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Start Local is focused on helping businesses and non-profits in and around Chester County, Pennsylvania, connect and grow together. Our aim is to bring together the many folks that make up our wonderful community in greater Philadelphia to share and learn from each other.
Liam Dempsey: Welcome to Start Local, where we talk with business owners, leaders of nonprofits, and other members of our community focused on doing business in and around Chester County, Pennsylvania.
Liam Dempsey: Each episode will provide insight into the local business scene and tell you about opportunities to connect with and support businesses and nonprofits in your local area.
Speaker 2: The Southern Chester County Chamber of Commerce promotes trade, commerce, industry, and sustainable economic development while supporting a diverse and growing marketplace.
Speaker 2: The Chamber is proud to partner with the Start Local podcast to raise the profile of businesses and nonprofits throughout Chester County.
Speaker 2: Learn more about the Chamber at scccc.com.
Speaker 2: That's scccc.com.
Liam Dempsey: Hey, hey, welcome to the Start Local Podcast. I'm Liam Dempsey. I'm here again in the studio with Erik Gudmundson. And Erik, how are you good, sir?
Erik Gudmundson: I'm doing well, and I'm excited to talk with our guest today because we had the pleasure of touring his facility. And I'm always a very visual, hands-on kind of person. So anytime we get to do this in real life, as well as in the studio, it makes me happy.
Liam Dempsey: Yeah, and I bet you our guests would remind us that it was visual and not hands-on because we probably shouldn't have been touching anything where they were.
Liam Dempsey: But I'll let our guests get into that more.
Liam Dempsey: Folks, today we are very pleased to welcome Scott Doher.
Liam Dempsey: Scott is the Vice President of Operations with M. Davis & Sons.
Liam Dempsey: M. Davis is a local company focused on industrial construction, fabrication, and maintenance.
Liam Dempsey: We will hear a lot more about that as we get into today's conversation.
Liam Dempsey: But M. Davis has locations in Kennett Square and also in Delaware and Maryland.
Liam Dempsey: Scott, welcome to the Start Local Podcast.
Liam Dempsey: Thank you for having me.
Erik Gudmundson: Scott, it's always a pleasure to talk with you.
Erik Gudmundson: I know we met at the Southern Chester County Chamber of Commerce years ago.
Erik Gudmundson: I feel like time is moving quickly, but always a treat to get into more detail and find out what people really do in their day jobs.
Liam Dempsey: Yeah, thank you.
Liam Dempsey: Scott, I shared that you're the Vice President of Operations with M. Davis.
Liam Dempsey: You've got facilities in Kennett Square, you're in Delaware and Maryland.
Liam Dempsey: And kind of at that overview, you do mechanical, electrical, fabrication of pipe and modular skids, controls and automation and engineering.
Liam Dempsey: For those of us who have really no idea what that means in real life, give us your 30-second elevator pitch.
Liam Dempsey: What does that mean if I don't work in manufacturing?
Liam Dempsey: Tell us about what you do and how you deliver products and services for your customers.
Scott Dolor: Yes, that's a lot to take in. So to boil that down, we essentially design, build, install, and service custom industrial systems and equipment.
Scott Dolor: Most of the facilities you see driving up and down 95 or through the area that look like big steam stacks coming out of the plant or pharmaceutical plant or where you see the food processing label you're used to seeing.
Scott Dolor: We work in those facilities and build the processes and parts that go into them.
Erik Gudmundson: It's really neat stuff because learning about how you make what you make is really also learning about how other people make what they make because they're using your stuff to make what they make.
Erik Gudmundson: So it gets complicated and fun really quickly.
Erik Gudmundson: Thinking about that, M. Davis & Sons is a family-run business, and listeners may be surprised to learn that it's 150 years old.
Erik Gudmundson: So let's go back in time.
Erik Gudmundson: Tell us briefly how the company got started and how did it get to where it is today?
Scott Dolor: Yeah, so I probably don't have the exact history correctly in my head, but around a little over 150 years ago, the Davis family started the business as a small tin shop out of the family garage and serviced the local paper industry, which was bigger back in the 1800s in this area.
Scott Dolor: They grew servicing as the industry changed in the area.
Scott Dolor: They continued servicing industry and grew the services from there, taking on new technology, new service lines.
Scott Dolor: As electricity became a more prominent part of industry, we brought that on.
Scott Dolor: More recently, modular fabrication and manufacturing was the direction that the industry is going.
Scott Dolor: And M. Davis has adapted to grow as the nation's grown.
Liam Dempsey: So you were, as we shared earlier, you were kind enough to show Eric and I around the Kennett Square facility.
Liam Dempsey: And we saw a lot of really cool metal things being made there.
Liam Dempsey: We saw power distribution panels for U.S. Navy ships.
Liam Dempsey: and very sleek-looking, smooth, clean pipes that can go into food and pharmaceutical production facilities.
Liam Dempsey: You've got a great clean room. It looks really cool.
Liam Dempsey: So you've told us a little bit about what you make already in your Kennett facility.
Liam Dempsey: So I want to just ask you this.
Liam Dempsey: Tell us about one or two of the coolest things that you and your teammates have made in the Kennett Square facility in recent years.
Scott Dolor: Yes, so that's tough.
Scott Dolor: Our Kennett Square facility is really the feed to the rest of the corporation.
Scott Dolor: So lots of cool projects start there.
Scott Dolor: Everything from Navy electrical distribution equipment, like you said, the pharmaceutical process piping, the beginnings of modular skids.
Scott Dolor: One of my favorite things that we've built and is really neat was a distillation column that was about 65 feet long.
Scott Dolor: And we assembled the entire process on its side and shipped it to Kansas, where it was stood upright.
Scott Dolor: So it was actually 65 feet tall and put into operation just around the beginning of the COVID era.
Scott Dolor: So, you know, timing was perfect because it was taking corn stock and making ethanol, which went into hand sanitizer, which, you know, at the time was a big crunch on the nation at that point.
Scott Dolor: So neat project, and it's just one of those big things that you stand in front of and say, wow, that's really huge.
Scott Dolor: How was that built?
Scott Dolor: And it's all the talent in-house that puts that together, and they do it on a daily basis.
Erik Gudmundson: On our tour of the Kennett Square facility, we saw a lot of big, expensive-looking machines used to make projects like the one you were just describing.
Erik Gudmundson: So some of the things we saw, they would basically slice through enormously thick pipes like they were sticks of butter.
Erik Gudmundson: Others would bend and fold and shape metal into electrical cabinets and other things.
Erik Gudmundson: Tell us about M. Davis' approach to investing in new machinery.
Erik Gudmundson: How do you keep appraised of what all these new machines out there can do and how do you decide what to invest in?
Erik Gudmundson: So, you know, I'm wondering just, you know, how that works versus, you know, how do you decide what to buy that's fancy new versus, you know, what does a human actually have to spend time, you know, hand crafting to make it work?
Scott Dolor: Yeah, in our industry, it is a really tough decision because if you go out and you look around and you see new equipment, new pieces of machinery, you can get enamored pretty fast with the technology and say, wow, that's neat.
Scott Dolor: I want that.
Scott Dolor: And you really have to apply to what we actually need and what will enhance our capabilities here at M. Davis.
Scott Dolor: And it's not to buy machines to have them replace what we're currently doing.
Scott Dolor: It's always to enhance what we're doing and to do it better.
Scott Dolor: Sometimes it's as simple as taking menial tasks and saying,
Scott Dolor: that's not using the trades that we have in-house at their best capability.
Scott Dolor: So let's bring in technology to take that out of their hands so that they can further enhance and further add to the value that we're selling with the talent that they bring to the table.
Scott Dolor: So making the decision really comes down to what is that enhancement and how does it benefit our workers here at M. Davis?
Scott Dolor: Because they have trained pretty hard and getting that skill set down, that's what they want to use.
Scott Dolor: They don't want to do the things that really we could just have a machine push towards them, and then they can show off their capabilities.
Liam Dempsey: We're going to get a lot of mileage out of this tour that you gave us, Scott, so thank you for that.
Liam Dempsey: Yeah.
Liam Dempsey: When we were on that tour, you were kind enough to give us some M. Davis branded eyewear, some protective eyewear.
Liam Dempsey: On a side note, when Eric was helping out with some tree trimming and cleanup work with his chainsaw, I wore the protective eyewear that you supplied.
Liam Dempsey: So thank you for that.
Liam Dempsey: But on a serious note, as we walked the shop floors in Kinn and we saw your colleagues, they're geared out with helmets and protective glasses and welding masks and masks and thick gloves and heavy boots, depending on where they were on the floor.
Liam Dempsey: We also saw the sign that makes it into movies and the like, indicating how many days it had been since there was a safety incident.
Liam Dempsey: So it's clear that safety is important to M. Davis.
Liam Dempsey: And clearly, it's about protecting your people, right?
Liam Dempsey: That's the priority.
Liam Dempsey: But I wonder if you can touch on the commercial value for following best practice when it comes to safety.
Liam Dempsey: Beyond, I don't want to minimize the value of protecting people, right?
Liam Dempsey: That's clearly far and away the first.
Liam Dempsey: But is there also a commercial benefit to it?
Scott Dolor: Yeah, so there's things on paper that you can tally up to, hey, safety helps with insurance premiums or customer requirements to get on site or to do work for them.
Scott Dolor: And not to drive it back to just protecting the folks that work here, but that really is the basis of everything because what are we selling?
Scott Dolor: And then we're selling that talent that works here.
Scott Dolor: And without that, we don't have a company.
Scott Dolor: So, you know, you can look at all of the other things that you can chalk up to safety and say, hey, there's some lower insurance premiums and there's some good PR around our numbers.
Scott Dolor: But the bottom line is, you know, if somebody injures themselves, we're down.
Scott Dolor: We're out.
Scott Dolor: And that financial impact, even if I take the people piece of it out, is huge.
Scott Dolor: It's like shutting the company door, you know, when you hurt somebody.
Scott Dolor: So that is really the bottom line. And, you know, along with that, you know, you can associate safety with quality.
Scott Dolor: You know, if we're taking shortcuts with our safety, you know, probably taking shortcuts with our quality as well.
Scott Dolor: You know, and those are really two core company values that we have, and that's safety and quality.
Scott Dolor: We stand behind everything we do and we stand behind our people.
Scott Dolor: So we can't let either one of those things lax.
Erik Gudmundson: Sticking with that training part of it for a moment of making sure people are following the right safety protocols, you're also training people on just how to do the basic nuts and bolts of their job.
Erik Gudmundson: So, you know, tell us and talk a little bit about, you know, how that training effort there benefits the business and what kind of training you deliver to your employees outside of safety training.
Scott Dolor: We keep a budget line for training, and that's not to track a cost.
Scott Dolor: That's to track, really, for us, that's the investment.
Scott Dolor: You know, the more we can train folks, the more we can expand what capabilities they can bring to the table.
Scott Dolor: So, you know, the investment in the people is really how we view the training.
Scott Dolor: We spend a lot of time making sure that we set time aside for the training.
Scott Dolor: And we go as far as we've built areas within our buildings for training.
Scott Dolor: And that's to not disrupt our production, but also to allow folks to still have that space to train.
Scott Dolor: And twice a week here at the Kenneth Square building, we've run free classes for our employees to come in and either enhance their training or to pick up new skill sets.
Scott Dolor: So training is a big deal around here.
Scott Dolor: And to us, that's the investment that we're making.
Scott Dolor: We talked on a previous question about buying equipment, and we get more mileage out of the training than we do the equipment.
Scott Dolor: So we need to make sure that everybody's skill sets are honed and they're continuing with their training.
Scott Dolor: And like everything, learning is a lifelong thing.
Scott Dolor: It's the same for these guys in the trades.
Scott Dolor: It's lifelong for them.
Scott Dolor: They didn't just go through an apprenticeship program in four years.
Scott Dolor: They know everything and retained everything.
Scott Dolor: They continue down that path as they go throughout their career.
Scott Dolor: They might be facing something they learned the first year they were in the trades.
Scott Dolor: That might be on a project coming up.
Scott Dolor: They want to go back in there and hone their skills on that and say, you know what, it's been 10 years.
Scott Dolor: Let's get behind the torch again and do something that I haven't done in 10 years.
Liam Dempsey: That makes sense.
Liam Dempsey: Yeah, totally makes sense.
Liam Dempsey: Thank you for that.
Liam Dempsey: Over a number of conversations we've had on this show with former guests who lead businesses reliant on professionals in skilled trades, we've come to understand that it can be pretty difficult, pretty challenging to attract the next generation of employees.
Liam Dempsey: And in advance of this conversation, I was reading on your website about your apprenticeship program and your summer camps.
Liam Dempsey: How are you recruiting young people?
Liam Dempsey: What local schools are you working with?
Liam Dempsey: What organizations are you partnering with to make sure that the right young people are finding careers that match their interesting goals and show up perhaps one day on your payroll?
Scott Dolor: So we try and start as early as possible.
Scott Dolor: So we do partner with ABC.
Scott Dolor: We partner with local schools.
Scott Dolor: We partner with the Delaware Apprenticeship Program.
Scott Dolor: We partner with the Chester County IU.
Scott Dolor: We're trying to get exposure as the first step to getting kids interested in the trades, interested in manufacturing.
Scott Dolor: And that starts at what we think is the high school, but sometimes it's middle school, getting them on that path.
Scott Dolor: And what we've also learned is getting the parents involved.
Scott Dolor: Because we've all had it beat in our heads that you must go to college.
Scott Dolor: And I'm not trying to bash college.
Scott Dolor: I went to college.
Scott Dolor: But it's not your only choice.
Scott Dolor: Had I been exposed to more things at a younger age, I think I would have felt more confident in my choices leaving high school.
Scott Dolor: So we work with the Kennett school with the summer camp program.
Scott Dolor: So that's one that is newer, where we're bringing in high school kids at their 11th, 12th grade year over the summer.
Scott Dolor: It's a one-week program.
Scott Dolor: They come in and they get to experience everything from engineering all the way through welding, electrical, wiring.
Scott Dolor: And what they're doing is they're designing and hands-on building a lamp.
Scott Dolor: So they don't know that when they start, but that's where they end up.
Scott Dolor: And they get to take a lamp home with them that they built from doing the AutoCAD drawings on a computer to hands-on welding, wiring, pipe cutting.
Scott Dolor: And they walk out the door with a nice-looking, industrial-looking lamp.
Scott Dolor: So that's been successful.
Scott Dolor: Yeah, I bet it has.
Scott Dolor: Yes.
Scott Dolor: Most of the kids that come out of that program apply for a job here.
Scott Dolor: So that's how successful that one is.
Scott Dolor: Much better than me going to the school and talking or any of the folks from here going there and talking.
Scott Dolor: The hands-on really wins them over.
Erik Gudmundson: They have an artifact, a daily reminder of that experience.
Erik Gudmundson: And to use a pun, it's like the light bulb goes off and they should apply at M. Davis.
Scott Dolor: It's as simple as that.
Erik Gudmundson: But I know as we were walking through your plant, it's very clear that manufacturing, especially there at M. Davis, is a sophisticated operation.
Erik Gudmundson: And your friendly staff was there thoughtfully working.
Erik Gudmundson: They were talking.
Erik Gudmundson: They were engaged.
Erik Gudmundson: It was not a boring assembly line.
Erik Gudmundson: So what would you say to one of those high school students or their parents that you were referencing in that last answer as they're trying to make decisions about post-secondary education?
Erik Gudmundson: Any particular guidance other than just letting them see it and experience it?
Erik Gudmundson: And I think that alone can be an eye-opening experience that really sheds some light, again, pun intended, on the manufacturing process.
Scott Dolor: One of the big concerns, I think it weighs heavy with just about everybody that has a child graduating high school and potentially going to, whether it be a trade school or a college, is the debt load that they're going to incur.
Scott Dolor: And one of the things we try and let them know is that, hey, this is something that it's a four-year program.
Scott Dolor: You come out of high school.
Scott Dolor: You come work for M. Davis.
Scott Dolor: You get a paycheck.
Scott Dolor: You go into the apprenticeship program.
Scott Dolor: You have night classes for four years.
Scott Dolor: But at the end of that four years, you have no debt associated with your education.
Scott Dolor: And you've earned a paycheck over that four years.
Scott Dolor: And you're starting at the end of four years at a pretty healthy salary level that starts
Scott Dolor: you into the world with a piece of paper you can take anywhere.
Scott Dolor: and also a higher-paying career.
Liam Dempsey: We referenced earlier that you and your colleagues make products for the U.S. Navy,
Liam Dempsey: and you might have additional contracts as well.
Liam Dempsey: But it gets me thinking about all the security requirements,
Liam Dempsey: the compliance regulations,
Liam Dempsey: general bureaucracy of dealing with the government's purchasing process.
Liam Dempsey: But what's it like to spend some time telling us
Liam Dempsey: what it's like being a government contractor?
Liam Dempsey: Is this a big part of M. Davis' business?
Scott Dolor: eSo this isn't a big part of M. Davis's business, but it does come with its own set of
Scott Dolor: hurdles. And like you said, the government bureaucracy or paperwork. And to some degree,
Scott Dolor: that's made us better. That's standardizes a lot of the things that we do and allows us to
Scott Dolor: operate in the same manner across all levels of business.
Scott Dolor: So if I take the positive out of that, that's what it's brought.
Scott Dolor: Like I said, it's not a big part of our business, but it is a part of our business and potentially
Scott Dolor: could be a growing part.
Scott Dolor: And if it is, we like to poise ourselves to be there, to be in the right place to handle that bureaucracy and not look at it as a chore every time we do it.
Erik Gudmundson: On that note, your website talks about your progress with federal compliance standards like NIST 800-171, CMMC Level 1, and others.
Erik Gudmundson: So other than being able to keep and go after new government contracts, have you found any benefits from pursuing regulatory compliance with security standards like those?
Scott Dolor: Yes.
Scott Dolor: So as you know, things change every day.
Scott Dolor: So the government imposes new requirements on all of their contractors, all of their suppliers.
Scott Dolor: And as being M. Davis, who works across many platforms, we may not be working directly for the government, but we may work for a company that does work for the government.
Scott Dolor: And as they impose these things on the government, they're starting to impose the third tier of requirements on saying anybody that works for you also needs to follow these requirements.
Scott Dolor: So as we have these, it does benefit our customers to know that they're working with somebody that's already in compliance and they don't have to either find a new contractor or find a new supplier or work with us to get through it where we're already there for them.
Liam Dempsey: It's a surprise to no one that AI is practically everywhere in the workplace.
Liam Dempsey: And I want to ask you this.
Liam Dempsey: Beyond ChatGPT and nicer presentations maybe for customers and the like,
Liam Dempsey: how does M. Davis use AI across the business?
Scott Dolor: So it's sneaking in in just about every aspect of what we do.
Scott Dolor: And it's kind of the ChatGPT being the big one out there.
Scott Dolor: You can say, oh, yes, we use ChatGPT all the time.
Scott Dolor: But that's kind of like a, hey, the internet search works really well view of it.
Scott Dolor: The AI that we're looking at is back to the same thing about buying equipment that's enhancing people operating.
Scott Dolor: Where can we implement AI to get rid of tasks that are like, how do I file this paper every time somebody reports an expense, I have to drag it into the file?
Scott Dolor: That's something AI can do for us.
Scott Dolor: And when we have that, it may only save five seconds every time somebody drags that into the file.
Scott Dolor: But as the company gets bigger and more expense reports get submitted, that five seconds starts to multiply really fast.
Scott Dolor: And that's just one example.
Scott Dolor: But that is how we look at AI and that's how we're implementing AI is not as a, hey, we want a robot that's going to replace some of our workers.
Scott Dolor: How could we, again, make our workers' lives a lot easier?
Scott Dolor: Because some of that, those types of tasks are what do stress people out.
Scott Dolor: I have a whole stack of files that I have to get into the right file.
Scott Dolor: When AI is taking care of that, they're free to think, and that's what we're paying them to do, is think and use their minds and let AI do those tasks that are just point and click type tasks.
Erik Gudmundson: Scott, you're only a few months away from your 20-year anniversary of employment with M. Davis & Sons.
Erik Gudmundson: That is an impressive achievement, particularly in 2026 with AI and everything else going on.
Erik Gudmundson: You rose through the ranks of the company starting in 2007, if I understand, as a project engineer.
Erik Gudmundson: And in 2021, you were appointed as the vice president of operations.
Erik Gudmundson: So I'm curious to learn if senior leadership was always a goal for you.
Erik Gudmundson: And tell me what about M. Davis has held your attention and interest for so long.
Erik Gudmundson: And maybe just to ask both those questions another way, what do you like about your employer that encouraged you to spend 20 years there?
Scott Dolor: Yeah, it's hard to believe it's been 20 years.
Scott Dolor: That time just, it goes by, people say in a blink of an eye, but it literally is a blink of an eye.
Scott Dolor: I had really had not thought of senior leadership when I started here.
Scott Dolor: I'd love to tell a story of, hey, I had my eye on that ball, and I was going after it.
Scott Dolor: I came in as an engineer, and this held my interest.
Scott Dolor: This is a company that, you know, a great group of people to work with.
Scott Dolor: And every day there's something new that we're working on.
Scott Dolor: So as you saw when you walked through, there's just a different project, a different way of looking at things.
Scott Dolor: So that interest is what has kept me here.
Scott Dolor: And that continued learning, you know, you see a piece of the business and you got to learn more.
Scott Dolor: And that's what got me to where I am.
Scott Dolor: And I think a lot of people that stay here are in the same boat.
Scott Dolor: It's like, hey, you know what?
Scott Dolor: I may be here as an electrician, but it's really neat to see how they make the pipe.
Scott Dolor: And I want to learn how they do that.
Scott Dolor: And it's really neat how they assemble a whole process.
Scott Dolor: I want to get down to Newark, Delaware, and see how they do that part of it.
Scott Dolor: And so I think that's really, you know, a lot of the interest is held.
Scott Dolor: And then having the great group of people to work with is the other side of that, you know, that keeps you here.
Scott Dolor: It's, like I said, it's really unbelievable that 20 years can go by that fast.
Liam Dempsey: Yeah, I get that part.
Liam Dempsey: I get that part.
Liam Dempsey: Scott, I have a follow-up question on that.
Liam Dempsey: Yeah. If an apprenticeship graduate comes in as, for example, an electrician and they're working and they're doing great work and they keep looking at the pipe set up and the machines over there and they say to their manager, hey, can I spend an afternoon playing with the pipes and learning about that?
Liam Dempsey: How does M. Davis support what you've just talked about, the ability to learn about other aspects of the business?
Liam Dempsey: And maybe, you know, I love electrics, but pipes, wow, that's so much better.
Liam Dempsey: You get metal and all the hydraulics and all the things.
Liam Dempsey: I want to go to that.
Liam Dempsey: How does that work at M. Davis?
Scott Dolor: So we encourage folks to start an apprenticeship and finish an apprenticeship.
Scott Dolor: So that's just to kind of keep you on track so you end up with an apprenticeship when you're finished.
Scott Dolor: But at M. Davis, we do encourage people to follow their interests, but we also work around our business needs.
Scott Dolor: So you can imagine that it's not as simple as just, yeah, go ahead, start working over in the pipe shop.
Scott Dolor: But that being said, I can't count how many folks have come in under one apprenticeship program, completed that apprenticeship program, and then jumped into something else because of that interest.
Scott Dolor: And what we do is we work with where the need is.
Scott Dolor: So when the project need rises and we can pull somebody off of the electrical group that has an interest in going into the mechanical group, we start getting them in there.
Scott Dolor: But again, it comes with communication and we have a review process.
Scott Dolor: So we encourage folks to speak up at the review process and say where you want to be because then we'll get you on that track.
Scott Dolor: And it doesn't lock you in.
Scott Dolor: but it does help us guide you there
Scott Dolor: so that you're not sitting over with the electrical group
Scott Dolor: wondering what it's like to build a pipe.
Liam Dempsey: Yeah, thank you for that.
Liam Dempsey: Eric mentioned that we met you
Liam Dempsey: through the Southern Chester County Chamber of Commerce
Liam Dempsey: and you currently sit on the board of directors
Liam Dempsey: for our chamber of which we are a member and a partner.
Liam Dempsey: So we've talked a lot on this show
Liam Dempsey: about the value that a business or organization
Liam Dempsey: can garner from chamber membership.
Liam Dempsey: So I don't want to focus on that. The question about it is really more about you as a business leader. What do you get at a kind of personal or personal slash professional level? What do you get out of your leadership role on the Chamber's board?
Scott Dolor: Yeah, you know, the chamber is a great way to network.
Scott Dolor: And, you know, I don't think anybody can dispute that.
Scott Dolor: Working with the chamber, you know, I've met great folks like yourselves and other businesses local to the area.
Scott Dolor: But really getting in on the board and with the board of directors has helped me.
Scott Dolor: I'll say work with, I'll call them mentors.
Scott Dolor: Other leaders in our community, they're business leaders.
Scott Dolor: They're folks that you build a strong relationship with.
Scott Dolor: And we can face hurdles together instead of just in isolation.
Scott Dolor: So when there's a change in Chester County, we can all talk about that.
Scott Dolor: And that's pretty obvious.
Scott Dolor: But also when I have challenges within my own job, now I have a network of friends that I can lean on and run things by.
Scott Dolor: And I hope that they're doing the same for me.
Erik Gudmundson: I love that aspect of the chamber because we're IT and cybersecurity experts.
Erik Gudmundson: So I routinely get calls about like, hey, this just happened and they want to run something by me really quickly, whatever it might be, whether it's a security issue or a techie issue or whatever.
Erik Gudmundson: And likewise, if I have a plumbing issue or a financial issue or something, there's no shortage of people I can call in my Rolodex to ask them a quick question as well.
Erik Gudmundson: And then, of course, when there is more serious work to be done, there's a whole lot of people that are available there and willing and open to help with a verifiable reputation, which is really nice.
Erik Gudmundson: So I definitely appreciate your answer there, Scott, and I'm right there with you.
Erik Gudmundson: But I want to go back to your company, M. Davis, a little bit because we've talked a lot about the manufacturing process in this interview.
Erik Gudmundson: But I want to talk about vertical integration because we may have sold your company short a little bit so far in the sense that you don't just make stuff.
Erik Gudmundson: You also offer design and service work.
Erik Gudmundson: So are you typically making what you design and servicing what you make?
Erik Gudmundson: Or how would you describe those other aspects of your business?
Scott Dolor: Yeah, so you're right in that aspect of we make what we design and we service what we build.
Scott Dolor: But a big part of our business is servicing what we don't build.
Scott Dolor: So we have strong relationships with our customers, and they call on us when they have needs,
Scott Dolor: and whether that's servicing anywhere from an industrial boiler to a process line that is not operating correctly for them.
Scott Dolor: And we have the team of engineering to go in and design that fix for them.
Scott Dolor: So we aren't an engineering design house where there's 50 to 100 engineers working here and that you're going to bring whichever napkin sketch to us and we're going to design your whole plant for you.
Scott Dolor: But we do have a strong skill set within our engineering group, and they can take that napkin sketch and add on to your plan or fix your process.
Scott Dolor: So, yeah, I'm glad you brought that up because, yes, it's often an overlooked portion of our business.
Scott Dolor: You know, it's one that customers that have relationships with us lean on, but often under advertised.
Liam Dempsey: So it looks like a lot of what you produce is custom, right?
Liam Dempsey: So if you're going to design it and then you're going to build it, it's all custom.
Liam Dempsey: And when it comes to custom, I expect some of it is maybe on the smaller side for what you do.
Liam Dempsey: And you told us about that 65-foot tall pipe tower that you created in the early days of COVID and the like.
Liam Dempsey: So I wonder if you could tell us a little bit about some of the smallest things that you have produced for some clients.
Liam Dempsey: And then in addition to or aside from the really big 65-foot tall piece, what's the biggest thing you've designed and built and built and built?
Scott Dolor: Yeah.
Scott Dolor: So on the smaller side, one of the things that was going through our shop just today was a small bracket that needed two quick welds.
Scott Dolor: So if you can imagine something you fit in the palm of your hands and probably took about a minute's worth of work, that's the smallest.
Liam Dempsey: Is that just like helping out a local business whose garage door wasn't closing correctly kind of thing?
Scott Dolor: So, yes, we often will do things like that.
Scott Dolor: So, you know, through the chamber, if somebody reaches out and say, hey, just have this bracket that isn't working right.
Scott Dolor: we can quickly fabricate something for them and hand it over, and it's helping out the community.
Scott Dolor: This particular one I'm speaking of was just a customer came to us with a need and said,
Scott Dolor: hey, can you get us one of these, and let's see how this looks.
Scott Dolor: So small is not a problem for us, and we're not going to shy away from small projects.
Scott Dolor: Big projects, we don't shy away from those either.
Scott Dolor: So, you know, we kind of shoot for the stars and hope we can land somewhere in the atmosphere.
Scott Dolor: So we've looked at things from, you know, a large scale food processing plant of a local supplier.
Scott Dolor: And I'm just not mentioning names because of the NDA, but it was a multi-million dollar project for us, probably in the neighborhood of well over $100 million, which could easily double the size of our company.
Scott Dolor: We looked at that and we strategically look at projects like that.
Scott Dolor: So when I say we're aiming for the stars, we're not just willy-nilly going after large projects and saying, we'll figure it out when we get it.
Scott Dolor: We sit down and systematically go through what is our capability, what is our capacity, and can we as a team get this done and involve the entire team in that process?
Scott Dolor: It doesn't always work out that we get those projects, but we do go after them and we do have the in-house capability to really accomplish it.
Scott Dolor: And we make sure of that as we're bidding that process.
Erik Gudmundson: Let's stick with Kennett for a moment.
Erik Gudmundson: It's a fast-growing area with deep roots in agriculture, equestrian pursuits, and a strong presence with finance and energy.
Erik Gudmundson: Plus, it's just a fun town.
Erik Gudmundson: Um, so when, what prompted M Davis to invest in such an impressive facility there as opposed to,
Erik Gudmundson: you know, putting it in, but maybe one of the old steel towns in the County that has a,
Erik Gudmundson: a lot of manufacturing presence like Coatesville or Phoenixville.
Scott Dolor: Yeah. So, you know, you, you, you did mention Kennett is, it's a fun town. It's great. And those are all positives to being here, but they weren't the reason why we ended up here.
Scott Dolor: The reason why we ended up here was really we knew we were growing.
Scott Dolor: We knew we needed to invest in a new facility to expand our business, to take on what we saw as growth in our business.
Scott Dolor: And we began our search looking throughout the area –
Scott Dolor: throughout Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania.
Scott Dolor: And what really honed us in on Kennett Square
Scott Dolor: was one, the availability,
Scott Dolor: and two was the proximity.
Scott Dolor: So we were positioned in Wilmington, Delaware.
Scott Dolor: And as I said, I think numerous times in this interview,
Scott Dolor: our people are our business.
Scott Dolor: And moving far away from our people doesn't work to maintain that business.
Scott Dolor: So had we moved to Phoenixville from Wilmington, Delaware, we would have lost a large portion of our people.
Scott Dolor: So it was definitely a consideration when we were moving.
Scott Dolor: And Kennett Square fit that bill.
Scott Dolor: Being very close to Delaware, it didn't impose such a hardship to move to a new area.
Scott Dolor: Now, no one likes change.
Scott Dolor: No one wanted to move out of any of the buildings they're doing.
Scott Dolor: It's like, I know my commute, and I don't want it to change.
Scott Dolor: But we did it, and we tried to help folks out with their commute any way that we could.
Scott Dolor: And once folks started making this commute to Kennett, I think they started to really appreciate the area.
Scott Dolor: And, you know, who could ask for anything more than driving through Longwood Gardens on the way to work every day?
Liam Dempsey: There's definitely worse ways to have to get to work.
Erik Gudmundson: You are right, sir.
Erik Gudmundson: Yeah, there's lots of good takeout food on the way to and from as well.
Erik Gudmundson: Exactly.
Erik Gudmundson: That's specific to Kennett.
Liam Dempsey: So, yeah.
Liam Dempsey: It often surprises people to learn really how high tech the mushroom industry is.
Liam Dempsey: They're also surprised that it's all indoors.
Liam Dempsey: But anyway, we'll just focus on the high-tech part for now.
Liam Dempsey: But the technology is required to maximize both safety and efficiency for the indoor agricultural operations of growing all those mushrooms.
Liam Dempsey: We're curious, Scott, are local mushroom farms and processing facilities your clients?
Scott Dolor: So local mushroom industries are a small part of our client base.
Scott Dolor: So we do some servicing of their local boilers and some small projects for them.
Scott Dolor: We are integrating into the community.
Scott Dolor: We're still integrating, and we'd love to be more of a part of the community.
Scott Dolor: So we're always open to any new projects that the local industry has and hope that we can be a part of their expansion in the future.
Erik Gudmundson: So between the chamber and this podcast, we just want to remind everybody, M. Davis is, in fact, open for business, accepting new clients.
Erik Gudmundson: That's what I just heard.
Erik Gudmundson: Yes, that's correct.
Erik Gudmundson: Question for you, is M. Davis and Sons hiring?
Erik Gudmundson: Yes. Yes.
Erik Gudmundson: Tell us about the positions that are open. Are they unique or you tend to have the same kind of positions open regularly?
Scott Dolor: So, you know, short answer is we're always open in our trades because it's a talent that's really, you know, there's not enough folks in the trade out there.
Scott Dolor: That being said, we like when kids get interested in it and want to come in and learn.
Scott Dolor: So we love bringing on new folks who have not been in the trades and are growing up into it.
Scott Dolor: Then we're able to get the training under their belt for the specific work that we're doing.
Scott Dolor: We are also always looking for talented individuals that have years of experience, and those folks come across like once in a lifetime because they're in high demand.
Scott Dolor: And then we always, as with any business, there's other jobs.
Scott Dolor: It's more than just welders and electricians.
Scott Dolor: There's folks in engineering that we're always looking to bring in some new engineers.
Scott Dolor: Just throughout business and attrition, we may have an opening in accounting or HR.
Scott Dolor: We always have our feelers out there.
Scott Dolor: We just brought in a new person into our marketing department.
Scott Dolor: So that position's filled, but there are always new ones coming available.
Erik Gudmundson: Where do you post these openings?
Erik Gudmundson: Do you have a careers page on your website, or do you have a particular service or recruiting firm you like to use?
Scott Dolor: So we do a multi-prong approach.
Scott Dolor: So we will take applications on our website, and then we've kind of funneled those folks into a direct connection with HR.
Scott Dolor: But we go everywhere from we'll post on LinkedIn to the Indeed website.
Scott Dolor: And then we have relationships with some of the local recruiters as well.
Liam Dempsey: Scott, I'm wondering if you can name a local business or nonprofit that more folks should know about.
Scott Dolor: There's probably several in the area that come to mind when you ask that question.
Liam Dempsey: We'll allow a few. We'll allow a few.
Scott Dolor: Okay. I guess working with the local businesses, one that comes up is the garage in Kennett. It's a chance for young folks to find a career path and get employment.
Scott Dolor: So that's definitely one I think that's underrated or under publicized in the community.
Scott Dolor: And the other one I think that really helps folks out is moving to the lower end of the county is the silo in Oxford,
Scott Dolor: helping out with folks in need and getting them fed.
Scott Dolor: And it's a good chance for folks to volunteer. So those are the two that come immediately to mind when you ask that question. And again, it's about strengthening Chester County and helping everybody kind of get that next leg up.
Erik Gudmundson: Thank you for those suggestions, Scott. Yeah, I agree. There's so much really about community. And the more we can build that community together as business folks or as nonprofit leaders, the better we will all be, no doubt about it. How can the local community support you and M. Davis and Sons?
Scott Dolor: Yeah, so we're really happy that we're here and part of Chester County.
Scott Dolor: This is a place I grew up, and so it definitely links me back to home.
Scott Dolor: But the community, where the community and us really connect is through engagement with that workforce, where folks can turn to us.
Scott Dolor: I know it sounds more like I'm saying we can help them out, but I'm not.
Scott Dolor: they'd be helping us out as if folks are looking for employment and can reach out to us.
Scott Dolor: That's a big help for us. We've had an incredible, successful run over the short time that we've
Scott Dolor: been here with bringing on young folks out Chester County and working here. They've got incredible
Scott Dolor: work ethics and, you know, bright, intelligent people that learn fast. So, you know, the more
Scott Dolor: we could have those folks working for us, the better the company we're going to be.
Erik Gudmundson: Scott Dolor, Vice President of Operations with M. Davis & Sons. Where can listeners connect with
Erik Gudmundson: you and learn more about M. Davis & Sons? So, they definitely can get on our website,
Scott Dolor: mdavisinc.com, and that will tell them all about our company.
Scott Dolor: And there's lots of fun videos there to see what we're actually building
Scott Dolor: and get tours of our facilities.
Scott Dolor: And I encourage anyone that wants to reach out to me on LinkedIn,
Scott Dolor: feel free to connect with me.
Liam Dempsey: Scott, thank you so much.
Liam Dempsey: One, for the tour of the facility in Kennett, that was just a blast.
Liam Dempsey: It was really exciting to see how such a business is yours in an industry in manufacturing and fabrication design.
Liam Dempsey: I just don't work in that at all.
Liam Dempsey: So to get a window into that and to see how such a pivotal local business operates was really fun and exciting.
Liam Dempsey: Thank you so much for your time in doing that and for today.
Liam Dempsey: I really appreciate it.
Scott Dolor: Thank you both for having me on.
Scott Dolor: It was a pleasure.
Erik Gudmundson: Thank you, Scott.
Erik Gudmundson: I really enjoyed our time today.
Erik Gudmundson: And thank you also to my co-host, Liam Dempsey.
Erik Gudmundson: I'm Eric Goodmanson.
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