Tag: senior

15 Years – Comfort Crisis or Continued Challenge?

Published on by Brian FarnoLeave a comment

According to the Department of Labor, the average tenure for an employee in manufacturing is currently at 4.9 years. This number has consistently declined since 2014 as seen in the image below. This is not new information. I still remember when I was interviewing at EXAIR, the next tenure Application Engineer had been here for 12 years. That was in 2010. That made me believe that EXAIR treats its employees well and that people are happy to stay. I was drawn to this because I came from a family where my parents both worked for the same Steel Mill for over 35 years. Seeing a company that had an average tenure in the department I was going to join, sitting at 15 years, was at the top of my list.

1 – Median Employee Tenure Within Industries

At the same time, I was leaving a job I had been in for 5 years and was still learning consistently, just the economy was dropping out, and the industry was struggling. Would I be happy working in an office with this crew? I wasn’t afraid of being a young person and not knowing anything, I was confident I could learn. Well, flash forward through several years of constant learning, and now I am the most experienced Application Engineer. We have had some retirements and then lots of promotions leading up to this point. The one constant has been that I have always had new products, processes, or aspects of EXAIR and the compressed air industry to learn.

I mentioned the comfort crisis in the title because a lot of people I talk to ask me if I stay at EXAIR because I am comfortable. In all honesty, there has been a constant source of growth since I started. Whether it be our continuous product expansions forcing me to learn new materials. Obtaining my MBA from NKU to better understand the business side of EXAIR over the technical side of our products. Taking on different roles or contributing to new processes. Even up to the latest partnership with BETE Fog Nozzles, nowhere in the 15 years has there been a full month of pure comfort.

No one knows where the future will take us. All I can say is that I have been very blessed to make it this far and the future is looking even more exciting than the past. So tune in and stay with me, no matter where you go, let’s see where this ride goes.

Brian Farno, MBA – CCASS
National Business Development Manager

BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF

1 – Median Employee Tenure Within Industries – US Bureau of Labor Statistics – Retrieved from https://www.bls.gov/news.release/tenure.t05.htm

The Value of Going Back to Where it All Began

Published on by Brian FarnoLeave a comment

This past week I was able to take part in one of the many incentives EXAIR offers to all of our team members, a volunteer day. EXAIR gives each employee the choice to go out into our community and choose an organization they connect with to volunteer for either a single 8-hour day or two 4-hour shifts. The past couple of years, I have reconnected with the director of the Mechanical Engineering Technology department at the University of Cincinnati where I received an undergraduate degree from to find out how I can get involved with the program and help the department that gave me the knowledge and understanding I use in my career. Much to my surprise, the first thing that came to mind for him was to be a judge at the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences Senior Tech Expo. This expo is where each student will showcase their Senior Design Project which they must complete in order to graduate. The judges are all alumni of their given programs and the students can elect to have their project be judged for various prizes that are donated by local companies and alumni. This was my third year judging for the MET department and there have been several of us that have networked and really get reminded of exactly where we were when we graduated and the amount of experience we lacked at the time.

There were 11 projects total in the MET discipline that were elected to be judged this year. We had 12 judges show up, so we broke into 4 teams. Three teams judged three projects while the remaining judged two larger scale projects. We judge the individuals/teams on different criteria like, communication skills, technical knowledge, presentation, complexity, marketability, and innovation. The projects my team evaluated were a hybrid system that would bolt onto an early 2000s Nissan Frontier and increase the vehicles’ efficiency, a team from the UC Battle Robotics Club, and a company-backed project to increase efficiency on vegetation mitigation equipment to better sustain power within the new equipment designs.

Each of these projects had great goals, highs, lows, oversights, learning points, and yet it was very great to see how truly vested each of these students had become in this project. They knew their subject inside and out and even when they had a pitfall come. This did not derail them, this took me back to when the team I was part of built a Basic Utility Vehicle as our project. We competed in a national competition with a vehicle which was fully funded by sponsorship we obtained and poured hours upon hours of work and sweat into it. The drivetrain which I designed did experience two different failures during our competition. Rather than loading up and taking a loss, we pushed through as a team, we made a new chain tensioner with parts from a hardware store, and found a judge with a welder nearby which permitted us to weld a broken attachment point back on. Ultimately, we took second place. A team of 4 students was only beaten by a team of 12 from Wisconsin. The experience I learned in that process and time during the competition truly taught me that if you are passionate about something you will make it happen. That’s the same level of passion I saw in each of the students that I interviewed during the judging cycle.

In the end, it really builds one of my favorite sayings, “You can’t teach experience.” Each of these students has experienced a lot, and yet they still have so much to learn. Without the volunteer program here at EXAIR, I may not have gotten to go back to my alma mater and participate as a judge for the Tech Expo. That’s an experience I have gained a lot from. Mainly, instead of asking judgmental questions, ask curiously. This often means asking open-ended questions that aren’t so pointed. This generally brings out more reasoning and explanation than one could expect and leads to a more comfortable discussion. These students all helped me to see that, and it let their passions shine straight through. Once the interviews were done, all the judges came together and dispersed $12,000 in prizes for various awards to these 11 projects within the Mechanical Engineering Technology Department. The passion I had for learning and projects still lives to this day. I still keep a list of ideas for EXAIR products that I am saving for rainy days or for the right time to test.

If you have a problem you can’t get past, need a curious question answered or need someone to share in your passion that involves industrial compressed air, moving, cleaning, cooling, coating, eliminating static, spraying, or conserving a resource, share it with us, we’ll be genuinely curious.

Brian Farno, MBA – CCASS
National Business Development Manager

BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF

Built to Last

Published on by Brian FarnoLeave a comment

The past few months many of our lives have been altered in some fashion due to COVID-19. Personally, my three daughters began staying home full time and attending school through distance learning.  I myself switched to working some alternate shifts which EXAIR changed to in order to optimize our availability to our customer base as well as protect our team members effectively. I know many in manufacturing that have been furloughed. Even worse, some have been forced to work in unsafe conditions.

All of this has made me thankful I am part of a team that cares about our employees first, and then we all work towards ensuring our customers are taken care of. Our new shift structure has also given me time to reflect on many aspects of my life.

When I was younger, like many kids, I always wanted something I received to be new. I didn’t want an older hand me down bicycle, I wanted new.  Little did I know I would reach a point in life where I prefer things to be a little older, a little more seasoned, even broken-in if you will.  The days are here where disposable is what everyone expects whenever they purchase anything. Repairable is often a thing of the past and or requires specialty tools and or software.  I’ve been recently working on lots of small engines from friends and family members yard equipment and recreational vehicles.

I’ve worked on a 1970’s era Stihl chainsaw that the only safety is the weight of the saw and an on/off toggle switch, up to an imported 4 wheeler that instead of buying a single piece or carburetor kit, most people throw them away and buy new.  Something about the older equipment makes me think I was born in the wrong era. The time of working hard for what you make and taking pride in products lasting a lifetime is often gone from consumer-grade products.  When carburetors are riveted together to make them faster and cheaper to assemble, but also not easily repairable, the chance of someone repairing it 40 years from now diminishes.

It could be that I am closer to 40 than I am to 30, however, I find that being able to source parts direct from a manufacturer as well as being able to get support direct from the manufacturer is something I desire. This could also be because this is how we do business at EXAIR. Our compressed air products all carry a 5 year Built to Last Warranty, we service them, sell replacement parts for them and take pride in their ability to last.

There are few items that I am okay with going a cheap route on, spare screwdrivers, you know the ones you use as pry bars and oil filter punches, and anything I know I am only going to use once and I am okay if it breaks as long as it is worth a laugh.  When I went to repair a weed eater for a neighbor I found the engine casing was plastic, there was barely anything to the motor and the lack of maintenance on his part as well as the ethanol in the fuel with lack of stabilizer had gummed up the entire fuel system.

This was a disposable weed eater and he admitted it wasn’t cheap but he also knew it wasn’t a big brand name. Experiencing this, made me laugh.  I went to my older weed eater that has seen many days. It was bought used at an auction. I gladly started it up for him and offered to loan it out whenever he needed. That weed eater was built to withstand its use. Parts are readily available and it is so popular there are many of the parts reproduced through third party factories pretending to be the company.

Next up on my project list may be the biggest project yet, a tiller that is far older than I am. This again has been brought on by the want for a healthy garden and the ability to also help neighbors and friends when they are ready for their gardens.  Rather than looking new, I started at the old, something I knew was built for hard work, and was ready for the task.  I doubt there is a single piece of aluminum on this thing, it has probably seen more sweat throughout its years than I have in my lifetime.  First, the research though.  Parts, service manuals, and then the negotiation of the purchase. (Both with my wife, and the seller. Separately of course.)

Here at EXAIR, we can get nostalgic over some of our products and processes as well. At the same time, we continuously flex and work with the matters a hand. If you have an old product of ours that you think may not be worthy of use, give us a call. With a few pictures and some information, our team of Application Engineers should be able to help determine if it is in good working order or not.  If we cannot determine from pictures, we can always receive the unit in and inspect it for you. In the event it is not in working condition, we more often than not can refurbish the unit and have you back up and running within a few days.  Our Super Air Knives are a product that often gets overlooked when they get covered in debris from a process. We can inspect them, clean them, and often restore them to flowing like a brand new knife.

Brian Farno
Aging Application Engineer
BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF