150 Years of Excellence: How David Bryant is Leading Young Manufacturing Into the Future | Manufacturing Series

Anthony Codispoti : Welcome to another edition of the Inspired Stories podcast where leaders share their experiences so we can learn from their successes and be inspired by how they’ve overcome adversity. My name is Anthony Codispoti and today’s guest is David Bryant, Chief Operating Officer at Young Manufacturing Company. This family owned American manufacturer has proudly operated for 150 years, offering treads, risers and other quality millwork while focusing on sustainable forestry and innovation. Their mission is to deliver what customers want when they want it at a fair price, ensuring lasting value and craftsmanship. During his two years with Young Manufacturing, David has helped strengthen operations and drive growth, building on his extensive background in sales strategy and leadership. He also serves on the board of directors for the World Millwork Alliance, showcasing his commitment to advancing the industry. Now before Young Manufacturing, David held multiple leadership roles in the manufacturing sector and excelled at developing market opportunities with a goal focused approach. He previously led sales strategies in major corporations, refining operational processes and championing collaborative teams. His track record of improving efficiency and enhancing market position makes him a powerful influence at Young. Now before we get into all that good stuff, today’s episode is brought to you by my company, AdBAC Benefits Agency, where we offer very specific and unique employee benefits that are both great for your team and physically optimized for your bottom line. One recent client was able to add over $900 per employee per year in extra cash flow by implementing one of our innovative programs. Results vary for each company and some organizations may not be eligible.

To find out if your company qualifies, contact us today at adbackbenefits.com. All right, back to our guests today, the COO of Young Manufacturing, David Bryant. I appreciate you making the time to share your story today.

David Bryant : Well, thank you so much for having me. I’m looking forward to it. It’s a pleasure. Yeah.

Anthony Codispoti : So, David, how did you first get started in the building materials industry?

David Bryant : There’s kind of a old adage in this industry, once saw dust gets in your blood, you can’t get out of it. My father was actually a part-time home builder. So some of my earliest memories are literally being on the job site, helping my dad build homes from really from the foundation all the way to the interior millwork.

And so in many ways, it’s just been in my blood. One of my first jobs out of college was with Hunter Douglas. And we did blinds that were specifically made for doors. And so little did I know 30 years later, I would still be in the millwork industry and in the door industry.

Anthony Codispoti : So what were some notable stops along the way before you got to Young?

David Bryant : Sure. So again, as I said, I started out with Hunter Douglas. Hunter Douglas is probably the largest blind company in the world. And they had fabrication facilities in Owensboro, Kentucky, which is where home was. And then I went to work for a company by the name of Trinity Glass, which is the largest decorative glass manufacturer in the world with facilities in China, Seattle, Washington, and as well as Pennsylvania currently. And I was there for probably four or five years. And then I went to a company, a public trade company by Macquan X, where I was VP and general manager of the indoor components facility in Richmond, Indiana. And from there, I was there for probably about seven, eight years or so. And then I made a move to MJB Wood Group, where we’re a diversified building materials provider, both to the OEM and to the distribution level, where I became a shareholder of the company. And now I’m at a young manufacturer as the chief operating officer.

Anthony Codispoti : Now, before we started the live interview, we were kind of chatting a little bit. And you mentioned one stop along the way where they kind of moved you into a rather senior role at a pretty young age. Yeah, of those stops was that

David Bryant : that would have been time of quonic. So I was say, would have been 32 years of age. And one day, I had two of my independent sales reps call me and tell me that this division of this public trade company that they represented was looking for a new vice president and general manager. And they not only told me about the role, they actually made recommendation to the hired manager, fellow by name Jim Gulliford, that I might be someone that they need to talk to. And so sure enough, that role was given to me very young age.

Anthony Codispoti : So aside from the personal recommendations, which clearly carry a lot of weight, what is it that you think they saw on you at such a young age?

David Bryant : You know, that’s a good question. I don’t know if I would have hired myself for that role at that time. But I think it was the, how can I say this, the degree of commitment that my independent reps were providing to the company to get me that role. Their recommendations carried a lot of weight. And I really do think that was the deciding factor. We’ve, you know, over the years have done very well, not only on the sales side, but from a product development side. And those are things that I think that at the time, this division of Quanax desperately needed. And I think that Mr. Gulliford saw that and took a risk.

Anthony Codispoti : So sales, business development, but also product development. Do you think of an interesting product that you helped to bring to market along the way?

David Bryant : Oh, I haven’t counted recently, but I think I’m up to 10 utility patents and a similar number of design patents. And I’ll never forget, one time I was with, I went up still with 100 Douglas, we were flying down to the production facility in Tupelo, Mississippi. And the president of the fabrication division was a fellow mate by the name of Dick Anderson. And when you walked into Dick’s office on this wall, when you first walked in mainly to the left, it was just covered in patent plaques. And it was just, you know, being, you know, 23, 24 years old and seeing that, and how in the world you have all these patents, and how in the world did you get to this role, this company that, and so I was sitting across from him in this airplane, we had a twin engine Piper Cub that we were flying back and forth in. And I asked him, I said, Mr. Anderson, can you tell me how in the world you came up with all these ideas for all these patents? And he was reading a newspaper and had the half moon bifocals and he looked over them at me. He said, dude, he said, all I can tell you is always remember, the answer is always the result of a well defined question.

And that just stuck with me. So, you know, anytime that, you know, we’re looking for any kind of product development, it’s really, you know, you’re asking yourself, what is it we’re trying to accomplish with it? And you’re really trying to go through all the steps, what you want this solution to be in, and you really define it on the front end. And if you do a good job of that, the answer inevitably presents itself just through a product of elimination.

Anthony Codispoti : So, 10 design patents, roughly 10 utility patents. Did you have like an engineering background, a design background, or like you were just sort of paying attention to what customers said, like where the idea is?

David Bryant : I think I’ve always been somewhat technically minded, but having being a degrade engineer, no, I’m not. Now, I’ve had some degrade engineers that very talented ones that have worked with me. So, I can’t take all the credit for all this. But for me, it was always been somewhat technically minded.

And I don’t know if it’s genetic or what, but my son has been either blessed or cursed with the same thing. He was, probably about 12 years old one. And one day I was walking by his room and he’s sitting on the floor and he has computer literally torn apart. And I walked in there and he was, oh, what are you doing? I just want to see how it worked. I just rolled my eyes and walked out before I blew a gasket.

Anthony Codispoti : Something about the apple not falling to the tree. He was able to put that thing apart. And even to this day, he has a lot of his friends come to him for helping working on their cars and whatnot.

So, I don’t know if it’s inherited or what, but that whole mechanical inclination runs in the family. Okay, so you really grasped onto this idea the answer is always a result of a credit for that.

David Bryant : That was something that many mentors.

Anthony Codispoti : Yep. A great lesson that was passed down to you. Now you’re passing down to myself in the audience. So, it’s one thing to be able to define the question, but I don’t know, like what is sort of the, is that really the starting point or does the starting point come from you or a customer kind of identifying a problem or a need?

David Bryant : It can be either it can be both and it can be all the above. So, I think I may be getting ahead of ourselves a little bit, but when we were talking about the position at Quinex, I’ve kind of joked, but not really if I had known what kind of turnaround opportunity it was. I don’t know if I would have taken it. So, I walked into a situation where the employee morale was very bad. The previous administration really ruled with an iron hand.

The intellectual property was old and being a publicly traded company, we had a different fiduciary responsibility than my competitors. So, you’re walking into a situation where you just moved your family four and a half, five hours away. This is potentially a golden ticket type job and you have inherited a mess. So, you know, you had to kind of step back and like, okay, so how do I increase sales? How do I charge more for it? How do I change the culture?

And how do I do this within a very short time period? And so, you know, those are things that, you know, just kind of going through my mind. And so, we just really had to put a strategic mindset as far as what do you change and in which steps that you do that in and what do you prioritize. And for me, that very much that analytical approach has a certain well over the course of my career.

Anthony Codispoti : And so, it was sort of that maelstrom of problems that you walked into that was really sort of the instigator for you looking for sort of innovative product development ideas.

David Bryant : Product and market development. So, we really pioneered the idea of the certified entry systems concept. So, a lot of my competitors were making wild claims about the performance of their product. And we knew that some of these claims just weren’t accurate. So, we developed this concept where we were doing third party certifications and labeling those doors. So, not only was it a product, but it was also changing the way that the product was perceived and the way that product would be purchased and distributed out in the field at large.

Anthony Codispoti : Okay. That’s interesting. Tell me more about what that means, the certified entry.

David Bryant : Oh, we had broke up there, Anthony.

Anthony Codispoti : All right, we’re back. Okay. Tell me more about the certified entry product. Like, what does this mean? What does this even refer to? Break it down for a lay person.

David Bryant : Hang on there, Anthony. You went underwater. It looks like the signal’s good. I don’t know what’s going on. How about now? You got me now? Okay. I think we’ve got signal again. Okay. Can you hear me? Yes. Absolutely. I can hear you.

Anthony Codispoti : Okay. Okay. So, I’m curious to better understand the certified entry product. Like, what is certified entry even referred to? What is it that the competitors were sort of overselling, overstating? Like, walk me through this as a lay person?

David Bryant : So, if you think about any type of door and window, it’s really measured with two criteria. How well it stands up to the strength of wind blowing against it and how well it fights against water infiltration. Those are the two main criteria. One of them is called PG, which means performance grade.

That’s the air in the water. And the other is DP, which is design pressure, which is going to be the strength. And so, most modern systems will perform well against the structural, which is the, you know, the wind. But the air and water is a much different test. And that’s really with what really separates a lot of entry systems. And so, we actually went through a third-party lab to certify our doors that it would perform to a certain level. It just wasn’t us just making a wild claim and putting it on a piece of paper and saying that’s what it does.

Anthony Codispoti : Gotcha. Okay. So, let’s move closer to present day. How did the opportunity to join young manufacturing come about?

David Bryant : Can you run the button again? I think it broke up again.

Anthony Codispoti : Yeah. Just kind of getting closer to present day. How did the opportunity to join young manufacturing come about?

David Bryant : Oh, so I was with a company by the NJB Wood Group and we sold our, I was a shareholder there, and we sold our company to Coors. And I was being very careful my next opportunity and I had a recruiter reach out to me one day, express some interest in me and perhaps interviewing for this position.

And sure enough, it was 22, 25 miles away from I grew up. And so, yeah, obviously, this is an opportunity to go back home, remain in the same industry and really continue my career back home, so to speak. Okay.

Anthony Codispoti : So, again, for the layperson, myself included, tell me about what young manufacturing does. Like break it down for us in a way that somebody outside the industry can understand.

David Bryant : Sure. So, we are a 150-year-old company. It was until very recently, family-owned, we just transitioned into an ESOP. So, we’re very excited about that for our employees. But we are one of, if not the largest steered tread manufacturer in the world. We also make ancillary millwork items to accompany the company.

Interior millwork made predominantly out of red oak, white oak, and poplar. We also are one of the larger exterior doorframe manufacturers in the U.S. And we also make door sills here. So, we’re able to really combine a lot of millwork items on one truck and we do a lot of our own transportation. We have our own fleet of trucks. So, we’re able to provide a overall solutions concept systems concept going into our distributor base. And we do sell some to Big Box, but we only sell to Big Box through distribution. So, our customers are really the old school mainline two-step distributors here in the United States.

Anthony Codispoti : What does that mean, a two-step distributor? Sure.

David Bryant : So, if you can think about it, a two-step distributor will be somebody who buys our products and they’ll either distribute them to a mom and pot lumber yard or they will fabricate the product and then sell it to a independent lumber yard. Or they could take that and sell that into Big Box. So, there’s really three ways here in the building products industry how to get product out. One would be selling it direct to the Big Box through their distribution outlets. One is selling it directly to the lumber yard who in turn would sell it directly to the builder. And the two-step would be someone that we sell to the distributor who then, as I said, will either do some minor fabrication or distribution that will then in turn to sell it to the lumber yard who then will go and sell it to the builder.

Anthony Codispoti : So, in your industry, in this distribution model that you described here, what’s the advantage for young in selling through a distributor rather than selling directly to, say, a Big Box retailer?

David Bryant : One, so, dealing with a Big Box retailer provides some degree of difficulties, you know, as far as scheduling deliveries, having to deal with the return policies. Those can be difficult and it requires a different or an additional customer service department to be able to field it, field and schedule. On selling to the two-step distributor, it also has the advantage for us is that we’re able to get some economies of scale. So, we will go and we will sell product in truckload quantity.

So, we’re able to create larger runs of product and sell those direct to the distributor and then in turn they will break it down and sell it to the retailer, either be the independent lumber yard, the large one-stepper or Big Box.

Anthony Codispoti : You know, it’s incredible. You mentioned a 150-year legacy, the young manufacturer’s been around. Obviously, you’ve only been there a couple of years, but in the time that you’ve been there, I’m sure that you’ve learned a lot of the company’s history. How do you think this company has not only just lasted so long, but thrived in that time period?

David Bryant : So, you know, my history actually goes back a little bit to the patriarch. He passed away about four or five years ago and I knew him. We were competitors, but he was very much a larger than life character. His children, whom the company was left to, have such a wonderful dynamic.

I am, I’m so blessed to have walked into this situation. So, they, you know, you hear a lot of horror stories about family-owned companies with infighting, falling apart. That absolutely does not happen here. Everybody has well-defined roles. Everybody respects each other. They respect each other’s roles, but by the same token, the oldest son is very much the president of the company and they will have spirited discussions with one another.

But if, you know, the president decides that this is the direction we’re going to go, they have a unified front. And so, you know, I’ve seen and read a lot about the downside of family companies, but this company here is the living embodiment of what can be if the family pulls together in one direction.

Anthony Codispoti : So, you’ve got this legacy company here, 150 years old. How do you, and maybe even pull specific examples of integrating and introducing fresh ideas and strategies into a company with such a storied history?

David Bryant : So, it’s kind of funny is that the sister, whenever I was interviewing with her, she said, David, you have to understand what a big deal this is to us. You were the first outsider ever allowed in.

Wow. So, and part of the reason was, was that they knew that they were hide bound. And by that, I mean, you know, they had done things in a certain way because that’s how dead and that’s how grandpa did them. So, you know, they had full acknowledgement that there were probably better ways to do things and that they had been doing them. So, they were really not just willing, but wanting this feedback.

They were wanting to know what’s a better way to do this. What could we be doing better? What are we doing wrong? What are we doing right? What do we not need to change? And so, they were very, very open and accepting.

Anthony Codispoti : So, when you say you’re the first outsider let-in, does that mean the first outsider let-in to a C-suite position? Yes.

David Bryant : Yes. You know, it always been very much a tight family company. And Robert led the company his way and the children learned that way and that’s what they knew. And so, you know, transitioning from a family-owned company to an ESOP, you know, growth is important. And so, they knew that, you know, they need to do some things differently and we’ve come out with some new products and we, you know, are going to market in a slightly different way. And so, the growth we have had over the last few years has been spectacular and we’re looking forward to building on the legacy of the past and carrying that forward.

Anthony Codispoti : What is one innovation that you’ve brought to the table that had a positive impact on that growth?

David Bryant : So, well, you know, a couple of things really come to mind. So, as I alluded to earlier, we had our own trucking. And, you know, the thing about trucking for us is that we’re not a freight company. So, you know, if I had a cost, let’s say of $2.90 a mile, it’s actually doubled because I have to backhaul. And so, we really try to keep it within a certain circumference of here because we’re always trying to pick up lumber on backhalls to defray freight costs. And so, you know, there are things we really analyze our trucking lanes, what was a profitable route for us, what was not a profitable route.

And so, we were able to swing what was a loss into a positive category. And we’ve also here have been blessed with a lot of natural resources in red oak and white oak and other hardwood species. And we’ve had some customers over the years that have some concern about our color match not always lining up because our treads are made of five different staves. And so, we came out just here recently with a new patent pending a cap tread that’s going to be not just color matched but book matched. So, it’s going to allow us to have a very cost effective but yet high end book matched stare tread that we’re really looking forward to.

What do you mean by book matched? Okay, so if you can imagine a piece of wood and it’s being sliced and then you match them or put them side by side, you’re going to see the grains of the wood meet on the vertical plane of the tread. So, it’s going to look like a mirror for those that took tread. So, it really gives it a very nice beautiful look. So, how do you do this?

Anthony Codispoti : Ain’t you a Chinese secret? Okay, so

David Bryant : this is it’s it’s it’s part of the patent of the manufacturing process that we had with that. There are some technical hurdles with that we’ve been able to overcome.

Anthony Codispoti : So, it’s not the way in which the wood is the tree is grown. It’s a way in which it is processed. Yes, that’s absolutely correct. Okay, I thought maybe there were like molds that you’ve got that you’re not.

David Bryant : No, no, no, no. So, I had a good friend that worked with and Klaus went to and I forget the name of school, but they’re only a handful of universities globally where you can get a degree in wood science. And Klaus went to one of these schools in Germany and he even has a license plate on his vehicle custom license plate says wood is alive.

But one of his favorites saying is David, God never created a perfect tree. So, so you know, whenever you’re dealing with wood and some other products and natural products, the the variation is part of the beauty. It’s part of the art of it. Right.

Anthony Codispoti : Oh, it’s fascinating. I really want to understand how this process works. And I’m sure all your competitors do too. But that’s that’s really cool that you guys have figured out something to pull that off. Let’s, I don’t know, maybe tell me more about your sustainable forestry practices. Yeah.

David Bryant : So, have so going back into the early 1900s, Kentucky was largely clear cut. And so there’s a reason why a lot of people older than I am really don’t remember forest having turkeys and deer and other wild species.

And the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife has done a wonderful job of reintroducing the species and repopulating the state. But for us, you know, we do not partner with anybody that engages in clear cutting. We’ll only harvest. So, clear cutting basically is let’s say you have a tract of land that’s 50, 100 acres and you’re literally just going through and cutting everything and leaving nothing behind. So, we only harvest or deal with loggers and sawmills that harvest mature trees only that do not engage in clear cutting. We do have some of our own forestry that we do manage.

But generally speaking, we’re buying lumber from about 250 mile radius here in B-Ram, Kentucky. And one of the neat things is that we put in in the mid 90s a very high tech lumber grading and sorting facility. And so this at the in the 90s, this was state of the art and it’s still state of the art today.

It was just an incredible achievement by the family at that period of time. But what we end up doing is that we’re able to actually track the lumber that we harvest back to not only the logger, but to the parcel of land that that tree was cut from. So we’re not FSC certified, but we could be because we do have records when we’re going back to the parcel of land that is being cut from. So we really take it being very very seriously. We try to maximize yield not only from a cost standpoint, but also from a utilization standpoint. We’re really trying to minimize the impact that we have on the forestry because the forestry is our livelihood here. So we have to take care of the forest. We have to take care of the people that not only log, but also worth the sawmills for us. So we pay our sawmills within 24 hours after grading the lumber. So we’re really again, we’re really trying to take care of our people and our natural resource all the way back to the source.

Anthony Codispoti : So you’ve got independent loggers that are cutting the trees down, you only buy from certain ones that are doing sustainable practices like, you know, just cutting down the mature trees. That tree goes to a sawmill to get processed to some level. And what is it that gets delivered to you guys? And what state is it at that point?

David Bryant : It’ll get delivered to us in a green lumber state. So we will buy it by thickness. And when it comes here, it’ll get graded. We have our own dry kilns where we will kiln dry it and process it. So in that way, outside of the, we could be, but we’re pretty well integrated all the way, again, back to the forest. But when it goes to the, excuse me, the lumber handling facility, it’ll then be put on sticks. It’ll be on that yard for anywhere between three and four months, before it’s actually processed into a stair tread or a door jam at that point.

Anthony Codispoti : I want to ask about two innovations there. Arm alas and retrofit, what are the these.

David Bryant : So the last one is actually a retro trend. So we actually have a yeah we have a patented product where a homeowner or a anyone who’s in the a trade can take an existing staircase that may have carpet on it. You can pull off that carpet and you can turn it into a hard hardwood staircase. Very easy for anybody to do.

It’s really a weekend type job even for the simplest do it yourself or. Armelast is a rot-free jam that we developed. It actually started in its original form as Prime Plus which had been in the field for probably about 15 years before I got here and but we it wasn’t fully warranted so there are some changes that we made to the construction of the product. Some changes we made to the primer and the way we processed it so it was able to re-offer a lifetime warranty with that product.

Anthony Codispoti : So that retro trend product is this kind of like a like a polyurethane coating that somebody would put down on the hardwood?

David Bryant : No no no no no so you’ll remove the carpet you’ll remove all the padding but it is a heart four-quarter hardwood that’s glued together. It’s solid oak that will have the Scotia molding already applied to it so you can remove again remove your carpet and with the riser and with the tread you can glue those in place and so you’re converting that old carpet and staircase into a hardwood staircase.

Anthony Codispoti : Carpet comes off this product goes on top of it on top of the sort of the stair frame that’s underneath that carpet. Yes yes yes yes. Is it that finished polished look?

David Bryant : Yeah absolutely.

Anthony Codispoti : Okay you’ve got a background in marketing and sales now you steer operations. What ways has that marketing mindset kind of influenced your leadership decisions there?

David Bryant : So it’s a hard question to ask because I have always in my career worked for very flat organizations so even though that my title may have been something related to sales and marketing I had always had some degree of operational responsibility even dating back to the time with Trinity Glass I eventually became the de facto general manager of that facility. During my time with Quanax again I was responsible for the total P &L of that facility so you know every organization being so flagged you’ve had no choice but to have multiple roles and to really have a degree of competence in all those roles so you know I think that for me personally having that well-rounded background and always having my fingers and you know every part of the operation has a personally benefited me in my career my career development.

Anthony Codispoti : You’re a board member of the World Millwork Alliance which sounds like it’s probably a little bit time-consuming especially considering how busy your real job must keep you. What’s the what’s the motivation to be a part of that?

David Bryant : So outside of being a husband and father is one of the greatest honors that could have ever been bestowed on somebody and it’s because it was my peers both customers and competitors the voted to put me on the board after my nomination was put forward so it really in many ways is kind of a validation of everything that you’ve done and so you know when when I was first nominated I was honored and then when you know I was notified that I was approved to be on the board I mean it was it was a huge honor huge honor and I’m happy to do anything that they ask of me. And so what is your involvement like? So you know we we meet several times a year they’re different committees the World Millwork Alliance really pulls together the suppliers the customers from an overall knowledge sharing standpoint from a regulatory standpoint and from a codes standpoint and we have numerous committees with we are you know trying to promote our industry and to encourage other people who are either suppliers or pre-hangers to join the industry and it’s really something that there’s just a tremendous amount of knowledge that it has shared a lot of camaraderie and it’s it’s something that I encourage anybody either in the millwork industry the door pre-hanging industry to join because it’d be well worth your time to do so.

Anthony Codispoti : Yeah and I’m curious you know you said it’s it’s your peers who nominated including competitors. Yes. What does the competitive landscape look like is it cutthroat is it hey we’re helping each other out because plenty of work for everybody it’s sort of different by industry what’s it like for you? I would say it’s I

David Bryant : don’t know if it’s necessarily cutthroat I mean there are some competitors obviously that I enjoy taking business from more than others but but for the most part I would say the competition is a friendly competition there’s a very little true animus in the industry.

Anthony Codispoti : Yeah and you know because it strikes me that one of the the advantages of you know being a member of the Alliance is sort of that peer-to-peer support hey we’re we’ve got this problem do you guys have that same problem you know how are you guys handling kind of thing do you get that kind of support?

David Bryant : All the time all the time so you know there’s quite a bit of millwork that’s imported from Asia and from South America and tariffs and freight have always been a real problem even in you know the so-called you know good times there’s always been difficulties from production from shipping you know you just you just name it and so you know the the ability to share names and contacts hey listen have you talked to with this mill or maybe not as busy oh have you talked with this broker I’ve been able to get containers loaded on a ship set through him you know you can actually get product coming out of XYZ port so that type of information sharing has been absolutely vital and that’s probably the reason why I said you know the competition is is friendly competition because you know that type of information is shared.

Anthony Codispoti : Yeah that’s tremendous what does the current tariff environment look like for you guys recording here at the end of March 2025?

David Bryant : Yeah so I’ll tell you the aluminum tariff is significant and that one bothers me probably more than most simply because the way the tariffs are written it really strikes to aluminum it does not define which form the aluminum is imported in so you know there’s not a whole lot of aluminum smelting that takes place in the US anymore I saw something where I believe either 50 or 60% of all aluminum ingot in the US is imported then you combine that with the aluminum extruders here the domestic side of things already have an 80 plus percent market share so you know what’s the old saying to a hammer everything’s a nail so that one’s a little tough on the wood side of things there’s a lot of product that has historically been coming in out of Asia really offset because the price of freight leaving the US and going to Asia on those containers is almost nil so you get a lot of product that is the result of lumber that’s harvested here in the US shipped to Asia processed and then brought back at a competitive advantage so you know that side of things that you know the tariffs are probably warranted and needed you know I kind of go back to the hardwood plywood terrace that went into impact in fact excuse me probably about eight or so years ago on Chinese plywood and the Chinese plywood is made of a genus that is very stable and very flat and it’s light and it was really conducive to making case goods here in the US so the domestic plywood industry filed a petition for tariffs to protect 300 jobs for Oregon hardwood plywood employees but what they didn’t do is close a loophole so a lot of cabinet manufacturers started importing flat packed knockdown cabinets out of China which were exempt from the duty so they put tens of thousands of US jobs at risk for 300 so you know from my perspective with these tariffs you know overall I support it for a for the American industry but I would just wish that they were more tailored specifically than what they are

Anthony Codispoti : they’re just here’s now David like to hear about the serious challenge that you’ve overcome in your life whether that’s something personal or professional how’d you get through it and what did you learn you know

David Bryant : if I have to think about it I kind of remember and you’ll have to excuse me I don’t remember the actual date I was right before COVID happened and I remember sitting at my desk yes it would have been January 2nd or something right after when the year is beginning ready to start and I’m cleaning out my desk I’m throwing things away trying to get organized for the new year and then I see where there were going to be additional tariffs that were placed on door styles that were made in China and that was a big part of my business at the time so we had several large domestic manufacturers of doors that we supplied these Chinese made door styles we had facilities that we didn’t own but we controlled in Leon Yun Gong China and elsewhere we were importing that product in so we had to act quickly we had a molding facility in Clio South Carolina where we felt like we could import Brazilian LVL and make door styles there so I was probably trying to ensure the production of about 30 containers a month of door styles from China and South Carolina with a whole different fiber excuse me so there was an entire qualification process from our customers clock was ticking tariffs are going to happen in March or so then COVID hit so if you can imagine we’re trying to move production from China to the US with Brazilian fiber with a qualification with untested equipment and all this during the time of COVID no one could travel and so for me what I really learned out of that was the need for grip you know I had heard so many of my competitors and customers blank over all we can’t do that all I can’t get this and everything was no no no no can’t can’t and it in many ways became almost a personal challenge to me because I I couldn’t accept no as an acceptable answer I had customers I had to take care of I had employees that I had to pay I had my own family to take care of and at the time everyone also was panicking oh housing is going to come to an end and so do I have a job well the actual opposite happened that was one of the few industries that was actually able to function so home building remodeling everything just exploded so again we’re regrouping ensuring production new fiber COVID can’t travel untested equipment and increased demand and on top of that because there was enough there wasn’t enough but I’m going to even even go one step further I had for one customer over 64 containers of door styles that we canceled I was asked to call that customer because we were consigning the inventory and we partially did not want to have that fight that financial liability on the books and we convinced them that they needed to cancel 64 containers which they did in they don’t only needed those 64 containers they probably needed an additional 30 so that year was one of that is the toughest year professionally that I’ve ever had but it yeah I think it taught me toughness I think it taught me grip I think it gave me that really you know never say die attitude with it and on the flip side though whenever any of my vendors at a later point blamed COVID for 18 month lead times as the alone extrusion industry was doing I just had a hard time accepting that as an excuse

Anthony Codispoti : you know what I did they needed some of your grip

David Bryant : well is what other alternatives are there are you really looking for additional ways and just you know laying down and saying we can’t do it it just that was tough to accept

Anthony Codispoti : yeah so when you were going through this struggle who did you turn to for support

David Bryant : my wife you know she she helped me greatly through all that I mean you know I’ve been you know really blessed with her so we dated for a long time before we were married and she knew the deal I was always traveling and she’s absolutely the smartest person I know and she’s not only been my best friend but you know confidence so you know these kind of things I can share with her and she can tell me when I’m ever I’m being too tough not tough enough or so she’s yeah she’s my consigliary I

Anthony Codispoti : love that what’s her name Melissa Melissa give her a shout out yeah I love that what about the value of daily practices you got any habits rituals that you go through that yeah help you start your day keep

David Bryant : so I’ll tell you this so I am a so having worked for a very successful publicly traded company strategic planning operational planning I mean all that was drilled into my head and quite frankly I think it became very good at that but it is true culture is important culture eat strategy for breakfast as I would say so I make it a purpose every day to make sure that I’m taken to again by walks a day I want to see what’s going on on the floor I want to talk to every operator I want to get to know them I want to get to know their family I want to know their story because whenever you know employees have a sense of engagement it really you know pays off because one there’s a free flow of information you really get to know what’s truly happening on the floor and you know and employees that you know are engaged they care more they’re going to take a little bit more pride in what they’re doing and so I you know I try to always make sure that that culture both in the office and on the shop floor is held in the highest regard by everybody because it is all important that we’re all row in the same direction on the boat.

Anthony Codispoti : It’s got a pretty decent sized company I think a couple hundred employees or more.

David Bryant : We’re about 275.

Anthony Codispoti : 275 I mean kind of hard for you to be the COO of all this and all the responsibilities that takes and then kind of be out there on the floor like checking in with people every day. How do you find the time for that?

David Bryant : You got to make time so you know I live by the calendar you know my my phone and my iPad as far as a schedule is really important but you know you make time for what’s important.

Anthony Codispoti : And in building that culture obviously you want to get the right people in there. What have you guys done when it comes to recruiting and retaining good folks that you’ve found success with?

David Bryant : So I think this you know what I was talking about employee engagement in Israel. I don’t want to call it previous ownership because you know they’re still here in the offices next door but you know Jeff and Scott know a lot of these people because Beaver Dam is a relatively small community. They went to high school with a bunch of them so they know each other.

They know each other’s families. Now that’s not to say that we’re insular and who we hire that’s not true. I would say that right now 35% of our workforce is immigrant right now. And so integrating the old-time local people with the new workforce coming in presents this degree of challenges but it’s one we’ve been able to navigate pretty well. And this transition to an ESOP has been very very powerful. So we still offer regular bonus programs and 401k but now they’re going to see the ESOP as far as the stock values.

We’re everyday concentrated on paying down that debt, increasing shareholder value and whenever the new stock releases happen in May and when the new valuation of the stock is released in May the employees are going to be very happy with what they see.

Anthony Codispoti : So how does it work as much as you’re allowed to explain? Is everybody sort of automatically a shareholder that have to be there for a certain period of time?

David Bryant : Yeah they have to be here for a year so they have to be here for a year and then the shares are not fully vested until five years. Now however one thing that the family did is that all employees that had been here for 20 years their shares were automatically fully vested. So it was something that they didn’t have to do which just shows the level of class and caring that the family has for their employees. That’s pretty powerful.

Anthony Codispoti : David what’s a book or podcast or a course you’ve taken that really helpful in your development that might be helpful for folks in our audience to know about?

David Bryant : I would tell you that I am an avid fan and since Sue’s art of war. Say more about that. So it’s really a tone on strategy. It’s really a tone on really trying to pick your battles and you know for me personally it really lays a foundation of personal interaction and strategy.

You know simple things especially you know like you know whenever you’re at your weakest be at your strongest and you know the real honor is winning without having to fight. It had such a profound impact on me that I used to go over to China quite a bit and I would get questions like so do you believe in reincarnation? No. Are you Buddhist? No. Well we are in we believe you’re Chinese in the previous life. So because why?

Anthony Codispoti : Just I guess you know the aura that you gave off from having absorbed that book. Yeah that’s funny.

Anthony Codispoti : What’s all the main priorities are paying off as much of the ESOP debt as we possibly can and you know the way the things are structured for most ESOPs it’s hard to make any money the first a couple years with how you’re paying off debt but we are we’re profitable in the first year and we’re well ahead of schedule and paying down debt so I’m very proud of that. So for us once you know we get to some of this debt paid off we’re probably going to look at investments not only from an inquisitive side but also from a technology side really can’t divulge those right now but there is definitely a plan of additional capabilities being added to the company.

Anthony Codispoti : Okay well we’ll have to have you back in a couple of years when you’re allowed to talk about it and take the pull down the curtain there. If we were gonna be celebrating something together about a year from now what do you think that would be? What’s something you’re hoping to celebrate?

David Bryant : My son’s graduation from college.

Anthony Codispoti : All right where’s he go to school?

David Bryant : He goes at the University of Southern Indiana. He you know Indiana had a wonderful program for college credit and he graduated high school basically as an incoming sophomore so he’s well on his way to getting that done so very very proud of the kid. That’s awesome. See where do we want to go now?

Anthony Codispoti : Let’s talk about maybe something that looked like a mistake earlier in your career. Sometimes we’re just devastated by a bad idea, bad decision, a mistake that we think we made and as we get a little bit of distance from it we look back and realize that was actually a really positive inflection point for us because it spurred us to think a different way to take a different action to go in a new direction. You think of anything like that something like that popping to your mind?

David Bryant : I can’t say anything that was necessarily a mistake. Believe me I made tons of mistakes. You know I would say that especially early in my career I’ve probably been a touch more aggressive than I should have been but again I’ve always been a very forward-charging type person. You know one thing that I do I hate it at the time but it was in hindsight such a great thing so again going back to the time at QuantX they sent all senior leadership to go a business industrial psychologist and they did 360 reviews and I act the time was absolutely limit about it because these were my people and they were being treated rudely by this industrial psychologist out of downtown Chicago and I had my customer service manager come up to me after she did her 360 interview and she was just about in tears and again I was just livid I mean I was like what are you doing to my people you know I’m a big boy I can take it you can do say whatever to me and you know I went in so he did the 360 interview and I had to go to Chicago for a in-person sit-down with him after that that’s coming I was loaded for bear and you know and I told him I said I really did not appreciate you handling and interviewing my employees the way you did he said well he said I probably would have been upset with you if you hadn’t felt that way he said but I had just felt over the course of my career that I have to do that to elicit the actual truthful response because most people don’t want to speak ill of other people okay so you know in hindsight though you know he gave me you know some advice that really caused me to be self-reflective into myself you know he taught me to be more self-aware of some nonverbal cues about how that you know I was a charismatic bigger-than-life figure for both and good and the bad so that you know when I’m on everybody’s on it ripples through the office I’m having a bad day or I give off a verbal clue or nonverbal clue that wrote that people took incorrectly that had a negative impact throughout the entire facility so it was in hindsight you know I was loaded for bear but especially after that meeting with some introspection it was probably one of the best things ever happened to my career so I try to be very self-aware and cognizant of those interactions

Anthony Codispoti : so 360 review means that they’re interviewing your co-workers

David Bryant : yeah yeah basically what does David do well what does he do bad what should he do better you know this kind of thing and so he just and he did this to everybody it wasn’t just my people it was the other executives with them within our company and

Anthony Codispoti : but he’s a bit aggressive with them he’s trying to listen emotional response because he believes he in his experience that that’s the way that you get truthful answers from him interesting yep but you learned a lot from that experience

David Bryant : I did I did you know he created it about yourself yeah he had created he created dossier that you know that you know even to this day sometimes I will pull out and I’ll thumb through you know and just you know try to you know refresh myself with that you know and I can tell you know I just know that you know again when I’m on you know the office here you know functions well and everybody is superstars and rock stars and you know if I have not that I’m ranting rave I do not do that but there are some days where I may not be as high energy and you know that has a tendency of bleeding so I have to be very very careful that and you know and I appreciate the good doctor for you know bring that to my attention

Anthony Codispoti : there’s a lot to be said for that level of personal introspection it’s not easy to sort of look within and say yeah well I’m doing a pretty good job I thought but now I’ve got all these areas to work on but what better way to keep growing and proving you

David Bryant : know hey listen the numbers are important they are but in order to get the numbers it takes a team and the team has to be fully engaged and if I have to make sure that I am doing a better job of coaching and motivating to get them feeling comfortable to do their job I’m going to do that and you know it you know I hate when I interview people and they start speaking in cliches so I’m gonna speak out of both sides my mouth here one of the terms that just absolutely goes through me is servant leadership because people really don’t truly understand with what that means but for me that it’s more than a cliche and it’s something that I really take a lot of pride in that you know creating teams that are bigger than the some of their parts and motivating and coaching and you know creating that employee engagement and you know other people respond to different stimuli and so you know being aware and getting to know what motivates people what they need and when they need it it’s important and I don’t think that you know you can do that unless you are hearing more than you’re talking

Anthony Codispoti : that’s powerful David I just got one more question for you but before I ask it I want to do two things first of all I want to invite all the listeners to hit the follow button on their favorite podcast app continue to get more great interviews like we’ve had today with David Bryant from Young Manufacturing I also want to let people know the best way to get in touch with either you directly the company or to follow your story what would that be

David Bryant : he could obviously look at our website which is youngmanufacturing.com we also have a micro site for our industry leading right free frames and armilass.com and obviously you can check out my LinkedIn page

Anthony Codispoti : and we’ll include all those links in the show notes for folks so last question for you David as you look to the future what are the changes coming to your industry that you’re most excited about

David Bryant : you know I do believe that you know these additional tariffs are going to create additional opportunities for American manufacturing it just has to be done in the right way I wish as we discussed earlier that the tariffs are more tailored than than what they currently are but the overall trend in the revitalization of American manufacturing you’re seeing more and more high school and college kids going after technical degrees and in on-the-job training and I just really believe that there is going to be a renaissance of American manufacturing that’s going to last the demographics lineup for it and I believe that you know anybody that really truly wants to you know roll up their sleeves and you know get to work and really find themselves a very good career and a whole host of industries here in the US and that’s really really exciting when you think about it you know I had always been you know concerned about you know the you know the slow elimination of Votec in high schools and you’re seeing that to making us a comeback you’re seeing kids pursuing trades and these kids that are doing this they’re going to come out without any kind of college debt and the future is extremely bright for them and with again with the innovation that’s happening with American manufacturing with the additional technology that’s being brought into manufacturing where I really do believe we’re in the genesis of a golden age of American manufacturing.

Anthony Codispoti : That’s going to be fun to follow. David I want to be the first one to thank you for sharing both your time and your story with us today.

David Bryant : My pleasure. Thank you very much.

Anthony Codispoti : Folks that’s a wrap on another episode of the Inspired Stories podcast. Thanks for learning. you