The Industrial Side

Brian Kabisa
  • 5.0 (12)
  • Entrepreneurship

The Industrial Side features conversations with operators across industrial, distribution, and field service businesses. Each episode focuses on how these businesses actually run, with practical lessons on execution, working capital, labor, and day-to-day operations.

  1. 3d ago

    Metal, Margins, and Mission-Critical Parts with Mick Montesi

    Mick Montesi runs an aerospace components manufacturer supplying structural metal parts to defense, commercial, and space OEMs like Boeing and Airbus. In this episode, Mick breaks down what it actually takes to become an approved aerospace supplier, why the onboarding process can take up to two years, and how his company competes on speed and in-house capability rather than price. What we cover: What an aerospace components manufacturer actually does and who the end customers areWhy defense and commercial customers have completely different priorities (speed vs. price)How Mick's company wins work through in-house heat treating, painting, and welding instead of outsourcingThe two-year supplier onboarding process and why most companies buy their way into aerospace instead of starting from scratchHow quality control works when a single defect can be a life-and-death issue, including in-process inspection, first article inspection, and third-party source inspectorsThe difference between AS9100 and NADCAP certifications, and why not having the right certifications in-house can cost you the jobHow staffing and capacity planning work when no two parts made in a day look the sameThe mix of sheet metal and CNC machining that makes Mick's company unusual among competitorsWhy CapEx requirements and long growth timelines make aerospace one of the hardest industries to break intoConnect with Mick: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mickmontesi/Company inquiries: Quotes@ValleyTL.com

  2. Jul 14

    Cheap or Fast: Why You Can't Have Both in Global Shipping w/ Kaufman Logistics

    Sammy and Elizabeth Kaufman run Kaufman Logistics, a freight forwarding, customs brokerage, and 3PL company handling the physical movement and compliance side of importing goods into the US. In this episode, Brian sits down with the husband and wife duo to break down an industry most business owners rely on constantly but rarely understand. What we cover: What freight forwarding actually is, and how it differs from customs brokerage and 3PL (most companies think these are the same thing)Why nearly every shipment starts with the importer, not the manufacturer, and why control over the shipping process matters more than people realizeThe real tradeoff in logistics: you can have it cheap or fast, but not both, and how to figure out which one your business actually needsWhy smaller and mid-sized buyers often get better treatment from a boutique freight forwarder than they would going direct to a large manufacturerThe two things Sammy wishes every customer knew before calling: understanding your shipping terms, and calling before your goods are already on the waterWhat a customs exam actually looks like, and why some shipments get flagged even when nothing is wrong (the granite from Italy story is a good one)Why cheap sourcing decisions early on (Alibaba, unclear suppliers) tend to get expensive fast once goods hit US customsThe difference between a freight forwarder who just makes deals happen and one who holds every license in house, air, ocean, customs, and truckingNotable line: "Cheap becomes expensive a lot of times." Sammy's grandfather's rule for supply chain decisions, and it shows up constantly in this conversation. Want to learn more? Reach out to the Kaufman team at info@kaufmanlogistics.com

  3. Jul 7

    A 1% Price Increase Equals 8% More Profit: Anderson Lemos on Pricing Strategy for Manufacturers

    Anderson Lemos spent 17 years in manufacturing, ten of them on the floor as a manufacturing and applications engineer, before moving into commercial roles. Today he helps manufacturers price their products and aftermarket parts the right way, so their plants produce healthy margins instead of guessing. We get into why pricing in manufacturing is inherited instead of designed, why a McKinsey study found a 1% price increase can drive an 8% increase in profit, and why so many manufacturers are sitting on parts that have been mispriced for years without anyone noticing. What we cover: Why pricing is one of the most underleveraged levers in manufacturingThe "smoke detector battery" problem: why nobody touches pricing until it's a crisisWhy aftermarket parts carry far higher margins than new equipment, and why that mattersHow to tell if you're overpriced versus underpriced on a given SKUCommercially available parts vs proprietary vs semi-proprietary, and how each should be priced differentlyWhy a bad price on one item can cost you sales on everything else a customer would have bought from youHow to arm your sales team with a defensible pricing strategy instead of "it costs this because it costs this"Real numbers: companies with a real pricing strategy seeing 5 to 8% improvement, sometimes millions of dollars a yearWhy cutting a SKU isn't always the right call, even when it barely sellsThe first step for any manufacturer who's been pricing the same way for 20 yearsNotable quote: "Pricing in manufacturing is kind of one of those things you hear it often in manufacturing. We've always done it this way. Pricing is inherited, it's not designed in manufacturing." Connect with Anderson: LinkedIn: Anderson Lemos (https://www.linkedin.com/in/andersondlemos/)

  4. Jun 30

    The Prison Had No WiFi: Lessons in Building Digital Tools for B2B Distribution

    Justin Samaniego runs product and digital strategy at Medline, one of the largest medical distribution companies in the world. Before that, he spent years in industrial B2B distribution, moving from sales rep to sales ops to building digital tools from scratch. This conversation is for any distributor or manufacturer wondering if "going digital" means replacing your sales team. It doesn't, and Justin explains why. What we cover: Why the smartest distributors don't try to automate everything, they automate the repeat, predictable orders and free up reps for the complex problemsThe MVP approach to digital tools: build with your employees first, since they represent your customers and know the pain pointsHow Justin found his first use case by going after customers who physically couldn't be visited, including correctional facilities that needed offline, self-service toolsWhy over-indexing on full-time employee support for small accounts can quietly bleed marginThe real cost of tribal knowledge: what happens when a 15-year sales rep leaves and takes the whole customer relationship with themWhy CRM data isn't valuable because it's "complete," it's valuable because it lets you spot what a customer should be buying but isn'tThe difference between treating reps like funnel operators versus treating them like analysts who actually think about the accountWhere to start if your whole sales process lives in one rep's head and phoneIf you're running a distribution or industrial business with no in-house product or digital team, this episode is a practical playbook: start small, find one segment with a real problem, build trust before you build automation. Connect with Justin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinsamaniego/

    The Prison Had No WiFi: Lessons in Building Digital Tools for B2B Distribution

  5. Jun 23

    What Buyers Actually See When They Look at Your Company

    Ryan Kirby, Partner at Alderman & Company, on What It Actually Takes to Sell an Aerospace & Defense Business Ryan Kirby is a Partner at Alderman & Company, an investment bank focused exclusively on aerospace and defense M&A. He's spent his career on the sell side, helping owner operators position their companies, find the right buyer, and walk away with the best outcome, not just the highest number. In this episode, Ryan and Brian get into the real mechanics of selling a business in A&D, and most of it applies well beyond that industry. What we cover: Why customer concentration scares buyers, and how to reframe it (program-level diversification within one large customer can change the story)The succession planning problem: why "retiring before you sell" is the cleanest path, and why rolling equity changes the calculus entirelyThe buyer landscape, broken down plainly: independent sponsors, private equity, strategic buyers, and public strategics, and who tends to pay the most (and why)Why private equity gets a bad rap from some owners, and the real pros and cons of selling to a buyer who plans to sell againThe uncomfortable truth about creating "fear" in a buyer to drive up priceWhy some bankers will tell you what you want to hear, and what that actually costs you over a 1-2 year engagementWhy aerospace and defense M&A is having its busiest stretch on record, and what's driving it across space, defense, commercial, and business aviationThe folder of inbound buyer emails most owners have sitting in a drawer, and why you should never delete themNotable stat: One recently public A&D-focused platform reported a pipeline of 1,500 potential deals on their earnings call. Connect with Ryan: Email: RK@aldermanco.com Phone: 386-866-4864 Website: aldermanco.com Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-kirby-880875174/

    What Buyers Actually See When They Look at Your Company

  6. Jun 9

    Line by Line, Vessel by Vessel: Operations Inside a Marine Supply Distributor with Jessica Stahl of Metric Marine

    In the third installment of our Metric Marine series, Brian sits down with Jessica Stahl, COO of Metric Marine, for a deep dive into the operational engine behind one of South Florida's leading marine supply distributors. If the first two episodes covered vision and marketing, this one gets into the gritty day-to-day of how a distribution business actually wins or loses. In this episode: How Metric Marine handles 1,500–3,000 RFQs per month and what it takes to turn them around within the hourWhy speed matters more than price — and when price is simply out of your controlThe Punch Out model explained: what it is, how Metric lost business by not being ready for it, and how they got that business backThe sales-to-operations handoff and why treating a quote like a document instead of a promise can sink a companyWhat Jessica learned sitting on the procurement side of the table — and how that shapes how Metric operates todayWhy consistency, not charm, is what keeps you in a customer's historical data and drives repeat ordersSeatrade, golf tournaments, and the case for showing up without an agendaKey quote: "Sometimes we learn the most from when something doesn't go right — and that's what customers remember the most too." Connect with Jessica Stall on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-stahl-6b815a8a/) or reach Metric Marine at metricmarine.com.

    Line by Line, Vessel by Vessel: Operations Inside a Marine Supply Distributor with Jessica Stahl of Metric Marine

  7. Jun 2

    The Balance Sheet Basics Every Business Owner Is Ignoring — with Patrick Dichter of Apple Tree Business Services

    Brian sits down with Patrick Dichter, owner of Apple Tree Business Services, to break down what small business owners — especially those in manufacturing, distribution, and home services — actually need to understand about their financials. Patrick works with companies ranging from $250K to $20M in revenue and shares the accounting blind spots that cost owners real money. Topics covered: P&L vs. balance sheet — which one matters more, and why inventory-heavy businesses can't ignore the balance sheet"Checkbook Charlie" — the most common stage new business owners get stuck inThe right amount of cash to keep on hand, and how to think about gross profit margins by industryWhy accounts receivable is a full contact sport and how slow invoicing silently kills cash flowThe strategic case for paying your bills slowly — and when to break that ruleCash vs. accrual accounting: what the purists get wrong for small businessesCommon QuickBooks mistakes that quietly wreck your financials (CRM integrations, unmatched deposits, proposal invoices)Why commingling personal and business expenses is a serious problem — especially at saleWhat accounting team you actually need at $2M, $5M, and $10M in revenueHow to think about gross margin as your highest-leverage financial leverExit planning: the real reason high margins can be a red flag for buyersConnect with Patrick: Website: appletreebusiness.comTwitter/LinkedIn: @PatrickDichter

    The Balance Sheet Basics Every Business Owner Is Ignoring — with Patrick Dichter of Apple Tree Business Services

  8. May 26

    80 Years and Still Building: What Running a 26-Person Sign Shop Teaches You About Growing a Trade Business

    Dan Verboski didn't grow up dreaming about signs. He left the State Department in 2017, looked for a business to buy, and ended up in Tyler, Texas taking over a 72-year-old sign company he knew nothing about. Leon Signs is now 80 years old and Dan runs a 26-person operation making custom, large-format lighted signs for banks, churches, restaurants, and national rollouts across East Texas. In this episode: Why 87% of Dan's revenue comes from repeat customers and what that says about how to protect a geographic moatThe "blessing and curse" of being a specialty trade business — high inbound, but nearly impossible to scale fast because every hire takes years to developHow Leon Signs tells customers their confirmed install date within days of signing and hits it 95% of the timeThe 4-year, 9-month warranty call — a simple touchpoint that keeps customers close right before the relationship would go quietWhy Dan almost lost people he shouldn't have when he bought the company, and what he would do differentlyEOS and how a 10-year vision connects to a 90-day sprint for an 80-year-old trade businessWhat people get wrong about manufacturing and the trades — and why "you'll be poor" is the wrong assumptionConnect with Dan on Linkedin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/danverboski/) & check out Leon's Signs here (https://www.leonssignsinc.com/)

    80 Years and Still Building: What Running a 26-Person Sign Shop Teaches You About Growing a Trade Business
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About

The Industrial Side features conversations with operators across industrial, distribution, and field service businesses. Each episode focuses on how these businesses actually run, with practical lessons on execution, working capital, labor, and day-to-day operations.

Information

  • Creator
    Brian Kabisa
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    18
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Brian Kabisa 2026
  • Show Website
    The Industrial Side