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When asked if he was currently in his “Dream Job,” as VP and Chief R&D officer for Valvoline, Roger England’s response says it all about his infectious enthusiasm for all he does.

“Heck yeah. I have a great time. I enjoy going to work,” England shares with Bill Babcox in the most recent AMN Drivetime podcast. “I hired into Cummings Technical Center after high school as a janitor. No one in my family really went to college. My high school advisors told me that I wasn’t smart enough to go to college, that I needed to get my butt to trade school. And at the time, that was a union position to be a janitor there and paid pretty good money. My dad ran a garage, so I’d kind of grown up working in the garage and there were a lot of guys who were engineers at Cummins that would work second shift at the garage for my dad. They were really smart guys and I thought, ‘You know, hanging out at someplace like that with a lot of smart people is not a bad idea.’”

Turns out it was not a very bad idea at all. As England shares, he walked into Cummins with a high school diploma and walked out with a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering. “When I left, I was leading intellectual property, advanced manufacturing and materials engineering for the corporation. I spent a lot time working – most of my time – working at the R&D Technical Center in Columbus, Indiana.”

In this latest AMN Drivetime podcast, Bill and Roger dive into a number of other interesting topics, including:

01:37 How Roger landed his dream job at Valvoline

02:36 Fun experiences pursuing his other passion – racing

04:49 Scoop on Valvoline’s sale of its Global Products Business to Aramco

08:15 Valvoline’s approach to the EV market and Roger’s take on the market as an “Internal Combustion” guy

11:56 Valvoline’s growth strategy including expanding into the Heavy-Duty segment

15:03 What it’s like to hold 13 patents

16:49 The best career advice Roger ever received from his Grandfather

18:31 The always popular Lightning Round!

AMN Drivetime is sponsored by Litens.

They discuss the CNBC article covering the possibility that a new Lithium Ion battery plan may be built in Texas. Of course, more about the need to be more free of international supply chains and China. They smoke the Casa Magna D. Magnus II with Joseph Magnus Straight Bourbon Whiskey finished in sherry and cognac casks.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/09/tesla-evaluating-lithium-refinery-in-texas-for-electric-car-batteries.html

On this episode, we’ll address the topic of the ever-increasing manufacturing skills gap in the US and what is being done to engage and inspire more young Americans of all backgrounds to build great careers in the manufacturing trades. 

This is a two-part episode, featuring interviews with two guests. 

My first guest is Sarah Boisvert. She is the author of The New Collar Workforce: An Insider’s Guide to Making Impactful Changes to Manufacturing and Training. It’s a culmination of research with 200 manufacturers in the US on the skills needed mostly for operators and technicians on the factory floor.  

My 2nd guest is Chris Brenchley, the co-founder, and CEO of Surehand. Surehand is a self-service hiring platform that instantly matches industrial employers with skilled tradespeople.

Workers can create their free Surehand profile here: https://surehand.com

Employers can learn more and create their Surehand Recruiter preview account here: https://surehand.com/employers. 

This week, Tony Uphoff joins me on the show to discuss how manufacturing supply chains have been impacted by the Coronavirus. Tony is the President and CEO of Thomas, the leader in product sourcing, supplier selection, and marketing solutions for industry. 

A recent survey showed by 750 North American manufacturing and industrial suppliers showed that 60% of US manufacturing companies are already feeling the disruptions caused by the coronavirus outbreak, with 24% of the surveyed companies having production facilities in China.

Ont this episode, we'll be discussing this survey, and Tony will shed some good news from some more recent survey numbers that indicate supply chains have adjusted their sourcing and these disruptions are being minimized by manufacturers. 

About Thomas

Thomas provides actionable information, data, analysis and tools that align with and support today’s industrial buying process. Its solutions include the Thomas Network®, industry’s largest and most active buyer/supplier network. Through Thomas Marketing Services, the company also provides full-service industrial marketing programs and website development.