Greg: Welcome to this episode of Manufacturing Mavericks. And on this episode today, I am pleased to introduce a new friend of mine I’ve just been getting to know, Adam Gordon with Tendon Manufacturing. Welcome to the program, Adam.
Adam: Thanks for having me, Greg. It’s good to be here.
Greg: Absolute pleasure. So, Adam and I have just been bonding over fantasy football. Oh, we’re a couple weeks into the season here, and lots of waiver moves. We were talking about the guillotine league that we do here at the Datanomix office, and we were thinking, what the world needs is another fantasy football podcast, right, Adam?
Adam: [laugh]. I’m ready.
Greg: Like, maybe a manufacturing-focused fantasy football podcast? We could do that.
Adam: Yeah, I mean the way the Brown season’s starting, a fantasy is pretty much [laugh] all I got, right now, so…
Greg: [laugh]. Love that. Love that. So, we’ll talk about something more within our reach than maybe, uh, winning our respective fantasy football championships this year, and that’s obviously family-run manufacturing businesses. Adam, you are second generation at Tendon Manufacturing, is that right?
Adam: Yes, correct.
Greg: Always love talking to folks who have come up through mom or dad starting the business, how they got exposed to manufacturing, and what you’re trying to do with the company today, and what your vision is for the future. So, I’m confident this will be an awesome episode, and we can dig into some of those things. So, let’s start from the beginning, Adam. Tell me about the origins of Tendon Manufacturing there in the Greater Cleveland area, and what it was like growing up in the shop.
Adam: So, my dad started Tendon with his partner, Greg Tench in 1988. They had met—my dad was in sales for Warner & Swasey, and Greg ran the shop floor. So, that’s kind of how they started their bond. And then once Warner & Swasey shut down, they went their separate ways, you know, professionally, but maintained that friendship. And actually the way my dad—you know, my dad and him, wanted to start company for a while, and they were trying to get a loan, and what ended up working out for the loan was my mom babysat for the kids of one of the bank owners that finally threw my dad a bone, and so it’s kind of a one of the many examples of the ‘who you know’ aspect of things.
But yeah, we’re based out of Warrensville Heights; it’s a Cleveland suburb. So, we’ve been in this location since ’94, started downtown originally. Really, what we were was we were an outsource shop for a while for a company by the name of Gould. And so, that was the first customer. They have since closed, been acquired, but we ended up kind of progressively moving away from more of the machining side of things to now—which we’re doing 90% of our output is sheet metal. So, a lot of cool stuff. My dad’s still heavily involved. Greg is still involved. His son is our head programmer, lead engineer, and you know, I work alongside my brother and brother-in-law as well. So, all very close family [laugh].
Greg: Awesome. So, everybody stayed together and come into the business through that process. I mean, sometimes you find folks who grow up around a shop are like, “Man, the last thing I want to do is get involved in the family manufacturing business.” So, did you start out as a young kid? Were you sweeping floors, measuring parts, doing odds and ends, or what was that experience like for you?
Adam: Yeah. I mean, it was a lot of—because we have a powder coat line and so, you know, we were masking parts. So, you were putting the silicone caps on [PEMS 00:04:18] and tape strips, you know, to get that ground. That’s how we were getting, like, vacation money, walking around money. And what kind of, you know, got me into it was, you know, my dad’s always—it’s almost like he’s got ADD, but we’re walking around even just downtown on our way to a ball game, and he’ll point something out that, you know, was Tendon made, you know, whether it’s a holder for the credit card reader of those lottery machines or sports center, they have those big touch screens. We made the bezels that held those. So, it’s kind of cool just pointing that stuff out, and just seeing where the manufacturing is. Even so, like, even when I was in Cub Scouts, we had a machinist that turned down my Pinewood Derby wheels for my car to try to give me a little bit of an edge [laugh].
Greg: [laugh]. Did you win?
Adam: No, I didn’t. So… [laugh]. I hope I don’t get any badges rescinded there, but no wins to vacate because I didn’t get one. So, yeah.
Greg: Awesome. And so, you mentioned as well that, you know, the business started out machining, and then has switched more to fabrication. Give us some of the story behind that.
Adam: It was a lot of lathes and just, you know, manual machining. We still have Haases. And then a lot of it was the turret punch, when we convert it over to sheet metal. One company in particular—you know, we make the measuring equipment—they were, for the longest time, about 60 to 70% of our business before, you know, moving a lot of their operations to China. But you know, a lot of flat parts that you’re punching louvers in, maybe, you know, two bends and then wet spray. And it was kind of guided by where their demand was, was kind of what we were going to endure next. We’ve had welding as well. It’s been there for a while. Just kind of naturally taking shape and seeing what the trends are and where the demand is.
Greg: Got it. Got it. So, what’s some of the hot stuff for you now? What are you seeing for good industries and good work?
Adam: So, right now, our biggest job is we’re making these power cabinets because with the advancement of AI and all that, they need a lot of storage for different technology that’s being needed to be harvested. And I think what set us apart with this particular customer was, we not only produce the sheet metal, but we do the assembly of the cabinet in our facility next door.
Greg: Oh, nice.
Adam: Yeah. And kind of a—you’ll notice a theme—when Covid hit, a lot of our customers had to trickle off the shutdown and demand decreasing. You know, specifically our spray tan booth customer, or different customers that had to deal with retail, but we had an air purifying unit that we had already been making for a customer. I mean, maybe ten a month when it was good, at first, and then when Covid hit, obviously, you know, air purifying units were in extreme high demand. So, that’s kind of where we learned to pivot, make the sheet metal, but then also do the assembly and set that up. So, once they kind of fell off, we had this pre-existing structure that, it just was such a right time, right place sort of thing.
Greg: That’s fantastic. You know, it’s funny every time I hear about another thing that got screwed up from Covid—it’s like a spray tan booth. It’s like, that one never [laugh] would have crossed my mind. It’s literally, like, every rock you look under, it got screwed up.
Adam: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Like [laugh], you know, it’s like, there’s a [manu 00:08:13] company that will do some powder coating for, and you’re like, when you go out to a restaurant, you still—it’s more so the QR codes still.
Greg: Yeah. I hate those. I hate them, by the way.
Adam: Brutal. And my wife makes fun of me because you, like—I’m like, an old man with it. Like, I’m like, slamming my finger on the phone trying to click the link, and it’s just not clicking for me. But now, I agree.
Greg: I’m a tech guy, right, but I can’t stand—
Adam: Yeah, that’s pretty wild.
Greg: —the QR code menus.
Adam: Yeah [laugh].
Greg: I can’t stand it. I want to see the menu. I want to see things in context. I want to be able to look at different ingredients across different dishes, and how they’re trying to present it to you. And I hate the QR code thing.
Adam: And you know, like, especially when you go to, like, Mexican restaurants, Chinese food restaurants, I love the pictures, you know?
Greg: Right. Right [laugh].
Adam: [laugh]. It’s when you know you’re at a good spot.
Greg: Yeah. Just point [laugh]. This is what I want. So, we could talk all day about technological grievances in the world, too—
Adam: Yeah.
Greg: —maybe tie it back to fantasy football. But I know one of the things that’s very important, particularly in multi-generational family-run businesses, is culture, and shop culture. So, how would you describe the culture at Tendon, and what are the things that are really important to you guys that you’re focused on?
Adam: I think one of the coolest takeaways we have—and one of the greatest compliments—is just the amount of employees that come asking for an application because they have a referral for somebody, they want to work here. Because—
Greg: Wow.
Adam: —yeah, I take that, and most employees do, and it’s one of those things that we're doing something right. I mean, you like it enough that somebody you like, you want to bring in here. And that’s honestly one of the most gratifying things that we found. And, you know, we know that 90% of the jobs we have out there—well, basically a hundred percent of the jobs we have out there—can be taught, so you’re looking for those, just, natural things: the ability to show up on time, the body language, the energy, those type of employees tend to do very well here. And my dad, myself, my brothers, like it’s funny, we don’t really hand out our business cards too much from a selling standpoint.
We find ourselves using our business cards—like, the other day. I just really liked how the order was being received at [laugh] Dunkin’ Donuts. But, you know, the person, I was like, “Hey, if you’re looking for a career somewhere else, like, I just really loved your service.” R, you know, when you’re at a grocery store and somebody’s just hustling to get the shopping carts in, and just that kind of stuff you want to admire in people, and, like, it’s kind of that pot-of-coffee test too, that, you know, the front office we have the coffee, you’re supposed to make it yourself, and then, if it’s running low, noticing the people who are the ones that make the pot for the rest of the group, you know, and don’t just leave it there empty, and pick up a, you know, loose piece of trash they see on the ground, even though it’s not theirs. It’s just that goes a long way here, for sure.
And I think one of the cool things we do for employee buy-in is we have these fix-it forms, we call them, and it’s really just a process improvement thing, that we want employees to look for ways to improve their day, improve, you know, our operations, and you’ll come to find that the employees that fill out the most fix-it forms are the ones that kind of climb the ladder quicker because they’re seeing things that we’re not, and they’re just advancing us so much more than we could imagine. And along with that, we do quarterly bonuses. That’s part of our profit sharing, so whatever employee wages are, they factor in these—this last year, it’s factored to be an additional $3.25 an hour. It’s one of those things that you know, your biggest asset is your group of people. And the Ohio State legend said it best—you know, Woody Hayes—“You win with people,” so that’s kind of what we strive for here.
Greg: Those are some excellent anecdotes, Adam. I actually had a customer, I asked him out of curiosity, “Where’d you hire your last employee?” And he said, “Harbor Freight.” And I said, “Why?” And he said, “Because there was something I needed help with. He went and got it, brought it out to the car for me.” I told him, “Follow me back to the shop. I got a new job for you.” [laugh].
Adam: Yes.
Greg: It’s incredible.
Adam: No, I love that. I mean, it really is. It’s just something you don’t want to take for granted, just that different type of energy that not everybody has. I love that.
Greg: So, Adam, how many employees do you guys have now?
Adam: We have 82.
Greg: Wow.
Adam: Yeah. When I started, we were—five, six years ago, now—we were at just under 50. I think we were at, like, 45.
Greg: Okay.
Adam: Yeah, we’ve increased it. And I would say, it’s two-and-a-half shifts, is what I tell people because that third shift is more of a skeleton crew that likes to be left alone a little bit so [laugh].
Greg: [laugh]. So, with growth like that, you’ve basically doubled the number of employees in a handful of years. You know, what have you been doing technologically within the business to support that growth, whether it’s equipment investments, automation investments, software investments? How have you guys looked at that?
Adam: We’re trying to automate to accommodate. We have—because we’re considered a job shop in the industry, so we’re not running—it’s very rare for us to have orders where it’s thousands and thousands of parts, you know? Like, we’ll get a couple hundred of this component or this and that. We’re changing dies out a lot at the break area, and different things like that. Or we could never get automation, really, on the paint line because we’re switching colors so much.
But lately, we added an additional fiber laser. So, we have three fiber lasers currently. We have a robotic welder cobot for a lot of our bigger, longer run welding jobs. And then Tom, our engineer, really pushed for this offline programming. And so that, with the offline programming for the break, a lot of these operators who aren’t familiar with having to set up the dies and the punches, they’re pulling that program on the monitor, and seeing what needs to go where, and you know, where you need to hit the gage, and different things like that, just to accommodate any way we can in that respect.
So really, that’s what we’ve added. And we’ve expanded our space. We started when I was here, with a 36,000 square foot warehouse that we’ve had since ’94, and then we bought the building next door, and carved out another 15,000 square feet. So, that’s really what we’re doing, and then, you know, on the horizon, we’re looking for our—we’ve already purchased, it’s coming in November—a robotic arm for our break area.
Greg: That’s awesome. So really, if I think about how the business is constructed, it’s sort of what you were saying earlier. You’re full service from your laser cutting, you’re welding, you can machine, you’re assembling, you’re powder coating, you’re painting, and I’m guessing some engineering capabilities as well that the market probably needs.
Adam: Yeah. And it’s cool. I mean, you’ll get calls from [laugh] from people in the neighborhood, and they’ll ask, “Hey, you know, I need to get a stainless steel, uh, hood for my grill.” And we’re like, “Well, we’re a production facility.” [laugh]. But—
Greg: [laugh]. But four grand, you can have one.
Adam: Yeah. Yeah. We’ll squeeze you in.
Greg: Yeah. It’ll be the best looking hood you could imagine.
Adam: You know, squeeze you in. “How does December sound?” I’m sure you’re going to be growing a lot here in Ohio. Yeah. No. But there are some cool ones where people have these ideas, and you’re like, “You know what? I would like to be a part of this.” So, it’s just fun, you know? Never a dull moment. We have a [laugh] manager at a Chick-fil-A down the street, and we weld her—her employees keep breaking the fryer baskets.
Greg: Seriously?
Adam: She’s come—yeah—and she’s come—
Greg: How do you do that?
Adam: [laugh]. I don’t know, but—
Greg: Chicken is not that heavy [laugh].
Adam: It’s hilarious, too, because, you know, we’re like, we don’t take payments. She gives us some sandwiches, and now I’m like—
Greg: I’m like that. The barter system.
Adam: [laugh]. Exactly. We’re going old school.
Greg: That is hilarious. I can’t imagine what has to happen to break a frying basket. Usually those are—
Adam: I know.
Greg: —those are [laugh] pretty well constructed.
Adam: Yeah. And we’re not sabotaging it, I promise. We’re not—
Greg: [laugh].
Adam: We don’t have somebody on the inside.
Greg: Wait a minute. How many a week are you doing [laugh]?
Adam: [laugh].
Greg: I mean, if you could rig that in your favor, that would be fantastic.
Adam: Oh, yeah.
Greg: Our last office building was right across the street from a Chick-fil-A, and that’s just dangerous, man.
Adam: Oh, I know. Yeah. I want to lose that on the map. I’m like, I don’t want to know where you guys are [laugh].
Greg: It’s a rewards program that you don’t want to be proud of [laugh].
Adam: [laugh].
Greg: So, some good stuff going in on the automation side. How about—you said, automate to accommodate, which I think is a fantastic principle. How about related to other workflows of the employee? Are you looking at any automation digitization type efforts?
Adam: Yes. We have our ERP system. We use JobBOSS, and we’ll track data that way, but that doesn’t give us the full answer. So, you know, we were looking for some way to monitor our internal QA, for sure, and then time spent, like—really, one of our biggest points of contention during these production meetings that we’ll have with our management team is we’re like, “We need the lasers to be running as much as possible.” So, just monitoring that. And our newer laser comes with that feature where you can monitor the beam time. The two Baykals we have are a little older, so we don’t really have or know of a way to do that. But—
Greg: I might be able to help you with that.
Adam: Yeah, I think so [laugh].
Greg: [laugh].
Adam: Yeah, please. Come on over.
Greg: [laugh]. I just want one Chick-fil-A sandwich waiting in the break room, and I’ll be right—
Adam: There you go. I don’t know if it’s going to be waiting long, so you’re gonna—
Greg: [laugh]. Awesome. So, you’ve been looking in more data acquisition, it sounds like?
Adam: Yes. Yeah.
Greg: Full disclosure, I met Adam, like, 35 minutes ago. He’s not a current Datanomix customer, so this isn’t a setup. I’m actually just curious. So what—
Adam: You need to have that—whoever does the end of those radio ads where they talk really fast.
Greg: That’s right [laugh].
Adam: [unintelligible 00:19:41] [laugh].
Greg: So, what has you—so it sounds like you’re getting stuff out of your ERP. You figured out, “Hey, that’s not enough.” So, you see some gap. You know, what’s more in that gap, and what has you more interested in data acquisition?
Adam: We have this utilization number that we use, and it definitely helps dictate where we’re going wrong, and how we’re quoting, and different things like that. One of our issues—especially with the laser—is, you have employees—your laser operators—leaving to get material, whether it be the building next door, or unracking it. So, we’re looking into that. And we’re also considering, down the road, getting a feeder system for at least the Mitsubishi laser that will do some of the [de-parting 00:20:33]. Because you’re like, that is kind of our mission, you know, the whole ‘automate to accommodate’ sort of thing that keeps the laser operator doing their thing. And then it also just increases production. So, different things like that. So yeah, so it really does just come down on, just keeping our hands on parts.
Greg: Got it. So, it’s really shining a light on those, what could be thought of as non-value-added activities.
Adam: Correct, yeah.
Greg: And I like what you said, “Keeping hands on parts,” so it’s what’s happening, what’s a day in the life, and what’s everything that’s happening that’s not as directly tied to revenue-generating production that we could possibly do differently?
Adam: Yes. Yes. A hundred percent. And you know, we have that debate, too, because space comes up as an issue a lot. But you’re like, are we being smart about what we’re putting where, and do we need to keep inventory of this? Can we scrap that? So, you know, that feeds into it, too, just because you have people shuffling the deck of the material skids as well. So, we’re obviously to blame in that respect, as well.
Greg: Sure. It’s funny you bring up the space thing because we have, definitely, customers I’ve worked with who they start to look at that, and basically start with the blank sheet of paper, and relay out the floor, relay out, you know, where’s QC centralized? Nope. It’s out on the floor. Nope, it’s centralized. You know, there’s a lot of oscillations on some of these different topics. And obviously the cost and the impact of moving things is massive.
Adam: Yeah. Yeah, so you want to get it right [laugh]. It’s like, every time I’m over by my mother-in-law’s house, there’s different piece of furniture that needs to get moved, and this and that. Can’t really do that with the type of equipment we have here.
Greg: No, no. What I do love is that, you know, you’re just seeing lots of creativity around how to squeeze those time gaps, right, how to make more with less, how to keep people, again, in the revenue generation cycle as best as possible because that helps with your costs and your profitability as a company, and it’s better for everybody.
Adam: Yeah. And I mean, a lot of it, too, is just people signed up for this job, not necessarily a material handler, or different things like that.
Greg: So, I’m looking at the website, Adam, and I see—so we talked about tanning salons, professional stadiums, marinas, hospitals, big box stores. What are some of the most interesting parts you guys have made?
Adam: We do have this customer—it’s fun. Now, that Cleveland has kind of had a glow up—I’d say at least—we’ve been able to host some NCAA Tournaments and different things like that, the all-Star game—so we have this customer that will make the graphics, so the decals that go on it. So, we were making these baseballs, basically. So, we were making the big circle welded to the base that they put the graphics on. So, you see those scattered throughout town, which are which really cool, different logos that go into the suites at Brown stadium being a part of that.
And really, like, I mean, super proud of our contributions to the fight against Covid and all that stuff. A lot of those air purifying units went into classrooms, went into waiting rooms, and that was really cool to me. Obviously, the frying baskets are [laugh] a nice little perk. And then we have fun. We’re all sports fans here, so hey, like, why don’t we cut this… we cut Brutus the Buckeye, and Notre Dame Fighting Irish, you know, we cut those guys good bar signs.
Greg: Yeah.
Adam: Yeah.
Greg: I was going to ask if you might be able to do something for our office guillotine-league themed. You know, like, a metal—the blade, and, like, a head that looks like it’s about to get chopped [laugh].
Adam: We could do that. We definitely made—because it’s funny, a bunch of us, are in the same league here, and like, one day—my dad’s clueless when it comes to fantasy football; like, he wants to draft a kicker in the first round—so he actually outsources—
Greg: [crosstalk 00:25:05] before.
Adam: —yeah. He outsources his draft to our engineer, Tom. So, he drafts for him, but we make the plaques every year, the nameplates for the trophy. So.
Greg: Yeah. That’s awesome. I also see that you had a special visitor at one point in time.
Adam: We did, yeah. Yeah, yeah. So, Vice President Pence was here, as a sitting vice president, and it was really surreal. It’s really crazy the security measures you go through, kind of just seeing how Tendon started, and then they get to a point where you have someone in the highest office coming down here. You’re like, “Wow.” Pretty wild. It’s pretty funny, too, just we got a family picture, and definitely something we won’t forget.
Greg: I bet the prep for that event was harder—
Adam: Oh yeah.
Greg: Harder than any audit you’ve ever done.
Adam: [laugh]. Yeah. We just finished our ISO audit. Yeah, I could say that’s a little different, yeah. And yeah, it was pretty wild. I’m sure a lot of people couldn’t stand us in the neighborhood because we’re shutting down traffic [laugh], so [laugh] I’m sure that ticked some people off. But no, it was really cool.
Greg: That’s an awesome event to have in your history. And I see also that you guys actually fabricated him something commemorative for his visit.
Adam: Yeah. Those are our famous Ohio-shaped signs that we put some messages in. So, yeah, “Welcome to Ohio.” I think at the time, it was a little bitter, though, because he’s a Cubs fan, and it was just when the Cubs did that thing to us back in 2016. So—
Greg: Got it [laugh].
Adam: It was a very dark time [laugh]. You want to talk about rough mornings after, it was after that game seven trying to roll into work. Like… oof.
Greg: Yeah, those ones take a while to wear off… if ever [laugh].
Adam: Yeah. My wife still gives me a hard time. She’s like, “I mean, how do you not let this go?” “You’re so close. You’re so close. You don’t get it.” [laugh].
Greg: We’ll avoid that trap.
Adam: Yeah [laugh].
Greg: We’ll go on to a happier topic, which is, you know, obviously, growing up in a manufacturing business, watching your dad pour everything into it to help set the business up for where it’s gotten to today. You’ve doubled in the last few years. You’re investing in automation. You have an all-access backstage pass to Chick-fil-A. You’ve had a sitting vice president visit the shop. If you could go back in time and talk to a, you know, younger version of yourself, what advice would you give to someone who was thinking about getting involved in manufacturing?
Adam: One of the things, like, my takeaways is, you know, just don’t be so intimidated that you’re afraid to ask questions. I love that story of Gus, he was talking about his in with the machinist was, you know, he bought them a cup of coffee—
Greg: Yeah. It’s crazy.
Adam: —and was able to—I know. And I just thought if I even had just the courage of doing that as a teenager instead, you know, just trying to stay out of everybody’s way, that would have been priceless. So, it’s easier said now, but you know, be more confident in yourself, and be able to ask those questions, and be okay looking dumb. It’s just, everybody has to start somewhere. Even when I first started, you’re working with people who have decades on you when it comes to this. It’s just awesome. Like, you know, they have these decades of experience on you, and you’re afraid of looking stupid, but then you’re just like, just give it time. You’ll get there, and whatever little tidbit they give you, they throw your way, take it and just build upon it.
Greg: That’s a great one. And I think, you know, actually one of the disservices of the modern era of how fast news travels, and stories get across, and things is we lose sight of just the old-fashioned way of how long it takes to get great at things, and how long it takes for success to brew, right? Everyone wants everything to be instantaneous, and yesterday, and I can go from a nobody to ten-trillion followers in, like, eight minutes if I do this stupid thing on video [laugh], you know? It’s like, we could go into football, you know, jumping through tables in Buffalo or whatever [laugh].
Adam: I know.
Greg: It was like, at the end of the day, you can’t replace area under the curve of experience, and perseverance, and those sorts of things.
Adam: Yeah. I mean, not everyone’s going to know what they want to be, nor should they. You know, I actually started as a teacher. I taught for five years in an elementary school, and it’s just figuring it out. It’s obviously, there’s no destination. You’re just going to keep growing, and keep on with your education, and building that skill set. And then once you find that thing that motivates you, you know, stick to it. Don’t freak out if it—like you said—doesn’t do that instant gratification.
Greg: There’s no replacement for accumulated wisdom over time. You can’t push a button and inject it into your head.
Adam: No. And I even think about, going back to that episode with Gus, where you know, you talked about the one employee that, you know, had his hand on the machine, and knew when the tool was going to break. Like, how long has that guy been around that he was able to pick that up? It’s wild.
Greg: Right, right. No, that didn’t happen overnight.
Adam: No [laugh], no.
Greg: That’s for sure. Well, Adam, it’s been absolutely fantastic having you on the show. Great learning about the family business. Great doing some fantasy football banter off the air before we hit the record button. Good luck to your Browns. Good luck in the rest of your fantasy football season, and—
Adam: We both need it [laugh].
Greg: Yeah, tell me about it. Looking forward to getting out there and meeting you sometime. And, you know, maybe grabbing a spicy filet sandwich with you.
Adam: There you go. Awesome. Yeah, I appreciate it. This was awesome.
Greg: All right, take care, Adam.
Adam: You too. Thanks.
Greg: Thank you for listening to Manufacturing Mavericks. If you’d like to learn more, listen to past episodes, or nominate a future Maverick to be on our show, visit mfgmavericks.com, and don’t forget to subscribe to and rate this podcast on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, or your favorite podcast app.
