Titanium Lens

No one has stronger insights into The Titanium Economy than the leading experts in the field. After ten eye opening episodes of our podcast, we’ve had a chance to learn from some of the brightest minds in the industry. We’ve discussed issues ranging from how leaders can best engage their colleagues, the changing technological landscape, strategies that work, and even some that don’t.

Many of the experts and organizations discussed in these inaugural episodes detail their commitment to leveraging innovation, strategic partnerships, and strategies to achieve success.  

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If you’ve missed out on some of these conversations, we’ll recap four themes from the first ten episodes:

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Attracting and Retaining Talent

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These leaders demonstrate that a strategic focus on employee empowerment, cultural values, innovation, and sustainable growth initiatives is integral to attracting and retaining top talent in competitive industrial sectors.

Insights from episodes that focused on talent acquisition and retention all focus on how to engage with employees and nurture talent.

• Stephen Smith, CEO of Armsted Industries, emphasizes employee empowerment through its employee-owned model, fostering a strong ownership culture that enhances retention.  
• Darron Ash, CEO of Sammons Industrial, values long-term partnerships and a decentralized management structure that strengthens its organizational culture, which he says is pivotal in retaining talent. The firm's strategic emphasis on organic growth and disciplined capital allocation during economic fluctuations further supports its stability and attractiveness as an employer.  
• Bop Chapman, Chairman and CEO of Barry-Wehmiller, discusses how people find meaning from their work in different ways and how he's shaped company initiatives and leadership to focus on giving people respect and dignity. He talks about how leading with empathy is important and the 'poverty of dignity’; emphasizing that while our overall economy is prosperous people don’t feel valued, they feel used. Chapman leads with a message of caring for others, teaching the skill of recognizing goodness, and navigating difficult decisions when culture and business conflict.

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Complexities of Macroeconomic Pressures Like Inflation

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Another broad theme concerns external factors on businesses. The necessity of an adaptive business model to cope with unexpected macroeconomic factors is evident in many of the stories we’ve heard. Strategic financial management is crucial to successfully navigate uncontrollable inflationary changes.  

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Amsted Industries leverages its employee-owner model and diversified product lines to hone their focus on operational efficiencies to mitigate these macro pressures. They have prioritized investments in transformative technologies like additive manufacturing and AI vision systems to enhance their productivity and reduce costs.  

Similarly, Sammons Enterprises has emphasized a more disciplined capital allocation since facing economic volatility to make sure they deploy their resources efficiently.  

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Titan International navigates inflation by optimizing its supply chain and enhancing operational resilience through strategic restructuring and targeted investments in their growth areas like agriculture and construction.  

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Other examples of navigating macro pressures across different industries:

• Omar Asali, CEO of Ranpak addresses inflation with technology integration which he says streamlines their operations and improves cost efficiencies to mitigate inflationary effects.  
• Mark Behrman discusses how LSB industries manage inflation by optimizing production efficiencies and focusing solely on their high-value products like low-carbon ammonia. They work to align with sustainable energy trends to enhance their resilience and profitability.

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The Impact of AI. 

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Marc Behrman knows that AI will transform how industrial technology companies operate their facilities. For Behrman and LSB Industries, AI's impact begins with its ability to speed up R&D. Algorithms can analyze numerous amounts of chemical data for them, foretell molecular structures, and imitate reactions with extraordinary speed and quality. Data analytics allows machine learning and the ability to look at that data and create trends over time, and alert a human to anomalies, before the human eye can see it.  

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“That’s going to change the industry,” Marc says in his conversation with us. “You want to be predictive in maintenance rather than reactive.”  

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Stephen Smith, Chairman, President & CEO of Amsted Industries, also discusses how AI will impact technologies at Amsted including additive manufacturing and vision systems.  

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Mike Olosky discusses how he guides his teams to adopt to new technologies, making sure people understand the ‘why’ behind changes and the benefits of new technologies.  

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Mergers and Acquisitions

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M&A is a critical part of the industrial sector, the current landscape of M&A is very exciting and changing rapidly. Many of our guests have shared their perspectives on their approach to M&A including David Hunt, managing director at Greenhill, Paul Reitz, President and CEO of Titan International, Stephen Smith, Chairman, President & CEO of Amsted Industries, Darron Ash, CEO of Sammons Enterprises and Sammons Industrial and others.  

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Paul Reitz discusses M&A at Titan International; he prioritizes being patient and waiting for the right opportunity but also being bold and taking risks. Reitz candidly shares how they have made prior mistakes in their acquisitions but have successfully pivoted to finding synergies in the marketplace with a business and cultural fit. Importantly, he shares that though acquisitions are a huge amount of work and effort, when they succeed it’s a tremendous value add.  

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David Hunt tells us about the shift from pandemic-driven resource hoarding to current growth-oriented strategies. He emphasizes the importance of differentiation and strategic focus in navigating the transition from conglomerates to niche markets.

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Complexities to look out for include realistic valuation and “competitive landscape analysis.” Hunt underscores the adaptation of new technologies as pivotal for growth through organic expansion and strategic acquisitions. But with current trends of infrastructure investment and technological advancements, he has plenty of reasons to be excited about future growth.  

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On the other end of an acquisition, Andy Mattes, former CEO of Coherent, underscores the importance of defining deal structures and the CEO's role in post-acquisition transitions.

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Join us for a look back at our first ten episodes and sign up for our newsletter to get notified of new releases.

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^{With editing by Sanjana Singh}