14
MiMfg Magazine
January 2020
DeWys Manufacturing Inc.
City
Marne
Website
www.dewysmfg.com
Jon DeWys
Member Since
July 2000
CEO
Dowding Industries Inc.
City
Eaton Rapids
Website
www.dowdingindustries.com
Jeff Metts
Member Since
July 2007
President
how to be strong leaders in their work, their
family and in the community. At Dowding, it’s
no longer about hiring someone because they
can do this task or that task. We need people
who fit our culture. A culture that works is a
very powerful ally and will keep success in
constant focus.
Jeff Daniel: Use technology to address your
organization’s biggest gaps in the market; do
not get distracted with the latest new tech.
Create a culture where change is the norm and
it is acceptable to fail. I like to say ‘Let’s be fast,
implement it fast, fail fast and fix it fast.’ Too
many organizations try to be perfect, lose
momentum and never fully finish a project.
Focus on your resources and hire the best you
can find — technology only works if your team
can implement and use it.
are the biggest challenges or game-
Q: What
changers that could affect how manufacturers
do business in the next 10years?
Jennifer Thieme Kehres: Technology is the
game changer; it is growing and changing and
improving at a breakneck speed. It challenges us
to continuously look for a better way and how
to incorporate more technology into our
products and manufacturing processes.
Jon DeWys: Attracting new talent into manu-
facturing careers in a way that doesn’t showcase
them as ‘jobs’ but as careers of limitless potential.
Phil Sponsler: One of the biggest challenges will
be the possibility of an increasingly negative and
unsupportive government through the crush of
regulations. The challenge of just building
awesome products and remaining competitive is
made so much harder. Additionally, if the
instability of global economies increases and
trade wars continue, we expect to see more
re-shoring to North American facilities. This
re-shoring increase will demand resources that
we currently lack which will put a higher
demand on automation to develop the product.
Q: How can manufacturers prepare
to succeed in the 2020s?
Jon DeWys: Continual investment in talent
(trainers, curriculum, workforce development),
latest in leading edge technology, and staying
humble. Also, be willing to follow your
aspirations — even when others may question
them. Some may call it foolish, but if you know
that there is a better way to do something, be
willing to keep trying until it works.
Jeff Metts: I feel that is easy...culture. With the
next generation in line to take over, it will take
a different culture to drive success. Most of us
involved in manufacturing today came up with
the proverbial carrot and stick type of supervision.
Those days are now in the past. People today
desire to belong. Belong to a family or a cause. To
be a part of something bigger than themselves.
We need to become more transparent, more
inclusive and definitely more communicative.
They must understand we all win together.
Jacob Sponsler: The opportunities that the
tremendous advances in technology are going to
provide will also be one of the largest challenges.
Even if manufacturers don’t see absolute need for
implementing the evolving advanced technologies
for today’s production, they need to be engaged
and working to understand them thoroughly. If
they aren’t working to stay current, they risk
being left behind and becoming obsolete. All of
this as well as the advances in communication
and data will change the customer/vendor
dynamic. Higher transparency and a greater
level of collaboration will be the norm.