When my father passed away four years ago, that was obviously the huge change here.
I think everybody was pretty determined to keep this going, just in his memory.
I assured everybody as long as there's work on the floor, there will be jobs here.
If we succeed, great. If we fail, its my fault and its a lot to weigh on your mind when things aren't going right.
My name's Tim ODonnell. I'm from Cranberry Township, PA. I'm President of Ashby Manufacturing.
It was very difficult to find work. Everything dried up. It just like a spigot, got turned off and that was it.
I remember my father used to tell everybody to prepare for the future and invest in new technology.
A salesperson came in from Xometry and said, "you gotta try this website for finding work."
It took about 20 minutes to sign up. We were doing our first job about a week later.
If you go to any major city, you'll find mom and pop machine shops everywhere, but nobody knows they're there.
So we thought, "hey the power of the internet or connecting buyers and sellers everywhere else,
could we use that same power to connect buyers and sellers in manufacturing?"
And that was really the genesis behind the idea of Xometry.
When I met Tim, it was a small manufacturing company. Over the years they've struggled, but Xometry has really
helped Ashby expand into different regions within the United States.
Me as a small company in Western Pennsylvania, I couldn't really call up and ask them and say, "I'd like to do
some work for you." Xometry presents that work. Its changed our customer base in such a way that we're
afforded to do work for people that normally we'd have to spend years to get as a customer.
I know that American companies want to keep jobs here. They just don't how to find the best solution.
They've gotta find a way for their voice to be heard. Shout from the rooftop. In this case the rooftop can be
the internet. It can be social media. Embrace those, those will grow your business.
The instant quoting process on Xometry's website is one that is unsurpassed.
The ease of being able to upload a part and instantly know what its going to cost me is phenomenal.
I think with Xometry you can prove yourself. If you do quality work, you can build a good reputation with your customers.
Ashby Manufacturing is a terrific partner for Xometry. They were one of our earlier adopters.
We know when we give a job to Tim and Kevin, they're gonna get it right.
If you went to our manufacturing partners, one of their biggest problems is getting enough skilled labor.
Technology, which ironically people sometimes fear, in this case can be our ally.
By adding more machines, you eventually may need more employees.
Now to do things that now have been automated but more employees to do higher value tasks,
where you can actually make more money.
Robots are doing the tasks that humans don't want to do. Being able to oversee a robot, being able to know
how to maintain it, is gonna be really what drives the factory work for the future.
I'm not worried too much about technology replacing humans. Everyone can buy the same machine.
The difference is, we've had people who've worked here for 30, 40 years and that experience its just invaluable.
Tim is motivated by his employees. He wants to make sure that everybody is making a good living.
That they're happy doing their job.
I am proud of Tim. He's taking on more of the leadership role, when my father passed.
I think he would be proud of us, the way we have sorted evolved with the times. And how we've been able to get more work.
I often think that if my dad were to walk in the door right now, he'd understand that this is the direction
that engineering and manufacturing is going.
So we might as well adopt it and get ahead of it the competition.
It shouldn't be an embarrassment when somebody goes to school and learns to be a machinist.
We gotta change our mindset here. That's not trivial. When you're in your airplane, flying somewhere.
When you're driving your car. When you're getting a medical device implanted in you.
Understand that somebody manufactured that. And you better hope that person did it right.
At the end of the day, to take something that was a hunk of metal and make something useful out of it,
something that I can hold in my hand and say, "I made this." Thats what I think the biggest thing everybody here enjoys.
Its just being able to say, "I have made this and I have contributed this to society."