Why American Manufacturing Is Dying (And How to Fix It) | Bill Currence

Bill Currence is a West Point graduate, former Army officer, and the guy companies call when everything is on fire. They got tired of watching big consulting firms walk in, bill millions, and leave nothing behind but a PowerPoint deck and a bigger problem.So they built CCO Brands instead.But getting there cost him. Bill watched himself lose his values in a plant he was trying to save, pushed by someone who called his leadership into question. When he was fired, he says it was the best thing that ever happened to him.We covered a lot of ground in this conversation:→ Why pride is the single obstacle keeping companies from getting fixed→ How Bill turned around 30 plants in 4 years→ The physics-based approach that reveals where a plant is losing money in real time→ What it means to truly save someone's livelihoodBill cares more about the people on the plant floor than the numbers on the report. And because of that, the numbers always get better too.Bill, thank you for your time and being so open in sharing your story with our listeners!Chapters0:00 - Introduction3:28 - Bill's First Job After the Military: Cintas and Lessons in Operations5:45 - The Six-Year Grind: From Quality Manager to Every Role in the Plant7:20 - Climbing to Plant Manager and the Decision to Roll the Dice9:12 - Scientific Injection Molding and the $250M Plant at Lear14:19 - CCO Brands Is Born: Anti-Consulting and the Problem with Big Firms20:31 - The Pride Problem: Why Companies Wait Too Long to Ask for Help24:04 - Leadership Lessons: Football, West Point, and the Human Element27:24 - The Moment Bill Lost Himself as a Leader (and Got Fired)32:34 - What CCO Actually Does and Why It Works38:00 - The Physics Framework: How to Find a Plant's True Bottleneck48:18 - The Case for Manufacturing: Why Trade School Is Winning53:30 - The Monterrey Moment: Why This Work Is Worth It1:00:55 - Advice to 25-Year-Old Bill: Start Five Years Earlier~~~This episode is powered by TeamSensePrefer to listen?Spotify → https://open.spotify.com/show/033oapRSFlbJrOYMyW2IVS?si=d552ddefbc0c4c10Apple → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/talk-real-shift/id1896826304TeamSense is the AI-powered shift intelligence platform that automates attendance, connects every worker, and drives performance across your operation — all through text.Ready to see how leading manufacturers and logistics teams keep every shift covered?https://teamsense.com/