The Future of American Manufacturing: A Look at Pindel Global Precision
How does a manufacturer provide assistance during a time of crisis?
When the pandemic struck a year ago, the small, high-precision parts required for ventilators were suddenly unavailable. And yet ventilators were the very things needed to save lives.
Seeing this vulnerability in the world’s supply chain, Pindel Global Precision, a company in New Berlin, Wisconsin, offered to make ventilator parts at cost to any company that needed them.
“We wanted to contribute to fixing a global problem,” said CEO Bill Berrien. “There was an urgent need for ventilators in ICUs, and a lack of supply chain resilience to accommodate this.”
NEAR TERM: THE ADAPTABILITY OF A NAVY SEAL
Pindel Global Precision, which does contract manufacturing of precision machined parts, had no experience in the ventilator space; component manufacturing for ventilators was typically outsourced overseas.
Yet, despite this lack of specific experience, the company needed to create new parts as fast as possible. It was an all-hands-on-deck situation. When the first order came in, it required five separate components.
Fortunately, Berrien, a Navy SEAL Platoon Commander for nine years, had cultivated a Special Operations mindset within his company; many of his employees had been cross trained on a variety of different tasks.
“In the Navy SEALs, everyone has to know how to do everything – if you lose one member, you still need to complete your mission,” he said.
“We were able to deploy multiple teams to make the parts in parallel,” he said, “Most companies only have one programmer, one head of machining, and so forth. That creates bottlenecks. But we had already expanded the number of people who can do each role, so we were able to develop all five parts at once.”
In the end, the parts shipped in less than a week.
LONG TERM: EXPANDING TO NEW OPPORTUNITIES
Within a few months, Pindel Global Precision was providing ventilator parts for five companies, including SpaceX. “Elon Musk raised his hand,” said Berrien, “He deployed his team to help with ventilators, in partnership with Medtronic. There was a very sophisticated valve assembly for which they sought partners to help them manufacture at scale; Pindel was pulled in. We were able to do the job.”
During the work on ventilators, Berrien realized he could expand the company’s capabilities. He had Pindel pursue an aerospace certification, AS 9100D, that it received at the end of 2020. With this new-found certification, Liberty Precision was born, a company wholly owned by Pindel that focuses solely on aerospace and medical equipment manufacturing.
“The work we did with the ventilators led to a lot of attention,” said Berrien, “Which led to building good relationships, which built deeper connections and further business relationships for us.”
A MANUFACTURING RENAISSANCE IN THE UNITED STATES
One of the lessons of the pandemic – and the recent container ship grounding in the Suez Canal – is that global supply chains, a lack of warehousing, and the expectation of on-demand ordering can cause inventory problems. This has real-world effects, as the ventilator shortage demonstrated.
As a high-quality precision manufacturer, Berrien sees a real opportunity to bring manufacturing stateside and renew the local supply chains that have been diminished over the past 50 or so years.
Berrien explained that in the 1970s, manufacturing was de-emphasized in the United States and seen as not as important.
“It used to be described as dark, dirty, and dangerous – that’s what people would say. So, it was outsourced. But these days, that’s no longer the case. I like to say that now manufacturing today is smart, safe, and sustainable.”
“I have a thesis,” said Berrien, “Very advanced levels of automation, such as the CNC equipment we have now, utilized at very high rates and enabled by very skilled and highly paid labor, trumps low-cost overseas labor doing it on older technology. With automation and robotics, you have an opportunity.”
“The message to the workforce is that automation is not your enemy, it’s your friend. If you can work with it, maintain it, repair it – that’s your ticket to a higher wage. This is the path to make the U.S. the manufacturing floor of the world.
“The key is continuously upskilling your manufacturing workforce: machining quality, industrial maintenance, even inventory management and shipping – each member of the team benefits from and can create more with automation and advanced technology. You get higher output per person. This reduces costs, and you get higher wages.”
Pindel Global Precision executes on Berrien’s modern vision of what manufacturing can be. During the relatively slow period of the pandemic, many employees were able to upskill through training programs, benefiting the company, and receiving promotions for their increased skills.
“You need to be helping your workforce pivot to acquire those skills,” said Berrien, “We as a society don’t do a good job at upskilling. There are a number of fallacies and untruths that hobble us: First, we seem to have the belief that a four-year degree is the sole cradle of human dignity; second, there’s this idea that what you learn in the first 25 years of life is enough for the next 50 years of life; and, third, that how we learn in those first 25 years of life, when you’re in school full-time and relatively disconnected from the job market, is an appropriate approach for the next 50 years of life.
“Nothing could be further from the truth: that’s not how learning works, and that’s not how to have a successful, long career. Our model of learning needs change. If we can fix our approach to lifelong upskilling, we truly have the chance to create lifetimes of financial reward and fulfillment for our citizens. In doing so, we can re-articulate the American Dream in the era of globalization, automation and artificial intelligence.”
BUILDING A ROSTER OF GREAT MANUFACTURING
Berrien realized that there was a missing link right now in the United States: a way for companies to find components quickly in times of great need. During the pandemic, ventilator components weren’t available. How could this be avoided in the future?
Berrien founded a company, PRODx, short for Production Expediting Technologies, that’s a network of hyper-capable, hyper-qualified U.S.-based machining companies that can offer solutions for manufacturers to get high-quality machined components as soon as possible – on an ultra-urgent basis, just like ventilator components during a pandemic or manufactured parts during a blockage of the Suez Canal.
“With PRODx, we’re creating a roster of partner companies that can fulfill production volumes of emergency-need components at very low risk. We have the capability in the U.S., we just need to tap it. This is global manufacturing’s 9-1-1,” said Berrien, “If you suddenly need a component at production volumes, but don’t know where to turn, we can help.”
THE IMPORTANCE OF A GOOD BANKING RELATIONSHIP
Berrien’s relationship with Old National Bank goes back to 2012, when he worked with Park Bank, which has since been acquired by Old National Bank. He was looking for a company to purchase – a 2-year search that included an analysis of over 100 companies.
David Werner, then of Park Bank, now the Executive Vice President and Market President, Southeast Wisconsin for Old National Bank, recommended Berrien look at Pindel Global Precision, a company that was going up for sale soon. Werner made that key introduction and Berrien ended up making the purchase with Park Bank financing. The relationship between Bill and Park Bank (and now Old National Bank) has only grown since, with Paul Jelacic as the Old National Bank Account Manager.
In fact, during the pandemic, Pindel Global Precision worked with Old National Bank to obtain a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan, that has since been forgiven. “I was very impressed with the PPP portal that Old National had,” said Berrien, “The process was very smooth, and everything flowed well.”
“Personally, I couldn’t think of a better business banking partner than Park Bank and now Old National Bank. Mutual understanding, similar long-term thinking: to extend the military analogy, I want them in my foxhole!”
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