understanding of combustible dust hazards, or their other process hazards. As an essential safety tool, training can prevent issues from continuing.

“Depending upon the client need we offer either onsite training from simple one-hour overviews to webinar training,” Bob says.  “We also include workshops in those training that we can tailor to similar operations that that client might have on their site.”

Your Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) is the authority in charge of NFPA compliance at your facility. If they come by after the September deadline for DHA completion, you’ll be able to show them you’ve taken all the important steps:

1. Had your dust tested
2. Conducted a dust hazard/process hazard analysis
3. Addressing or have a plan to address problems
4. Trained your employees to recognize and handle problems
5. Have all of your documentation of this in order

If you’ve followed all these steps, you have followed the major steps toward keeping your facility safer from combustible dust and other safety issues.