 Welcome to Love Where You Live, your monthly showcase of the best of Sheboygan County from the Sheboygan County Chamber of Commerce. I am Deidre Martinez, Executive Director of the Sheboygan County Chamber of Commerce. And October is Manufacturing Month. So Sheboygan County has been built on the manufacturing industry, and it keeps our county thriving, you know, just as much today as it did in the past. So in celebration of Manufacturing Month, we will be featuring two very unique manufacturers within the county. Our first guest will be Dr. Jeff Lismer, CEO and Founder of VibeTech Inc. So, Dr. Jeff Lismer, how are you? Oh, I'm wonderful. Do you prefer I call you Dr. or Jeff? Jeff is fine. Jeff is fine, very good. So welcome to the show, and thank you so much for joining us today. We are so excited to learn more about VibeTech and what does that look like and what does that mean? So VibeTech is an award-winning technology company, from what I understand. And with all this talk in our community currently on the Innovation District, we thought this was a great time to really let the community know who you are and what you guys do, and how that kind of fits into what innovation is and why it's important to our community as well as just in general, you know, the nation as a whole. So your company is often referred to as a NASA spin-off, and I understand you have invented, patented and produced the second edition of a vibration physical therapy system. So what is that? Tell me more about it. Well, thank you for the opportunity to be here. And I'm very excited to be in Sheboygan County right now with the FreshTech Innovation District on its way. I think it's a very good fit for a company like VibeTech, especially given our space-based origins. And with the origins, with the NASA spin-off title, that came as a result of NASA data and information being used to create a technology to help astronauts, as well as funding through a NASA-funded organization. It was the Michigan Space Grant Consortium that provided some funding to allow for me to build a first prototype of our therapeutic vibration system. And my goal was to develop a tool to help astronauts keep their bones strong during long-duration spaceflight. An astronaut will lose 20% of their bone mass in a single year in space. So that's a very accelerated form of aging. And so one of the things that I was keeping in mind as I was developing this tool that could be useful to astronauts, I realized there are a lot of older adults that also suffer from bone loss. And I said, I should come up with something that could be useful for both astronauts and older adults. I ended up developing this system that used vibrations that vibrated at the same frequency that the muscle fibers responsible for your posture and your strength. It's the same frequency that they're firing at. And every time we're taking steps our heels hit the ground and we get some of that impact vibration with that same frequency. Older adults don't walk as much, so they have reductions in that loading, that signal, that vibration signal, and their muscles for strength and posture are not contracting as much as they used to. So I theorized that, yeah, that's probably why they have bone loss. When I built the first prototype and applied that, I was able to give myself such a good workout that I couldn't even stand up. So I didn't realize that I was going to be affecting muscle just by replicating that muscle signal. And that was what gave me the aha, I need to start a company around this. I need to patent it, I need to make this available to absolutely everybody, because muscle loss is a universal need. So we are now starting to get back into looking at space as an application for the product. But in the meantime, I developed the company to suit the needs not of just older adults, but of everybody going through physical therapy or occupational therapy. So this can be in a nursing home, in a hospital, in a free-standing physical therapy clinic at the YMCA's of the world. So this is a technology that everybody can benefit from. Very good. It sounds like I needed. You said it was like the best workout or worst workout, however you want to consider it. And I'm thinking that's not a bad idea for me to use. Free workouts are great. There you go. Yes, absolutely. I'm looking for that. So you are speaking my language now, Jeff. So VibeTech has been evolving since 2010. Share some of those milestones with us. And where are you at in manufacturing your systems? Yeah, so we now have six issued patents in the US and abroad. We have seven more pending. We work with WISIS, which is the University of Wisconsin System Technology Transfer Group. We have come a long way with the FDA. We are registered and the products listed. We can make legal medical claims pertaining to muscle strength and function improvements, as well as pain relief and even the capability to do strength assessments with our machine. So we had developed a first generation system that we designed specifically for the nursing home industry. I sold the first couple of them, including one to Rocky Noel here in Sheboygan County, which is a nursing home here. And they've been great innovators as well. They've opened up our eyes to other applications for this, not just as a rehab modality for muscles and bones, but also as a tool to give exercise to patients that have dementia or Alzheimer's, which those patients don't always get as active as they used to. Some of them forget that their bodies have deconditioned. So they're more likely to fall because they don't recognize that their body can't do the things that used to do. So they started a pilot study and they've seen some pretty sharp drop-offs in the number of falls just in the first group of patients that have gone through that initial study period. So we now took the product, this tool, and made it so it's universally used in sports medicine and physical therapy. So we just produced that and we've been doing a lot of in-house testing with it. And we can actually measure strength and range of motion of a patient before and after a treatment, as well as to track them over time. So from our initial results, we're finding that that product, instantaneously in that 10-minute treatment, people are 20% stronger on average. They can generate 20% more force with their legs. So they feel lighter. Everything becomes a little bit easier. And that's because the muscles have all been activated. We can get them to go 40% deeper into a squat more comfortably. We average a 50% reduction in pain without opioids. So this is pretty incredible of a tool. Absolutely. And now we're trying to get the word out about this new product and looking to partner up with a handful of facilities to place the product in and to be able to showcase directly to the therapy providers just how well this product can work for them. Very good. And I know you had mentioned Rocky Knoll and certainly this is something happening throughout Sheboygan County. So what are your plans or you mentioned there are other facilities? Tell us a little bit more about what does that look like and where are these other facilities? Are they outside of the county outside of the state? What does that look like? Yep. So we've worked with a couple of different rehab facilities. There's the Ovation Jewish Home in Milwaukee who became a customer four years ago. They're doing about 6,000 treatments a year on our product. Wow. So they put as many of their patients on there as they possibly can. And it's one of the most utilized pieces of equipment in their facility. We have a hospital in Kentucky that used the product in their skilled nursing unit where they've had ventilator and feeding tube patients using it. So we've had some people with some pretty severe ailments that have done well and using it from the instant they've had an injury or surgery it can help reduce that atrophy and slow that decline so that when they've healed from the injury or surgery they can get back on their feet sooner. So now with the new product we're looking to get into again the freestanding physical therapy clinics that are out there into some of the hospitals. And we've had some discussions regionally here with a couple of different hospital systems that this can fit very well with orthopedic patients, people getting knee and hip replacements, as well as other structural repairs. When I ruptured my Achilles I started using the treatment that day that it was reattached. Wow. And in two months I was doing a martial arts which my doctor had originally said it would take about 12 months to be able to get back to. So from the sports medicine side this could work very well. But we're also looking to follow that full continuum of care from the hospital to the nursing home or outpatient clinic even into the community-based fitness centers. Right. And we just developed a partnership with Tender Heart's Senior Care where their clients can come to our new research and demonstration facility for treatments. And it works really well for us because we can test some of our new software, some new accessories before rolling them out to the general public. So it's an advantage to their clients to be able to be the first to have access to this great new technology. Right. And so we are looking at building some more of those strategic partnerships like that. Very good. So I know we're getting close to our time together but I understand you're not from Sheboygan County so I have to ask. As a young professional what do you think so far? Well I love Sheboygan. I've been here 11 years and it's been a great place. For me I love having Lake Michigan right nearby. That's one of the biggest assets. And I live fairly close to the lake, close enough to downtown so we can hang out at some of the local establishments which is also a great draw. Also we've got four kids between my wife and I. Okay. So this is quite a great place for the family as well. Very good. So a lot for us to enjoy. We've got a lot of unique things right here in Sheboygan that are no place else. I agree with that. And getting involved with the Innovation District is a fantastic thing as well as having my role with the Spaceport Sheboygan and the Rockets for Schools program which is a great way for middle schoolers and high schoolers to connect to Launch Rockets up to a mile high. Wow. So again that's a very unique thing here in Sheboygan. Absolutely. And it really is. I mean you just don't find some of the things that are happening here throughout the county. You just don't find them in other communities. And I know my viewers have kind of been following me over the past nine or ten months with my being new to the community. And every month I share an amazement, something new, something different. And this is certainly unbelievable that these things are happening right here. You do not have to go far to experience amazing and new technology. And we do have a lot of amazing companies around the area and a number of family owned and operated for multiple generations that it makes this a very unique place. Absolutely. And a good inspiration as I'm growing and launching my business trying to take a hold of some of those ideas that they've instilled. Right. Absolutely. Well thank you so much again. We could probably talk for days but we will have to cut it off at this point. We love that this innovation is coming from Sheboygan County. And just thank you for joining us today, sharing your journey. If they wanted to find out information about your organization, what is the best place for them to get that information? So our website is a great place to go to. It's www.vibetechglobal.com. Perfect. Thanks again, Jeff. And stay with us. We're going to be right back after this fun fact. Welcome back to Love Where You Live. Our next guest is Mark Radke, Vice President and General Manager of Windmill Slat Wall Products in Sheboygan Falls. So I'm very glad you could join us today. How are you? Thank you, Deidre. It's great to be here. It's great to have a few minutes to speak about Windmill and the Union. Thank you so much for joining us today. It's great to have a few minutes to speak about Windmill and the unique company that we are. Absolutely. And I certainly love learning about the different organizations throughout the county. And I'll be honest, I'm not real familiar with your products. So I'm looking to you to kind of lead this conversation and share with me as well as our viewership. What are the products that you guys offer? Sure. Well, Windmill got its start back in 1980. And the neat thing about our story is that it actually started in a garage. Okay. And our founder Jay Hopefelt and one of his partners started the business in Milwaukee. Okay. And they found a niche for making panels that would be used in retail display. And what I did is I brought along today an example of one of the products that we make. This is called Slat Wall. There you go. So it's a wood-based product. We put a variety of finishes and then we machine it with a special groove and then that groove would hold hooks which holds merchandise. Right. So this is a specialty retail display product. And the cool thing about Windmill is that our products end up all over North America in lots of retail settings. Right. I can appreciate that. And now that you're showing it and you're explaining it, we can look back and go, oh, yes, I've seen that in many places. Yes. It makes a little bit more sense that way. We don't like to shop. We're not necessarily looking at the wall systems or the fixturing or any of those things, but really our products that we make are what is behind all of that. Absolutely. So we feel really good that the product that we make, we're in touch with the economy. We have a real good pulse on what is going on in the world with regard to retail and sales. And there's been a lot of changes over the last couple of years. Absolutely. With stores and how stores are evolving. So we're working with all of that. And so locally for folks that are watching the show today, just in our backyard here, I'll name a few places that when they go into, they'll be able to see. So on the south side, heading down the highway, there's a pilot flying J truck stop. If you happen to go into that store, the wall systems are a product that we make. Okay. If you happen to go to a quick trip and you're walking up to the checkout counter, right? And I can't say we've not all been to a quick trip, right? Right. Right. The glazers. The glazers. So right below the checkout area, there's specialty panels that are made that hold baskets and merchandise for point of sale. Okay. So that's another example. You know, golf is so big in our community. Absolutely. So if you go to town and country, or if you're out at Pine Hills and you look at their great pro shops, those pro shops are outfitted with wall systems that use our product. So that's a little bit about kind of the breadth and scope of where our product is used. And most of what we make is custom. Okay. It's made to a specification. So it will fit a decor. It will fit a retail environment that that retailer is looking for. So if it's TJ Maxx and their store format, it'll be a certain color and a certain style of finish. So we can do everything from laminates, all kinds of high pressure laminates, or specialty wood veneers, or custom paint. Or in this case... I was going to say, tell us about this other sample. In this case, we've got a brick styled panel that has got grooves in it. It's custom painted grooves. And we've done Harley-Davidson dealerships, for example, that have the Milwaukee look and other applications like that. So about 80% of everything we make is custom and to a spec. We do have distributors across the country that stock standard panels that are resold in their local markets as well. And so it's been a fun business to be involved with. And I said it started in 1980. In 2016, we were purchased by our largest supplier, AmerHeart. They're located in Green Bay. And they wanted to get into manufacturing. Our owner, Jay, was ready to retire. It was the perfect marriage. We kept all the employees. We're continuing to grow. We're making more new products for AmerHeart. And it's been great. And so that's a little bit about that timeline and to where we are today. All right, very good. So do you have other products that you sell outside of the retail market? And if so, tell me a little bit about those. Is it like something maybe I might want to purchase? We would like you to. OK. And we have another division called Garage Escape. And it's designed to have panels and accessories available to consumers so that they can organize their garage. And so I don't know that we have anybody watching today that might need a little bit of garage reorganization. Right. Exactly. And we've got a special website for that. It's garageescape.com. And folks can check that out. We've got a couple of places where you can buy the product and you can buy it online. The product ships in smaller configurations. So it's very easy to handle. And that's been another division of the company that we recognized as a growth opportunity. Absolutely. And it will be in Las Vegas in a couple of weeks to debut some of those new products with consumers at a special power sports industry show with lots of consumers who are really passionate about power sports and have that hobby. And it's a great tool for them to organize their garage with that as well. Very good. OK. Have you thought about closets? Because I'm thinking this might not be a bad thing moving into closets. As a female, you know, when you say garage is that, you know, not to say that women don't care if garages are clean, but I personally would like to, I could see some, you know, different systems popping up in closets across America sooner rather than later. Sure. It's a great point. The garage, I guess, is the man cave where closets are the women's cave. There you go. Right. That's a perfect application for closets. Can you customize some shoe things for me? We have gotten requests for some custom home builders where we actually produced slat wall panels with aromatic cedar as the face. There you go. Just a really dynamic and unique closet. And so closets, storage areas, basements, workout rooms. There's a lot of application. There's a lot of different places. For the homeowner. Absolutely. Perfect. And I know I threw that at you. Good for you. So many companies are very cognizant of their environmental impact and sustainability. So what does windmill, sat wall, have any of these types of initiatives? Well, we have to. That's a real concern, you know, and it has to do with formaldehyde and the levels of glues and things that go into these products. And so the mills that we work with who produce the core material. So we work with Boise Cascade out in the Pacific Northwest. We work with other mills. It is. We work with other mills and they have initiatives that basically have taken out all those negative products, if you will. So we have a very green product to start with and that's terrific. In fact, when we cut and machine and make sawdust within our plant, all that byproduct goes into a special collection system and then it is reused and repurposed with farmers. So we work with advanced disposal and they pick up that and they provide it to a variety of dairy farms and mink ranches who can use that for bedding. So there's a real nice kind of a circle of environmental stewardship that helps us, you know, do the right thing because we want to. Absolutely. Very good. That's wonderful. So we know and we've talked about it on the show quite a bit over the past year and probably prior to that about the struggle for workforce. So how does windmill slot while attract and retain their employees? Well, it is a struggle and we are in a really unique economic time and it is hard to find folks. So we have to be unique. We have to be different. And so how we do that is how we engage with employees, how we meet with them, how regular we are communicating information and then we do some fun things. We have lunches, we have other things that we do and we engage them and we also do some offsite fun activities where we go and do things as a group. And so those are a few things that help us as we get to interview people to have them interested in us. All right, very good. So I know we've talked a lot about the product and you've shared with us the history of the organization. Is there anything that you didn't have a chance to share with us today that you don't want it to be forgotten about? Well, there's, I guess, a few other unique places that I can share with the audience about where our product has gone. I talked about it having kind of this North American, you know, if you travel and you walk through an airport, just take a look at those retailers that are located in the airport and you will see some version of our product in a lot of those stores. Our product lives today down in Graceland, down in Memphis, Tennessee. And a lot of the stores down there at Elvis's Graceland, Sea World in San Diego, and those kind of locations. So those are a few places that our product has traveled to and is up today. Absolutely. And I know for myself, now every time I go somewhere, I'm going to be looking for, you know, I don't think people realize that the design and how products are displayed really plays a role in how well they sell. And now after doing this show and talking with you a little bit more about it, I'm really going to be paying attention to displays, right? It's going to be top of mind. That's awesome. And I think that many of our viewers will probably do the same. So thank you so much. I really appreciate you joining us today. And just thank you for joining us in this edition of Love Where You Live. Please tune in again for more of the best that Sheboygan County has to offer. We'll talk to you soon. Thanks.