 Welcome to the latest episode of the Columbia Economic Development Rethink Business Podcast. My name is Ryan Coleman, Director of Economic Development for the City of Columbia. And this morning I am excited to have Stephanie Engels here with Dayton Rogers. They are a local metal fabrication company here in Columbia, South Carolina. And so we're going to talk with her a little bit, hear more about what they've got going on locally and she can tell us about the business. So good morning and thanks for being here. Yeah, thank you for having me. I appreciate the opportunity. Awesome. So for those out there who don't know about Dayton Rogers, tell us a little bit about the background of the company and what y'all do here in the Columbia area. Sure. So we were founded in 1929 by a gentleman named Dayton Rogers. We've expanded locally. We have locations in Ohio, Texas, Minnesota and here in South Carolina. And my role is the plant manager. So I'm recently new to the role, but we're growing and we're expanding and it's all good things. Okay. And what do y'all do here in Columbia? What do y'all produce specifically? So we don't have one set product line. Everything that we do is completely contract sheet metal manufacturing. So basically if you can make it out of sheet metal, we'll try it. We have tons of different customers from all different industries. So our niche is short sheet metal stampings and fabricating. And y'all are fairly new to Columbia. Y'all just moved here around 2011, 2012? 2013. Okay. So of course. Yep, you were close. I actually moved here in 2013. The company first opened its doors. We're right off of Bluff Street, if you know where that's at. You're in the industrial part. In the industrial part. Yes, exactly. And we opened in January of 2014 for the first time. Okay. Yeah. So from your perspective as somebody who's not originally from South Carolina, you're from Minnesota, right? Correct, yes. What do you like most about living and working here? I mean, if you can put the summers aside, what else is good about the area? Well, I mean, definitely the weather is a big selling point for me. I was trying to get away from the snow. But also just the environment. So you can be in the big city, but also kind of be in the rural areas. And it's all fairly close. You can go to those little shops, the mom and pop shops. And you can also go to a big concert. So I really like living in this downtown area. It's nice. Yeah. It's pretty accessible. And it seems like there's more and more stuff we were talking about this earlier going on to do in the evenings and weekends. Exactly, yeah. There's always something going on, which is nice. So when we met a month ago, y'all were talking about, y'all just got recertified, your ISO recertification? Yes. And it sounded like y'all had a lot of fun doing that, kind of a very detailed process. Definitely. So what is the ISO certification? What does that mean for the business that y'all do? And how difficult was that process? It sounded pretty thorough. Yeah. So a lot of the customers that we're currently doing business with require that to continue doing business. The process is thorough. It used to be a certification that was more geared towards quality standards. It has since evolved to almost a business plan. So what happens is an auditor comes in and they certify you against all the ISO standards. It took a long, long team of people searching through all of our stuff, making sure everything was up to par. And they came in, it was a week-long certification. So we spent a whole week with our auditor and did a full certification and passed with flying colors, came out with no majors, a couple things to fix. They always have to find a couple things, but it was really good. So we passed, and you know, on to the next. So every couple of years it's kind of like a spot check, a re-certification, but this one was the one where they actually come in and do a detailed one. Full system audit, yes. So every three years you get a surveillance audit. So basically they come in and they just spot check a few things like you were talking about. This audit was a full system audit. So it was everything, the full gamut. That sounds like you'll have a great week. Yeah, it was a long week, but it was worth it. You know, it was good. It was good to see that we're actually doing the things that we're supposed to be doing, you know, and get that validation from it. So it was good, it was good. So aside from running the location here in Columbia, you're also very involved in the precision metal forming. Yes, yes. PMA for short. Yeah, because that's a mouthful. So PMA, I'm the Vice Chair of the Southeastern District. PMA is a metal forming association for really any company that does any kind of metal forming. So we have all different kinds of companies that have joined in. I think the last time I checked we were up to about 350 companies throughout the US and we're gathered together to learn from each other, to help each other grow. We have lots of events. We actually have one coming up at Newcore and our speaker is coming from the House of Senate. So we're bringing them in to talk more about the trades, the tariffs, all of the issues that we're starting to experience because of all of the things that our administration is doing. That lines up perfectly with the next question that I was going to ask. So international trade is definitely a very hot topic discussion right now. Because of all the things happening, not just here domestically, but the conversations abroad. What does that mean for y'all's business and what y'all do? Is it helpful? Is it harmful? How is this impacting everything that you're doing on a day to day basis? Absolutely. So we have seen the cost of material change rapidly. I think most manufacturers have felt it a little bit. It's to the point where we aren't able to hold a quote price for more than a day because of the volatile cost of the material. So we can get a material quote and it's only good for the rest of the day. And then tomorrow we've got to start all over. And it does and could fluctuate quite a bit. So we're seeing a lot of price increases because of it. We're seeing a lot of people that aren't willing to hold pricing. We can't buy a lot sizes on material anymore because of it. Everything is made to order. So it makes it difficult to plan ahead. And for us, for contract manufacturing, that's all we can do is plan ahead. So you're probably bringing in a lot of supplies from abroad, doing your process here, and then I guess most of where you sell is domestically. So it really does affect the input. Absolutely. And so what did you all's group talk about? Are there any solutions to that? Or is it one of those things where we're trying to figure out how to work through the politics of it at the national level? It just seems like a very big issue to tackle. Yeah. So the group that's coming to speak at this new core event, they're called the Franklin Partnership. And what they do is they go and they lobby for us in Washington. So they take all of the input from the PMA groups that come in and talk and they go into Washington and lobby for us, you know, pro-manufacturing and trying to get the costs of these trade deals to lessen the impact on manufacturing. So I think that, you know, the overall solution is a little bit out of our hands. It's a little bit bigger than... It's always the best place to be, putting the faith in the national politicians. Right. Right. You know, but to the extent we can, we're really trying hard to make them aware of the struggles that they're causing us. Make them aware of what we need and what we want to make sure manufacturing stays in America and continues to grow, you know? So as far as solutions, you know, just having a voice, having somebody that's telling them the impact that it's having. And also, you know, rallying around each other. So even though, you know, some of the companies within this PMA group are technically competitors, we are still coming together and volleying ideas back and forth and trying to bounce things off of each other. You know, this is what worked for us, you know? And I found a lot of value in having those kind of connections. Yeah. It certainly sounds like those discussions have kind of been a mixed bag. And so where, you know, some folks have seen some benefit from the trade talks. It does oftentimes come at the expense of other companies. Right. Yeah. Yeah. On a more positive note, I think the last time we talked, you said you were looking at expanding some of your capacity here in the Columbia area. So how are y'all growing, you know, amidst all of these other things going on? Yeah. So, you know, we've, what we've done is we've taken a refined approach, you know, to our customer base. We're focusing on the ones that we know we can grow with, taking care of those customers. It's also allowing us to take a look at some of the operations that we offer. Our most used outside vending operations talking about bringing some of those in-house so then that way we don't have to outsource those, you know, overall affecting the cost of doing business. It kind of forces you to, you know, look at your internal processes and see where you can be more lean and efficient on your own. Exactly. Yep. Which I think most U.S. companies already do a pretty good job of. Right. But it's always rooting for improvement, I guess. Exactly. So how many new people do you think you might add if y'all continue to grow? And, you know, are there specific, like, skill sets or education you're looking for, for potential employees? Well, it depends on the role. But I mean, if we're recruiting, we will always take anybody that has a good attitude and is willing to learn. We do a lot of training onsite. We actually have a program set up with Midlands Tech, which I know we're going to talk about in a second. But I mean, basically for a press room operator, which is somebody that would come in on more of an entry level position, you know, it's just somebody that has some mechanical aptitude and is willing to learn. If you've, you know, ever worked in a warehouse before, if you like working with your hands, you know, those kinds of skills we will take and develop you and teach you, you know, you just have to be willing to learn. Yeah. Any, like, certifications? I know a lot of folks do, like, work keys and things like that. Is that- Work keys is great. Yeah. If you can find people that are- Absolutely. Work keys is great. The kind of post-secondary education is great. Even, you know, in high school, if you were taking, you know, shop-type classes, that's fantastic. It translates directly into what we're doing. So it's a foundation of building. Absolutely. And you mentioned the program at Midlands Tech, which, you know, every- They do such a great job of supporting all of our local businesses around here. Yeah. And I can't say that enough. But what program have y'all initiated with them? So we took a look at their, their machining program, and I wanted to mimic some of the classes from that program. So what we did is I met with the continuing education side of Midlands Tech, and they're fantastic to work with. They've done a great job. I can't say enough about them. They actually come into our building and they teach our employees four key classes. So we have basic shop math, basic blueprint, basic measuring, and GD&T. So those are the four kind of key classes that we teach. We actually pay our employees to attend the classes. And then if they pass all four classes, we give them an increase at the end of it. So- And you put some of your longest-time employees back through some of those classes. We did. Which was fun. Yeah. Did they enjoy the reeducation? Yeah. I mean, for them to go through the classes, they kind of laughed at me, you know, because we're talking about people that have been here in this industry for 10, 20 years. But they went through the classes, and at the end of it, they came out and they said, Stephanie, you know, that was nice. I'd forgotten all about how to do that, you know. So I mean, we're finding value at every level, you know, which is, which is you can't ask for more than that. Yeah. So- Yes. Sometimes you get, you know, working in your role enough. You kind of step back and look at how things are being done nowadays. Right. Yeah. Exactly. Cool. Yeah. It's been great. So having, having come here from the outside, now you've been here for a few years, y'all are continuing to be successful here. But from your business standpoint, and I guess from the broader community standpoint, you know, what's your vision for Columbia and its growth, and you know, where do you see our region going over, over the next few years? Well- Or what would you like to see? I would love to see Columbia grow to, you know, a Minneapolis size. That's what I would love to see. Just a couple, a couple million more people in this ad. Well, definitely need to expand things a little bit. But in all seriousness, I see it as the next Greenville, you know, we're starting to see a lot of manufacturers come in here. We're starting to see more secondary type operations to support the manufacturing side come into Columbia. And that's fantastic. The city has done a great job of recruiting manufacturers to come in. It's going to create more jobs. It's going to create, you know, the need for more outside sources, you know, restaurants, little shops, things like that. You know, so I really do see Columbia growing. I think Columbia is going to be the next Greenville and then hopefully move up from there. I think they'll surpass Greenville shortly, in my opinion. Don't tell the folks in Greenville yet. Well, and, you know, certainly the past few years, we've kind of increased the economic development activity going on right here. I think we're doing a better job of not just having the right assets for companies, but I think we're doing a better job of selling ourselves nowadays, too. And it seems like, you know, there seems to be more optimism in general with the businesses and citizens in the area. And I think that's the attitude you won't kind of continue to permeate. Absolutely. Well, and I mean, unemployment's down. I mean, everything about Columbia makes for good business. You know, I mean, it's an easy place to sell. We certainly think so. We certainly think so. Yeah. So that's all I have. But we appreciate you coming on and getting in front of the camera for us. Yeah, no problem. Thank you. Just excited to hear about y'all continuing to grow and develop here in Columbia. And thank you for being a part of the podcast. Yeah, thank you for having me. You're welcome.