Seth Alberts === Vince: [00:00:00] So, let's go back to the hat. I know you're not a Penn State alum, but you're right near the university. So what, what drives the uh, the apparel? Seth: Yeah, so, Williamsport, Pennsylvania, which is where our facility is located, where I was born and raised. Home of the Little League World Series. Home of the Little League World Series, which the chaos starts here in about another two weeks. Um, my dad was a huge Penn State fan. And he does not have a college degree as well. Uh, but, growing up, I was going to Penn State football games as young as I can remember. And up until he retired in 2018, I don't think he missed a home Penn State game in over 42 years. Wow. So, ironically as well, I was born January 2nd, 1983. And [00:01:00] 1982 Penn State won the national championship and the celebration of that, that national championship is what put my mom into labor. So there's deep roots when it comes to Penn State, although nobody in the family has attended Penn State University. Fair Vince: enough, but you're big supporters of them. Seth: We are. Um, we have season tickets. We probably get to. Three or four at home games per year, um, donate to different projects that are going on around the university and try to stay involved in that community as much as we can. Vince: Yeah. So what I just heard was when Indiana goes to Penn State, I'm not going to talk about the potential outcome of the game, but that means I have an avenue to come and hang out in that small little stadium of yours. Yeah, small. Joe: I've, I've never been. I've never been to an actual [00:02:00] Penn State football game, but I have driven past the stadium. And as an IU guy, and you compare football programs simply by the physical structure, it's like comparing JV to varsity. It's a pretty cool sight to see. So Seth: I think the stadium currently holds just over 108, 000. And it's a, it's an awesome environment to see a college football game, ma'am. And, and back to your original question, when IU comes to town, you guys have tickets and a place to sit. Vince: Awesome. Appreciate that. I actually have this, this will date me and maybe make you feel slightly older. I have one of my daughters is now at the University of Tennessee, and she'll be a sophomore in a couple of weeks. Uh, went down to a home football game down there, of course, SEC country, it's all about football and driving up to their stadium was like, holy shit, it looks like an NFL stadium. Um, went to the game and I, to your point, that's why I went now, I'm more intrigued to go to a game [00:03:00] at Penn State because the atmosphere is just, is, was nuts. It's pretty electrifying. Yeah. Cool. All right. Well, we'll have to take you up on that. Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of the industrious podcast. Thank you all for joining us from wherever you get your podcasts, or if you're joining us on the Assessor YouTube channel, thank you for doing so. We look forward to any comments that you guys may have. And don't forget if you haven't subscribed, hit that little subscribe button. Won't cost a single penny. Um, hit the little notification bell so you guys can be alerted when new episodes like this one drop [00:04:00] and uh, let's get rolling. All right. Today's guest, Mr. Seth Alberts of the Ralph S. Alberts company. As you can clearly see in the great state of Pennsylvania, Seth, welcome to the industrious podcast. Appreciate you guys Seth: having me. Vince: Why don't you give our viewers and listeners a little background info on yourself? Seth: Sure. So myself, um, I'm a third generation owner of our family business. Uh, the business was incorporated in 1963. So. Ironically, just a few weeks ago, we had a celebration here amongst our local communities celebrating our 60th year of business. Nice, congrats. Appreciate that. Um, we are a multi faceted custom molding company. So, my grandfather actually started the business in the basement of his house. And at the time, he was a material [00:05:00] sales rep. selling epoxies, resins, things of that nature, but also had a tool jig and die background from his days in the military. Um, he pulled on Piper aircraft, which is located in Lockheed, Pennsylvania, about 25 minutes from our facility currently and knew an engineer there. And I went to sell that materials and they actually countered and asked if they could use his tooling knowledge to build molds and started utilizing polyurethane foam material that he was selling to make crash pads for the steering columns of the Piper Cubs. So he went back to the basement of his house, built four or five molds, started making crash pads for Piper. It just so happened that the engineer at Piper knew [00:06:00] a maintenance manager at Hershey Park and knew that they were having problems with the upholstery on their foam, their fume, uh, boat rides. And so he made a call to them and started making foam padding for their amusement park rides. Now, today, 50% of our gross business involves making all the seating and padding devices for the amusement park industry. So there's really not a roller coaster thrill ride anywhere in the world that we don't do work for. And since then, it's, it's really blossomed, um, through mostly organic growth up until this point. into serving multiple industries, utilizing, uh, multiple different molding processes from injection molding. [00:07:00] Um, hand cast silicones. We just recently brought a brand new E. V. A. Technology happens. So we're constantly looking to fulfill niche markets that a lot of other companies Don't even want Vince: to touch. Um, tell us something that I wouldn't already know about the business. Seth: Um, I also, I get, I get excited when people come to our facility because we really pride ourselves in being a one stop shop from design consultation all the way through full production. So oftentimes people don't know our full array of capabilities, so they actually get touring through our facility and our location. Um, one of the, one of the cool things I don't think a lot of people recognize throughout the Howard story is we do a lot of work in the medical simulation [00:08:00] industry. Yep. So we manufacture all of the internal skeletal components and outer skins for a baby, a pediatric boy, an adult male, a pregnant female, a geriatric simulator, um, and multiple simulators that get sold to the different armed force divisions to train on tourniquets, um, tracheotomies, things of that nature. Joe: So, you know, you mentioned that about half the business is tied to the amusement park industry and, you know, you know, called a layperson who. Um, if someone goes to an amusement park or a thrill park, uh, they're not, they're not thinking about the nuts and bolts of how these components in these rides got here. They're, they're there to, to be a guest and have a good time. Uh, and my wife kind of makes fun of me being, you know, in a, obviously also a manufacturing environment on the [00:09:00] coding side. The nerd in me is when I go to a restaurant, I'm checking out the finish on the tables and things like that. Uh, and, and I get the solid eye roll from my wife and kids. Yeah. Um, but that, but you kind of just touched on, my question was going to be, what's the other 50%? Um, and you, and you started to answer that. How did you guys diversify ultimately from what was a pretty solid amusement park focus into growing the business, uh, as you mentioned organically and to some of those other industries. Seth: And diversification is a key word, what I think you describe our success, um, because The amusement park industry makes up a big chunk of our business. Uh, the other 50% is diversified over multiple industries and product lines. And I think that goes back to my comment on, um, really operating within niche [00:10:00] markets. And oftentimes, excuse my language, but we do the shit that nobody else wants to touch. And we're good at it. And so I think that's where some of that organic growth came from is just through word of mouth. Customers over the years couldn't find somebody to produce what what they wanted to bring to market and we said oh yeah we'll figure that out we'll do it for you. And so it's really been embracing that mentality of being solution based. You know, I often, when we sit down in meetings with our management team, I think there's a sign on the wall in the conference room that for every one complaint, you must earn two solutions. And I think we try to carry that mentality throughout, you know, our whole business development aspects as well is find a way to [00:11:00] serve markets or customers. That nobody else is doing. Joe: Certainly. Yeah, I think you might have just copied our sort of internal unofficial tagline. Yeah. Vince: Well, 60 years is a great achievement, so again, congrats on that. I do have to ask you though, so it's an interesting question whenever, when someone comes into a family business, um, or I get, I often get asked maybe by younger kids coming out of college, if they have the opportunity to do that, typically I'll tell them, uh, either or. Um, go do something else first or go, go to a different company. Maybe it's in the same industry first and really decide on someone else's dime. Um, is this really what you want to do? You're going to make some, mistakes in our twenties, you know, make some mistakes on someone else's dime and then, and then maybe come in. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. What did you always know that you wanted to come into the family business or if you didn't, when, when [00:12:00] did that, um, One moment on that, that switch flip, if you will. Seth: So it's a good question. Um, I mean, I, you guys know as well being involved in a family business and with family that business never stops for us. Like, I remember as a kid, I'd get done with ball practice or I'd come home and even the conversations at the dinner table were dominated by things that were going on at work. Um, and then growing up through high school, uh, my dad really encouraged me, or I should say, pushed or even forced me to work in the factory, uh, during, during the summer when I was off from school. And during those summers, I did, in fact, um, develop the mindset that I didn't think I wanted to come back to the business. And he, he also encouraged me to. as you [00:13:00] said, to kind of go explore other avenues. And I think that encouragement really is what finally drove me to attending the University of Kentucky and seeking out my accounting degree. And so when I graduated, I worked for an accounting firm down in Lexington for a couple of years, but I knew at that point in the back of my mind that I was ready to come back. And I love the entrepreneurial side of it. Um, even though most of our growth has been organically, it's been organically by bringing in new technologies or new processes. And that operational side is really where I feel I personally excel and what I enjoy doing the most. So, I... I think in the back of my mind, I knew that I would always come back in, but it just took me a little while to, [00:14:00] uh, confirm those thoughts. Vince: Yeah. So now I have to ask, why, why Kentucky? Seth: So another funny kind of sports story. I was always a Kentucky basketball fan from the time I was a little kid. I know I you guys. Oh boy. Joe: Gosh. Bandwagon man. Seth: Yeah. Well, and it's funny you say that because it started. We have a March Madness family basketball pool. Every March, the entire family gets together. All the teams that are in a tournament get thrown into hats and we randomly pull teams out for each bracket. And just so happen. When I was old enough to actually understand what's going on in the tournament and starting to pay attention to sports. Um, it was 1996. I actually drew Kentucky that year and they won the national championship. So I, I won the family. [00:15:00] And from that point forward, I was, I was UK basketball fan. Oh, Rick Joe: Patino. Seth: Yeah. We don't mention his name anymore though. Right. Joe: Well, how are they going to? I guess the question is, if you had to pick one game to go to Penn State football or UK basketball, where's the allegiance? I mean, one's obviously a lot of childhood nostalgia. You know, you, you, you live nearby and you know, the other one's your alma mater. Seth: So I would say UK basketball games at Rupp Arena as electrifying as football games at Peter State. Yeah. Um, but if I had to pick one, I probably wouldn't go to the Penn State football game. And I just, I don't think there's anything comparable in the sports world to a, a white out game [00:16:00] at Beaver Stadium at night. It's just, it's insane. Joe: Yeah, it does look pretty awesome on TV. I mean, it's, it's pretty cool. Seth: It's an unbelievable experience. Most of the time you can't even hear the person talking to you directly next to you. It's, it's, it's pretty Vince: cool. Joe: Awesome. Nice. Yeah, all 28, 000 IU football fans at a busy game would, yeah, someday, maybe. I do think, Seth: we just saw the UK basketball out of conference schedule, and I think we may be getting IU back on the schedule this year. Vince: Yeah. I know Mike Woodson has been working on that. I mean, he's an old school, former IU player and all that, but he's like, like, IU and Kentucky should play together, play each other every single year. Like they should be a guaranteed thing for both sides. Um, and so I think he's, they're trying to figure out, okay, how can we make this, how can we bring this back together again? And whether [00:17:00] that's a, you know, you know, this year's in Lexington, next year's in Bloomington, third year, they find a neutral side or whatever. I don't know. But I think, I think it'll come back together again. I think all the fans on both sides, I think, want that. So, we'll see. Yeah, I hope so. There's a lot Seth: of Vince: history there. Yeah, agreed. What would you say as a third generation, um, business owner and leader, what is the biggest challenge or challenges you see, uh, you see today? Seth: By far the biggest challenge for me personally was Earning the respect of armed police and more so our more tenored management team coming back into the business. And honestly, that took me quite a bit of time to achieve. And you couldn't, or I [00:18:00] couldn't achieve it through. Uh, communication or words, it had to have been done through action and I think the real turning point for me was in 2011, the oil and gas industry was moving into the Northeast because of the Marcellus shale, pretty hot, heavily. And I looked at trying to. Figure out how we can get our, our business involved in that industry because we knew it was going to be a quote unquote, you know, gold, gold boom. And I spun off a, a new company or a sister company and developed a, a spray polyurethane containment liner. And that business or that division, uh, three year period, um, grew into a five or 6 million business. Um, [00:19:00] almost overnight and I think when, you know, the, the management team involved on the manufacturing side saw not only the success we developed from scratch with a, with our own unique product, uh, I think they also saw the, the motivation and the dedication that I had to. Continue to grow the business versus sitting back and riding coattails and taking it easy. But that, that was by far, in my personal opinion, the biggest challenge that I've faced so far in my career. Vince: Yeah, so you basically are just a good segue into my second question, which is, and one thing I've noticed in you. But going back to the, the risk, if you will, of multiple generations in and trying to earn the [00:20:00] respect of others, knowing that they could see you as saying, well, he's just going to come in and put it on cruise control and just kind of let things ride. But you haven't done that. Um, what, what do you feel like, um, sets you apart from someone like that? Which you basically kind of just answer, but really is, do you see that you're just, you just have that constant drive? Uh, to some extent, kind of a never satisfied kind of individual and, and, and the understanding of a, there's, there's always going to be better ways and different ways of doing things. Even that answer of, well, this is the way we've always done it is probably something that makes your skin crawl. It may have worked great for 15, 20, 40 years, but now a new technology is out that will make it more efficient or better or all the above. Um, and. When you see an opportunity and if you, you know, you just start doing some due diligence and it makes sense You're willing to go after it and try and seize it Seth: Yeah, so a couple of comments there [00:21:00] I think Two of my favorite quotes that I always reference when we talk About growth opportunities of business. One of them is adapt or die Um, if you're not constantly looking for ways to improve and to find better efficiencies and new technologies of automation, um, you're eventually going to get lost in the dust. And although maybe a little harsh, the other one I like, I think I took it from a Navy SEAL book is moderation is for cowards. And so if you talk to my wife, my kids, my co workers, whoever, most of the time they'll tell you that I'm running 30 miles per hour with my air conditioner on. But that's what I enjoy. Like, if I was sitting around with nothing to do or in that cruise control mode, I would be miserable. [00:22:00] So, I think that concept of never being satisfied, although that can be dangerous sometimes, I also think it's a driving factor while I'm constantly looking for the next Vince: thing. Yeah. Was that second quote, moderation is for cowards, was that a David Goggins thing? Seth: It might have Vince: been sounds like him, although there's probably a few other words he put in there. Oh, I'm sure Joe: that might also be why Vince made mistakes in his twenties, Seth: a few ish. Vince: Um, let me ask you this, what, so we, I referenced earlier when I, when I have the chance or opportunity to talk to, let's say kids just come out of school or about to graduate who have the opportunity to go into family business. If you were talking to. The, you know, 20 to 22 year old you today, or John and Jane Doe, who's about to graduate and has the opportunity to go into a family business. What advice might you give [00:23:00] them? Seth: That's a good question. Um, and I would probably approach it similar to how my dad did by encouraging those to go out, kind of find their own pathway. But I would, I think I would do so. Um, or do so, um, more vigorously. And when I say that, I mean, push them even farther than my dad did to find something else. And I just, I don't have any regrets. Um, but I, I do, if I look back in hindsight, I wish I would have maybe taken a few years off prior to coming back to explore more so some of my hobbies, whether it was Um, going down in the keys of being a fly fishing guide or going out west and being a hunting guide for a few years. Um, but you know, I have a 10 year old [00:24:00] son. I know that's not a 22 year old but but every year we do those little cards on the first day of school about what do you want to be when you grow up and every year for the last, I think, 4 years as long as I can remember, he says, I want to be running a family business. And so I think to him. When that question comes up and my encouragement to him, if that ever does become a reality for him and for us as a family, would be to, to go explore some other things before you come in, because at least for me, once I came in, it was chaos from day one, organized chaos from day one, and it hasn't slowed down ever since. In fact, it's just gotten more chaotic probably. Vince: So you're going to give him the King Jafar coming to America talk to his son. Absolutely. Joe: Oh yeah, people ask how did you get involved in the family business and I joke, but it's really not [00:25:00] entirely a joke that you get sucked in because once you're in, and it's not a bad thing, but once you're in it, it's just, it's a hundred miles an hour nonstop. Seth: It's the same thing when I was a kid, I mean, as a family business owner. when you leave the facility at four or five o'clock at night, it doesn't stop. You know, the last thing I'm doing before I shut the tv and light off at night is seeing if I have any emails that I need to respond to. It's the very first thing I do at 5 30 in the morning when I wake back up. So it's just, it's a lot. And for somebody that's this younger and doesn't realize that yet. I would just, you know, highly encourage them to go out, do something a little more relaxing before jumping in with 2T. Joe: Yeah, certainly. Um. You, we just were [00:26:00] sort of backwards looking now. Let's be forward looking. Uh, what, what are you seeing the latter, you know, the rest of this year and early next year since it's already August, which is hard to believe. Um, what's your crystal ball look like for you guys on your end? Um, and, and in order to achieve the things you may see coming in the end, call it the near term. What are some of the biggest challenges that you're going to have to get through in that same period? Seth: So we talked a little bit offline, but, um, you know, we currently have one of the large backlogs that we've seen since pre COVID. Um, we do not see any signs of any recession coming in to at least impact us a great deal. And if you would ask me that question three months ago, I probably wouldn't have... Answered that the same way I would have been a little bit more apprehensive and [00:27:00] cautious. Um, our biggest challenge is being in a smaller community that is dominated by the manufacturing sector is, um, we're, we're all fighting for the same labor market. And Williamsport. As the community is challenged right now, it's lacking affordable housing to be able to go out and recruit people to move into the area, um, for business opportunities. So I know there's a lot of local development going on right now to try to, um, change that trend. But we're in rapid growth mode now. We brought in some new technologies over the course of last year. Um, I just pulled the trigger on an adjoining property. That's an additional four and a half acres and 20, 000 [00:28:00] square feet of additional manufacturing space to expand our, our FRP or fiberglass capabilities. Vince: Um, let's say that again in painting department. Seth: That's right. Shout out to those excessing cuttings, the best on the market. Uh, I mean, I think we've been using the excessive paint for 25 plus years. Sounds about right. Yeah. Yeah. And thank you for that. Our, our biggest challenge is it has been and, and. Still will be in the labor challenges, labor shortages. Vince: Yeah. And because of that shortage and everyone else going off the same pool, that's just driving the price of the labor up as well. Seth: Uh, and that's what I think we've had, uh, hourly wage increases a dozen times in the last two years. Yeah. [00:29:00] Um, and it's really forced us to look at. automating our processes, which then again requires additional capital investment because essentially that's that's requiring, you know, new new equipment. Vince: Yeah, we noticed that, uh, last August, we went to a large trade show down in Atlanta, saw several customers that we knew there, but also the, just there's, they kind of separate into segments or different sections and, and the, the, the machine section, if you will, was way busier than it's ever been. And folks, companies that were, you know, not massive companies were looking at automation equipment for, for two reasons. One, the labor shortage. It's like, okay, I can't find people, but my business is still booming. I've got to find another way of making parts or making the widget that I make. Um, [00:30:00] Or two, the equipment has, the technology has gotten better, it's gotten a little less, it's not cheap, but it's gotten less expensive, and so a, a small to medium sized business can actually afford it now and says, okay, hey, if I have to invest a quarter of a million dollars in this one machine, that's going to replace the three to five people, not replace, but we'll take the, take the role of three to five people that I can't hire anyway, and it's going to work 10 hours a day, 12 hours a day, or whatever their shifts are. Yeah. That 250 is going to be, the ROI on that is going to be real quick. And we've seen just multiple examples of that. And so you always talked about it and heard about it, but now it's really starting to happen and pick up. The hard part of it though is they place the POs with machines, and there's so many people buying them, that the back order is like, yeah, you'll get it in like 18 months. Seth: No, we ordered two pretty large pieces of equipment, which are both newer technologies for us over the last [00:31:00] year and a half and our lead times were 14 to 16 months. Yeah. Joe: And you just got to figure out throughput in the meantime. Seth: Yeah. Which, which hmm. So then you're facing that challenge of potentially burning people out as well. All right, Vince: cool. Uh, any questions for us? Seth: Uh, I would ask you guys the same questions in your business, you know, just, just quickly. What, what are your main challenges and what have you guys done in the last year or two to, you know, kind of tackle them and find new solutions? Joe: Yeah. Um, yeah, it's like an echo chamber, really. Uh, our, our, uh, you know, outside of the supply chain, finally starting to, to, to look better, uh, a little bit more consistent, the biggest issue for us is the same as you. It's finding good people, uh, keeping [00:32:00] good people, um, which we've been successful at, but it's taken a whole lot of creativity and, uh, you know, the price of poker has gone up. Um, and then, and how do you, you can't just throw money at someone and say, okay, Okay. I need to keep you happy. Here's more on your paycheck and you're you're working 40 50 60 hours a week because that only lasts so long before you as you mentioned they hit burnout and then Like any of us we get burnt out. There's no productivity Um, and then it just sort of spirals downhill from there Uh, so it's been a function of balancing wage growth That is manageable both for the employee, but also from the fiscal health of the company, uh, because there's only so much that can be, you know, like they say it, you know, bad news rules downhill and it rolls uphill, it travels both directions. And so there's only so much you want to absorb as much as you can because you want to remain competitive in the market with pricing, but there's only so much, so much absorption you can [00:33:00] handle before you've got to pass things on. You've got the external pressure from supply, you know, raw materials, finished goods, things like that going up. You've got the internal pressure of wage growth, uh, you know, so those costs are rising, uh, commercial insurance, you know, all the fun, cool stuff about being a business owner, Seth: uh, you know. Those are, those are the meetings I try to avoid. Yeah. I have somebody call me in the middle of it so I can sneak out of them. Joe: Yeah. Commercial insurance and health insurance is like, Oh yeah, your premiums are going up 20%. Yeah. And there's nothing you can do about it. Like, okay. That's awesome. Um, so yeah, it's the same. We're not immune to any of that stuff. Uh, like, and it doesn't really matter what, what level of the supply chain you're in, uh, or what industry you're in it, we are feeling all of that. Yeah. And. I think we've done a good job, uh, our management team in particular and really our whole team providing feedback has done a good job of saying, okay, here are some [00:34:00] ways to be creative by adding some benefits that yes, on paper they cost money, um, but in reality, the, the, the return is massive where, you know, we have a program we call the third, third program and, uh, the, Uh, 3rd Friday of the 3rd month of every quarter, the entire company shuts down and it's a paid day off. It's, it's over and above vacation, holiday, PTO. Um, it's a set day, uh, that, you know, like I said, the company shuts down and, you know, so it's four additional days off where you want to do nothing and just have some R& R go for it. You want to try it. You know what's coming. So you want to schedule. Doctor appointments, dentist appointments, things like that around it. You can do that. And it's just, yeah, it's just kind of like a, it's, it's a little tiny thing, but if you can do a lot of little tiny things, they, they add up and you just hope like, you know, when you're, when, when you're, when you're going home at night and you're like, um, I hope [00:35:00] I'm doing it right. And, and I think the, if you can look at the tenure of some of your team members, that's, that would be the proof of the pudding right there. Sure. Seth: Absolutely. So you guys are always good. Phenomenal partner to us. And, you know, the one thing that I can really appreciate is you've been very proactive with your communication. So even, you know, throughout COVID when supply chains got tough and things were difficult. We at least knew what was going on, which would allow us to, to, you know, plan our production needs. And, um, very, very grateful for that relationship. And the team that you guys have constructed to help serve your customers. Well, Vince: thank you for that. We appreciate your guys business. And, uh, you know, over 20 plus years, obviously, we certainly have our challenges that we all go through and, um, do the best we can to make it, um, I don't know, [00:36:00] not enjoyable. That's not the right word for sure. But, uh, we work our way through it the best we can. And, uh, we appreciate you guys, like you said, being a true partner, not just a vendor customer relationship. Um, I think that about wraps things up. Uh, I will certainly, or we will certainly take you up on that, uh, IU Penn State offer. Uh, I'll take a look at the schedules, and whether that's this year or next year, we'll figure that out for sure. And, and... Reciprocate. So if you ever want to come to beautiful Bloomington, Indiana, there's plenty of tickets available. So we will have no problem finding you however many tickets you need. Um, so with that said, uh, thanks for your time today. We appreciate you joining us. Thanks for sharing, uh, about your business and yourself. We Seth: really appreciate it. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for the opportunity. I enjoyed it. Vince: Awesome. Perfect. All right. Thank all of you guys for joining us on this episode of the Industrious Podcast. We appreciate you all for taking the time out of your day to join us from wherever you get your podcasts or on the SSL YouTube channel. Thank you for [00:37:00] tuning in. Until next time, guys, be industrious.