Brian Liveoak leads that manufacturing team here at Custom Valve Concepts. If the team has an issue or concern about quality, technical issues, or maintenance needs with a machine or a suggestion on how to improve their performance, Brian is the man they talk to.

We spoke with Brian to get some insight into his role, what his day to day looks like, who has influenced him throughout his career, and what he likes to do when he is not working.

What do you do at CVC and in what circumstances would a team member come to you for something?

I lead a team of skilled manufacturing personnel, assisting each one as needed when any issues or concerns arise for anything that may hinder their daily duties. From day to day this will include quality, technical, maintenance of machines troubleshooting, and reviewing post-production suggestions made by each person on the team.

Each perspective is valuable, and suggestions are welcome on how we can improve as a team. I believe everyone has something to contribute to producing products for our customers and any ideas should be looked at for quality improvements, cost reduction, or make processes flow better for the operators. I am always there for my staff for work and any personal issues that affect their work.

Who has influenced you most when it comes to how you approach your work?

I have worked for several managers throughout my career. I have seen many types of approaches to directing personnel. Throughout my years of managing and oversight, I have found most people want to work efficiently and only need the tools to accomplish this – whether a helping hand or a tool that does the job right.

I have learned the most from my JROTC instructors that people look for a leader, not a boss or tyrant manager. This was reinforced for me when I worked with my former manager at another company/role, Peter Bowers.

My role was responsible for setting up the CNC machines at this facility. I was buried in work and needed to run a machine and set up another. Peter had recognized the stress I was under. He walked up in his normal suit and tie and asked what he could do. I was half-joking when I responded that I needed someone to run the machine that was set up so I could focus on getting the next one set up and running. He took his tie, jacket off, rolled up his sleeves, and said, “show me how to run it”.

That experience with Peter determined what type of management approach I respected but also the type of manager I knew I wanted to learn to be for my team. I have seen that same approach with our entire management staff at CVC on more than one occasion and it makes my job better to work with managers who know and respect those same lessons.

What is a work-related accomplishment that you are really proud of?

Because we focus on quality, I am always looking for ways to improve our work processes, work holding, and tooling improvements as a team. About six years ago, I was fortunate enough to attend IMTS and learned of dovetail work holding.

Normally, Custom Valve Concepts processed work by adding additional material so we could clamp our parts. This was effective for our work process but caused additional issues with part deformity and depending on the material condition we must adjust speeds and feeds when manufacturing products.

Once we had tested and implemented the dovetail clamping system, we were able to hold parts without deforming machined features vital to product quality which significantly increased feed and production rates while maintaining consistency.

This also led to cost savings on material since we were able to eliminate the amount of material needed to clamp using this new system. The vendor that I met and who inspired this change at IMTS commended our testing and modification of their vise and even better, asked if they could send our data back to their engineers to show how we modified it and inspire education within their facility.

What is something in the industry you would like to see change in the next five years? 

I would like the training and mentoring of new and upcoming generations to highlight this industry. There is a shortage of manufacturing employees. Over the next 10 years, research is pointing to a shortage of over 2 million manufacturing employees.

We’re starting to see a decrease in the number of skilled workers, the current generation of the manufacturing workforce is nearing retirement age (about 2.7 million workers are expected to retire in the next 10 years) and there’s a negative image of manufacturing among a new generation of workers.

Manufacturing has long been a cornerstone of our economic growth here in the U.S. and now there is a stigma attached when it is a great career path for people. Over that same ten years the workforce retiring, 700,000 new jobs are projected from business growth in manufacturing in the U.S. alone.

This industry has exciting and cutting-edge technology opportunities from new and innovative machine tools that will require critical thinking to utilize the equipment to create quality products efficiently while using ever-changing technology.

What energizes you outside of work?

I enjoy traveling in my R.V. with family and friends.

What is your favorite quote?

”We are continually faced by great opportunities brilliantly disguised as insoluble problems.” - Lee Iacocca