It started with a muffin shop in a crumbling building in downtown Akron. It grew into a national custom bakery supplier serving chains like McDonald’s. Harvey Nelson is the co-founder of Main Street Gourmet, a manufacturing entrepreneur who’s reinvented his company more than once—including buying it back after a venture capital sale went sideways.

On today’s episode, Ethan and Harvey talk about creative grit, betting on people, and the leadership philosophy that helped grow a startup bakery into a multimillion-dollar powerhouse.

Send comments and ideas to ekarp@manufacturingsuccess.org.

Make It is brought to you by MAGNET: The Manufacturing Advocacy and Growth Network, a nonprofit consulting group on a mission to make manufacturing better. Since 1984, MAGNET has been proudly helping manufacturers in Northeast Ohio grow with effective workforce programs, advanced technology consulting, and innovation services. MAGNET also catalyzes bigger change by rallying companies, community leaders, governments, and educators to tackle the massive, systemic problems that hold the region back. MAGNET’s work is made possible by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP), and the Ohio MEP.
Learn more: www.manufacturingsuccess.org

Today’s guest is Frank “Sully” Sullivan—CEO of DayGlo Color Corp, the Cleveland company that invented fluorescent color.

Ethan and Sully talk about what it’s like to lead a company where most of the workforce is older than you are, how radical transparency helps rebuild trust, and why sometimes the best operations fix is to simply “turn the dials up to 11.” They also talk about the future of Industry 4.0, what makes Northeast Ohio competitive, and what’s on the horizon for manufacturing.

Send comments and ideas to ekarp@manufacturingsuccess.org.

Make It is brought to you by MAGNET: The Manufacturing Advocacy and Growth Network, a nonprofit consulting group on a mission to make manufacturing better. Since 1984, MAGNET has been proudly helping manufacturers in Northeast Ohio grow with effective workforce programs, advanced technology consulting, and innovation services. MAGNET also catalyzes bigger change by rallying companies, community leaders, governments, and educators to tackle the massive, systemic problems that hold the region back.

MAGNET’s work is made possible by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP), and the Ohio MEP.

Learn more: www.manufacturingsuccess.org

Today’s guest has had one dream since joining manufacturing as a teenager—to own a factory. After two decades, that dream is finally within reach. Miguel Lugo is Chief Operating Officer at E.C. Kitzel & Sons, a family-owned tool manufacturer in Parma, Ohio, and he’s set to take over the business. They talk about how manufacturing changed Miguel’s life, the million-dollar machines reshaping the shop floor, and how he’s built a workforce that’s 50 percent women.

Send comments and ideas to ekarp@manufacturingsuccess.org.

Make It is brought to you by MAGNET: The Manufacturing Advocacy and Growth Network, a nonprofit consulting group on a mission to make manufacturing better. Since 1984, MAGNET has been proudly helping manufacturers in Northeast Ohio grow with effective workforce programs, advanced technology consulting, and innovation services. MAGNET also catalyzes bigger change by rallying companies, community leaders, governments, and educators to tackle the massive, systemic problems that hold the region back. MAGNET’s work is made possible by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP), and the Ohio MEP.

Learn more: www.manufacturingsuccess.org