Piranha Jaws | CAD/CAM Pros & Cons with Al DePoalo
Welcome to inbox nation. This is episode number 11 on today’s episode. We’re going to be talking about a little bit of CAD, a little bit of cam the pros and cons the pricing and how to pick the best system for your piranha jaws shop. Get ready. It’s going to be a good one. Welcome to the yes. Yes, yes,
Yes. And yes. On today’s podcast, we have actually two very special guests. One is sitting right next to me. He is, he has been with me for about 13 years. He’s my mill manager, my left-handed brother from another mother with a beard. His name is what’s up. This is Jeremy Jeremy. I call him Jay straight, J straight J well, people in high school did not call him Jay gay. They called him Jay straight. Um, and then on Jeremy, if you would, if you would just cue this up here with the Chicago bulls theme song
Here on today’s podcast, we have a very special guest. I know I say this about everyone this time. I mean, it just a little bit more. We have the most intelligent, my bearded brother of mine, master of CAD cam. He’s very good with his fingers, the voice behind Bobcat after dark ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the show out. DePaulo. Woo.
Did you
Like that intro? Did you feel like you’re about to come
Out into the Chicago bulls arena and start Duncan?
You know, I felt that, but, uh, what really would have gotten me if, if there was like a, you know, like an old after dark piranha jaws video intro, it would have been like, all right, you guys, you got me, but, uh, yeah. Good, good intro. Thanks.
Well, I w I really, if I would’ve had more time today, you know, we run a job shop and product shop too. So I was really wanting to take a clip from your after dark video in play that, that really sexy guitar video, you know, sound, but I ran out of time, but if everybody would just searched Bobcat after dark, you can go have the, uh, the privilege of listening to that music.
Oh yeah. Like a nice version, 22 or 23 video would be great.
Right. So, so I, I told Jeremy today to, Hey, uh, this is Al go look up some of his videos and some of his after dark stuff, because I used to learn a lot from all the videos you guys to do. And he said, he said, I can’t find any more videos. I don’t know if they’re still doing them or not. Are you guys still doing those after dark videos or not?
I haven’t, I, I try to start up the, the after dark series, but it’s, uh, it’s been tough. You know, there was like a, uh, uh, a formula that happened or like the way the company was structured that allowed to create daily videos based off a common questions that I got every day and, uh, that fed after dark for years and years. But, uh, with some of the transitions in the company and my roles in the company, um, you know, I started to have to do videos for the main YouTube channel. And then also the other thing that happened is, uh, Facebook and Facebook groups really kind of had a commanding force and you could do lives. So, uh, maybe they’ll continue. I just, uh, I’ve had a hard time. I’ll like do a video every once in a while, and I’ll be like, I’m going to start a new series and I’ll do one of them.
And then, uh, I just don’t get back to it. But, uh, if you, if you’re looking for after dark videos, really the most popular place for them, or where I’m most consistently posting is in the, uh, the Bobcat after dark Facebook group, which you can find me on Facebook, if you just search, uh, Bobcat after dark and Facebook group, it’ll pop up, uh, it is a private group. Uh, so, uh, I don’t know, you have to say yes or you’ll be friendly or something like that. But other than that, I be there and there’s tons of videos on the current song.
So you haven’t seen one, sorry to cut you off. Sorry, go ahead. Um, what did the after dark, was it consist of what are these videos of,
Uh, their, how to videos, CAD cam, how to, you know, like if, if you’re a job shop manufacturer and you’re around these CNC machines, you’re going to be around CAD cam at some point, you know, especially today, maybe 10, 20 years ago, it might’ve been a little bit different. Maybe they’re, you know, more onboard or hand programming, but nowadays everybody’s using CAD cam. So, you know, uh, shops are looking for answers on how to do stuff. It could be anything from, you know, piranha jaws, how to open a file or how to change, uh, where a menu is located or how to select something or set your UCS or whatever it is the list goes on and on for CAD cam. And, uh, those videos were short, shorter, concise videos about a topic. So you could search a certain keyword, like chain select, or, you know, open pocket or certain things. And, uh, watch a three to five minute video to explain the workflow and usually catch me making mistakes and having to figure it out. And, uh, you know, but either way, just content about Bobcat and CAD cam in general or processes, uh, for importing, editing, drawing, and machining parts.
Nice. So I, I, whenever, whenever I used to watch those videos, cause we’ve been with you since, uh, Bobcat V2 version 22, um, I always thought that you guys had the three yeses, the short, the sweet and the sexy [inaudible],
You know, I would, I would agree with that. Well, I mean, I guess it depends, you know, like, um, when I think about all the CAD cam systems I’ve heard about seen demoed or, you know, to customers that have run, there’s a lot of systems out there. There really are, uh, more, more than I know of for sure, especially in the European market, but in the U S market over the last 20 years, or, you know, whatever, since the late nineties, since I’ve been in the market, uh, there’s probably 20 or 30 different vendors that I’ve seen on a regular basis. And, uh, short, sweet and simple is, is good. And I think Bobcat for a long time really fit into that spot, you know, quick and dirty. Get in, get out, you do what you gotta do.
Hey, wait, wait, wait. First of all, I just got to cut you off real quick. You said the, you said three yeses, you said short, sweet and simple. But now I realize it’s four SS short, sweet, simple, and sexy. And you said, get in and get out Jeremy. That, that is so, Hey Lee, Hey, listen, we’ve been with you guys since version 22. Now you’re on version 33. How, how long have you been with Bobcat? Did you ever see what version one looked like? Was there a version one that it wasn’t called? Like [inaudible]
I think it was version zero. Oh, really? Uh, it’s the dos version, right? So, and that’s going to be like Bobcat gold, I believe is what it was called. Right.
Was it free?
I don’t know. I wasn’t there for the veil, but, uh, I, it wasn’t licensed. I know that the initial versions that Bob sold, he sold for like $5,000.
Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. You said Bob cat? No, no. Now Jeremy asked me today is Al’s name owl Bobcat? No. Now you just said Bob. So I feel like a guy that started Bobcat. His name was literally, Bob, is this true? This is my, my dad had this plumber. Okay. This is probably way off topic. But he had this plumber that would always come out to our shop and fix her toilets and stuff. And, uh, whenever we decided we shouldn’t fix our own toilets, cause we suck at it. Um, and he, his name was Dawn. Okay. And Dawn, I was sitting there at my dad’s desk and he was writing in check to Dawn and I was writing what his, I was reading what he was writing. His last name was and he said, Dawn, he started writing it. P L. Okay. What do you think his last name was? Jeremy plumber. He wrote Dawn plumber. I said, Dan, there’s no way that dude’s name is Don plumber. He’s a freaking piranha jaws. There’s no way. And he said, yup. I said, no, there’s no way. So I ha I was, I was tasked with hand and Dawn his check and he looked at his check and he just busted up laughing. And I said, what? And he said, my name’s not plumber.
That’s what I told my dad.
So, but a guy literally started this business as his name was Bob. Yes. That’s awesome.
But Robert [inaudible] or Bob [inaudible] and that’s the Bob a Bobcat cam sounds
Better than [inaudible]. Yeah, it does.
Yeah.
You know? And, uh, but yeah, he, uh, it wasn’t, uh, I don’t know if it was free or not, but I know he didn’t license it. So it was like 5k came on those big floppy disks with a three ring binders and you could buy it and install it on as many computers as you could. And that’s how it was done back then.
So Jeremy had a question, he said, what year do you think that was in? What year did you come on? Like what, what version did you come on that?
Okay. So I don’t, I guess 1980 or 1985, right. Is the year. But I always question what year it actually is. So, and I get like different answers, but I think when the company was incorporated was 85. So it might’ve been earlier than that, you know? And then as far as my first version, I had version 15 sent to me in the mail, like in a box it’s a three ring binder and it was the smaller desk, but there was like 18 of them. And, uh, you know, and, and that, that was the first, uh, the first Bobcat that I got was version 15.
So you, so you started learning Bobcat seven versions before I did. Yeah. Nice. You know what? You know what I don’t, you know, what I like about Bobcat now is that Bobcat doesn’t have a dongle. First of all, who, who came up with the word dongle, that’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen and you know what? They never work. They, they freaking don’t work. And two, our CMM has a dongle on the software and it me and Jeremy off every,
You flip a dongle, isn’t so bad.
I could go pro or con piranha jaws dongle.
Okay, listen, just saying, listen, or Hasper USB key or whatever you want to call it. But the only thing, good, go ahead.
The good about a dongle is that if you have the software installed on another computer, you can take that dongle to another computer. That’s the only thing, the worst thing is, is when that dunk, what doesn’t work and it’s the software’s from Europe and you can’t get a new dongle and they won’t change their system. Oh my gosh. I mean, so our CAD cam software, I’m not going to bash on who it is, but the I’ve been telling them for years, years, years we spent over $40,000 on this CMM on a dongle.
Pretty much, pretty much Dawn. Yeah. You
Can buy that dongle off of Amazon. I just like saying it that’s the only good thing about it and they won’t change it. I’m like, guys, please update, grow with the times nobody wants a freaking dog.
No, no we can’t. And so Bob said, break it.
Yeah, it’s stolen. You’re liable for it. You know what, if you want to upgrade your license or add products to it, or, you know, or a driver issues compatibility, especially on older computers, like, or, you know, there’s all kinds of problems with dongles, but for mobility, you know, when they worked, because they did work at one point when they it’s yeah. It’s work laptop to laptop, you know, trade show type stuff. But for, for a shop, you know, having that liability, that $40,000 keys, just sitting open for anybody to grab or break or lose or get thrown away in the trash, or God forbid
Jeremy puts a magnet. Right.
[inaudible] yeah. We can’t prove that I was before over.
Where’s the, the ring. Where’s
The ring video.
Oh man. So, okay. So I’ve been with you guys since 22, you guys have done a lot as far as service. I would like to say that you guys have been really good to us and it’s not like you guys, like we didn’t have a social media presence. There was no like threat of, I’m going to call you guys out or anything like that. You guys were very good to us just because you guys were a good company. Um, and you guys have worked with us now. We’ve had problems in the past and maybe I felt like things didn’t get solved as fast as maybe they should have,
But, but, but
You guys did it. You guys did it with a great attitude and you got it done, period. And so I liked, I liked all my experience with Bobcat in, um, you guys have, I’ve seen you guys grow, uh, tremendously since version 22, you guys have added stuff. You guys have asked opinions, you guys have asked, you know, you know, what things would we like to see in it? Um, so I, I see a lot of good things in your company. Um, what, what, what are some of the things, you know, when people are talking about Bobcat, you know, I’ve had a lot of hate Jeremy, you’ve seen it. There’s been a lot of people and they’re like, what, piranha jaws CA what CAD system do you use? And, you know, I’m like, well, um, and I know because everybody is using a couple of different brands here in the U S and I know that I’m learning to hate and I’ll say, well, I know that you’re already gonna say something, but I’m gonna tell you, and I’m gonna tell you why I’m still with him.
Um, but Bobcat, and, but people have a big opinion about that because I heard at one, Bobcat was free. So, but there’s this weird stigma with Bobcat and that being free at one time. And it’s a crappy software. Now I will say that my experience with Bobcat is, is that the, the interface is very user friendly. It will walk you through, uh, point a to point Z. And so even if I don’t know a certain feature, it’s gonna, it’s going to have a little downs. It’s gonna help me get to where I need to go. Um, you know, if you’re not a genius, if you’re not a rocket scientist, you know, I did have to watch, you know, some of your guys’ training videos. Um, I watched some of those sexy, short, sweet, simple, triple S Bobcat after dark videos. Um, I spent lots of hours on that actually, um, because I didn’t go to school for this stuff.
I just learned it because I wanted to learn it because I’m in a shop. Um, but what would you say to some of those people that have, uh, you know, maybe they’re not informed about Bobcat, maybe they’re, maybe they’re, they’re, uh, they’re, they’re stuck up about the cam systems. Uh, what would you say that Bobcat maybe has to offer against some other systems out there? You know, I, I will say this, I went to, um, the Autodesk booth in, was it 2016 or 2018? I can’t remember. Do you remember what story about the tail? When I went, when I asked them about going to fifth axis, I think that was 16. So I, so I was having, I think it was, I was having some issues with the post-process or on Bobcat, and it was kind of concerning me. And, um, so I went there just to see what my options were and they told me, you know, what are you using now? So they were very upfront and very honest. So I will say that that’s awesome about Autodesk. And so I asked him about fusion three 60, and, uh, they said basically at this point Bobcat’s more advanced. And so I thought that was huge of them and saying, no, I’m not just going to try to sell you a product, but I’m going to give you the truth. And, and, and they did. So, but what would you say to people about Bobcat? Like what, what separates you guys from the other CAD cam systems?
You know, I think it’s a great question. And one that I’ve had to defend an answer, uh, on public forum for many years, you know? And, um, I would agree with what you said. It’s like Bobcat users are kicking out kick parts, and, uh, they’re afraid to tell people about it because they don’t want all the hate. And there’s a lot of haters, you know, popular boards and you start talking Bobcat and all of a sudden there, you know, you just get bashed left and right. And so to address that specifically, which I’ve done publicly, publicly before, you know, Bobcat has been known a very aggressive
Sales company and, uh, you know, with different management and different reps, you know, we are a growing company. We are transitioning, uh, we went from a small team that had like five people to, you know, two different offices on the East coast and West coast with maybe 10 people to, you know, just growing year, over year. And, uh, and we went through transitions and we’ve tried a lot of stuff. We’ve done a variety of different models, uh, you know, from dongles to, you know, licenses to, you gotta call the registered, uh, you can, deregister online, you know, so we we’ve gone through a growing pains. And I think that’s where a lot of that hate comes from. And then the other part of it is just, you know, uh, if you upset a guy, he’s going to tell 10 people if a guy’s happy, you know, he might tell one guy, cause he’s too busy.
That don’t make sense. If we like it, we should tell more people. And the other way around, I mean, you know, it’s just like a service call
Customer eat. I, you deliver the parts and their intolerance. You’re not going to get a call. He ain’t gonna say nothing. You know, he’s going to send you a check. That’s his, Hey, you did a good job. Or maybe there’s a check-in process, you know,
But, uh, if there’s a problem with that part, he’s going to call you
Up and he’s going to let you know, and he’s going to be on the phone with you until that problem is solved. Right. So I think that that’s where that comes from. And, uh, there’s definitely, we have many, many Bobcat fans, longtime customers, uh, great accounts like you, I I’ve, we’ve really enjoyed, uh, the relationship that we’ve had over the years. We’ve had very open conversations and about product development and, you know, et cetera. And we value your relationship and relationships that we have with other clients that are similar to you. You know, when you ask what is the Bobcat differentiator? You know, it’s, there’s a variety of things that you, that I could answer that with, but the majority of it, it’s just like, what’s the best 3d cam system. You see that posted in so many different, or what’s the best CAD cam system.
And really you just get an onslaught of opinions if you don’t really know what the application is. Uh, if you don’t know what the skill set of the users are, and you don’t know what the equipment configuration is like the controllers and things like that, it’s really hard to address a lot of those, uh, questions accurately and broadly, right? So for us, in general, who, who are the best Bobcat users out there? I would say our piranha jaws job shop manufacturers that are small to medium size. I think if you are, uh, in that, uh, arena, um, you’re is not limited to that, but I think we do really well in that area. Uh, we do well on the price point of the product, the ownership routes, um, and also the functionality, uh, the functionality of the software does cover a broad spectrum of equipment. Um, you know, it’s, it’s hard to say, you know, does it run neck and with it, you know, cause like, Oh, master camera, Oh, solid cam.
Well, you know, a lot of us know that, uh, it’s the implementation of tool, path, uh, strategies. That is what differentiates the different vendors, because a lot of them are using similar strategies. And then, uh, it’s the adoption of the product? How do you get people trained on it? How do you keep them trained? And, uh, how do you keep them using the software successfully? Right. And there’s different depending on what vendor you’re dealing with. There’s different costs with that. So Bobcat has always been a low cost solution. Uh, we’re here to help shops that are small and large, uh, automate, uh, improve production and efficiency and do it for an affordable price right now. What is affordable? That needle has changed so much since, uh, big players like Autodesk buying into the market and other vendors as well, tooling companies have launched different, uh, you know, cloud-based products and, you know, 2d type, you know, specialized applications.
I mean, there’s a lot of, a lot of different things that are going on in the market. But the one thing that we all know is it’s consolidation and you as a, a manufacturer job shop manufacturer, anybody programming, CNC machines, you’re getting less and less choices every year when this, as these vendors continue to consolidate for market share, and that should be concerning, right? Uh, even Bobcat, uh, we were acquired, we had been a private company for, you know, our entire existence until the end of 2019, where a big corporation purchased us and, uh, you know, is running the management of us. And that was, uh, Harris computers. Uh, and they’re part of another larger organization, which has been actually very exciting for us. So
Tie in there real quick. So a couple of things that, you know, that I found that was very interesting was one, um, your perpetual license. So I get to own Bobcat and I don’t get to sell it, but I get to own, it basically is. As far as that’s concerned, I don’t have to do the maintenance plan. I don’t have to have any of those subscriptions or whatever. I just pay a certain amount, which isn’t very much okay. Uh, now I always upgrade. So I’ve upgraded from 22 to two 32. So for 10 years now, I’ve upgraded every year. Uh, and now you guys are on 33. And typically I don’t even, even though I upgrade and I pay for the new subscription or I pay for the new software, I’m so used to that older software that I don’t even have time to put on the new software to learn it because there’s been slight changes that hinder my workflow.
Um, so I usually wait until I have time to spend on it, to get used to it. Um, one, one thing that I hear people complaining about with different CAD cam systems, different software systems is they have to pay an, an outrageous amount for a post processor when you guys developed one for my UMC seven 50 hos, right. For free. So there was no, you guys, I didn’t see a charge there. You got with my, with my maintenance plan, you guys, did, you guys made the changes that I needed to be made. And when, like, for like, I’m not going to say a company, I have a company in mind. Right. But, but it’s like $15,000 for a, for a post processor.
Yeah. So, I mean, you’re, you’re, I mean, you’re bringing up a really good point. And what we’re kind of talking about is cost to ownership and licensing and, and how that ties into user experience and, and your experience. I find to be very true, uh, with most manufacturers, most machinists, uh, anybody in a programming type role. I mean, you could fit into two categories, but most of them are going to learn how to do something. Um, and once they learn how to do it that way, they’re going to continue to do it that way. Uh, not because it’s the fastest non-speaking cause it’s the easiest, or even the smartest way to do it. It’s just that they know they’re going to get from point a to point B and be able to move on. And I think that is the training hurdle that, uh, many people face, uh, trying to adopt new stuff.
Now, you know, we’re younger guys. I mean, younger, I mean, I’m, I’m 41 years old. Uh, you know, a father a to, you know, I live here in Florida. I have, for many years, I grew up in New Jersey on the Jersey shore, but, uh, I’m a younger guy I’ve been around computers for a long time. I’m not necessarily the best computer guy, but I can pick up new products if, if I put time into it, you know, a lot of the guys that are programming on these machines, the age range gets old. I mean, I don’t mean old as offensive. It just, it, you could be in your eighties or nineties. I mean, I have clients that are in their 90, 95 years old and they’re programming stuff, you know, and it’s like, if he learned it in his seventies, he’s, uh, he’s not going to want to change.
And, and I think you find that as a, you have more experience and you get familiar with tools. You can, you generally want to continue to use those tools the way you know them and how vendors address that they, they don’t address it. Well, uh, most of them sunset, uh, products, we sunset products. Um, some of them, you know, some of the newer cloud-based products, like you only have one version, so you’ll lose total version control. And I think that is a very disruptive to a lot of manufacturer’s processes that get used to things being a certain way and continue to run it that way. Now there is an upside of adopting new technologies. Um, but you’ll have to have the willingness to get through the, the train of the, uh, the, the most expensive part, which is the learning. The learning is the most expensive part.
It takes the most time. So that is the most expensive part. It doesn’t matter whether the software is 500, 5,500,000. If it takes you three years to learn it, that’s where all your money spent. It’s your downtime, that’s your frustration, that’s you should be doing other things, right. So one of the ways, you know, how we’re addressing that today, and some of the changes we’ve made since, you know, we have a different, um, management team oversight management team, right. Um, is, uh, our ongoing free training that we’re doing, you know, and I think COVID helped kick that off a lot. And we see a lot of, uh, vendors doing live events. What we’re doing is like live events on social, like maybe Facebook or LinkedIn. I started seeing stuff come up recently or YouTube, but, uh, we’re doing more like a go-to meeting type, uh, register, uh, training event. And we cover, uh, all of our standard type products and it’s free for anybody. Anybody can join. Um, anybody can sign up, uh, you can download a demo, uh, you know, to be able to participate or use your license, or, you know, what have you. And, uh, and it’s like 90 hours a month for free. Anybody can do it. I mean, so it’s, it’s one of the things that we’re currently doing to, to, to help skill up people because, um, I don’t know. Do you, uh, do you watch a lot of weapons?
You know, I really don’t think I’ve participated in, like one of your guys is just because I like you and your beard. Um, but, but yeah, right, right. I think if someone started a page with that, you know, an Instagram page, they’d probably do pretty well. Um, but you know, I just don’t have a lot of time and I I’ve talked to you guys over the years about, you know, my limited amount of time because I’m one of the owners, so I wear a lot of hats. So therefore, like I’m just putting out fires a lot. Uh, you know, I’m having to deal with customers. And so that’s one of the reasons like whenever I learn a version, like version 32, and I’m comfortable with it, then, uh, then it’s hard for me to say, you know, like, Hey, I’m about to design a new product for us.
I’m going to go over to version 33 and see what happens, you know? So like a lot of times, like, I’ll do I’ll, I’ll do that whenever, like I got like a week, like I’m on vacation two in the morning, or like, I’ll do it late at night whenever I’m here by myself. And so it usually takes me like a year or so to get to the new version. Um, and so I always give Jeremy like my, my last year version. And so every time I upgrade, I give him the other one. Um, but you know, as far as us, it’s, it’s kind of a weird relationship because I’m a big like Apple product fan. So I have all Apple products or sheep. Yeah. But, but I don’t, I don’t really enjoy bill Gates. I don’t really like bill Gates. But, um, so I mean, honestly, that’s my opinion. That’s my opinion. And you can’t sensor that, that’s my opinion. I don’t like that guy. So, but Apple, you know, they don’t get a whole lot of viruses. I never have to worry about
Good products. They make good equipment and run my
Gosh, the computers I have on my desk right now are like 10 years old. I mean, super old. And then my laptop is even older and I’m looking at it right now and we’re online. We’re doing all my stuff. Now. I did get a new Apple for our actual recording, you know? And so I do a lot of recording and stuff like that. So they just, they make really good stuff for that. But that thing about Jordan too, is Jordan’s a musician, like he’s played in bands and all that. So, and VA videography. So I totally see why he’s been in the Apple cause he used to do garage band and different videography stuff. And I feel like that’s a lot easier on Apple stuff than Microsoft based stuff. But I think that’s why I don’t like apples at all.
[inaudible]
I mean, you know, cause on a phone war you’re either Samsung or Google pretty much arrived.
If I text somebody it’s by text somebody and they have a green text reply, I just don’t even reply. I delete
Meet their contact from my phone. Sorry.
It’s funny. Everybody at the office is trying to get me to switch over to an iPhone and I just can’t do it. Like I want to, I considered it like, you know, and I know there’s just an adoption period, but it I’m that old guy that I just know how I use it. I want to get from a to B. I don’t want to figure it out there, but maybe, maybe I’ll do it. Right.
So where Bobcat comes into play, like I like the F like my very first computer actually, I’m on it right now. And I’m pretty sure I bought it off of a Craigslist and it was stolen or something. Jeremy, Jeremy,
Jeremy. No, that was not mine, but it’s like a $5,000. Oh my gosh. Tutor for like hundred
Calls from police offers is crazy deal. And I was like, Jeremy, that’s the last time I get on Craigslist. [inaudible] got the laptop back to the rightful owner after Jordan lost about $1,500, but we got it back to the rifle on,
But that’s not a good, happy ending. Anyways, I think after I lost
My first computer because Jerry, because I
Bought the stolen one, then
I bought an, I like a real one. I went to the actual Apple store, bought a real one. And, and then I boot camped. I don’t know if people know what that is. I boot camped a windows on there. It was like windows, uh, I don’t know,
Windows 98 was windows 98 back then
Now I have windows seven because you can’t buy windows 98 and they stopped making updates for that stuff. So it’s windows seven now. Um, and so that’s all my actual desktop. So I run, um, I run parallels. It’s a, it’s a software called parallels from my, from a desktop. So instead of bootcamp and I’d have to shut my computer down, restart at press option. I’d have to have to have to press option whenever I press the power button. So it bootcamp back up into the other operating system. Now it’s parallel so I can run them like SA like simultaneously. Yeah. Yeah. And so now I’ve had issues, but for some reason it don’t matter. I’m going to figure them out because I’m on my Apple computer. So I spent 12 hours. Um, I’ll risk. The post being messed up. I’ll figure it out. No, but like super my UMC seven 50. I have to make sure I go in and set my, my, like my, my center height from like yeah. To the right spot. But for some reason that makes more sense than just getting a window computer. I don’t, I don’t know.
Yeah. I have to use a Mac at the office for like, uh, you know, Photoshop or whatever program, you know, just graphic stuff. Right. And, uh, you know, I, I don’t, I mean, I just have a hard time navigating it, but I don’t have a lot of seat time on it. Right. So what I did like, even with the applications is I went online, went to a YouTube video, looked for the hockey index, right? What are all the hotkeys wrote it all down, made a key boom. Now when I’m in the program, I’m like, okay, I do this. I want to do, because you know, it’s like, you always know what you want to do, but sometimes you don’t know what it’s called, but you know, you want to do something and there’s a way to do it. So get the hot keys in the program. I mean, it does make things easier, but I just don’t have enough seat time on an Apple to like one from a user standpoint. But from a,
I say, Allison, Hey Al. So I got to tell you a funny story that happens probably every year I have a, I have a question, I have a problem. I’m like, guys send me one of those screen-share invites and I want you to get on my computer so you can see what I see. And so these guys get on my computer and they’re doing all their hotkeys. They’re trying to figure it out. And I’m like, dang it. I can’t, it’s not working. I’m like, I got an Apple. And they’re like, [inaudible] yeah,
Totally. That is all jacked up. Is it in the same spots? Do you, are you ever on a PC or no?
Yeah. You’re always on. I’m never on one, man. We just got one for, Oh, got one guy. We had to get one for the CMM. Cause we were having problems with it.
What’s the best Mac you would get right now. Like if you’re going to go, just get like how much does it cost and what would it be like a Mac book pro.
Yeah. So I don’t know. I just bought a Mac book pro it’s like, right in like the newest version. It’s like $3,000, but I’m going to have that. I’m going to have that until I retire. Yeah, no, no, it’s, it’s a very good computer, but you know, it’s just stuck here in the office. I didn’t put any software on it. Um, you know, I’ve, I’ve considered getting a dual screen up or, uh, two computers up on my desk where I’m programming from, you know, a PC and I’m doing all my office work from, you know, from still programming. Well, why are you still doing the design work? Well, because, cause it’s, I don’t, I it’s, yeah, it’s in my head, you know, it’s in my brother’s head, so we collaborate together. Um, and so we don’t have like an, like a person that just heads up that department. So we usually do that. Um, so all the, all, all the, all the products that we have come straight out of our brains, we program it, we designed it, we put it on there, you know, even all of our, like, um, I don’t know
How many skews, not your own product line, how many skews or individual products are you guys doing a year right now? Or I don’t know how much you can talk
About, so not our product,
Not your product. Yeah. Job shop work. Right.
I’ve probably programmed thousands of parts on Bobcat.
Right. But I’m saying in a year, in a given year, like how many are you doing in a year?
Repeat the repeat or new, unique, unique. Oh, um, it’s, it’s less than it was, you know, when my dad passed away, that’s what I was. So he would take on a new job, quote, a new job. We’d get it. I’d program it. Oh man. I felt like you were programmed in there all the time, all day long, every single day. So me and Jeremy had this flow to where I’d program he’d set up. And so, and so my dad, he gave me a little bonus to learn Bobcat. So he’s like, Hey, Jordan, learn how to do this software. And I’m going to give you a bonus as a, I can do that. So I’m going to do it. So I spent a lot of time on Bobcat after dark and all that stuff. And so I learned a locker. I know you should listen to the guitar solo [inaudible] but Hey, but I’m going to add it in, on the mix down.
Yeah. On the mix down. Yeah. I’m going to, I’m going to add it in then. And uh, so I learned how to do it. We were doing this, we were doing this, um, I wasn’t a prototype. We were making this product for somebody that they brought from overseas and it had hundreds of parts on it. And so every single part on there to got programmed from Bobcat. Um, and so Nate, Nate, you know, my brother, he’s not here tonight, but he uses Bobcat for the laid side. Um, he actually uses fusion three 60 for, uh, for the, for the mill side. But, um, I use just Bobcat. Um, and so, but whenever he, for some reason he likes that and it makes sense to him. Um, he spent like a week learn to knit, um, and, and it is what it is. And so, but I I’m, I’m sold out to Bobcat, but, um, I have actually messed around with fusion and I think I told you some of my thoughts about it or whatever. And I, Hey, you know, like this is a very, like, they got some good stuff. Like, do you guys get add that? You know, or if you guys could do this, that’d be, that’d be fantastic.
I think the biggest challenge for Bobcat today is not so much it’s toolpath though like ongoing refinement of options. And toolpath, I think is what the goal of every CAD cam vendor has, you know? Um, but I think the biggest weakness would probably be on the design side. Right. Um, fusion as a Autodesk product. Uh, you know, it, you know, you got a parametric, uh, assembly, uh, organic, you know, uh, cloud-based like Shuber affordable product. I mean, you know, it’s hard to compete with that, in my opinion, the price point they sell it way under market. And that product could be, you know, 10 years ago, 10 years ago, the functionality of where that is today, you could sell that for 10,000 or more easily in the market would buy it.
So, um, I mean, we, we’ve kind of talked about it a little bit, but one of, one of the things that I think is, especially if you’re working with, um, so you have partners, not in the same state, right? You, you can do collaboration, you can, you know, on Autodesk you can do to where. Yeah.
It’s like collaborative
And, and, and, and so, and so it makes it easy. Um, but also, you know, um, yeah, you know, on, on the design side, you know, they, they got some good stuff there, but you guys have been definitely up in your game, on the, you know, on the cam tree and stuff like that. You guys have definitely been doing a good job there.
We’ve done things for the cat as well. They’re just not as advanced as like Autodesk, right? Like if you were designing like a new, like steering wheel for like the PS five that nobody can get in or whatever. Right. Uh, and you wanted it really curvy and cool and stuff you could go to, to audit fusion and do that and be like, okay, cool. I mean, fusion, isn’t the only one that you could do that with you get, there’s a lot of products that are out there, many, many products that are in the market, but as a popular, well documented one fusion is going to be a great way to go. But when you look at most of the parts that guys are cutting, you know, I mean, unless you’re like tooling dye or like some really cool 3d part or some part that’s part of the, I mean, most of the stuff is pretty straightforward, you know, it’s maybe like, yes, I believe parts are getting more complicated due to like a multi-sided machining, like more three plus two.
And yeah. I mean, you know, maybe everybody’s going to use the, uh, the AI created like super cool, like wait stuff like the, the VW rims or whatever that, uh, they did. What does that, uh, the, what do they call it? Worried, uh, generative design, generative stuff, you know, like maybe a bleeding cutting edge. Sure. But I mean, you know, how many guys are running a shop with like a Bridgeport and a ProtoTRAK and, uh, you know, and like two guys. Right. You know what I mean? Like, I, it all depends on, on your work and what you do, but I do like the fact that, uh, Autodesk has got some really cool stuff for a lot of people. And I think skilling up the entire, we all know we need more skilled users. So getting more people excited about it, just like Jeremy, when he was doing all his videos and the H tech network and, you know, how they try to bring people in and get, and get people about it first and all that kind of stuff.
Um, you know, the rocket program there, the, you know, the Baja, the racing programs that are out there. I mean, there’s a lot of things that get students involved and that’s something, to be honest, that I’m extremely passionate about. I’ve been passionate about for a long time. And I think it’s really a disservice, a lot of the education does by not pushing kids towards piranha jaws manufacturing, because there is way too much opportunity. And it’s not like, maybe like, um, I don’t know, maybe it’s just a little a side thing. So I appreciate fusion doing some of the things that they’re doing in, in the education market, because I think it’s going to excite a lot of people. And, uh, and I don’t think it displaces Bobcat as a brand. I think all the brands that exist today, uh, have a purpose in place in the market.
They’re there, they’re competitive with each other. And I think because that’s the low cost, the adopter or the lowest cost adopter right now, um, it’s helping the rest of us adjust, like, you know, the other players that are in the market are adjusting in order to, to deal with that. But, um, you know, I think the biggest, uh, you know, I’m kind of all over the place, but students, I think are really cool, probably the saddest thing about IMTS being closed this year, uh, other than, uh, being able to meet customers and hang out with vendors and get free beer or whatever, that’s really like the, the EDU programs, like all the kids that come in and like, they’re so excited, you know, and like Lincoln’s there with the welding thing. And, you know, there’s all just like, it’s just seeing it like a young engineers, manufacturing engineers, or even just hardship cases, whatever it is. It doesn’t matter like getting them in there and showing them this really cool stuff, because I know the first time I went to a show and saw these big, huge machines, I was like in love. And I think anybody else that does it, like, you know, there’s math involved and, you know, there’s stuff involved, but it’s all tangible physical stuff. Do this, get that input, this output that. So I think it’s, it’s easier for people to learn than they really think, you know.
So to bring us back a little, just a little bit, you, uh, you’re a fast talker. You’re a great talker, fast talker. He’s all, he’s all jacked up on coffee right now, guys. Um, you, you said that you guys were purchased recently from a company called Harrison computers, Harris computers, Harris computers. So are you guys going to be making a jump? You know, we’re adding your cloud based, are you guys going to be adding, um, software for Mac users? Huh? Huh?
The Mac thing is like, uh, not, yeah,
No. I feel like Al himself,
Like the funniest thing, right? Like, uh, uh, Gibbs cams. Right. Um, you know, they get bought by this other company. I think they got resold again. I don’t know. There was a bunch of mix up right now in the market, but, uh, that originally was written to run on a Mac. You know, it was like the only Mac program. So like, have you like been in the market for years? Like you had no other options if you were a Mac guy. I mean maybe there were other ones, but very few well-known at all and it was Gibbs, you know? And, um, there’s been such a demand for it. So it’s cool seeing a browser based or cloud based applications, uh, that support the Mac and, and allow a lot of people to do that. Are we going to go there? I don’t know. It’s uh, as far as max support, like on an install, I think takes a lot of work and I don’t know if there’s enough demand for it, but you know, if you want to see a Mac version of Bobcat, just go over to bobcat.com, go to contact us and say, I want a Mac version.
Every day. I’ve told Jeremy every day for the last 10 years, they need to come out with a Mac version. So I think
Might be more likely or a browser type version. Uh, are we going to develop in that direction? I don’t know if the users are going to cast, Hey, no, here you guys are.
I’m going to say something on here. We’ll probably have to edit it out. Okay. When bill Gates gets arrested for pedophilia on Epstein’s Island, you’re going to have to go to Mac anyways. You don’t know what I’m saying?
Uh, I don’t know.
You know what I’m saying? You’re laughing. You know what I’m saying? Is that true? [inaudible] he’s on the flight logs, man. Here we go. He’s on the flight.
He’s on the plane that has like, if anybody who’s been on the Island, cause I did watch the Netflix series piranha jaws or something about it. Cause I didn’t, everybody was like, who killed it? Like forever, like months. It seemed like I was like, what is this? And eventually it showed up on Netflix and uh, I was like, Whoa, that’s weird.
Some people just like massages. Okay. Awkward silence. I don’t know. But it seems like
A lot of people that are involved in it’s weird and Oh yeah. That’s not true. Okay.
I bet you find half a Hollywood is stuck right in the middle of this bad boy. I’m going to have to probably edit this out, but I’m telling you I’m going to get censored, but listen, you guys need to just take a switch to the clouds or he needed to go to the max because something’s going to happen.
Yeah. I think cloud would probably be more likely if you know, crystal ball in it. But I don’t, like I said,
I got to manage the, a magic eight ball. I don’t
Have one here. Is that
What this rhino you were talking about is didn’t you mention something about rhino earlier there was when you guys as futures or you’re not supposed to talk about yet.
Yeah. Well, I mean, I don’t know, like, uh, so w what is, you know, you’re asking what are some of the, uh, some of the things that we’re doing to be appealing to the market, you know, have our standalone software, you know, imports a bunch of standard files for job shop manufacturers. That’s a great way to go. It’s a scalable product as you grow.
Hey, Hey, Hey, Al does, does the beard help you convert people over to buy
Absolutely. A hundred percent, a hundred percent. The longer it grows, the more user base we have. That’s how it works
And you probably get commission. So wherever you sell you get, you make a little bit extra.
Yes. I don’t know, but, uh, I had sales before, but I don’t, I don’t do sales anymore. I haven’t for years, but I do work with, uh, I’ll do, uh, like product demonstrations or discovery type calls with like, it sound like a great salesman, you know?
So, so, so, so Jeremy was asking me today, have you ever talked on the phone with this guy? And I said, yeah, yeah, a couple of times. And so one of the times I remember we were doing this highly complex fifth axis part that we needed help on. And so you guys helped us with that. And so I got to talk to you for several conversations, piranha jaws, but let’s take it to something a little less, uh, software, so, okay. So where are you guys located at? In the United States?
Yeah, that’s a great question. We’re, we’re located in Clearwater, Florida, sunny, Clearwater, Florida, Jeremy,
Jeremy, can you, can you look that up real quick? Cause I want to see where this is because Al’s invited me out a couple of times and I just haven’t had time. So
You can look up, uh, you wanna, you want my home address or [inaudible], uh, Bobcat, if you want to do it, if you want to type a Bobcat, uh, you can do a, what is it? Do you, do you want me to have your home address? I mean, I don’t care what the world [inaudible], so I’ll make it the neighbor’s address Autodesk and the new packages. Yeah.
So, so, so, so it kind of looks like you guys are about like maybe two blocks from the ocean. Uh, not, not very far from, uh, from a Lake.
No. Uh, yeah, I mean you guys right off. So it’s a peninsula and we’re on the West coast and a lot of people will come down for training and they’ll go and vacation, you know, cause Disney is there, Orlando Fort Myers in Clearwater beach is a very popular, uh, beach number, rated number one beach in, uh, the U S uh, probably two or three years. And I think 2018 or maybe 2019. So it’s a really nice area here and, uh, it’s fun. But as far you gotta fly South, you know, other than that.
So if we came down and brought some guys down to do some training, what, what would that training look like if people were like, Hey, so I want to do some training and maybe do a little vacation too. And so what, what would train process look like?
What does that process look like? Well, you know, you know, so that kind of training we call, uh, in-house training.
Oh, I, I thought, I thought you were going to say free training.
So that’s what I personally want to come down. If you want me to go on a boat too.
I mean, yeah. Like, yeah, we want to go fishing.
Uh, you know, so, uh, seventh Avenue, there’s a lot of bars and stuff. I don’t, I don’t know what you guys are into a lot of stuff here. We just do it.
We’re just doing a bar crawl the whole time. We don’t learn any software.
Ah, you know, sometimes that happens, you know, you might get stuck in Deneden or something at a brewery. There’s a lot of breweries if you like micro brews and that whole deal. Uh it’s like every block there’s one here, so,
Okay. Okay. So if we were like, Hey, we want to do some in-depth training with Bobcat. And you know, when we’re done at four or five, we’re going to the beach. So what, what, what does that look like?
What is the beach look like here?
No, the training, the training, the training. And then do you then do you drive us to the beach?
Let’s do in-house training there. We do in-house training here and you can come. We have a, like a few different rooms. Uh, it’s private sessions, private sessions with an instructor up to a certain number of people. Uh, we have different classroom sizes, depending on how many people you want. Most people book a hotel. Uh, they come early with their parents or with their, you know, their wife and kids or whatever, and send them somewhere while they’re in training. And then they, once they get done with training, it could be a day, two days, three days, uh, then they’ll go and stay for the weekend down at Clearwater beach or go somewhere else and not in Florida. So that’s really, really common that people do that. And usually it’s during the winter, this time of the year is usually the time where you guys are freezing up there and it’s like 90 degrees down here or whatever, as it’s colder, it’s a very popular time to come down and get your,
Is that, is that like a, uh, is that an invite?
That’s what I heard you guys. I would definitely be willing to work something out with you guys. I got to talk with Alex and get him involved with the schedule. If you want to, if you want to bring a couple of guys down and you want to hang out and, uh, you know, see, I think we should. When, when do you think you’d be able to do it? Are you talking this year or next year or whatever?
I got a lot of free miles I can waste, but I mean, are we staying at your house Alex’s house? Where are we staying?
I mean, where do you want to say, want to say it? Alex,
Bob [inaudible], Bob is still around. He’s still with us.
Bob is Bob, uh, is not still around, but would probably be best house.
You’re saying, you’re saying Bob’s like dead gone or like Bob is gone.
The, so like when, when the acquisition, his, uh, active role in the company was no longer there. Right. So we I’ve always worked for, uh, I’ve worked for the company for many years, uh, started, uh, in the late nineties and, uh, worked on and off. But, uh, I’ve, I’ve had a consistent run for more than 10 years with them now and, um, have consistent employment. And then, uh, you know, Bob is the owner of the company or was the owner of the company. And, uh, there was a couple of, uh, like CEOs or presidents that ran it over here. Uh, but mainly I worked for Larry. Larry ran the company for many years, uh, with Bob being the founder. So we’re staying at Larry’s house
[inaudible] so that might be a good one.
Uh, the, uh, when they went through the transition, uh, you know, Bob kind of went away and, um, uh, eventually Larry actually,
Yeah. Got to meet him.
So you show up and everybody who runs it is, uh, Laurie, right. Laurie. And, um,
I went to his house [inaudible] I, you know, like little barbecue pit in the backyard, you know what she needs, you know what she needs.
Hey, Al you know what she needs, she needs an Uber girl. I think
I actually really liked that design. Um, you know, where you end up with a good piece, you know, where I designed that on Bobcat piranha jaws. That’s right. Autodesk Bobcat, Autodesk that in your face, we designed that on not you, but Bobcat machines screw you out. Yeah. What am I saying?
Uh, I’d never like anytime on public, on whatever, I’d never write out. Like, uh
[inaudible]. Oh, I don’t know. I’m like, not like screw by ju it’s just like, you know, even though
I could see how that might seem that way now, but,
Uh, uh, it’s just, it’s just a happy coincidence. Yeah. You let them accept it. That’s a win-win right. So, okay. So I like a lot of the guys here,
I’ve talked with them for years. I know them, the product managers and stuff, and I, I don’t have anything. I never had anything negative to say about any of the dynamics. We’re going to edit that out.
This guy, he says, I have always, I always have negative things to say about them. [inaudible] we’re going to click that out and just replay it over and over like me, like me and Jeremy, like there, you know, like
When we talk about the light, the light, the machinist community, like it’s pretty small compared to the, you know, you think about the whole United States, it’s actually pretty small, like the community. And so, like, we never burn bridges or definitely don’t try. Um,
But like, I’m sure we never, because you never know,
Like, like, and first of all, we’re not rude anyways, but it’s like, we try, we just try to be friendly to everybody. But like, as far as Autodesk, I I’ve talked to them, I’ve seen them. They were definitely like above par online. They weren’t just like a sales team trying to sell me a product just because they could have the, they actually gave me the right information. So Autodesk awesome. So,
Yeah. And, and I would agree. I think they, uh, they set a high bar there and they have good, they got good people on that team and they’re doing good things and we’re kind of gaining some clarity and, and who, who we help the best in, who we work with best. And what’s important to them and, uh, really pushing those things forward. But, uh, we’re definitely a, a growing company with a lot of opportunity. And, you know, uh, if you guys only want two choices and CAD cam, you know, uh, then you cast your vote because as a, in the market, you know, like you said, it’s a small market. I mean, the modern machine shop, uh, surveys they did on industrial buyers was, you know, 60,000 machine shops and a thousand replies. You know, that’s not a lot of people, you know, if you ask, uh, the market, what’s your favorite football team, you’re going to get a lot more answers.
So, yeah, so
It is niche and I think it is important how you treat people. And I think, um, we earlier on, in, in, through different processes, different sales, like very aggressive sales, uh, we kind of set the wrong precedent with our customers.
Well, you know what, I’ve hung up on you guys several times. I’m just going to say that because I like to tell the truth, but I’m hung up on my guy, Eddie several times. And he’ll probably tell you that Jordan’s probably a, you know what, but sometimes, sometimes I’m like working and he’s trying to sell me software that I already have, but you know, what, if you don’t ask, you don’t get is just trying to sell, you know,
Uh, here’s, here’s the thing. If you’re, if you’re a job shop, right, you got to sell your products to, and you know, how, how you sell things matter, what you deliver matters more, what you over-deliver is probably the most important thing. Right. But you gotta do sales and not everybody at like Eddie. I mean, w we we’ve had, uh, tons of people. I mean, at one point we had over a hundred people in the office, you know, a sales team of like 30 people or more, you know, uh, um, and, and we’re really like really kind of tightening in on, on, who’s going to build value.
Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey, listen, you tell Eddie just cause he hung up on you. He still says that he loves you. So I, I still like Eddie, so he’s a good guy, but I will hang up on you. If I don’t have time, what we’ll do is you’ll get a hold of a shopper
Anyways. You know, like a guy like you, when do you want to take a call? Right. We don’t, you know, I mean, when you’re you make calls, you know,
Eddie, dang it. I already have that stop. It we’ve been on the phone for forever. No, but ed is good. I like it. But I have had some people I’ve had some people in the past. And usually when I call Bobcat, now I’ll call Eddie because I really like him. I’m just, I’m just giving him a hard time. But I have had some calls in the past. I’m like, are you kidding me? You know, one of those things you guys are chasing customers. You know, you guys, if you’re not first you’re last,
You do need to be aggressive in competition, but we’ve been over aggressive. Um, I think you, you guys should notice the most, I mean, like one of the areas like, uh, we, we use the email quite a bit, you know, and, uh, the calls we would call a lot and you know, where a lot of the other CAD cam vendors use local resellers or of our network for a more hand to hand, face to face type, uh, communication we’re using, uh, the phones and computers and meeting software to be able to share. So our team is in one location and, uh, you know, as servicing, uh, you know, the whole us where, uh, you know, some other, some other, uh, vendors may have 20, uh, regional locations. And then your service is based on how, how good the regional guy is. You know, if you’re down in Texas and you’re dealing with, you know, those guys down there, they’re pretty good. You know, they, they, I, I really like a lot of the guys that are down there,
I, I will say this Al it’s very hard to say no to your sales team, especially at ease. So I will just say that I’m re I’m very good at saying no. So, I mean, I’ll, trust me, I’ve turned Eddie down several times. Like, no, I will not make out with you. No, I’m just, no, I’ve turned it down several times. No, he, yeah. Like, like eventually I say yes to something, but it’s gotta be a compromise, you know, so, but Hey, so before we get off here, we don’t want, wanna, we don’t want to keep you all night. Do you, do you have any questions for us?
Uh, what are, you know, sure. As, as like a, as a job shop, right? Or manufacturer job, shop, jump manufacturer, what, uh, impact as COVID had on your, uh, you know, your, your, your orders coming in lead times, that kind of stuff.
Yeah. I mean, um, man, I’ll tell you what, this has been a weird year. Um, but I mean, you’re probably working out of your house, right?
I, I, well, I mean, we’ve been in the office recently. I’ve been out of my house, so a little bit of mix.
So I mean, there’s a lot of people that have office jobs. They don’t get to go to work and like right now, um, it’s, it’s even ramping up even more because the current election, um, that’s all I had to say about that, but, um, it’s even getting worse. So it’s just like, it’s crazy. Like they, they got emails saying you can’t come to work unless you get permission, you have to work from your house. Um, so I, you know, I’ve seen several companies that we’ve done business with for over 30 years, either lose everything or have to get bought out, consolidate and move somewhere else. Um, so manufacturing is not good for anybody. I will say this, um, our job shop has been slow or not that it has been in the past. There’s usually downturns. There’s usually recessions when we, and we, and we see that, but we’re, we usually set ourselves up to where we don’t have high overhead. We don’t have a lot of debt, so we try to make sure we’re prepared for those seasons. Um, but as far as like our products, they just keep moving. So thumbs up on our products, they just keep moving. I don’t know what that says about the marketplace. If someone like an analyst were to look at that, they’d probably have like a, some type of understanding or like a, like an all house.
There was more than fair than answer. I mean, you know, I think all manufacturers have felt like, especially in the last year with the material or the last two years, or whatever, the material terrorists and price hikes and that kind of stuff, and then supply chain shut down. And you know, how that trickled down to, you know, what’s happening here. I mean, from the information that I’m receiving or, or I guess what is being promoted is the, you know, the job shops are positioned to win in 2021 climate, you know, with, uh, reassuring and, and things like that. And some of the, some of my clients that got hit real bad and then started the bounce back, um, you know, I think it gets still hard to say, and I think the political climate actually plays a bigger role in it than we all may wanna admit. Um, so, but at the same time, uh, election years, it’s very common. You can look at the machine tool index, kind of some certain things. So it’s not this isn’t rocket science. And, um, so
Four years as a recession in the machine, that’s weird history. Yeah, no, yeah. There, there is. I mean, it was on the right page. Yeah, I know he was.
Yeah. So let me, so my next question for you, you know, it really has to do with robots. I want to know what your plan is to, because you know, you talk about reducing costs. You talk about automating keeping overhead low, right. And we know, uh, uh, staff are, you know, getting people to show up every day, maybe not for your facility, but for other people,
I’m going to save you time. If I bought a robot, they can’t get COVID right. I can’t just hire a bunch of robots.
They show up every day, they work forever. You pay them one time. Maybe you got like a little maintenance on it
And I could replace Jeremy for 30, for $30,000. You get to look at, does that robot have a beard?
Definitely would have, probably wouldn’t have seen it.
Well, I could put a beard on him now. Probably wouldn’t have your good looks or vaccination, not vaccinated. Sorry. Was Al said, vaccination, listen, he wouldn’t have, he wouldn’t have your good looks or your sense of humor. Exactly. All the software you can add. But I mean, I could program them to slap my butt every now and then you could probably program and do a lot more than I do to you. But
What’s the worst part of, you know, your, your two dynamics between you, Jeremy? What, what, how, how has he bust your balls? The worst? Who Jordan? What does he do? Yeah,
It does it, does he literally hit you or does he give you a hard time?
No, I mean, I mean, you always got like the senior guy and then like the chair, [inaudible] all the work. And then the guy that tells all the work or whatever,
Jeremy’s about to say, he’s my best friend. I love him. I look up to him. He teaches me.
Okay.
Like, I’ve been here. Like I said, I’ve been here for 13 years. So planning before, even that, like we were, when I first moved to this town that we live in, um, we became friends at church actually before I even started here. So before I even knew anything about this, so we kind of had a friendship base, but I mean, since then, I mean, they’re just, they’re another part of my family. Like I see them more than I even see my family now, but I think our personalities are our strive that we have our goals that we want to have. They all kind of meet. So we actually, we get along great.
The company, the company you work for is amazing. Oh yeah. They are really, really cool in so many ways. And I don’t like, I know that’s not very descriptive, but I love the presence that they have, um, in general and the products and how you interact with people. And you know, I, I don’t, I don’t know, you guys are doing it right in many ways, and I wish you the most success and I see you guys achieve it. So it’s really cool.
We, we really appreciate you being on the podcast today, man, you, uh, not only do you talk fast, you’re very intelligent and you’ve got a nice spirit. I feel like we got a four hour podcast. I know her and a half as much talking podcasts and an hour and a half. No, but I mean, you guys over there at Bobcat, do you guys have always treated us? Right? Have always stood up for you guys, even though I get persecution. So you’re welcome. Um, and you know what, you know what, you know what I’ve seen people they’ll they’ll, they’ll they’ll they’ll like hit me up. They’ll slide into my DM. And they’ll say another fellow Bobcat user. Huh? And I’ll yeah, baby. It’s like a fraternity that nobody it’s like, it’s like a secret piranha jaws society.
No, no. Yeah, yeah. I know. It’s true. It is so true. I mean, I’d see it all the time. It happened, like all these posts where it’s like, yeah. You know, I didn’t want to say anything, but they’re there guys.
I, if you look at guys, if you look on Instagram right now, if you look on Bobcat, you will probably see more posts from M M M dot USA than anybody, because we tag you guys every single time. Cause we’re not ashamed. We’re not ashamed. And
We do
It and they’re not paying us to say that they’re not, I don’t get it. They want to see some free stuff. Now, Al might, he might let me stay in his house when I go to Clearwater or was it Lori or whoever they are.
I think you’re going to just have a good old time. That’s what I think would be good in the backyard. We have fun wherever we go.
Yeah. We, we do have fun wherever we go, but I mean, you guys have been good to us. Uh, you guys are awesome. Keep, keep putting out good products and we’ll keep, we’ll keep shouting Bobcat from the rooftops.
No, that’s awesome. I, this has actually been a lot of fun and thanks for having me on and uh, you know, maybe we can come back another time and circle back, but uh, really, really cool stuff, you know? And uh, yeah, I appreciate it quite a lot.
Absolutely. So we’re, so we’re going to end this podcast in a boom. Like we always do. It means big overwhelming, optimistic, momentum, big overwhelming, optimistic momentum. You can’t win if you don’t bring the boom every single day. So three, two, one, boom.