MC098: College in the Past, Chips in their Shoes, Coolant on their Clothes and Success in their Future w/ Paul Van Metre

Making Chips Podcast for Manufacturing Leaders

Hello Metalworking Nation! Today we are excited to bring you another story that we hope will equip and inspire the younger generation of manufacturing leaders. Flying all the way in from Washington State, we are joined by Paul Van Metre, Co-Founder and VP Marketing of Adion Systems, an ERP-based software solutions company.

Paul shares with us his success story of co-founding a machine shop with his friends right out of college. With little money at first, they were able to grow the business to an $11 million dollar company during the tech boom of the late 90's, by being ahead of the curve and utilizing several key processes including lean manufacturing and SEO. Eventually this led to the development of a web based and completely comprehensive ERP system that would take Paul and the company in a different direction.

Earlier on in the episode we'll get to hear Jim and Jason's debate on authentic Chicago Deep Dish, and in manufacturing news, we'll discuss Rhode Island's Governor calling for new focus on manufacturing jobs.

Episode Structure: [01:12] - Chuck Rigali with Alro Steel [03:12] - Manufacturing News [08:18] - Welcome Paul Van Metre [10:40] - Vehicle Research Institute [14:06] - Starting a Machine Shop [17:55] - Writing the First Paychecks [19:32] - Kaizen Newspapers [23:05] - Free Food and Other Perks [24:31] - Fully Digital Operation [26:53] - Moving Away From Old Processes [28:15] - Developing Software [30:23] - Starting a New Company [32:40] - Knowing Where We Came From [34:30] - Conclusion of Episode

Mentioned in this Episode: Manufacturing News Paul Van Metre | LinkedIn

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