(Courtesy of Guest Blogger Dale Kiefer, freelance journalist)

HGR hosted the ninth-annual F*SHO on Friday, Sept. 15. This free, community-oriented event gives local builders, designers, and artists a chance to show members of the public the products of their furniture-making skills. And maybe sell a few items and inspire some future craftspeople along the way.

More than 2,000 people attended this time around where, in addition to rubbing shoulders with these talented artists, they also got a chance to check out HGR’s inventory. The evening was a celebration fueled not just by the furniture, but also by the free beer from Noble Beast Brewing Co., the free food from SoHo Chicken + Whiskey, and a live DJ.

The organizers, Jason and Amanda Radcliffe of 44 Steel, brought the 2017 F*SHO to HGR, keeping alive their tradition of finding a new location for each show. “It started out as just a couple people showing furniture back in 2009,” Jason says, “and now, look around!” It was difficult to tell what excited Jason the most. He marveled at the age of the still-sturdy wooden beams that held HGR’s roof up just as much as he did the sight of so many people walking through HGR’s industrial setting.

The F*SHO has undergone a sizable expansion, growing from five designers in the first year to thirty-three this year. Jason said that he never thought it should be too formal. He didn’t want it to be your standard booth setup. Instead, it should be something organic that grows naturally from the creative people who make it happen. HGR, with its rugged backdrop featuring its industrial surplus, made for the perfect venue.

“HGR is doing a great job with this space. They brought this building back—revitalized it. This is great for the city,” Jonathan Holody, the director of the Department of Planning and Development for the City of Euclid, says. He was there to mingle with attendees and share Euclid’s storied history. “A lot of the manufacturers in the area rely on HGR. It’s great to see this event attract people from all around the area to Euclid.”

This year’s F*SHO also represented a celebrity reunion of sorts, comprised of those who have earned fame in the world of furniture design. In 2015, Jason competed on the Spike TV show, Framework, which was hosted by hip-hop superstar Common. This reality TV outing pitted 13 designers against each other in a Project Runway-style face-off. Notably, two of the top three finishers in that competition call Northeast Ohio home. Jason finished third, while Akron-based Freddy Hill of Freddy Hill Design took second. There were no hard feelings though, as the first place finisher, Jory Brigham of Jory Brigham Design, traveled all the way from his home in San Luis Obispo, Calif., for the F*SHO. They also were joined by fellow competitors Craig Bayens of C. Bayens Furniture + Functional Design Co. from Louisville, Kentucky, and Toledo-based Lacey Campbell of Lacey Campbell Designs.

This gathering of friends and colleagues made HGR and Euclid the center of the cutting-edge furniture design world for the night of the F*SHO. And the large public turnout helped to ensure that there was plenty of inspiration shared with the next generation of designers who will call this area home.

Head to our Facebook page to guess what piece of equipment or machinery is pictured. To participate you MUST meet the following three criteria: like our Facebook page, share the post, and add your guess in the comments section. Those who guess correctly and meet these criteria will be entered into a random drawing to receive a free HGR T-shirt or other cool items.

Click here to enter your guess on our Facebook page by 11:59 p.m. on Monday, July 18, 2017. A winner will be drawn and announced the following week.

Two HGR employees, Nia Ashanti in Austin and Melanie Goryance in Euclid, spearheaded an effort to support Breast Cancer Awareness Month by passing out pink rubber bracelets to employees in both offices. According to Goryance, “Everybody was very excited to wear one to show support.” Ashanti says, “Everyone put theirs on immediately.”

They distributed the bracelets and a message that encouraged employees to remind themselves, their mother, wife, sister, friend or coworker of the importance of early detection. They also included information on local facilities and insurance coverage to encourage women to have a mammogram.

On Oct. 20, HGR Industrial Surplus hosted an open house and luncheon for its partners, community leaders and long-time friends to unveil a more-than-$1.2-million renovation. If you’ve never been to the back of the building, now you have two reasons to drive around: to visit the NEO Sports Plant and the new operations offices for HGR.

The open house ran from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and included a self-guided tour of the space, a luncheon catered by Chick-fil-A, and a meet and greet with HGR’s partners and long-time customer Jason Wein of Cleveland Art who made the signage, art, lamps and furniture in the area. It’s worth a stop by just to see his work!

Some visitors included: Euclid Mayor Kirsten Holzheimer Gail and City of Euclid Building Director Joe O’Donnell; Joe Barbaree, Northeast Shores Development Corporation; John Copic, publisher, The Euclid and Collinwood Observers; Charlie Sims, Sims Buick GMC; Sheila Gibbons, Euclid Chamber of Commerce; Audrey Holtzman and Superintendent Dr. Charles Smialek, Euclid City Schools; two Euclid Police Department officers; and our banking and insurance partners.

Next on the list of upgrades? A façade/entry improvement, landscaping and parking-lot resurfacing outside this new entrance at the back of the Euclid showroom facility.

On Wednesday, Oct. 19, Manufacturing Advocacy & Growth Network (MAGNET), Cleveland Engineering Society and Crains Cleveland Business hosted its third-annual [M]Power Manufacturing Assembly at the John S. Knight Center, Akron, Ohio.

The event was showcased information, stories and demonstrations that spoke to the renaissance in manufacturing, globally and in Northeast Ohio. Some of the highlights included:

• A breakfast keynote address by John E. Skory, president, The Illuminating Company
• A lunch keynote address by Tim Timken, Chairman, CEO & President, TimkenSteel
• Three breakout sessions that included a choice of area manufacturing speakers and panels who covered topics such as sales and marketing best practices, turnover, innovation, Lean, risk, rapid prototyping, safety, patents, STEM programs, Internet of Things and counterfeiting
• An exhibitor hall with representatives from education, industry, construction and engineering, agencies, and technology

According to Ethan Karp, president, MAGNET, in his opening remarks, “Ohio ranks second in the nation for new manufacturing jobs created, and small manufacturing powers 40 percent of Northeast Ohio’s revenue.”

During Skory’s keynote speech, he says, “Ohio is third only to Texas and California in the amount of electricity consumed by industry. We are working to support advanced manufacturing and industry by constantly improving systems.”

Then, I attended the morning breakout entitled “Best practices in sales and marketing: identifying and capturing your customer” presented by Dave Winar, CEO, Winar; Dan Yemma, general manager, M7 Technologies; and Craig Coffey, U.S. marketing communications manager, Lincoln Electric. Winar says his company’s motto is, “Common sense, with humor, we will succeed.” That sounds like a great philosophy to live by! He also shared the “salesman ship” graphic that hangs over his desk and says, “The biggest room in the world is the room for improvement.” Coffey focused on the fact that the way people find information now is different from how they did 10 years ago; so, manufacturers need to evolve the way they approach sales as the closer, not the opener and salespeople as deal makers instead of relationship brokers. He also spoke to the importance of a digital footprint and partnering with digital influencers.

In the lunch keynote, Timken quoted a statistic from the National Association of Manufacturers, “For every $1 spent in manufacturing, $1.81 is added to our economy” and that for every worker hired four more jobs are created. You could see his passion for manufacturing when he stated that, for him, manufacturing is “the excitement of making stuff” and the ripple effect of the interconnectedness of people who make things in the region.

In my second breakout session, “Don’t just teach – inspire students: making learning relevant,” Toni Neary, partnership architect, Edge Factor, showed a number of inspiring and, sometimes, chilling videos that illustrate the art of storytelling to connect with youth who “think the world is purchased, not made.” She says that her company partners with manufacturers to show them that “this isn’t your grandfather’s manufacturing facility. It’s not dark, dirty or dangerous.”

The Firefighter Phil program was founded in 1975 by Creative Safety Products to bring fire-prevention, fire-safety and respect-for-authority-figure lessons to grades K-2. On Oct. 17, 2016, I attended a session of the Firefighter Phil program at Arbor Elementary School that was presented by Firefighter Steve Fleck of The Euclid Fire Department and Ventriloquist Mike Eakins of Creative Safety Products to an auditorium full of first and second graders, their teachers and administrators. Fleck has been a member of the fire department for 25 years and says that they have been hosting the Firefighter Phil program for 18-20 years.

What does the program involve? Well, it was one of the most entertaining ways I’ve spent my morning in a long time! The program uses ventriloquists, puppets, magic tricks, humor and audience participation to make learning fun, entertaining and memorable. The puppets change each year for students who may have seen the presentation in the prior year. This year, Mac the Mouse and Uncle Vinny taught us a few things that I wanted to share with you.

If you remember nothing else, here are the main takeaways. Since we all went through this training as kids, a refresher never hurts. Plus, you can use these tips with your kids and grandkids!

To get out of the house, the rules are:

1. Low and go (crawl under smoke, test the door with the fingernail side of your hand to see if it is hot, and, if it is and the fire is outside the door, hang a sheet or blanket out of the window to signal to firefighters that someone needs help)
2. Have a family meeting place pre-arranged on the street or in the neighborhood in case of emergency so that everyone can be accounted for
3. Call 911

Check your smoke detectors monthly by pressing the button to make sure they still are working. Change the batteries twice per year during daylight savings time.

Finally, if your clothes are on fire (and, here’s where there was an extra step that I never learned as a kid):

1. Stop
2. Drop
3. COVER YOUR FACE WITH BOTH OF YOUR HANDS
4. Roll

After the program, students received a grade-specific activity book to work on with parents, guardians and teachers. The Euclid Fire Department also created a child-sized room called a “smoke trailer” that is funded with donated aluminum cans. When classrooms visit the fire station, children can learn about fire safety in the room and see how smoke fills the room and where it is safe to crawl.

(Courtesy of Guest Blogger, Justin Mobilian, HGR’s sales & marketing summer intern)

What’s it like being a female entrepreneur? The media tends to focus on men, whether it be sports, jobs, entertainment, you name it. But what about women? They’re equally as important and successful. That’s why I decided to interview a local entrepreneur to tell us what it’s like to be a woman business owner.

Take Brianna Michaels. She’s a 21-year-old business owner. I’m 23 and can’t imagine having the responsibility or patience to own my own company. Her company? Fairlawn Medina Landscape Supply.

Tell me about your business. What exactly do you do?

My company is a landscape supply and design store. We sell all types of bulk materials, such as top soil, mulch, gravel, and limestone. We have other products, such as grass seed, fertilizer, straw, tools, PVC pipe, low-voltage lighting, and much more. I also employ an architect who meets with my customers to help with designing their home projects.

When did you start your company?

I started the company in February 2015 in Akron, Ohio; however, just this past April I opened another location in Medina, Ohio.

How did you get into this type of business?

It started with my father. He started his own landscaping/construction company 34 years ago; so, I grew up working by his side. From the day I began working with him, I have always had an interest in exterior design. Fast forward several years and my interest for the industry grew so much that I started Fairlawn Medina Landscape Supply to work alongside my father’s company.

What are your plans for the future?

I plan on extending my business and opening a third location in the next three years. My 10-year plan consists of opening a nursery and selling plants wholesale and retail. I would also like to open a flower/homemade chocolate shop at some point but not anytime soon. I have a lot of plans for my future and slowing down is definitely not one of them.

Are there challenges to being a female business owner?

There are many challenges being a female business. I don’t receive much respect simply because I am a woman. I have had customers take one look at me and ask to speak to a man. I think women are viewed as not being as smart and responsible as men. Unfortunately, there aren’t many advantages to being a female business owner. I constantly have men making comments about my appearance or asking me out when they are much older than I am, which is very uncomfortable, at times.

What advice would you give to women who want to start their own business?

This sounds cliché, but, honestly, never give up. It’s so true. I’ve come to learn that those who are jealous of your success will do whatever they can to put you down. Being a female business owner means having patience with customers AND employees. A female tends to be looked at as bossy, whereas a male tends to just be looked at as a boss – not many people like to be told what to do by a woman. My father always told me, “You have to work hard to play hard,” and he’s right. Make your dreams into goals and don’t stop until you reach them.

(Courtesy of Guest Blogger Doug Fry, co-owner, Euclid Brewing Company)

Q: What did you do before you decided to start your own business?

A: Immediately prior to opening the brewery I was principal scientist in Process Chemistry at Ricerca Biosciences in Concord.  Before Ricerca, I worked as a chemist in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries for 10 years.  And prior to that I taught college chemistry in South Carolina. Kim, my wife and brewing-company partner, is director of communications at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Cleveland Heights.

Q: Why did you and your wife decide to open a microbrewery?

A: There were two main reasons I wanted to open the brewery.  The first was professional: I’ve worked for four different companies in my career, and each one of them had been sold at least once.  Every change in ownership led to layoffs and churning, which was very stressful for all employees.  I figured the only way I would have any job security in today’s economy would be if I started my own company.  The only marketable skills I had were making drugs, making chemicals, and making beer.  I figured starting a brewery would have fewer barriers than starting a pharmaceutical or chemical company. The second reason I wanted to start a brewery was more personal.  I didn’t want to be one of those people who reaches old age and regrets not having tried something risky in his or her life.  If I was going to start a brewery I couldn’t wait until retirement; I’d be too old to lift the 50-pound bags of malt!

Q: Why did you pick Euclid and your current location?

A: Kim and I have been Euclid residents since 2007.  We love the fact that we can walk to great restaurants, such as the Beach Club Bistro, Paragon, and Great Scott.  We’ve seen a lot of recent improvements in Euclid, and we wanted to be a part of that. We really wanted a location in a storefront in downtown Euclid because it would allow nearby residents to walk or ride their bikes to the tap room.  We hope customers will come from farther away, but we really wanted to focus on being a gathering place for the neighborhood. Locating the brewery in downtown Euclid also had a fringe benefit: My commute went from 19 miles one-way (when I worked in Concord) to less than a half mile!  I can walk or ride my bike to work now.

Q: How many beers do you offer? Styles?

A: Our goal is to always have six of our own beers on tap (We don’t plan to have any guest taps.).  A typical line-up would include a lighter beer style, such as a blonde or wheat beer; a pale ale and an IPA; a darker beer, such as an amber or stout; and a seasonal beer or two, for example a saison or pumpkin.

Q: Hours and do you offer food?

A: Currently our hours are Thursday 4-7 p.m., and Friday and Saturday 4-8 p.m..  We might expand those hours as we learn more about our customers’ preferences.

Q: What is your brewing philosophy?

A: We prefer to brew traditional styles rather than more exotic beers.  There probably will never be a chili-containing beer on tap at EBC!  We also want to focus on sessionable beers (4-6% ABV) rather than higher-alcohol styles.  The recent elimination of the alcohol cap on beers in Ohio will not affect our beer lineup.

Q: Since I met you at HGR one year ago, how did you hear about HGR and what made you stop by?

A: I first heard of HGR from a coworker at Ricerca.  He knew I lived in Euclid and asked if I had ever been to HGR.  He was adamant that I should go and look around. The first time we went it was an epiphany.  I wanted to buy almost everything I saw, but Kim stopped me. It’s an amazing place! We’ve taken our daughter and son-in-law to HGR.  They own a design firm in California, and we had to drag our son-in-law out of there at closing time.

Q: What have you purchased here, if anything?

A: We purchased a butcher-block-top industrial table for Kim to use for her stained glass projects  a while back. When we were building the brewery, we looked for a low stand or table for our chiller in the brewery. We spoke to a sales rep who emailed us some options from time to time, but we ended up using cinder blocks!

Q: Anything else I missed that’s important and you would like to add?

A: I was a home brewer for approximately 10 years before starting EBC.  I was bitten by the brewing bug when our daughter bought me a Mr. Beer kit for my birthday.  I’ve always called Mr. Beer a gateway kit, the use of which leads to more and more spending on brewing equipment, and before you realize it you own a brewery!

Every week, HGR uploads about 20 new walkaround videos on a variety of new inventory in our showroom. If you can’t make it to the showroom or want to take a better look at a piece of equipment before paying a visit, subscribe to our playlist by clicking the red “Subscribe” button in the upper right on YouTube. Then you can be notified about new videos as they are posted. We also do some fun viral videos to make our customers laugh, educational videos, sale videos and some from the leadership of our company. You can find everything HGR on our YouTube channel and on our website.

(Courtesy of Guest Blogger and HGR Customer Harriet Haxton)

In the word’s of Harriet about her and her husband’s most recent purchase:

“Calvin says you’re always interested in seeing what people do with the stuff they buy from you. Check out the pics of our most recent purchase. We call it the Lunar Lander Dog Food Bin. The first pic shows it in almost-original condition, with the exception of the position of the float. We like it sticking out of the top rather than hidden inside. Calvin added a Delrin stopper to the float tube so it hangs on the side of the bin while we’re scooping kibble. Pretty cool, eh?

Thanks for your patience with our many questions and keep up the good finds!”

We did a little Q&A. Here is more information about the Haxtons:

Q: How did you find out about HGR?

A: Calvin found HGR online through searching, searching, searching

Q: How long ago did you start shopping here, and why?

A: Calvin has been buying  tools from HGR for a couple of years for his job shop which uses old machine tools.  No CNC for him!  He even uses equipment of my grandfather’s from the early 20th century and late 19th.

Q: What types of items have you bought? What do you look for?

A: He wants stuff for the shop.  If he finds something weird, interesting or potentially useful for me, he shows it to me. Before the “Lunar Lander,” we got a stainless steel commercial kitchen floor cabinet.  Our house is a pre-1860s log house.  It has no built-in cabinets anywhere.  We have an old Hoosier, a six-foot steel commercial shelving unit and a very old one-piece enamel sink/drainboard for counter space and storage.  Now it’s considered “industrial chic” but we just like sturdy stuff that’s cheap and easy to clean.  Brand new commercial kitchen fixtures are horrendously expensive! Besides, finding something unexpected from you at a bargain price is great fun!

Q: I understand that you are from Maryland. Have you ever visited us in person?

A: Visiting you was on our agenda on our last visit to Ohio (in June).  Brake problems forced us to leave early.  But we still plan to some day!  We heat with wood; so, we don’t travel much in winter.

Q: What field do you work in?

A: I worked in the software industry for 23 years.  9/11 killed off most of my customers and the idea of dressing up and commuting long distances (95 miles and 2 hrs/day was typical) killed my incentive to stay in the industry.  So, I got a job at my local post office, and I’ve been a rural mail carrier ever since.  I am now part of my local community instead of just being a weekend visitor.

Q: Your email says “Haxton Ranch.” What kind of ranch do you have?

A: The name “Haxton Ranch” is a bit of a joke.  I’m from California, where folks have ranches, not farms.  The name is a permutation of Ranch Calvinian, which is a play on the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas.  We’re not like that, but our minds work in flexible ways.  But we do have land, and I used to have two Tennessee Walking Horses (both mares).  Finances (the postal service does NOT pay as well as the software industry), a propensity to break bones more easily in old age, and an inability to just let my horses be pasture decoration all led me to let go of my childhood dream.  I did train and compete with my young mare and rode the older horse in all weather, terrain and venues.  Lots of fun, but horses are very expensive pets. Tell

(Since the Haxton’s shop online with the help of their sales rep, we asked them for a photo and got this selfie! Now we know what some of our long-distance customers look like. Harriet added the disclaimer that Calvin had just had surgery and hates having his picture taken; so, this photo is extra special. He was willing to do it for HGR! Thanks, Calvin.) 

I met Rebecca Rak and Mike Gemmer when they were shopping at HGR to find equipment for a good cause: The Lodi Family Center, housed at its current location in 6,000 square feet in the former Lodi Elementary School since 2014. Mike’s background is in IT software and teaching. Rebecca’s is in social services.

This Medina County family center offers a safe social place where peoples’ needs can be assessed and met, including adult programming for those over 55, a food pantry, Project Learn, a personal-care shop for nonfood items, parent support services such as cooking and nutrition classes, a toy shop for kids where they can “purchase” items with coins earned for doing their homework and going to counseling sessions, a study hall, a craft room, a playroom with a puppet theater, 10 laptops and one desktop computer, and an auditorium with a screen and projector.

Coming soon to enhance the robotics and tech club is a Makers Space with a science room, lab and arena for robot battle-war challenges, a wood shop and a metalworking shop. Students will earn coins, as they do for the toy store, to buy supplies, such as aluminum and mother boards, to build robots. Also in the future is an Internet café.

To date, Rebecca and Mike have bought shopping carts, Bunn coffee makers, a paper shredder, cabinets, a dolly and a wind tunnel for the science lab from HGR.

According to Executive Director Rebecca Rak, she began the Lodi Family Center to fill a need in the community after working for 12 years for Family First’s resource center. She was trained in crisis intervention, stress management and as a victim advocate for battered women. She then worked as a liaison with county police departments to help bridge people and connect them with agencies, counselors and resources that can help them. She currently works part time as a dispatcher for the Brunswick City Police Department and the rest of her time at the center.

The family center served 1,404 people in 2015 and an average of 40-60 kids per day this summer. In one week this month, 42 families used the food pantry.

Where does the funding come from? Everything is donated with the exception of small grants that supplied the pool table, filing cabinet and television. There were 121 volunteers in 2015 who rotated to serve and support the center’s needs.

For more information, visit The Lodi Family Center’s Facebook page. The center is open Mondays and Wednesdays 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. for adults, Monday through Thursday 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. for children up to high-school age and is available on Fridays to church, home schooling and community groups.

(Courtesy of Guest Blogger Justin Mobilian, HGR’s sales & marketing summer intern)

With the retirement of the Baby Boomers approaching, many manufacturing and machinist jobs will need to be filled. How many? 2.7 million. The problem? Many millennials lack the skills and experience (myself included).

Why be a machinist?

For starters, you DO NOT need a college degree. I have several friends who opted out of attending college, have a steady job and are doing financially well (if you guessed that they’re a welder, you are correct). Second, the average salary of a machinist in the United States is $41,000 to $46,000 (depending on the state in which you live).

No college debt. Almost guaranteed a job immediately. AND starting pay somewhere in the $40,000s. Still interested? I thought so. Keep reading.

Where to get proper training

Okay. So, now I have your attention. Great. Unfortunately you aren’t going to land a machinist’s job once you finish reading this and applying for a position (I mean, you might), but with a little work you will. If you’re still in high school, there is a good chance your school has a STEM program (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics). If so, enroll. Even if it doesn’t interest you, you’re hurting yourself if you don’t. Who knows, you may love it!

If you’re not in high school (probably 99% of our readers), there is no need to worry. There are PLENTY of ways to get trained and experience to prepare for your future in machining. While it is possible to land a job with no experience, it is recommended to complete an apprenticeship.

In an apprenticeship program, you’ll study anything from machinery trade, operations, CNC programming and much more. These programs can take anywhere from 2-4 years and can be taken at a technical or community college. You may ask how this differs from a college degree, and I don’t blame you. One thing – money. YOU GET PAID TO BE AN APPRENTICE. YOU PAY TO BE A STUDENT. Need I say more?! Didn’t think so.

You completed your apprenticeship. What next? Two options: You can jumpstart into your career as a machinist, OR you can obtain the NIMS Credential (National Institute for Metalworking Skills). This will help you stand out from your competition. Perks of this achievement includes receiving a nationally recognized honor, improved professional image, secured job placement over others and many more. All you have to do is pass an examination, which should come with ease since you just completed a few years of training.

Don’t want an apprenticeship? No worries. Forget about who your best friend is. Google is your new best friend. Use it to your advantage. There are HUNDREDS (if not thousands) of online training classes. Unless you have no Internet access, there is no reason for you to not be able to find online training classes.

Even with all the training you receive, you will never be perfect at the job. That’s why companies require on-the-job training (OJT) to become a highly skilled machinist. All you need to do is land the job. From there on out, your place of employment will take care of you.

Get the training. Get the experience. Get your credentials. Land your dream job. Start earning hard-earned money. Advance your career. Be a machinist.

Ever wonder about the marketing value of a blog post for a company and how it can impact sales? Well, read on! Here’s just one example:

Bryan Korecz, HGR’s inbound logistics manager, received a request from one of our trucking companies. They, along with Ace Doran and Bennett International Group, were hosting their Third-Annual Driver Appreciation Day on Sept. 16 at A&H’s facility, 8500 Clinton Road, Brooklyn, Ohio. They were asking for a giveaway donation with HGR’s logo on it. The request was forwarded to the Marketing Department for fulfillment.

I contacted Andrea Cegledy, logistics manager at A&H. We provided them with 50 plastic folder/clipboards with HGR’s logo to be included in a duffel bag that A&H was giving to each driver. Andrea also invited me to the event so that I could blog about it here.

But, it didn’t stop there. I shared the post via Facebook and Twitter with A&H, Ace Doran and Bennett International Group (A&H is a subsidiary of those two larger companies). They all shared the post on their Facebook and Twitter accounts. We got new views, likes and followers from getting in front of their followers, who are exactly the demographic of HGR’s customers.

Then, I contacted all three companies and asked about backlinking from their websites to the blog post (basically, hosting a link on their websites to the blog on our website). A&H and Bennett did so. And, I linked from my blog to their websites to help with their organic SEO efforts.

Bennett is a global transportation company.  Its domain authority (DA) is 36. DA is a search engine ranking tool that awards a score of 1-100 based on three factors: age of the website, popularity and size. Our goal is to increase our DA, which was, as of Oct. 3, 30 by backlinking to our site from companies with higher DA. If we increase our DA, it will improve our site’s search engine optimization (SEO) so that we are found more easily and higher up on the page in a Google search for content that resides within our site, including key words and topics in our blog.

In addition to positively impacting our organic (unpaid) SEO efforts and our ranking, we get in front of potential new customers who will see our website, become aware of us, if they weren’t already or be reminded of us if they were aware, and, potentially, create new customers. Win-win!

Here’s Ken Bridgeport, HGR’s Eye in the Sky, reporting on the football-field-sized pileup of pallet racking outside of HGR Industrial Surplus in Euclid, Ohio:

We have pallet racking we’re looking to move; so, we created a pallet rack request page on our website. If you are interested in pallet racking and have size requirements, fill out the form, and we will assist you! It’s that easy.

And, these aren’t your average videos! Check out our tour guide to Pallet Racking Paradise as a scenic getaway vacation:

The Firefighter Phil Program brings free fire-safety lessons into elementary schools nationwide since 1975 to teach K-4 schoolchildren the functions and roles of the fire department, actions they can take to prevent fires in the home, and actions to take if a fire occurs. This is accomplished via a 30-minute, entertaining, school-assembly program using magic, games, songs, jokes and puppets to teach children about fire safety and prevention, fire drills, escape plans, 911, fire hazards, kitchen safety, smoke alarms, stop – drop –roll, get out & stay out, stay low & go, two ways out, and respect for authority figures.

One of Firefighter Phil’s animal pals stops by to teach the lessons with a member of the local fire department. To reinforce what students learned in the live presentation, each child is given a grade-specific activity book to take home. The program is made possible through advertisements in the activity book that are purchased by the local business community, including HGR Industrial Surplus. In addition to the satisfaction of helping teach children fire safety and potentially save lives, the businesses receive a certificate of appreciation signed by the fire chief.

This year, Assistant Chief Anderson of the Euclid Fire Department or one of his Euclid firefighters will visit Arbor Elementary School, Bluestone Elementary School, Chardon Hills Elementary School, Our Lady of the Lake School, Shoreview Elementary School and Saints Robert & William Catholic School in honor of National Fire Prevention Week, Oct. 9-15 and present to 1,700 students.

The first Friday in October, Manufacturing Day℠, is a celebration of modern manufacturing meant to inspire the next generation of manufacturers.

HGR Frequent Shopper Steve Timothy works full time as a millwright at Charter Steel. Sullivan Machine Tooling is his “side job” that he started in 2013 to build as his future retirement job. It all started in 2009 when he bought a 1977 Lincoln Electric doghouse welder, his “newest” piece of equipment, to make repairs for himself. Since he lives in Sullivan, Ohio, a heavily Amish community, his Amish neighbors knew he could weld and asked him to fix farm implements for them. That’s when he started doing repair work. Sometimes, rather than repairing a piece of equipment, it was easier to buy it from HGR and haul it home. So, Timothy began to buy equipment, fix and resell it, as well as haul equipment for the Amish in his community.

Since Amish do not use electricity, they adapt all electrical shop equipment to run off a line shaft with a belt drive. Some of the most common pieces of equipment that Sullivan Machine Tool has adapted include lathes, drill presses that carpenters and metal workers use, and pantographs designed to engrave jewelry that they convert into finish sanders for carpentry use with a rotary orbital head fit into a column with a moveable arm. Timothy says he has used a drill press for the same thing. In an Amish shop, a diesel engine powers a line shaft that runs the length of the shop under the floor and runs on V-belts. Diesel fuel is used because it is more efficient than gasoline.

In Timothy’s shop, he has a 1926 South Bend lathe, a 1937 South Bend lathe, a 1954 Bridgeport mill, a 1954 Cincinnati Bickford drill press that he bought from HGR, a small press and a car lift, plus all the machinery he is converting and tools in a 26-feet-by-30-feet pole barn. He transports equipment he purchases in an F450 dump truck and trailer with a moveable gantry crane and engine hoist.

He says that an Amish machine shop down the road runs a 17,000-pound shear (purchased from HGR), an ironworker, a press brake, lathes and a radial arm drill press, all nonelectrical. It has a tub on the roof to collect rainwater that is gravity-fed into a faucet sink since only well water with a pump would be used. A sawmill in his town uses a $20,000, three-sided planer for flooring and molding. It can plane flat surfaces, profiles and relief cuts. The planer had separate motors but the owner built belt drives and uses a diesel engine to drive the line shaft.

Sullivan Machine Tool does not advertise in local newspapers or online. All of his business is in the Sullivan and Homerville area and done by word of mouth as one person tells another person during their Sunday socials.

When shopping HGR, Timothy watches and purchase online unless there is something he needs to come up in order to check the condition. Then he makes the trip to transport an entire truckload at once. Currently, he has his eye on two gear hobbing machines that he will either use to make his own gears or sell to his Amish customers. The units are not complete; so, he is trying to solve the problem as to how to complete them to make them functional. He purchased a tool grinder with no attachments, pulled the motor off, and mounted a shaft for a drill press. He enjoys repurposing equipment for use as something other than what it was intended.

Timothy lives on 2.5 acres with his wife. His father-in-law lives on the property next door. He has a daughter who is a vet tech and a son who is a business major at The University of Akron. This man loves to keep busy and says he probably never will retire. Do you have a side job? Are a hobbyist? How do you feel about “retirement?”

Check out this video taken with our drone that showcases our Top 10 aisle 4 products: Video Taken Down

According to Zara Brunner on the Manufacturing Extension Partnership’s blog: “Manufacturing enables our everyday lives, drives our economy and can bring communities across the country together. This infographic represents how manufacturing is diverse, supports 18.5-million U.S. jobs and has a multitude of career opportunities, including engineers, designers, machinists and computer programmers. Just in time for this year’s Manufacturing Day on Oct. 7, it’s been updated to represent the amazing results of MFG Day 2015.”

How will you or your company be observing or celebrating manufacturing this Friday?

It’s funny how blogs come about. Like much business that takes place, it’s often word of mouth. Someone who knows someone who knows someone. So, this story starts when I attending a Euclid Chamber of Commerce committee meeting to organize its Amazing-Race-style scavenger hunt taking place on Sept. 9 (read this blog about how to register). Sheila Gibbons, chamber president, mentions an antique mall, Antiques & Uniques, Wickliffe, Ohio, that she likes to browse through because I had mentioned an item that I was looking for and had asked if there were any resale or thrift stores in the area (I live in Medina County and drive to Euclid for work; so, I don’t know the area well.).

This mention bubbles around in my mind for a couple of weeks. Then, one day, I think how much like an antique store HGR is. Both take items that an owner no longer wants, needs or finds useful and tries to resell them so they can be recycled or upcycled and stay out of landfills. We both try to match the right product to the right customer. We have rows and rows of items. And, our customers come in to spend hours just looking. Sometimes they take something home, and sometimes they don’t. But we get new items all the time; so, people are repeat visitors.

I decided to take a trip to Antiques & Uniques and chat with Tom Berges, who co-owns the store with his wife, Barb. Berges says, “I was the part owner and managed an antique store in Painesville with other business partners. Eventually, I moved on to start my own business.” Antiques & Uniques opened April 2015 with full inventory. Berges says that he didn’t even need to advertise to find vendors. Many of his contacts and people that he had worked with in the past opened stalls in his store. He currently has 100 vendors, and about 200 people are waiting to get in. Business has been good.

But, the connection to HGR gets even weirder. Six degrees-of-separation weird. Berges happens to be an HGR customer. He walked me through the store and pointed out the carts, desks, tables, whiteboards, shelves and lockers that he has purchased to outfit the store. He also told me that many of his vendors shop at HGR. I was introduced to Rodney who has pallets in his stall. He also has a vintage metal locker that he purchased from HGR and cleaned up to resell. Then, I met Robin, the store manager, who used to own a warehouse and bought pallet racking and pallet jacks from HGR.

After all, business is cyclical. What have you purchased from HGR to reuse? How have you put it to use?

William Sopko and Sons Co., located at 26500 Lakeland Blvd., Euclid, Ohio, was started in 1952 in the basement of current owner Bill Sopko Sr.’s parents’ home on East 267th Street. His dad, also Bill, worked in the Maintenance Department at Tapco (now TRW) after returning home from serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II. Prior to the war, he worked at Ohio Ball Bearing Company (now Applied Technologies) in the Spindle Repair Department.

Bill Sr., says, “Many people do not know what a spindle is. It is NOT the wood spindle on a staircase. In industry, the spindle assembly has a shaft that is mounted on bearings and turns at high speeds. The special bearings must support both radial and axial pressures. On the end of the shaft an adaptor holds either a grinding wheel or a cutting tool. The higher the speed, the more precise the spindle must be.”

Since his father had two young children at the time, one of them being Bill, Sr., Bill Sopko decided to go out on his own and start a business, William Sopko and Sons Co. His wife, Mary, did the paperwork. They picked Euclid as home because it was the perfect place to have a family and establish a business. In the early 1950s, Euclid was booming with industry.  Then they had two more kids to make a family of six.

Mary died in 1967 and Bill in 1974. The business still was located in the basement on East 267th Street. In 1971, Bill Sr. graduated from college, got married and rented a small block building on St. Clair Avenue. He purchased a milling machine, saw and surface grinder. Prior to this he had outsourced all of his manufacturing to local shops, many still in business today. In 1976, the company moved out of the basement into a building on Lakeland Boulevard in Wickliffe. In the early 1990s it needed more space and moved back to Euclid into the company’s current location on Lakeland Boulevard.

The current business has three segments, all related to precision grinding and machining. First, it is a precision spindle repair service company that rebuilds all types of ball and roller-bearing spindles. Most popular are surface grinders, cutter grinders, internal grinders, Moore Jig grinders, both foreign and domestic. The company has rebuilt more than 10,000 precision spindles during the past 64 years. Second, it manufactures grinding accessories that include wheel adapters, internal grinding quills, collet chuck quills, extensions, flanges, spacers and precision wheel screws. Finally, the company is a stocking distributor for spindle-related products. Its major lines include Dumore hand grinders, tool post grinders, parts, spindles and drill units, and Gates power transmission products including flat spindle belts, poly vee, variable speed and vee belts.

Sopko and Sons employs experienced machine technicians who can run manual lathes, CNC turning and milling machines and a complete precision grinding department to grind its products and spindle repair components, as required. Sopko does not do contact grinding for other companies. Grinding shops are its customers, and it does not compete against them. According to Bill Sr., “Some common applications of our precision spindles include forming and sharpening the cutting edges on the tiny drills the dentist uses to drill your teeth for a filling. Some spindles are used to grind hardened ball bearings, automotive engine blocks and jet aircraft components.”

Currently, the third generation is involved with the company. Bill Jr., Brian and Jillian Sopko all are on board to continue to serve valued customers all over the country.  With regard to the future, Bill Sr. says, “The future will have many technical advancements affecting the whole world. People in manufacturing will make products of tomorrow using precision machine tools. Our business will adjust to this new technology as it is discovered, and we will continue to service and supply the needs of the new century.”

(Courtesy of Guest Blogger and HGR Frequent Shopper James Georgopoulos, multimedia artist)

James Georgopoulos works with painting, sculpture and video installation to address a relationship between highly skilled production techniques, pop culture and taboo iconography. He began creating visual works at age 14, and his father was an avid art collector. He relocated from the East Coast to Los Angeles in the early 90s to work in the film industry, including as an art director for commercials and music videos, including Pink Floyd’s “Take it Back.” Georgopoulous’ work can be found in collections around the world.

Currently, his solo show at MAMA Gallery in Los Angeles is buoyed by four major new video sculptures that the artist created out of found, fabricated, and handmade materials. The Earth Is Flat is an interrogation of artificially intelligent systems and the values and hazards implicit to autonomous computing. The title of the exhibition emanates from the certainty that we are at a precipice, akin to the era when a flat world was the predominant theory about the form of the Earth. Theorists and technologists—Bill Gates, Elon Musk, and Stephen Hawking among them—believe that we are presumably in a technological stone age, and that artificial intelligence will continue to develop rapidly and exponentially in spite of warnings and omens.

Ever wonder how all the amazing items in HGR’s showroom get here? We don’t have our own big rigs, but we work with a number of riggers and trucking companies to make it all happen, from enclosed trailers and flatbeds to step decks. One of those companies is A&H Trucking, Parts & Repair, Brooklyn, Ohio. According to Bryan Korecz, HGR’s inbound logistics manager, “Anything we need, they usually have. They do a lot of the local stuff we buy and, occasionally, ship out items that we sell.”

On Sept. 16 from 12 to 4 p.m., A&H and Ace Doran Hauling & Rigging hosted its third-annual Driver Appreciation Day as part of National Driver Appreciation Week. About 40 drivers plus more than 30 customers, vendors and industry relationships (like HGR) stop in to have lunch provided by Famous Dave’s BBQ and an ice cream truck, play some cornhole and feel the love. Many of the vendors and industry contacts donate items for raffles and giveaways. The money raised in the raffle goes into a driver relief fund.

A&H was started by Bob Abernethy (now deceased) and Bill Hoag in 1981. At that time, the company did not own any of its trucks and used all owner-operator rigs. Now, A&H has 22 company trucks, uses 20 owner-operators, has a full-service truck repair shop and is a Vanguard trailer and tractor parts distributor. Its drivers are required to attend two safety meetings each year. The company is an agent for Ace Doran Hauling & Rigging in order to leverage a larger company’s safety, billing department, and insurance claims processing resources. It’s a family-owned-and-run enterprise. And, it feels like family.

I sat at a table with one of the company’s retired drivers who had a trucking accident a little over a year ago. While he was recovering, Bill took him and his family to dinner, checked on him and continues to invite him back to this event even though he’s no longer driving. This was the kind of event where you felt like you knew everyone and made friends with people who share common interests. I own a retired Thoroughbred racehorse. This driver’s dad used to breed and train Standardbreds at Northfield Park. A sales rep at Rush Truck Centers breeds and trains Thoroughbreds and races them at Thistledown. We may go on a trail ride!

And, like a lot of businesses that I run across, A&H happens to be a customer of HGR. Many items in its facility have come from our showroom, including its shelving units. HGR started working with A&H just three years ago when the company partnered with one of our carriers. They inherited us and have continued to do a great job.

Thanks A&H for trucking our equipment, inviting us to your event and for introducing me to new friends.

(Courtesy of Guest Blogger Cynthia Vassaur, HGR’s call center manager) 

The Austin Fit Challenge was held on Sept. 10, 2016. This the second year that the HGR Call Center has participated, and while they were pleased with their fifth-place status last year, they are SUPER EXCITED to have earned first place in 2016.

The Austin Fit Challenge brings companies together from all over the city to compete. First, the companies are grouped by size. HGR Industrial Surplus falls into the Micro Division (small company). There were a total of seven teams in this division. Then each group is given a list of courses and each challenge within the course. Each course must be completed within the allotted time or participants do not earn points. The event is held at Zilker Park in Austin, Texas.

The team arrived at 8:30 a.m. for its 10 a.m. slot. This allowed for plenty of time to stretch, sign in, and to get mentally prepared. At 9:30 a.m., the team was called into action. The micro-division only allows for four members per course each time. The HGR employees broke into two groups of four. Cynthia’s son Mario was able to step in at the last minute and fill in for an HGR employee who was not able to make it. Cynthia’s daughter Olivia was the photographer/cheerleader. She ran back and forth between both HGR teams for photos and support.

Overall, everyone enjoyed the competition, camaraderie and the motivation of working together as team toward a common goal. Time to get ready for next year! Below is a sample of the courses.

Course 1 – 5-minute cap

Inverted Rows – 30 reps

Sandbag Slams – 80 (men 15lb/Female 10lb)

Push-ups – 80 reps

Kettlebell Swings – 80 (men 35lb/women 25lb)

Sit-ups – 80 reps

Burpees – 40 reps

Plank hold – 60 seconds

Course 2 – 6-minute cap

Agility

Power

Mystery course

Speed

Course 3 – best time

2-mile run

(Courtesy of Guest Blogger Justin Mobilian, former HGR sales & marketing summer intern)

Problem

I love social media; it’s how I stay up-to-date on trends, news, and complaints. The number one complaint? Needing a new place to move to. If you can relate and want something different, you’re in luck. I’ve researched the Top 10 states for manufacturing. And, guess what? Ohio is on the list!

1. California

The Golden State. In my opinion, I wouldn’t consider California as The Golden State anymore after losing to the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals, but that’s just me. Anyways, California can rely on its manufacturing industry to be successful since Steph Curry and his team fail to do so. California’s manufacturing GDP is currently at $255.63B, about 4.3 percent higher than last year and is expected to continue rising. Afraid you won’t be able to find a job? Don’t be. California accounted for more than 1.2 million manufacturing employees in 2015.

2. Texas

3. Ohio

Ohio. Do I really need to explain why you should move to Ohio? With a deep history in manufacturing, there’s no reason you shouldn’t consider Ohio as your next place to live and work. Last year, there were nearly 690,000 manufacturing jobs in Ohio and almost $100B in total manufacturing output. Added benefits of this beautiful state include Ohio State University, the Cleveland Cavaliers, HGR Industrial Surplus, and many more!

4. Pennsylvania

5. Michigan (‘M’s are struck through out of respect for The Ohio State Buckeyes)

As an Ohio native and Ohio State Buckeyes fan, please be smarter than moving to Michigan. I’m not saying you’ll regret the decision, but you’ll probably regret the decision. Nothing good comes out of Michigan, EXCEPT for great manufacturing. The state of Michigan accounted for more than $82B in manufacturing output in 2014, with almost 600,000 manufacturing jobs in 2015. The average annual compensation of the industry is almost $80,000. The sports in Michigan? Poor, average at best. The manufacturing industry in Michigan? Booming.

6. Illinois

7. Indiana

For decades, Indiana has been the Cleveland Browns of the manufacturing industry – depressing. However, over the past five years, much has changed. Since 2015, manufacturers accounted for 29.5 percent of the state’s total output, with more than 500,000 manufacturing employees.

8. Wisconsin

9. New York

Broadway and showbiz aren’t the only things helping drive the economy in New York; manufacturing sits up there, too. With almost $70B in manufactured goods and $22B in exported goods, more than 450,000 people are in the manufacturing business with an annual pay of more than $71,000.

10. North Carolina

Solution

If you’re a manufacturing employee and are unhappy with your living situation, you’ve hit gold by stumbling on this blog. These are the best places to move to where the manufacturing industry is thriving, but Ohio stays near and dear to my heart.

At HGR Industrial Surplus, family is everything. The owners and employees are a family, and our customers are part of that family. So, it’s always great to find other local businesses that feel the same. Some of the salespeople at HGR have told me about Mama Catena’s then I was at a Euclid Chamber of Commerce committee meeting where Mama Catena (yes, there really is a Mama who owns and works every day at Mama Catena’s) was mentioned again. The chamber uses Mama Catena’s for catering, most recently for the Amazing Race event. They said that she hand makes her pasta and rolls the cavatelli just like my great grandmother, real name Rose but always called Gram, used to do. In case you couldn’t tell from my name – part Italian.

Gram taught me how to make ravioli, manicotti, gnocchi, cavatelli, spaghetti, sauce, pizza and fried dough from scratch. She passed away about 30 years ago; so, when I heard about Mama Catena, I knew I had to make a trip. I wasn’t disappointed. I was warmly welcomed. Mama, Papa (married for 62 years) and their daughter Fran took time to chat with me for about 20 minutes about Italy, food and family. I asked Mama why she decided to open a restaurant. She says, “For my kids.” Fran explained that they had a big family and used to cook for everyone in the basement (just like my other, Ukrainian, grandma did when she made perogi). Then, when Fran’s father retired after many years as a masonry contractor, they decided to open a family restaurant with Fran’s sister, Rina. Her two brothers are a policeman and a pilot. Fran says they don’t work at the restaurant but they love to eat there!

In business since 1989, the family hugs and kisses its customers. Fran says, as she chokes up, “We get thank-you notes from diners and are told they feel like a table number everywhere else, not like a person. I get choked up. Our customers are like family.” To further pamper customers, the Catenas offer “blind dining” where they talk to their guests, see what they like, then cook a dish for them based on their preferences that may not be on the menu. For someone who is gluten intolerant or on a low-carb diet, they will use a spiralizer to make zucchini noodles. Also on the menu are Papa’s homemade cured olives and pickled eggplant. Prepare yourself for some garlic!

This way of treating customers has allowed the business to thrive. Two years ago, it expanded its dining room into the space next door. The restaurant also placed third on the Fox 8 Hot List Best Italian. Fran states, “We are extremely proud of serving our Euclid community for the last 27 years.”

Buon appetito!

In a prior blog and “Hit the Ground Running” column in The Euclid Observer and The Collinwood Observer, I mentioned how John E. Vanas of Euclid Heat Treating bought some interior leather upholstery from Ford Motor Company at HGR Industrial Surplus and used it to upholster a couch.

Vanas says, “Here is the couch we had covered with the saddle-colored interior upholstery from Ford. It was made in Cleveland by the Lincoln Lounge Company some time before 1964 when the company closed. From what I can tell, they were headquartered in the Williamson Building downtown. This building sat where the Key Tower now stands.”

The Euclid Chamber of Commerce brought The Amazing Race to Euclid, Ohio, and HELP Foundation hosted team registration and the post-race celebration at its Adult Day Support Program.

I was a member of the planning committee, and HGR sent two teams to compete as well as being one of the stops on the route. Here are photos of some of HGR’s participants:

Tina Dick, HGR’s human resources manager, recaps some of the stops in the race: “At soccer golf at Briardale Golf Course, April Quintiliano made a new friend named Rosie while Beth Hietanen and I kicked the ball down the green. Kim Todd did an amazing job climbing the rock wall. “Ain’t no mountain high enough” for KT. It also was interesting to hear that the Cleveland Rock Gym has been part of Euclid for more than 20 years. I lived in Euclid for close to 15 years and never knew it existed; my kids would have loved it! Our Lady of Lourdes National Shrine is as beautiful as ever and was probably the nicest surprise. I had been there but my teammates never had. The NEO Sports Plant looks amazing, and chair volleyball is a blast! It would be a great event for HGR staff. HGR’s amazing showroom was new for many participants. The gift baskets, pizza and subs were a great end at HELP Foundation. Euclid Chamber did an “amazing” job putting this together. Count me in next year. We had some challenges but our team finished!”

Joe Powell, HGR’s graphic designer, who was teamed with Steve “Smitty” Smith, says, “Smitty came up limping while sprinting to the first task at Atlas Cinemas. For the rest of the race he played navigator, and I took care of the events. I couldn’t hit a free throw to save my life, but instead moved back to the three-point line and made six in a row. We were neck and neck with another team for the last task, and I had to slide a la baseball style in front of them for a second-place finish. Overall, it was a fun experience, and I saw parts of Euclid that I will revisit in future because of this.

Yes, one of our manager’s employees really did this!!! When your boss is a hoarder of empty boxes, and he is out of the office this is what happens.

The employee told him for weeks that she would do it. He all but dared her to when he was out. She let it go for a while and figured he would forget. He walked into this on a Monday morning.

If only we had gotten a picture of the look on his face! And, it’s not even April Fool’s Day. Have you ever played a practical joke on someone at work? Have you played Jenga before? I bet not with boxes.

Enchantment is a business book that can be applied to any situation or relationship, but especially helps managers “enchant” their direct reports and any employee “enchant” his or her manager. According to Kawasaki’s introduction, “Enchantment transforms situations and relationships, converts hostility into civility and civility into affinity. It changes skeptics and cynics into believers and the undecided into the loyal.”

He sets out to cover negotiation skills to overcome resistance and motivate others to internalize your values in a lasting way that can be applied to business and personal interactions. Who doesn’t need those? The main tactics involve enlisting others’ goals and desires, being likable and trustworthy, and framing a cause others can embrace. You need to read the book to find out HOW to do so. I will give you a hint though: reciprocity, diversity, and use of technology.

Kawasaki says that with these tactics the reader will be prepared to launch “an enchantment campaign.” He uses the story of Apple’s Macintosh as an example and encourages readers to think of their own Enchantment Hall of Fame list, including products that are deep, intelligent, complete, empowering and elegant (car = Mustang, city = Istanbul, airline = Virgin, political leader = Nelson Mandela).

Some of his advice may sound unorthodox, such as creating crow’s feet around your eyes (a la George Clooney), being passionate, selectively cussing (yes, as in using profanity for emphasis), learning from The Grateful Dead, and thinking Japanese by using Zen design principles to enhance presentations. He also mentions money and success are not the biggest motivators, take Wikipedia’s grassroots success as compared with Microsoft’s millions wasted on failed Encarta — similar product, one started by a successful company with lots of money to invest.

For me, what resonated the most were Chapters 10 (How to Enchant Your Employees) and 11 (How to Enchant Your Boss). In a nutshell, he says that money is often not the sole or primary motivator. Managers need to provide their reports with an opportunity to achieve mastery, autonomy and purpose (MAP). Sounds like employee engagement and recognition initiatives here at PNC? On page 159, he provides a checklist to determine how good of (and enchanting) a boss you are. On the flip side, the steps to enchanting your boss include making him/her look good, dropping everything to do what he/she asks, under promising and over delivering, prototyping your work, showing and broadcasting progress, forming professional friendships, asking for mentoring and delivering bad news early. Makes sense! Some of this you have heard before, but in this book, it’s the “why” that’s an interesting and easy read.

I first became familiar with Kawasaki through LinkedIn. If you like what he has to say, you might be interested in following him, too.

(Courtesy of Guest Blogger Justin Mobilian, HGR’s sales & marketing summer intern)

Last month, you might remember that we interviewed Don Bartley, a frequent shopper at HGR. This time, we interviewed his friend, Larry Raven, who also is from Willoughby Hills, Ohio.

How did you hear about HGR?

To tell you the truth, it has been so long ago. It has been about eight years. Somebody probably told me about it; otherwise, I wouldn’t have known – oh wait! They were doing a lot of advertising on the TV. They were pretty good on the sports channel, and when I saw their advertisement, I knew I had to go.

What’s your favorite thing about HGR?

Being able to come down here, walk, meet people – instead of going to the mall to walk, I come here because it’s more interesting *laughs*.

So are you going to have lunch with us today?

Oh hell yes! That’s what I’m here for!

What do you usually buy here?

Over the years, I know I’m well over $50,000 that I’ve spent here already, and it’s just on a hobby. I was an aircraft mechanic for 20 years. And then I was a set-up man at a brush factory for 30 years. I’m a mechanic, so I’m going to look for anything mechanical. That’s what I like about HGR – here, I buy a lot of drills, reamers, that type of stuff. I don’t NEED anything, but like I said, it’s a hobby.

I just come in to look for different stuff. I try to upgrade what I have at home. Down in my basement, I have a lathe, a mill, drill press, and a band saw, and then back in the barn I’ve got another two horizontal saws.

What do you make?

I fix stuff up. Right now I’m working on lawnmowers. I got a friend of mine; he gave me two lawnmowers where the engines blew. By coming here, I met another guy who knows another guy – where he works, they bring in brand new stuff, except maybe they have a problem. So, I go in and buy the brand-spanking-new engines and put them in my lawnmowers. It’s got 23 horsepower; so, I just use it as a way to travel from my house to my barn!

But everything I do, it’s always mechanical. I’m building up my workshop back in the barn. Down in my basement I have my workshop for the wintertime. I’ve been retired for 10 years. All my free time goes straight to my projects when I’m not walking the aisles of HGR.

Thanks Larry, for being such a valuable customer. Enjoy your lunch!

HGR’s owners are dedicated to the Euclid community, including supporting other businesses, and they, in turn, support us. Our CMO sits on the board of the Euclid Chamber of Commerce, and I am on a committee to organize the chamber’s Amazing Race fundraiser taking place this Friday. I write the monthly “Hit the Ground Running” column in both The Euclid Observer and The Collinwood Observer to showcase area manufacturers, the products they make and their contributions to the workforce. We also are very involved with Euclid High School’s S.T.E.M. program and Robotics Club. In 2014, we bought our building and have invested in renovations and improvements.

To continue our support of the community, I have gone out and met with many amazing organizations and businesses in the area and blogged about many of them, such as HELP Foundation, The Cleveland-Style Polka Hall of Fame and Museum, NEO Sports Plant, The Twelve Literary and Performing Arts Incubator, artists Jerry Schmidt and Larry Fielder of The Waterloo Arts District, Euclid Historical Society and Museum, Euclid Art Association, Euclid Beach Park Museum, and Our Lady of Lourdes National Shrine.

There are two other businesses that I recently discovered. One is newer; and one is an institution that has been in the neighborhood since the 1970s. If you are looking for a good cup of coffee in the area, where do you go? No Starbucks. I found myself driving to Speedway for a cup to go. Then, Tami Honkala of HELP Foundation told me about an Arabica tucked away in the back of a medical building off a side street. They have no website, no sign, no advertising. No one but the tenants of the medical building know they exist even though they have been at that location since 2012.

I headed over to the Euclid Office Plaza at Richmond Road and Euclid Avenue for a look. I met the owner, Ronny, and got excited that I could get a mocha or a latte. The only problem was: NO DECAF! I stopped drinking caffeine years ago and only order decaf espresso. They don’t have it. This is a coffee house that is not for sissies. They also have food, including a salad bar, and offer catering services.

The longstanding local health food store, Webers, at 18400 Euclid Avenue, is owned by Bill Weber and his daughter-in-law Clara Weber. They carry many of the products I regularly buy on Amazon and eBay. Clara even was willing to special order some products they didn’t have in stock. When I shared with her where I worked, she told me that they were HGR customers and had purchased a forklift that they regularly use to unload inventory from delivery trucks.

What comes around goes around. It’s always good practice to be a good neighbor.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, “Labor Day is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers.” Now, that’s something to celebrate! Hopefully, you get a day off from laboring so that you can recharge your battery and enjoy whatever it is that you love most. For many of our customers, that includes building, fixing and creating things. And, Labor Day was founded by a hardworking tradesman, but which man?

Some say that Matthew Maguire, machinist, proposed the holiday for American workers in the 1880s, but others argue that it was Peter J. McGuire, carpenter. Either way, it was a great idea, and two Fathers of Labor Day is even better than one.

Thank you, to these two gentlemen and to all of you, for the hard work that you do to keep American manufacturing going. Everything we use to make our lives easier was made by someone. Remember him or her as you use some of those products each day, especially today.

We will be closed on Monday, Sept. 5, to spend Labor Day with our loved ones, including our loyal pets! Enjoy your day off. We’ll look forward to seeing you on Tuesday.

(Courtesy of Guest Blogger Bob Torrelli, Science Department chair and Robotics Team coach, Euclid High School)

The students have been here for two weeks, and things are settling in very nicely this year, considering the 8th grade has moved to the high school. The robotics class is running with 22 students. It is a semester class, and the same amount are already signed up for next semester. So far, the students are loving it. We have been doing a lot of building and cooperative learning activities to build team working relationships. The mission statement that I introduced them to for the class is: “Growing consumers of technology into creators of technology.” And the goal is for them to have group success through individual achievement.

We will do the robotics club and team again this year. That starts in October. Stay tuned!

FYI, the Lego robotic kits the students are using were donated by HGR Industrial Surplus.

Is there anyone who, as soon as possible, would be willing to work with and help the students learn basic CAD skills? If so, leave a comment here or contact Gina at HGR with your info. We are in need!  

Cleveland historically has been a town of entrepreneurs, startups and family businesses, especially in the manufacturing and industrial sector. In this column, each month we continue the manufacturing conversation, because manufacturing is what this town was built on, and manufacturing continues to sustain it.

Another company right in your backyard that you probably are not familiar with is Euclid Heat Treating. Heat treaters harden, test and package metal parts that have been stamped, machined, cast or forged. It was started in 1946 by John J. Vanas, a metallurgical engineer and graduate of Case School of Applied Science. . He grew up in Euclid, on E.222^nd Street, and in 1945, he started his business in the garage behind his home. Originally called The Engineered Heat Treating Company or “THETCO,” the primary focus was to service the growing tool-and-die manufacturing in the area.

Three generations later, John J’s son, John H. Vanas, his grandson, John E. Vanas, and two granddaughters lead the company; and, there’s a fourth generation, John A. Vanas, who still is too young to come work for his great-grandpa’s enterprise. John E. says, “East 222^nd Street was a major industrial artery for the city and for Euclid, a hub for such industries as automotive, aerospace, machine tool, and heavy equipment manufacturing.. As these core markets declined through the 1980s, Euclid Heat Treating already had strategically diversified as heat treating technology advanced. Processes evolved and differentiated from the rudimentary, but no-less critical, pack carburizing and salt bath hardening, to controlled atmosphere hardening, vacuum hardening, nitriding, and induction hardening. Further diversity was achieved by adding specialized machinery that could accommodate parts of vastly different geometries and sizes. They continue to reinvest in emerging technology and state-of-the-art process controls to ensure the best possible results. The company that built its foundation on heat treating tool steel maintains that focus but has its fingers in many diverse processes, and it claims to be the most diverse and versatile heat treater in Ohio.

John E. explains that heat treating, though rarely recognized or understood, is fundamental in all of our lives. Heat treating plays a role in the design and function of products we rely on every day, from such ubiquitous items as gas pump latches, automotive hood locks, seat anchors, bearings, axles and shift levers, to more unusual applications like metal injection-molded parts used in compact handguns, specially blended alloy parts for use in the hazardous environments of the nuclear and chemical industries, and locomotive engine components.

While speaking with John H.., he mentioned that although Cleveland no longer is the heart of the machine tool industry as it was before business started going to Japan and China, it was at one time so important that it was worth protecting with Nike missile silos positioned throughout the area. , He also says the industry still is thriving. “A lot of big companies are gone, but the business has been spread out to subcontractors. The large companies had their own heat treating facilities that often were not cost effective; so, the industry has benefitted. There’s still a concentration of heat treating companies in Cleveland and a robust market due to manufacturing in the area,” he states. “We’ve developed a reputation for being quality oriented and for taking on higher-risk jobs. Customers contact us on referrals from other heat treaters if it’s not in their wheelhouse. We are specialists rather than generalists or parts pushers. We pay attention to details, controls and customers’ needs through precision and diversification over volume.”

When asked about his greatest challenge, he says emphatically, “Finding employees, not just skilled employees because we can train our own people, but self-starters with a good work ethic and mechanical aptitude. There are few related industries to similarly prepare talent with the skills they need to apply in heat treating.”

John E. says, “We built our business by rebuilding, and that’s how we tie into HGR. My father is hands on and buys pre-owned equipment from auctions and HGR. In the early days he and his Maintenance Superintendent Roger Robbins would buy scrap steel to build stairs, mezzanines, and other necessary structures in the plant. It was not uncommon for them to buy a government auction lot, sight unseen, several states away. They would drive a tractor trailer to the site, rig out the equipment, haul it back and rebuild/install it. He is a grassroots, DIY person. We rebuild and refurbish where and when we can and will always have a shade-tree mechanic, bootstrap mentality.”

John E. shops at HGR once or twice a month and says there is something in every building on his campus from HGR. What has he bought? Mostly the “typical” items that a heat treater would use, such as pumps, breakers, panels and sometimes even furnaces.. Then, there are the items that come along maybe once in a lifetime, such as the leather hides he used to upholster a couch and the seats in his father’s Mercury. Yes, you heard that right. He told the story of the day he walked into HGR as they were unloading boxes of leather upholstery hides from Ford Motor Company. There was a huge array of colors (red, yellow, blue, silver, grey, saddle). Each box contained enough leather to upholster an entire vehicle, and was selling for $40-50 per box.

He closes the conversation by reiterating, “Because of our association with Euclid and Cleveland, we go to great lengths to buy locally and help local commerce. This is our first priority when purchasing supplies and equipment.

Begun in May 2016, HGR’s new office, conference room and kitchen construction is nearing completion. Furniture and appliances have been ordered. Turner Construction SPD is on schedule and is doing all the finish work and laying carpet. We hope to occupy the new space in September or October. Make sure to come by for a visit.

Check out the “before” photos. Speaking of “before” and “after” photos, did you see our Biggest Loser competitors? Here are the “after” office photos. We’ll post the finished product once all the furniture and appliances are installed.

(Courtesy of Guest Blogger Justin Mobilian, HGR’s sales & marketing summer intern)

We wanted to introduce you to the familiar faces who frequent HGR’s showroom. These wonderful people come from all over the world and are always stopping in to see what we have. Don Bartley, Willoughby, Ohio, comes in on Wednesdays for lunch. He was kind enough to take a few minutes for this interview.

How did you hear about us?

My friend, Larry, first introduced me to you. He told me about HGR, and one day I went with him to visit. I’ve been attracted since.

How long have you been shopping at HGR? How often do you come?

I’ve been shopping at HGR for about five to six months now. But, Larry? Ha. He’s been coming here for a long time. A looooong time. I usually come in every Wednesday, though. Can’t skip a free lunch with the opportunity to find something to take home with you.

Obviously, everyone here appreciates you and your business, but what keeps you coming back?

There’s so much. Whether it’s the atmosphere, products, free lunches. I love coming back. The cool thing about HGR is there’s literally something different every day.

What do you usually buy? For what purpose?

Well, I usually buy for myself, usually for a home project. I’ve bought a lot of cabinets and tooling from here. They usually help me complete a lot of the home projects I do. I do tons of projects around the house. I’ve accumulated a lot of junk.

What do you enjoy doing in your free time?

Free time? I don’t know what that is. I guess if I’m not spending my time at HGR, I’m probably working on one of my projects.

Thanks Don (and Larry) for being such valuable customers, we appreciate your business and look forward to seeing you on Wednesday!

(Courtesy of Guest Blogger Cynthia Vassaur, HGR’s call center manager)

The HGR Call Center in Austin, Texas, held its annual values award ceremony on Aug. 18. All employees took some time off the phones to enjoy a delicious Texas breakfast. The biscuits and gravy, bacon, and ham weren’t the only thing receiving a gold medal that morning.

Employees were nominated by their peers for upholding the company’s values for the past year. Of the 13 winners, five received one nomination, two received two nominations, two received three nominations and “The Dream Team” pictured in the photo received four or more nominations. The outstanding performer acknowledgement goes to Larry Edwards who was nominated seven times by his colleagues, the most nominations received in the entire company. Cleveland’s values ceremony was held on Aug. 3.

Additionally, each year an employee from the Austin office is selected based upon tenure, performance and other criteria to make the trip to Euclid. Levit Hernandez will head out on Sept. 14, check out the office, have dinner with the CEO, go out on buyer inspections with Buyer Mike Paoletto and, hopefully, have time to catch an Indians game or visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum.

You can read about HGR’s values here. What are your company’s core values?

You may come into HGR to shop for your personal or company needs and get help from a friendly salesman, Tom Tiedman, by day. But, by night, he transforms into Ace Frehley! Tiedman’s the lead guitarist for ALIVE, a local KISS cover band.

He’s been playing guitar since he was 9. He took lessons for two years but says that when the teacher wouldn’t teach him the songs that he wanted to learn, he quit lessons and went on his own. He started playing in bars at the age of 15 with his band “The Ruggles,” named after the ice cream. His brother, Ron Tiedman, one of HGR’s partners, had to take him to his first gig and get him into the bar, The Captains Quarters in Willoughby. That band played Motown and old classic rock.

The KISS band came together about 1.5 years ago and has played five gigs. To do something different, they didn’t dress up in full costumes and makeup. Instead, they painted half their faces with glow-in-the-dark makeup. If you saw them under normal lighting in the bar, they looked like regular guys. Then, when they went on stage and black lights came on, they appeared to begin transforming into the characters.

To learn the material, the band got together for rehearsals twice per week in the beginning then once per week to brush up. They mainly played in east side bars through word of mouth. Currently, it is on hiatus due a band member’s illness. In the meantime, Tiedman is working to start another neighborhood band with his neighbor who will be the lead singer. He wanted to play more of a variety of musical styles.

Tiedman says his favorite guitar is a Gibson Les Paul. When asked why music is so important to him, he says, “I’ve always liked music. It’s a way I can express myself. People say, “You’re different out there.” It’s the highest of highs being on stage with a good band and you guys are rocking. There’s not drugs or alcohol needed, nothing that can beat that feeling.”

Rock on! How many of you play in bands? Show us your band photos or your favorite guitar.

When I told my mother that I was heading over to the Euclid Beach Boy’s Event Center and Museum at the former Euclid Square Mall to take a tour and interview one of the two “Euclid Beach Boys” owners, she said, “Your Aunt Annie’s company, Richmond Brothers, had its company picnic there every year. The whole family would go all day, with dancing and a beauty contest into the night. Your Grandpa and I would ride the coaster and bug and wild rides. So would Aunt Annie. So many good memories.” I am sure many of you have similar stories.

On Sept. 28, 1969, this area treasure closed for good. Are you old enough to remember Euclid Beach Park? Or maybe you heard your parents or grandparents talking about it? It started out in 1895 as Cleveland’s version of Coney Island. Five investors opened the adult amusement park. It housed a few rides, a beer garden, a bathhouse, shows, concerts and gambling. In 1901, the Humphrey family took over and turned the park into a family-friendly amusement park without alcohol or circus sideshows.

Event Center and Museum Co-owner Joe Tomaro is passionate about the park and has many stories to share with visitors, including some great stories for animal lovers about adopting rescue horses and dogs. In addition to Euclid Beach Park memorabilia, he has some items from Geauga Lake, Chippewa Lake and Sea World. The facility is 9,000 square feet and houses only a portion of his 27,000-square-feet collection. He rents out the center, which can seat up to 300 people, for reunions, birthdays, fundraisers and association meetings. Tomaro also rents out the famous Rocket Ship Car that you can see driving down the streets. If you ever see it or take a ride in it, check out the steering wheel. It’s actually the wheel from a turret lathe that Tomaro got at HGR Industrial Surplus for $25.

(a rocket ship, then and now)

I asked him what his original connection was to Euclid Beach. He said that his uncle was a police officer there who would give the kids his ID. They would show it to the operators and ride the rides for free. He says, “It was our amusement park, and we had a personal attachment.” He explains how the Humphreys were trying to create a safe place that would get people through the rough times of WWI, WWII, The Great Depression and the Korean War. The park was free to get in and five cents per ticket to go on the rides. It was a cheap getaway where families could go dancing or picnic.

Now, the property is 1/3 apartments, 1/3 trailer park and 1/3 Cleveland Metropark. But you can still get a sense of why it was so well-loved at the museum. I got to see the creepy paper-mache animated doll Laughing Sal that stood at the entrance to the Surprise House since 1935. She looks like the mother of Chuckie. There’s a coaster car that was found in a Shaker Heights man’s backyard. The Euclid Beach Boys had the artisan band organ from the base of the rocket ship ride restored. It still plays a loud tune using paper cylinders, similar to a player piano. This item was rescued from an elderly lady’s garage and was full of mice and termites. The same lady had a huge collection of Euclid Beach Park memorabilia that the partners purchased after she passed away. She stipulated in her will that Tomaro have first dibs on the items. She knew they would remain in good hands. From her collection, you also can see the chair from the Flying Ponies Carousel.

How did Tomaro meet her? The way he meets a lot of people. While he still was running his towing business, he heard that she, who had been friends with his uncle, had Euclid Beach Park items. He walked up and knocked on her door. They became friends. She gave him his uncle’s nightstick. When the park closed, he had given it to her. She saved it all those years.

And, the best reason for visiting The Euclid Beach Boys Event Center and Museum? The original “Frozen Whip” custard. Tomaro says, “The Humphreys changed something in the recipe so that it was unique and you could only get that one-of-a-kind vanilla custard taste experience at their park.”

You can take a memorable trip back in time not only at The Euclid Beach Boys Event Center and Museum but also at the 12^th-annual, free “Remembering the Sights and Sounds of Euclid Beach Park” event on Sept. 25 from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Cleveland Metroparks Euclid Creek Reservation, 16301 Lake Shore Blvd., the site of the former Euclid Beach Park. This annual event is co-sponsored by The Euclid Beach Boys.

This summer, you heard regularly from our Sales & Marketing Intern Justin Mobilian in his guest blog “Thoughts from Justin.” Tomorrow is his last day before he heads back to college to wrap up his degree in December.

We wish him well in his studies and in his job search, and we thank him for the valuable contribution he made to the team. Anyone would be lucky to have this young man work for them!

Don’t be too sad, though. He was kind enough to write a couple of extra blog posts that we will be sharing after his departure. You have that to look forward to.

(Courtesy of Guest Blogger Liz Fox, marketing associate, MAGNET: The Manufacturing Advocacy & Growth Network)

In the not-so-distant past, there were times when much of the technology we embrace today was written off as science fiction. Smartwatches, tablets, and VR headsets are now part of everyday reality. The additive manufacturing sector is constantly buzzing with new ideas, products, techniques, and machinery that help improve and enhance businesses, as well as the general quality of life.

But what happens when 3D printing is literally taken to new heights?

Just ask Made In Space, a group of entrepreneurs, scientists, and developers who helped NASA launch the first 3D printer into space earlier this year.

“Manufacturing in space has been something that has been a given in science fiction since time immemorial,” says Made In Space President Andrew Rush in a recent interview with TCT Magazine. “By having a manufacturing facility stationed in space, we can save thousands of dollars and cut the time significantly.”

Founded in 2010, the company strives to “enable humanity’s future in space” by developing new technologies designed to operate in microgravity environments. AMF, an elaborate and permanent 3D printing system used on the International Space Station, already is making a splash with projected improvements in costs and lead times.

But why is it important to have a 3D printer in space?

According to NASA, it takes more than six months and costs roughly $10,000 to send a pound of payload into orbit. Many items also have to go through lengthy and expensive certification processes, which causes substantial problems if a crew member needs a tool or replacement part; however, Made In Space produced a total of 25 parts in a 28-hour period when an earlier model of its Zero-G 3D Printer was sent to the ISS in 2014.

“We proved that if things go awry on a mission, we can fix it with 3D printing,” Rush told TCT.

Made In Space’s recent successes form only a fraction of the company’s larger goal, which is to create technology capable of building complex structures – like satellites and space stations – prior to launching them into orbit.

Back on Earth, however, we constantly are looking for opportunities to bring this innovative technology to Northeast Ohio. During the last 25 years, MAGNET Engineer Dave Pierson has worked on projects for hundreds of manufacturers, many of which have seen substantial improvements after additive manufacturing was introduced to their business plans.

“Companies need to keep up with emerging technologies if they want to succeed,” Pierson says. “There are so many great things to learn about in additive, and we will see excellent results once these ideas are implemented on a more widespread basis.”

For updates on Made In Space and its ongoing projects, follow Andrew Rush (@rushspace) on Twitter.

MAGNET: The Manufacturing Advocacy and Growth is a part of Ohio MEP, part of the NIST-MEP program. For more than 30 years, MAGNET has offered a wide range of capabilities to manufacturers, which include product and process development, workforce initiatives, and lean/operations consulting. As part of the MEP system, MAGNET strives to help small and mid-size companies by improving revenue and job retention as well as driving manufacturing and economic development in Northeast Ohio. More information can be found at manufacturingsuccess.org.

Photo courtesy of AdditiveManufacturing.com.

On Aug. 3, all of HGR’s partners and its Euclid, Ohio, employees gathered before the doors opened for a breakfast meeting heaped with eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns, pancakes and praise for the 74 employees who were recognized for upholding the company’s values for the past year.

What are those values?

• Ethical in all of our business activities
• Support each other with openness, honesty, trust and respect while working as a team to achieve our common goals
• Accountable in making and fulfilling our commitments to each other, our customers and our community
• Create exceptional customer relationships by enhancing awareness and expectations of outstanding service with every interaction
• Personal dedication to continuous improvement in creating employee and company success

Employees were nominated by their peers. Of the 74 winners, 21 received one nomination, 17 two nominations, 21 three nominations and “The Dream Team” pictured in the photo received four or more nominations. Any employee who received 3 or more nominations in the past year was entered into a drawing for a trip to one of HGR’s offices. One Cleveland employee won a trip to Austin, Texas. This year, Mike Paoletto, buyer, won the trip, but in the spirit of working as a team, he said he had been to Austin multiple times and wanted to decline the award and donate it back so that another name could be pulled. Because of his generosity, Bryan Korecz, inbound logistics manager, was selected.

Brian Krueger, CEO, opened the meeting with a brief update on the state of the company and a history of the values program. After the other partners (Paul Betori, Ron Tiedman and Rick Affrica) presented Olympic-style medals to the honorees, Krueger unveiled the company’s new diversity statement and its new values program for the coming year.

Another celebration will be held in Austin to honor those who were nominated. Stay tuned for a photo of the Austin Dream Team.

Back in our April employee newsletter, we asked our employees to sign up to share HGR and industry news with their social media networks through a software social-media-sharing platform called Voicestorm. In return, the top five users each month in May, June and July each received a raffle entry to win an evening on the town worth up to $300. In addition, anyone who was in the Top 5 for all three months received an extra entry.

Our top users were: Megan Vollman, Cynthia Vassaur, Dax Taruc, Tina Dick, April Quintiliano, Steve Smith, Levit Hernandez and Angelo Runco.

The week of Aug. 8, Ed Kneitel, our trusty controller, drew a random name out of a coffee cup. Literally. And, the winner was Steve “Smitty” Smith. He won an overnight stay at Aloft Cleveland Downtown Hotel and two tickets to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Congrats, Smitty, and thanks for sharing our news with your networks!

If you’ve been reading my blog posts, you’re aware that I enjoy writing about science, and my experience here at HGR. Yeah, they’re interesting articles (in my opinion), but I want to address what YOU care about in my final blog as summer intern at HGR.

An article written by Scott Stone, marketing director for Cisco-Eagle, Inc., introduced to readers the challenges that the manufacturing industry faces for 2016: the manufacturing skills gap, Internet of Things, and robotics.

1) Manufacturing skills gap

With the retirement of the Baby Boomers by 2025, there are expected to be 2 million unfilled manufacturing jobs in the United States. Is that bad? Yeah, no doubt, but there’s reason to be optimistic.

As of today, there are about 80 million Millennials. These millennials bring potential to the table with regard to innovating new ways to get things done in the industry. According to a study done by two Accenture researchers, there’s a simple 4-step strategy that can be applied to the industry to develop talent:

1. Identify talent needs
2. Build a talent pipeline
3. Develop talent pool relationships
4. Reinvigorate talent development

2) Internet of Things (IoT)

The IoT revolves around machine-to-machine communication. By implementing the IoT to industrial machines, tasks and processes can be completed with ease and, ultimately, increase the efficiency of an organization.

As of today, more than 80 percent of machines already have IoT capability implemented in them; however, they’re not being used to their full extent. By formulating a strategy on why IoT is needed and the purpose for it, the opportunities for machines are endless and can serve as a major breaking point in the transformation of the manufacturing industry.

3) Automation & robotics

Robots aren’t a thing of the future anymore; they’re here, and they’re commonplace in industry. Robots work quick and smart, when programmed and applied properly, and you should be worried IF you’re not taking advantage of them.

Implementing robots in your business WILL reduce downtime and increase productivity and efficiencies. You’re probably thinking, “How can I afford a robot? They’re out of my budget.” Well, let me be the one to break the news: You can buy one for CHEAP that will quickly maximize your return-on-investment. At HGR, we have robots from several top manufacturers, including ABB, Fanuc, Kuka, Motoman and Denso.

Shifting off-topic about challenges, but another opportunity for this industry is for marketing graduates. In some circles, manufacturing has a “bad name” right now – college students aren’t attracted to it; what it needs is a fresh mindset. A way to shift from the old and into the new, a way to bring more attention to the industry. What better way to do that than to hire recent marketing graduates who want a challenging, yet rewarding, career?!

ATTN: Skilled laborers, marketing graduates, anyone interested in manufacturing

If you’re reading this, it’s not too late. In fact, it couldn’t be better timing. Yeah, the industry has some serious challenges ahead, but you have the perfect opportunity to be the change it needs.

Despite the risks and challenges the manufacturing industry faces, there’s always a silver lining, depending upon how you look at it. The skills gap, IoT, and robotics — they’re challenges, but with the right approach they can be what reinvigorates the industry. Think about it as if you were Johnny Manziel and the manufacturing industry was the Cleveland Browns. You have all this talent, and you’re bringing it to an industry that needs serious help. With the right approach, the industry can build and become what your dreams want it to be. Or, you can be like Manziel, and, yeah, no further comments.

One of my coworkers heard a customer telling one of our salespeople a story about how he was a customer when HGR first opened and how someone in his family used to work in the building prior to HGR taking over the space. She pointed him out to me. I walked over and introduced myself to get his story.

I found out Bob Zeitz was born in 1941. His father worked for Cleveland Pneumatic, the first tenant of HGR Industrial Surplus’ current building, which was built by the Defense Plant Corporation. Zeitz owned APR Tool, Willoughby, Ohio, until four years ago. Now, he’s retired, but his son owns businesses. He shops at HGR for his personal interest and for his son.

Here’s what he had to say:

My dad lived in Euclid and carpooled to Cleveland Pneumatic’s Cleveland plant until they built this facility on the vacant real estate to keep up with wartime production [of aircraft landing gear]. My dad applied for a transfer to be closer to home.

I still had a cabinet from 1946 when Cleveland Pneumatic shut down. My dad worked there. When the plant shut, he and my uncle came and bought tooling and equipment to start their own business. I just donated it to HGR. It’s the wooden cabinet on the Receiving dock with the War Production Board plaque.

When I went on a quest to find the cabinet and take a picture of it, it was missing. I panicked. This happens often at HGR – as soon as an item hits the floor, it’s sold. I checked around and was told that it was back in the scrap area. I panicked. Oh no, this part of history was going in the dumpster? I trekked back into the building on a quest, only to find it WAS in the scrap area – for storage.

One of HGR’s owners wanted to preserve this part of history. Once our new offices are built out this fall and furnished, the cabinet will be going in the new area. Whew! It may be a bit old and have taken its knocks, but it still has a useful life, just like lots of industrial surplus that comes through our showroom. Maybe it will become a coat closet for future generations at HGR.

Picture this: an old theater built in 1927 for Vaudeville acts that existed until 2008 but did not survive the Great Recession being redeveloped in nine months into a thriving media center, music and arts space, banquet center, storefronts and apartments. Now, make a wish and watch it come true due to the hard work of Brian A. Friedman, executive director, and his crew at Northeast Shores Development Corporation.

At the Aug. 9 groundbreaking ceremony, many instrumental dignitaries were in attendance, including Cleveland City Councilman, Ward 8, Michael Polensek; City of Cleveland Director of Economic Development Tracey Nichols; City of Cleveland Director of Community Development Michael Cosgrove; Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish and Cuyahoga County Councilman, District 10, Anthony Hairston. Additionally, representatives from the project’s financial backers (Cortland Banks, IFF, Village Capital Corporation and Cleveland Foundation) spoke onstage.

According to Friedman, “The county made the initial loan to put us into a position to proceed.” Due other investors, the development company was able to raise the funds, to the tune of $4.1 million, in order to preserve this historic theater for generations to come.

It will serve as the anchor to “Made in Collinwood’s” makers corridor, similar to how the Beachland Ballroom anchors Waterloo Arts, or the Capital Theater and Cleveland Public Theater serve as anchors for Gordon Square.

The most interesting part of the event was hearing from some of the future users of the new space. Chris Winters of Taste of Excellence will offer catering services. Jason and Danielle Tilk of Wizbang Pop-Up Theater and Cabaret will offer Vaudeville-style variety shows and a possible circus school. Former Euclid Mayor and current President of Villa Angela-St. Joseph High School Bill Cervenik announced that the school will use the theater for its Drama Department and productions.

Yes, Welcome to Collinwood! It’s on the rise again. And, soon, you will be entertained.

Recently, my mom was admitted to the hospital and diagnosed with a chronic condition. I have been having my own health challenges. And, my blue-collar dad who worked with machinery and equipment his entire life, a self-professed tinkerer, passed away last year. So, I was looking for a little healing and heard from a colleague at another Euclid business about a shrine in Euclid. I decided to go on my own pilgrimage around the corner from HGR’s office to 21281 Chardon Road, Euclid, Ohio.

When I showed up, people were arriving for a mass in the chapel to commemorate St. Anne’s Day, which happens to be my grandmother’s name, my mother’s middle name and my confirmation name!

The Sisters of the Most Holy Trinity run the shrine as a getaway from the “machinery” of everyday life for those looking for a spiritual retreat. The shrine is a replica of the Grotto in Lourdes, France, and has two stone chips taken from the stone on which Our Lady is said to have appeared in Lourdes with water from the Grotto flowing over the relics. You can drink from the fountain or take water with you. I bought a beautiful, inexpensive glass bottle in the gift shop to fill for my mother, and I drank from the fountain.

My trip was so interesting. I learned a lot, historically. And, you don’t have to be Catholic. There was a woman meditating with tuning forks on a bench as I walked through. Yes, you can light candles, walk the rosary hill or the Stations of the Cross in a wooded area just like in Lourdes, or go to mass, but it’s really about simplicity and getting a breath of fresh air and serenity, which almost everyone needs.

The dateline for history buffs:

• In 1198, John of Martha formed a community dedicated to The Trinity.
• In 1762, Teresa Cucchiari founded the female branch of the Trinitarian tradition.
• In 1858, the Virgin Mary is reported to have appeared to 14-year-old Bernadette 18 times in Lourdes, France, to ask her to pray for sinners.
• In 1920, Mother Teresa Franza brought the order to the U.S.
• In 1926, the shrine in Euclid was opened by the Good Shepherd Sisters.
• In 1952, the Sisters of the Most Holy Trinity took over the shrine’s operation.
• In 1956, the chapel was built with stained glass windows that tell the story of Our Lady of Lourdes.

The sisters say, “The shrine is an oasis of peace from the world.” As I walked the grounds, thrilled to see an entire area of milkweed planted for Monarch butterflies, I was reminded of my own office and how many people come to HGR daily to meditatively walk the rows of machinery and equipment looking for inspiration, laugh and chat with like-minded folks and grab a bite to eat at Wednesday’s free lunch in the customer lounge. We find an oasis where and when we can. And, sometimes, it’s the small daily blessings, including our livelihoods, the kindness of strangers or a finding a favorite place, for which we can be grateful.

It’s been long anticipated, and the time has finally come for one of Cleveland’s historic theaters to come alive once again. On Aug. 9, the LaSalle Arts & Media Center, 823 E. 185th St., Euclid, Ohio, will kick off construction with its official groundbreaking ceremony. The ceremony is by invitation only, but we’ll post another blog this week with a recap and photos. You don’t even have to leave your air conditioning to see it all!

While school is out for summer, the Euclid Art Association takes a break from its monthly meetings, too. But, behind the scenes the board is hard at work planning for future events. It meets every Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Euclid Art Gallery located on the second floor of the Euclid Historical Society and Museum, 21129 North St., Euclid, Ohio.

The association began in 1958 when five women, who were mostly art teachers, began meeting. The membership has grown to more than 90 members, many who come from all over Northeast Ohio. People have even come from Michigan and New Jersey to attend workshops.

I attended the June 28 board meeting then went to lunch with the group at Manhattan Deli in Willoughby. The group cares deeply about supporting one another and working together to share their artistic talents, as well as nurturing and developing the talent of others. Community starts among the membership, which is a diverse group of artists encompassing mostly two-dimensional fine art, such as photography, digital art, painting and drawing.

Some of the events the group sponsors include:

• Two to three juried art shows per year
• Hands-on workshops by renowned guest artists
• Monthly meetings where a guest artist demonstrates technique
• A membership table and demo at IngenuityFest
• An annual scholarship to a Euclid High School art student
• A monthly newsletter
• A Christmas party

Last year, the group sold 11 pieces of art at its spring show and nine pieces this year. That is remarkable for a small community art show.

President Lee Peters’ story of how he joined EAA is an interesting one. His mother took art classes from Marge, one of the founding members. When his mother passed away, Marge and Rose, another founding member, came to the funeral and recruited him to join the association as a member. He later became the association’s photographer, historian and, eventually, president.

Peters says, “I can’t even draw a stick figure to save my life; so, here I am, president of a flock of artists! I am totally in awe that someone can take a pencil or paintbrush and create a landscape or portrait of a person. To me this is truly a magical talent and Euclid Art members are extremely talented magicians.”

Monthly membership meetings resume on Monday, Sept. 12 and are open to the public. Come check one out to see if it’s for you. You can find membership information at www.euclidart.com.

(Courtesy of Guest Blogger Justin Mobilian, HGR’s sales & marketing summer intern)

Gone are the days where your dreams end when you wake from your slumber thanks to the 32-year-old billionaire, entrepreneur, philanthropist and creator of Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg is one step closer to providing the Internet to the entire world’s population. 7-billion people. Yes, you read that right; it’s not a typo. Zuckerberg started his legacy in his Harvard dorm room. Now, he’s close to providing Web access across the globe.

How is Zuckerberg’s plan possible? Aquila. What? The billionaire and his team spent more than one year designing and building Aquila, a solar-powered drone. The drone was tested for the first time just a few weeks ago, with Zuckerberg making a surprise appearance. When he arrived, he said his team was very nervous, but they appeared calm and ready.

Facebook hopes that Aquila eventually will lead a fleet of identical drones with the ability to provide Internet access globally. But, how? The drones supposedly will beam signals down to cellular towers, which from there will be converted to Wi-Fi or LTE signals. The current model has a wingspan of a Boeing-737, yet only weighs about 1,000 pounds. Facebook is planning to test more flights in the next six months, but it’ll be years before you see multiple drones flying above you.

World-wide Internet access. Too good to be true? I’ll never have to worry about being Wi-Fi-less again. Unlimited Snapchats, Twitter posts, Instagram posts, the list goes on! In all seriousness though (although I was serious about that), what does this mean for the future?

As of right now, 10 percent of the world’s population lives in areas that are unable to connect to the Internet. With the advanced infrastructure provided by the drones, rural areas that are unable to connect to the Web will be able to. Aside from the next era of Facebook’s services that will come about as a result of the drones, Zuckerberg says in Casey Newton’s article Facebook Takes Flight, “For Facebook, Aquila is more than a proof of concept. It’s a linchpin of the company’s plan to bring the Internet to all 7 billion people on Earth, regardless of their income or where they live. Doing so will lift millions of people out of poverty, improving education and health globally along the way.”

What a time to be alive. What are your thoughts on these drones? Do you think they’ll be a success? Leave a comment, let’s chat.

Many of us have flown in an airplane or had an MRI. Little did we know that many of the parts on planes and in medical equipment are sandblasted, washed, primed, painted, coated and sealed in Euclid, Ohio, at Painting Technology, Inc., 21641 Tungsten Road. The business passed to President Mary Lou Ambrose in 1990 as part of a divorce settlement. It still is owned by her and will pass to her daughter, Vice President Denise DeGaetano.

This high-tech painting and coating company doesn’t do houses or walls; it gets contracts to do job-shop work for companies like Aero Fluid Products in Painesville and AeroControlex in South Euclid that are suppliers to manufacturers such as Boeing. The company may do an order of one part up to thousands of parts in a batch, depending on the size, process and timing requirements. Some of the parts it has painted include lamps for Kichler Lighting, ceiling grids in classrooms, parts in MRI machines and in U.S. Marine Corps tanks, the plastic air-nozzle vents above passenger seats in airplanes, bulletproof Apache and Blackhawk helicopter seats, components in tracking missiles, cockpit control-panel knobs, airplane landing gear in the Boeing 737, and the door-locking mechanism on the plane door that the flight attendant closes after you have boarded.

Painting Technology started in 1984, at which time Ambrose was half owner. The company located in Euclid to be in close proximity to Austin Hunt Corp., formerly located on Tungsten Road, which owned the other half of Painting Technology. In 1990, when Ambrose took over the company, she bought the building and kept all the paint technicians who had come to work there after her customer Picker X-Ray Corp. closed its paint shop. At the time, most of Painting Technology’s work was for the medical industry.

Now, Painting Technology has eight employees, is ISO 9100 and NADCAP certified, and works primarily in the aerospace industry. She says it costs about $20,000 per year to maintain these certifications. With a conveyorized drying rack, four paint booths and two drying ovens, the company handles the final coating process of the parts before they are installed. As Ambrose says, “It’s a process, not a paint.”

She is looking to get work from companies who make ISO and NADCAP parts. She says, “It’s a niche market. Not many in this area are certified to do this process, and we get lots of out-of-state business. Some companies do their own work, but if they don’t have their own painting facility they send it to a job shop like ours rather than to a competitor.” The company buys its coatings from companies, such as PPG or Creative Coatings.

When asked about the types of jobs for which she hires and her challenges in hiring a skilled workforce, she explains, “They used to train kids in schools’ shop classes to paint cars and handle coatings, but it’s hard to find employees now. They need a knowledge of spray guns and systems. We can’t just hire a house painter. We’ve tried to hire young people with no experience but they aren’t interested. Everyone is on computers today, but we need process people. We even went to Veteran’s Affairs looking for people with military experience. If we hire off the street, it’s a three- to five-year process to learn this job before you can be left on your own.”

Eight years ago, Painting Technology became an MBE (minority business enterprise) and WBE (women business enterprise). In early 2015, it installed a new $50,000 compressor system. Ambrose says that maintaining and upgrading equipment is integral for the company to maintain on-time delivery and quality with few rejections. She says, “This is how we have kept the same customers since 1990 and do 99.9 percent of their coating work.”

Jennifer Klide has been living in Cleveland and working in the art, costuming and production departments on film sets here for the past 10 years. She says finding the right items for the film is tough in a city without a lot of film-industry resources, and she has had to beg, borrow and steal props for her set designs. She regularly uses HGR Industrial Surplus to find items she needs, especially larger pieces of equipment. She has been to competitors’ showrooms but says, “They aren’t as organized, don’t have as large of a selection, and usually carry smaller pieces-parts.” Sometimes, she has leased a piece of equipment for a shoot and says, “HGR has been super helpful to us.”

Klide explains that when a movie is being made, usually what happens is an out-of-town entity comes into the area to form an LLC and temporary production company, then it hires talent to fill positions, sometimes locally and sometimes from big cities, such as Los Angeles or New York.

She has some friends who are working on the next in the “Fast & Furious” franchise, “Fast 8,” starring Vin Diesel, started filming in Cleveland in mid-May. Recently, Klide began working on building and setting up a shed and lab for a 1970s-era film based on local artist John Backderf’s graphic novel My Friend Dahmer, which explores the serial killer’s troubled high school years. Filming will begin in Cleveland this summer.

After her films are finished being shot or reshot, she says the production company tries to resell the items at a fire sale, but often does not have the time. She does not like to junk items that have life left in them; so, sometimes, she gives them back to the company where she bought them or gives them to people or companies that can make use of them in order to keep them out of the landfill.

Ron Tiedman, chief operations production officer at HGR Industrial Surplus and 1985 Ashland University graduate, was appointed in February to the board of the Gridiron Club at Ashland University. While at Ashland, Tiedman played football, baseball and lacrosse. His oldest daughter, Julia, is a 2013 Ashland grad, and his youngest daughter starts there this fall.

The club, comprised of past or present Ashland University football players, raises funds through game-day raffles, memberships and donations in support of the football program, including a $25-million stadium and new locker rooms. Board members meet on the second Tuesday of each month and work every Saturday at the football games.

According to Tiedman, “I wanted to give back because the school was good to me and helped me be who I am. Being in Ashland regularly also will allow me to help my daughter with her college experience.”

Located in the former 1894 Euclid Township High School at 21129 North Avenue, the Euclid Historical Society and Museum opened in 1984 when the historical society, founded in 1959, relocated from the Henn Mansion to its current site. It contains room after room of treasures that take you back in time to The Victorian Era and even earlier, a time when inventions were revolutionizing industry and society.

John Williams, society president since 2000, and Diane, a volunteer, led me around the place with pride. Williams is even the author of the 2003 book A History of the City of Euclid. He is a resident expert since 1951, storyteller and joke cracker. I had a smile on my face the entire time.

This is the kind of place you could go back to over and over and see something new that you missed before each time. Some of the many unique items include:

• Jewelry and accessories (spectacles, shoes, hats, purses, pipes, etc.)
• Household appliances (ice boxes, washing machine, butter churn, manual vacuum and sweeper, gas oven, washer wringer machine, crank and candlestick phones, spinning wheel)
• Dishes and china
• Military uniforms and medals
• Toys and dolls
• Musical instruments (organ, hammered dulcimer)
• Photos
• Furniture
• Clothing
• Technology and inventions (Charles Brush’s arc light, a dynamo, a motorman’s cab and stool from a street car, a streetlight, medical instruments, 19^th-century tools, a graphotype for making dog tags and metal credit cards, light bulbs, phonograph, radio, clocks, stereoscope)
• Book archives on Euclid, Cleveland, Ohio and The United States
• Art
• History and pamphlets (e.g., on John Crosier who settled Euclid Township in 1815)

For me, one of the most fascinating exhibits was Dr. Cunningham’s 1928 Steel Ball Hospital that stood seven stories and had 28 suites. It was commissioned by Henry Timken at a cost of $1 million. Its premise was using air compressors to force in high-pressure oxygen to treat and cure diabetes, emphysema and lung cancer. This was the original bariatric (hyperbaric) chamber. It was used by Cunningham until 1934 then by James Rand as a research institute then as a hospital for a year. It was sold for scrap during World War II.

So, if you need a dose of local history, a walk back in time, or even just a laugh, stop by and pay Williams a visit. You won’t regret it. The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. While you are in the area, visit the nearby Cleveland-Style Polka Hall of Fame or stop in to HGR Industrial Surplus for a tool, equipment, supply and machinery wonderland. You never know what you will find here, either.