Podcast Archives - Seraph

Saman Farid of Formic: Closing the 1M Worker Gap with a Robotic Manufacturing Workforce

Justin Fortier — Wed, 22 Mar 2023 09:39:33 +0000

This podcast episode features Saman Farid, the CEO and Co-Founder of Formic, who is pioneering fast-deploying Robots-as-a-service.

Prior to founding Formic, Saman ran the global investment fund for Baidu Ventures, specializing in the firm’s AI and Machine Learning investments outside of China. Before investing, Saman built and sold two tech companies and worked on technology infrastructure projects in alternative energy. He also held positions at global tech giants Verizon, Microsoft, and Honeywell.

In this podcast episode, Saman provides insights into the adoption of robotics technology in the manufacturing industry and its significant impact. He emphasizes how robotics technology is transforming the manufacturing industry by increasing productivity, reducing costs, and improving the quality of goods produced.

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“A lot of manufacturers have been stuck in this productivity rut for the last five to ten years. Thus, the real goal here is to boost the productivity of these manufacturers. Once they put in robots, what happens is that they get a lot more utilization. They produce more, and so their top line goes up, but their bottom line goes up way more.”

Saman Farid

CEO, Formic

Discussed in this episode:
✔️ Transforming the future of US manufacturing: inside the origins and impact of Formic’s robotics technology on customers today
✔️ Mitigating risk and maximizing ROI in the adoption of robotics technology
✔️ Revolutionizing labor: building an efficient service network for hourly deployment of robot workers across regions
✔️ How a disruptive business model is changing the robot industry: insights from a company working with a wide range of robotic suppliers
✔️ Benchmarking deployment speed: how does Formic compare to traditional competitors?
✔️ Challenges and strategies for building the world’s largest robot workforce
✔️ Enhancing manufacturing operations with automation: overcoming financing challenges and streamlining growth
✔️ Adaptability of robot workers: a key factor for lending in the manufacturing industry
✔️ Scaling new robot applications: mitigating venture risk and expanding markets
✔️ Exploring the organizational structure of the robotics company: software and implementation teams coordination
✔️ The future of manufacturing: in-demand skills for robotic automation

“Last year in America, about 40,000 robots were deployed. But, right now, in America, there are more than 1.3 million unfilled manufacturing jobs. The rate of robot deployment today is not even a drop in the bucket… [When Formic rolls out robots,] all of these are highly repetitive tasks. A lot of them are pretty back-breaking labor and they’re tasks that workers don’t want to do. And in a lot of cases, manufacturers can’t find people who are willing to do those jobs. When we put in robots, worker satisfaction goes up, worker’s injuries goes down, and utilization goes up and all of a sudden they get a lot more production.”

Saman Farid

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Sam Simon of Simon Group Holdings: Leadership, Culture, and Talent for Operational Excellence

Justin Fortier — Wed, 22 Mar 2023 00:44:09 +0000

Sam Simon is the Founder and Chairman of Simon Group Holdings (SGH), which he formed in 1985 with the founding of Atlas Oil Company, headquartered in Taylor, Michigan.

Simon Group Holdings, directly and through its subsidiaries, has interests in and is an active investment manager within the following sectors: Commercial Fuel Supply and Distribution; Oil Field Services; Logistics and Transportation; Commercial and Residential Real Estate; Aviation; Technology SaaS; and Insurance Solutions. The SGH Investment Management Team has active investments throughout the capital stack including: Venture Capital, Private Equity, Mezzanine, and Senior Debt. SGH has over 1,000 team members among its family of companies.

In this podcast episode, Sam shares the important key factors (leadership, talent, culture) to succeed in the manufacturing industry.

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“I love people who have passion. I don’t care if you’re a truck driver, biller, tax person, or a salesperson. We take our time to make sure we hire the right people from the beginning and always make sure our team has the proper tools, so they know what they’re going to get into. I’m a big believer that it all starts with people. If you have good people, you have a good culture, and then you can continue to grow.”

Sam Simon

Founder and Chairman, Simon Group Holdings

In this episode, we’ll discuss:

Unlocking the power of company values: how they shape your culture and drive business success
Leading from the field: the power of hands-on management
Building a winning team: tips and strategies for attracting and retaining top talent in manufacturing

“Your meetings should be in the field. Your meeting should be with the team. Your meeting should not be just sitting on the desk in the office. And then, so majority of opportunities, or issues or areas that you need to fix, it’s all in the field. So I go to the field, that’s how I get my best ideas.” – Sam Simon

Building a strong team and keeping good people starts with establishing a culture centered on doing the right thing. Atlas Oil’s 6 core values:

- Passion
- Collaborative Innovation
- Pride and Image
- Customer Focus
- Solution Driven
- Do the Right Thing

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Chris Cummins, CEO of Micronics: Building Winning Teams, Integrating Acquisitions & Driving Continuous Improvement

Justin Fortier — Fri, 17 Mar 2023 19:02:38 +0000

Chris Cummins is a seasoned manufacturing executive with over 27 years of experience in highly-engineered products. He currently serves as President and CEO of Micronics Engineered Filtration Group. He also serves as an Operating Partner at Vance Street Capital. Chris has held various senior leadership positions at publicly traded and privately held companies such as Danaher Corporation, Colson Group, Symmetry Medical, and Abaco Systems, including roles such as President, COO, SVP-Global Operations, and General Manager. Chris’s professional strengths lie in Lean principles and Six Sigma deployment, global manufacturing strategies, supply chain optimization, and continuous performance improvement.

In this podcast episode, Chris shares the strategies and tactics he’s found effective when leading teams through revenue and profitability expansion in manufacturing.

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“Internally, within our company, we like teammates who not just find problems, but solve problems each and every day and prevent them from reoccurring… The problem solvers always rise to the top. People love to be around other people who can help them solve a problem. Customers love us because we help them solve problems.”

Chris Cummins

President and CEO, Micronics Engineered Filtration Group

In this episode, we’ll discuss:

Successful acquisition integrations in manufacturing businessess
Leading through tough choices: transparency and team support
Lessons from his leadership roles in corporations and PE-backed companies
Talent acquisition: attracting, recruiting and developing winning teams
Effective leadership communication
Navigating differences between COO and CEO roles
Streamlining sales management to provide better customer service
Advice for young aspiring executives in manufacturing and private equity

“We’re transparent about the important aspects of our business that help us create value. We openly discuss what makes our business great, focusing on customer service. This includes on-time delivery, lead times, reducing past dues, minimizing warranty costs, and taking care of our customers should something go wrong.

Internally, we talk about the three things that are really important to our business each and every day:

Cash flow: You can’t run a business without constant cash flow.
Margins: How do we improve, reduce rework, remove quality defects, eliminate scrap and waste to make our company more profitable, enabling continued growth?
Sales: How do we grow our business organically? Not just get new customers, but how do we do more for the really good customers we have? How do we take more tasks off their plate to make their lives easier? Can we be a one-stop-shop to make them better?

These areas are an essential part of who we are and ensure that our actions positively impact the three pillars of our business. We emphasize problem-solving and continuous improvement while holding ourselves accountable for doing the right thing.”

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Doug McCormick of HCI Equity – Investing in human capital, consolidating fragmented markets & leading teams

Justin Fortier — Fri, 24 Feb 2023 19:02:24 +0000

Doug McCormick is a Managing Partner at HCI Equity Partners, a lower Middle Market Private Equity Firm targeting growth-oriented, independently owned manufacturing, service and distribution companies. He joined the firm in 1999, and oversees investment origination, management, and development.

In this podcast episode, Doug shares his perspective on building industrial businesses through private equity.

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“We have an intensive engagement model, and our aim is to work closely with our teams to drive critical initiatives. It’s almost like being a co-pilot; we agree on the game plan, identify three or four key opportunities, and leverage each other’s capabilities to get the job done. As the saying goes, we’re changing the wheels on the car while it’s still moving. We’re still running the business, serving our customers, and managing employees. The key is to create the capacity and bring in the skill sets to make it happen.”

Doug McCormick

Managing Partner & Chief Investment Officer, HCI Equity

In this episode, we’ll discuss:

HCI Equity Partners’ innovative investment strategy and its impact on business growth
The importance of leveraging the operations team to improve the portfolio
Doug McCormick’s military background and the differences between leading in the service and business
How owners considering selling should vet their private equity partner
HCI’s three-pronged approach for transforming companies into industry leaders
Short-term and long-term trends accelerated by the pandemic and their implications for businesses
Applicable lessons learned from Doug’s career
His personal finance book Family Inc.

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Podcast: Riveron’s Steven Wybo

Justin Fortier — Fri, 09 Dec 2022 17:29:07 +0000

Manufacturing Excellence is a podcast featuring conversations with leaders pushing industrial businesses forward. Guests include operational experts, capital allocators, and specialists bringing unique insights to navigate the greatest challenges in business.

Today’s guest is Steven Wybo, an financial turnaround expert specializing in automotive manufacturing.

Listen to the Podcast

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About Steve

Steven Wybo has over 20 years of experience helping manufacturers through insolvency, bankruptcy, turnaround and crisis management. Steve is the Senior Managing Director running Riveron’s Automotive financial consulting business. He’s led 75+ turnarounds as Chief Restructuring Officer, interim CFO and other critical positions.

Top Takeaways

The preconditions for turning around a business:
- Product or service people want
- Competent management team
- Cashflow
Practicing honesty and transparency is the only way to operate. “Generally speaking, stakeholders will work with you, at least in the short term.” Making commitments that you can’t honor is a recipe for getting shut off by vendors. Not getting the material you need can cause a “death spiral.”
Successful financial turnarounds use a 13-week cash flow forecast to run the business, not a P&L. Without cash, a business becomes insolvent.
Top ways to increase cashflow include negotiations with vendors and lenders as well as cutting costs and decreasing working capital tied up in inventory.
At a high-level, the priorities for a turnaround are:
- Day 1: Cashflow management
- Day 2: Trim what costs you can
- Day 3 – Onward: Fix the operations of the business
When fixing an insolvency issue, it gets a lot more expensive and a lot more dire the longer you wait. It’s like a heart attack patient, the right team can “lower your cholesterol before you end up on the operating table.”

“You really need to address the core problem, and oftentimes that’s just inefficient operations.” – Steve Wybo

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Wade Phillips on Manufacturing Talk Radio

jeff@thestudiopeople.com — Wed, 07 Dec 2022 17:06:30 +0000

Wade Phillips, a Managing Director at Seraph, joined the “Manufacturing Talk Radio” podcast to discuss our approach to crisis management in manufacturing.

If you liked this episode, you can read more about our Understand, Stabilize, Sustain, Transition framework here

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Podcast: MiddleGround Capital’s John Stewart

Justin Fortier — Tue, 22 Nov 2022 15:39:48 +0000

Today’s guest is John Stewart, an investor using an operational toolkit to outperform.

Listen to the Podcast

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About John

John is the Founding Partner of MiddleGround Capital where he is responsible for the overall management of the firm. MiddleGround is a private equity firm that invests in B2B companies in the industrial and specialty distribution sectors in the lower middle market in North America & Europe with $2.2 billion of Assets Under Management.

John started his career as an hourly line worker at Toyota Motor Corporation and held numerous management and executive positions over an 18-year career. He made the move to private equity in 2007, joining Monomoy Capital Partners as an Operating Partner. He founded MiddleGround Capital with two partners in 2018.

Top Takeaways

Operations needs to be involved at the earliest stages of investment planning. Many businesses can achieve massive leverage by putting the right practices in place. Through operational excellence, MiddleGround creates returns without the need for financial engineering and a high debt load.
Manufacturers will need to continue to raise wages to remain competitive. This means they will need to use automation to create higher-skilled jobs. MiddleGround is targeting $25 an hour to be the lowest wage in their portfolio by 2025.
Most businesses are making resource allocation decisions from flawed data. They end up prioritizing customers that aren’t creating value for the business. Revenue growth alone is not enough to sustain a business. And revenue growth at the expense of profitability is what will kill a company.

“I can tell you, after 15 years of doing this, I’ve never bought a business where anybody (the owners, the CEO, the CFO), actually knows where they make money. They may have the gross margins, and everybody manages to that, and they have their standard costs. But the company’s not operating to the standards, they haven’t rolled standards, in years, there’s millions of dollars of variances running through the P&L. As long as the outcome at the bottom is acceptable, nobody’s really digging into the weeds.” – John Stewart

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