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Paul Ryan visits Kinetic


I'll be impressed by Mr Ryan when he steps up to the plate, honors the oath he took, and puts the good of the US ahead of his personal reelection and the interests of the Republican Party and does his duty to get the compulsive liar and generally abhorrent person currently occupying the Whitehouse out.

Sorry for the political commentary, but Ryan's sole claim to fame here (on this forum) is that he is a politician and behaving like a what we have, unfortunately, come to expect. I, personally, would not allow him in my shop.

Denis
 
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It was a great visit, our management team sat down with the speaker for about 25 minutes. We discussed the struggle to find qualified workers, which he stated a lot of this falls on the state, then we discussed tax reform and how some of the proposed tariffs on steel will affect tool steel.

The speaker then took a tour of the shop, this is the 3rd time he has been to Kinetic.

Then he had a town hall with all the employees and answered questions.

Overall it was a good event and we were glad to have him.

On a personal side the Speaker is a good guy to talk with. He enjoyed talking with employees on the floor to find out what they were doing. He remembered the last time we had met as I must not have shaved and he commented that it was nice that I shaved, then he told me it looked like I lost weight, anybody who knows me knows I never had much to loose. He then talked about our Dad and remembered the meetings they had. With everything he has on his mind it makes you realize he at least thinks of these small things and can strike up a conversation.
 
The future of manufacturing in Wisconsin looks brighter today than anytime in the last 35 years. The combination of Donald Trump, Scott Walker and Paul Ryan is the reason.
 
A shame we don't teach machine skill in school..Everybody wants to be a computer expert or a fancy high pay job and many of those don't have what it takes to make it..
Think we also need to teach work- hard skills..

*Good Ryan came/went to Cash's shop as it looks like a great shop...

We were in Wisconsin delivering deer blinds last week.. The fellow had a 180 or better deer on his trail camera.. and went on telling us about the county that had big deer.. go figure... I thought 180+ was big. Does were coming to a feeder 70 yards away with us setting up the blind tower...
 
It is nice to see someone able to act with a modicum of morals and respect in this day and age we seem to find ourselves in. To be willing to open their doors and treat people on an individual basis instead of sloppily, recklessly, and lazily painting with broad brush strokes. To be able and willing to show respect for an office, regardless of whether or not they agree on every single little idea.

Dare I say, it is refreshing. Mature, even.

Kudos to you, Cash! It is really no surprise to those that know you. You and your brother have really done well building upon the legacy that your GrandFather started, and it shows. It is absolutely no surprise that the Speaker of The House, or the Governor, or even the President or Vice President would want to stop by and visit an example of business such as Kinetic. You treat your people well, run a good business, are successful while doing it, and give back to the community.

No surprise there. Wish I could have been there. I'll bet hard money that it is not the last time.
 
It was a great visit. <Snip>

On a personal side the Speaker is a good guy to talk with. He enjoyed talking with employees on the floor to find out what they were doing. He remembered the last time we had met as I must not have shaved and he commented that it was nice that I shaved, then he told me it looked like I lost weight, anybody who knows me knows I never had much to loose. He then talked about our Dad and remembered the meetings they had. With everything he has on his mind it makes you realize he at least thinks of these small things and can strike up a conversation.

Years ago there was a very "successful" sales rep my father's age who used to call on my business every couple of months. He "remembered" my wife and kids' names, where we had gone or were going on vacation, my hobbies, employees' names and so on. Among other business people he was considered Mr Amazing for his astonishing recall. I am friends with his son, who has his "black book" into which he made pertinent entries after each call. His son tells me how he loved making people believe he knew and cared about what they were doing as it improved sales (votes) and made it so much easier to get face time with owners. He was likeable enough and was a leader in his industry (speaker of the businesses). But the the pitch he gave concerning advantages of his product over others was no better or more crediblethan his competitors. He was just disciplined enough to write down tidbits so he looked good.

I mean to take NOTHING away from Cash and his business as I have a high regard for what he has done and been kind enough to share in an articulate fashion. But bringing up politicians visits and praising them here on PM is way OT and this politician is a penultimate politician who is expert at hand shaking and back slapping. He has stood by nearly silently and allowed a clearly unfit and unstable president a free pass. I am not giving Ryan a free pass whether the economy was coaxed out of Bush-era disaster through imaginative and decisive policies of the prior eight years or not.

Denis
 
+1.
Totally agree with everything You said.

The (speakers et al) job demands respect - and the person doing that job may or may not, irrespective if You agree with them on politics, economics or action.

It is nice to see someone able to act with a modicum of morals and respect in this day and age we seem to find ourselves in. To be willing to open their doors and treat people on an individual basis instead of sloppily, recklessly, and lazily painting with broad brush strokes. To be able and willing to show respect for an office, regardless of whether or not they agree on every single little idea.

Dare I say, it is refreshing. Mature, even.

Kudos to you, Cash! It is really no surprise to those that know you. You and your brother have really done well building upon the legacy that your GrandFather started, and it shows. It is absolutely no surprise that the Speaker of The House, or the Governor, or even the President or Vice President would want to stop by and visit an example of business such as Kinetic. You treat your people well, run a good business, are successful while doing it, and give back to the community.

No surprise there. Wish I could have been there. I'll bet hard money that it is not the last time.
 
But bringing up politicians visits and praising them here on PM is way OT

I would tend to think that keeping politicians (regardless of their party) involved and interested in our industry is actually way on topic. Venting your personal opinion of these politicians is what is way off topic.
 
I would like to keep this thread clean and not abusive for political rants. As you saw in my post I just told the facts.

In advance that to all for doing so, I would never have posted about this but since converterking mentioned it I figured I would chime in. I think it is great that he saw this and did post.

My employees are a range of Republicans, Democrats or people who don't get involved as they hate the system. Everybody is entitled to their opinion and I respect that opinion.

The speakers office reached out to us for this opportunity.

My goal is to keep everybody working, pay them the best wage in the Milwaukee area, and offer the them the best benefits possible.
 
It was a great visit, our management team sat down with the speaker for about 25 minutes. We discussed the struggle to find qualified workers, which he stated a lot of this falls on the state, then we discussed tax reform and how some of the proposed tariffs on steel will affect tool steel.

The speaker then took a tour of the shop, this is the 3rd time he has been to Kinetic.

Then he had a town hall with all the employees and answered questions.

Overall it was a good event and we were glad to have him.

On a personal side the Speaker is a good guy to talk with. He enjoyed talking with employees on the floor to find out what they were doing. He remembered the last time we had met as I must not have shaved and he commented that it was nice that I shaved, then he told me it looked like I lost weight, anybody who knows me knows I never had much to loose. He then talked about our Dad and remembered the meetings they had. With everything he has on his mind it makes you realize he at least thinks of these small things and can strike up a conversation.

Wow, this fires me up "We discussed the struggle to find qualified workers", In my opinion if the employer is not willing to pay for the qualified worker then get out of the business and move to Venezuela. We sure don't need you here.
 
Wow, this fires me up "We discussed the struggle to find qualified workers", In my opinion if the employer is not willing to pay for the qualified worker then get out of the business and move to Venezuela. We sure don't need you here.

I guess you missed Cash's statement that, "My goal is to keep everybody working, pay them the best wage in the Milwaukee area, and offer the them the best benefits possible."

In the Rust Belt, finding qualified workers is becoming much more difficult. Many left and moved to other areas offering better opportunity. Many retired and the educational system is doing very little to develop the talent needed.

Cash having that set down is exactly what we all need to have better profitability and global competitiveness.

Discussing the affects of tariff changes for steel is excellent. Helping one segment of manufacturing at the cost of another segment is exactly what we all complain about but never have the opportunity to do.
 
Wow, this fires me up "We discussed the struggle to find qualified workers", In my opinion if the employer is not willing to pay for the qualified worker then get out of the business and move to Venezuela. We sure don't need you here.

Frankly speaking, your location states Florida which is far away from Wisconsin. You have no first hand knowledge of the current labor market in Wisconsin. There is a big shortage of experienced workers here. I have no issues bringing on inexperienced people and training them(we offer apprenticeships)but you can't have the majority of your staff being green.

Putting politics aside. Cash, I think it's great you were able to discus the shortage and hope our lawmakers on both sides will work together on a solution.

Cheers!:cheers:
 
I would like to keep this thread clean and not abusive for political rants. As you saw in my post I just told the facts.

<Snip>.

The problem is that simply providing the venue for Mr Ryan to pose in front the cameras is a political statement (rant) in and of itself as is reporting his visit here. Clearly that is an endorsement of the man and his politics and provides important assistance to him. The reason his office "reached out" is that needs stages on which to publicly act in front of TV cameras. Otherwise he could have simply called you and asked your opinion.

I agree that each person is entitled to their political views. I also agree that by expressing your views as you did invites expression of contrary views. I am of the belief that though our economy has been rescued since its near complete collapse with Bush, there are other at least equally significant issues confronting us. I believe Ryan is shirking his duty to this country by not holding Trump accountable for his now routine lying, promotion of White-supremacist and anti-Semitic groups, not to mention alienation of most of our World allies. By endorsing Ryan and providing him a stage on which to pose, you get the whole package. And I will not leave that package unchallenged. Not expecting to convert anyone here, but also not silently consenting to a very serious and dangerous course being taken by Trump and the Republicans with Ryan enjoying an unique opportunity to rectify that course.

Again, to be clear, I truly appreciate your (Cash) excellent contributions here and the undoubtedly fine company you run. And I want to offer a contrary view of Mr Ryan and his politics.


Denis
 
Wow, this fires me up "We discussed the struggle to find qualified workers", In my opinion if the employer is not willing to pay for the qualified worker then get out of the business and move to Venezuela. We sure don't need you here.

That is a very interesting tact that you take, with this. I won't speculate on what you do or do not actually know for a fact. However, I will convey my own experience that is directly relevant to this and the people involved.

People from this forum ( of which there are more than a few handfuls ) that know me in real life know that I have a zero tolerance for bullshit and have zero issue with calling people on it. I am also very forthright.

With that said, I have been on both sides of this fence. It is all too easy when one is an employee to decry statements like these as untrue, offering little but conjecture that employers are unwilling to pay for qualified people. And, as a shop owner I have also had to hire people from time to time. So, I have some minor experience in what might be considered a fair wage from that side, as well.

When Cash first told me about this, my first thought was that he was probably not offering a competitive wage to attract the right candidates. Turns out that knowing him, I should have been ashamed of myself for even thinking it. Especially since I consider him a friend. Truth of the matter is that he pays FAR better than most other shops of not only the area, but THE REGION. Kinetic also offers very good benefits. They treat their people very well, too. It is COMMON for them to have employees that start AND retire there.

If Cash tells you that they pay a decent wage and cannot find enough skilled labor to hire, you can take that to the bank. It is a fact. And I have seen it with my own eyes.

Of course, no one is obligated to believe me, or anyone else. They can act with the confidence of their convictions and go apply for a job. Kinetic is hiring right now.

Otherwise, feel free to STFU.
 
Yes, I guess you are right, you are likely paying enough for the local area. So live on the money that comes from the local area and live with it. As for the talented people who could pack up and move to your area, I strongly suspect they couldn't even recover moving costs. So stick with what you have and watch the great people move to areas that are progressive and will pay a good wage. As to involving the government to make improvements in the areas, the whole country sees how well that works.
 
There was a time (before I was alive mostly) when large employers provided training and apprenticeships, with and without the help of labor unions. After the farm crisis of the 1980s, most of the big ag manufacturers near me just scrapped those programs altogether.

I live in the land of Caterpillar. They are constantly moaning about the lack of skilled workers. They blame everyone but themselves. They want tech schools and adult ed and H1V visas. They do not want to spend $1 on in house education or training.

I work with a local shop who was participating in a work study program for tool and die makers. Guys would go to a local tech school half the time, and work in his shop half the time and make some money while learning. It was very much like an apprenticeship. But, as soon as they get their certificate, they jumped ship to work for Cat for $2 more an hour on 3rd shift.

He pulled out of the program. He was investing so much in these guys only to see the benefit go to the big lazy company across town.
 
A couple years ago we trained up a couple guys, sent to skool and all. yea, they left to go somewhere else for $.25/hr. That sucked.

My grip to the Speaker is why cant I get any break for sending employees for training, say technical program, mastercam training, safety training ect.

Problem is for "politics" they only like to get funding for big name places so it makes the news. I told him it is a mystery to all of us in business where they are going to find 13,000 people to work at Foxconn.
 
A couple years ago we trained up a some guys, sent to skool and all, yea, they left to go somewhere else for $.25/hr. That sucked.

My gripe to the Speaker was why cant I get any break for sending employees for training, say technical program, mastercam training, safety training ect. We currently have 1 employee going to MATC and several others doing other specific training.

Problem is for "politics" they only like to get funding for big name places so it makes the news. I told him it is a mystery to all of us in business where they are going to find 13,000 people to work at Foxconn.
 








 
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