Is it time to finally put the spotlight on manufacturing?
Traditionally, manufacturing has been a world people outside the industry don’t hear much about. It’s not seen as a flashy industry. People aren’t making TV shows and Hollywood movies about it.
Manufacturing has been a bit behind when it comes to marketing, social media, and industry influencers. But things are starting to change. Tony Gunn, General Manager at MTDCNC Global, is on a mission to tackle this. He aims to help manufacturing get the voice and platform that it deserves.
In this episode of Manufacturing Happy Hour, Tony shares his best advice around promotion and some tips for getting ahead on LinkedIn. He explains why manufacturers need a way to show their authentic selves online.
Tony also talks about the work he’s doing to help encourage schoolchildren to consider manufacturing as a career path. He believes this is essential to tackle the growing skills gap.
Subscribe
Apple | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | YouTube
3 Quick Things from this Episode
- You can come across manufacturing as a career path by accident and work your way up if you’re open to learning as much as possible.
- Manufacturing has rarely been in the spotlight in the same way as other career paths. There’s been a hesitancy to promote the industry online, but people like Tony are trying to change that.
- Encouraging underrepresented people and children to consider manufacturing as a career path can help close the skills gap.
Enjoying the show? Please leave us a review here. Even one sentence helps. It’s feedback from Manufacturing All-Stars like you that keeps us going!
Tweetable Quotes
- “If you are a company that’s just getting into it and you want to brand yourself, go to Google, go to Instagram, put in the hashtag that you think is going to be the hashtag that you want for your company.”
- “We’re not great at understanding how to utilize our voice on a global scale that gets echoed on places like social media, because many manufacturing and engineering, when it comes to the world of marketing is not like movies and TV shows and fashion and that industry.”
- “We’re inspiring women to join us in a male-dominated industry.”
Please Scroll Down for Recommended Resources from this Episode
Do you want to connect with other leaders that are moving the needle in manufacturing everyday? Then make sure to join us in the Manufacturing Happy Hour Industry Community on LinkedIn.
GenAlpha equips manufacturers, distributors, and dealers with the products and services they need to accelerate profits online. If you are an equipment manufacturer or distributor and your customers struggle to identify the right parts for the job, GenAlpha can help. You can learn all about GenAlpha on Episode 34.
Interested in generating leads through videos, podcasts, or other digital content? Then make sure to check out our 6 Strategies for Growing Your Manufacturing Business Using Social Media.
What We Discuss with Tony
- How Tony first came across manufacturing
- Why Tony’s mission is to put the spotlight on manufacturing
- The top tips for social media and content creation in manufacturing
- Why manufacturers struggle to show their authenticity online
- How promoting manufacturing to kids can help close the skills gap
Recommended Resources
- MTDCNC, a successful one-of-a-kind marketing specialist covering multiple sectors of the engineering industry.
- The Gunn Show, MTD’s new podcast, hosted by Tony Gunn
Hi Chris,
I listened to your recent episode where you sat down with Tony Gunn to voice more about engineering and manufacturing. I personally really like the work you do, and so as the company I work for, Star Rapid.
We were originally founded in 2009 by British engineering veteran Gordon Styles after he relocated to China. While we have made some success in providing low volume manufacturing
I tried to contact you last year, but I think somehow my email got buried in the ocean. It would be great if we can explore the possibility of Gordon being a part of your upcoming podcast.
In the past 2 years, we have been quite active on Youtube and LinkedIn trying to spread knowledge and engineering love for the product developer and mechanical engineers community, our Youtube series is pretty much like your style, it’s called Serious Engineering which is well balanced with in-depth technical information and laughy jokes.
We’d like to share our experience with international sales and marketing, AI & smart factory, continuous Kaisen improvement, 6S management, a mixture of western management, consultants, and Chinese workers, and how we built and grew the company from the scratches. We have much to say which fundamentally makes us competitive to some world-class providers such as Protolabs and Xoemtry and distinguishes us from other local Chinese shops.
I’m looking forward to hearing from you.
Cheers!
Francis