Clocking In

Is your safety program really working, or are you just too close to it to tell?In this episode of Clocking In, host Mike Smith sits down with Ryan Werner, Industrial Safety Consultant at Robert Dietrick Company, who came to the field the hard way. Two 100-pound steel pipes fell on him during an unloading job in his early 20s. After back surgeries and a career reset, he spent years managing health, safety, and environment inside the kinds of facilities he now audits. He knows what it looks like from both sides of the clipboard.This episode makes the case for outside safety consultations, not as a red flag, but as standard operating procedure. You'll come away understanding why safety and productivity are not in competition, what an outside audit actually involves, and why the facilities that do this well treat it the same way they treat preventative maintenance on equipment.Key Takeaways:Slowing forklifts down to reduce accidents forced one facility to innovate. They ended up faster and safer.Your safety team is reactive by design. Injuries, near misses, contractor questions, they all jump the queue. Floor walks get pushed. An outside consultant shows up with no queue.Fresh eyes catch what familiarity hides. If you've walked past something every day for two years, you've stopped seeing it.If an outside consultation prevents one injury, it is no longer a safety expense. It is a business decision.Highlights:(00:00) Meet Ryan Werner(00:33) Why you should consider an outside safety consultation or audit(01:42) The misconception that safety and productivity trade off against each other(03:13) The knife sharpening machine and the finger that almost wasn't(04:10) What race cars have to do with running a safer facility(05:09) How slowing down forklifts made one facility faster(07:00) The accident that sent Ryan Werner to college and into safety(09:20) What keeps HSE managers off the floor even when they want to be there(10:14) Whether it feels threatening when an outsider audits your program(14:00) The four pillars of an RDC safety consultation(15:21) Why you get a digital platform, not a spreadsheet(17:13) The fresh eyes argument, and why walking the same floor every day works against you(19:16) Preventative maintenance for equipment versus preventative maintenance for safety culture(21:34) The Monday morning calendar test for knowing if you need outside helpResources:Robert Dietrick Company’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/robert-dietrick-co./ Mike’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-smith-92728864/  Download RDC's free 10-category, 50-point facility assessment checklisthttps://rd-co.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/facility_checklist.html

What does it actually take to run a food bank that ships meals to all 50 states out of a building that hasn't changed much since it was built?In this episode of Clocking In, host Mike Smith sits down with Jason Meyer, Facilities Manager at Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana, the largest food bank in the state. Jason didn't come up through facility management. He started as a truck driver, moved into maintenance because he knew how to troubleshoot, and eventually took over a 332,000-square-foot operation running 100 trucks a day, 36 sit-down lifts, hundreds of weekly volunteers, and a drive-through food pantry where neighbors pull cars into a live warehouse. He figured most of it out the hard way.This episode covers what changes when you stop reacting and start planning, why the instinct to do everything yourself is a trap, and what facility leaders who are five years into the job still get wrong.Key Takeaways:Stop reacting, start planning. Reactive leadership keeps you busy but never ahead. Small proactive decisions, like buying the right equipment the first time, compound into big wins over time.Relationships are an asset. Taking genuine interest in vendors, technicians, and peers pays off in ways you can not predict. The knowledge you gain from those conversations is irreplaceable.You can not do it all. Focus on what only you can do and trust others with the rest. Recognizing your limitations is not a weakness. It is how you lead better.Highlights:(00:00) Meet Jason Meyer (01:17) What it actually feels like to step into facility leadership for the first time (02:49) Running the largest food bank in Indiana out of a 332,000 square foot building (04:05) How Jason went from driving a truck to running the whole facility (08:20) What Gleaners thought was efficient and what they know now(09:30) Why walking through the warehouse used to be a kamikaze mission(11:27) The fluorescent lights that started a $44,000 conversation (13:01) The comparison trap that was draining Jason’s energy without him realizing it (15:11) The safety problem that never happens until it does (19:38) The risk Jason wishes he took years earlier (21:32) Why facility layout decisions made in a conference room keep haunting the floor (29:47) The preventative maintenance pitch he didn't buy and what he learned from it (31:33) How to know which vendors are actually partners (33:25) What it takes to get younger workers interested in the trades (35:26) The method Jason uses to pass knowledge down without it staying stuck in his head (36:32) The most practical advice for anyone stepping into a facility leadership role todayResources:Robert Dietrick Company’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/robert-dietrick-co./ 

Is your loading dock the biggest liability in your facility  and do you even know it?In this episode of Clocking In, host Mike Smith sits down with Pat Feeney, Territory Sales Representative at Robert Dietrick Company, who brings 21 years of hands-on experience as a service technician, installer, service manager, and quality assurance manager.Pat has seen the full life cycle of loading dock equipment, from installation to failure, and now helps facilities avoid the mistakes he watched play out for two decades. You'll walk away from this episode knowing exactly what equipment mistakes are costing facilities the most, why high turnover has changed the nature of errors at the loading dock, and what practical steps you can take to find out where your operation stands.Key Takeaways:- Moving into a leased space means inheriting equipment that may be dangerously undersized for your operation. Know what you're getting before you sign.- Skipping PM doesn't save money; it multiplies costs. Equipment with proper PM lasts 10–20 years. Without it, about five.- Interlocks force every operator through the correct sequence, whether they were trained on it or not. They're the best tool for handling high turnover.- Forklift and pedestrian separation, fall protection, and knowing what to do when the dock lock fails are all solvable problems. Most facilities just haven't solved them yet.Highlights:(0:00) 25% of facility accidents happen here, and most leaders underinvest in it(1:06) What 21 years at the loading dock actually teaches you(2:35) How turnover changed the nature of dock mistakes(4:25) The two things facilities are most embarrassed to admit(5:22) Mike and Pat share their most embarrassing on-the-job mistakes(8:14) Why the dock is one of the biggest liabilities in your building(10:00) Mistake #1: Underrated equipment and the leased-building trap(13:02) Mistake #2: The PM math that always catches up(14:46) Mistake #3: Wrong restraint for the wrong trailer(16:38) Mistake #4: No interlocks, and how they people-proof your dock(21:14) Mistake #5: Going cheap and what it really costs you(22:52) Mistake #6: Open dock doors without fall protection(25:20) Mistake #7: Forklift and pedestrian separation in legacy buildings(29:58) Mistake #8: What to do when the dock lock fails(32:40) Mistake #9: Production too close to the docks(34:51) Mistake #10: Non-standardized equipment and the chaos it creates(36:30) Two things you can do immediately to assess your loading dockResources:Robert Dietrick Company’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/robert-dietrick-co./ Mike’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-smith-92728864/  Download RDC's free 10-category, 50-point facility assessment checklisthttps://rd-co.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/facility_checklist.html

What separates a high-performing facility from one that's just holding it together? In this episode of Clocking In, host Mike Smith sits down with Lisa Colles, Senior Specialist of Engineering, Distribution, and Maintenance with decades of experience building elite operations at Eli Lilly, to answer that question from the inside out.Lisa shares what it actually looks and feels like to walk into a facility that's firing on all cylinders, why safety and efficiency isn’t the trade-off most people think it is, and the one thing you can do Monday morning to get an honest read on where your operation stands.Key Takeaways:Your facility should run the same on your worst day as your best. If it only hums when the right people are having a good day, you have people running your facility, not processes and that's a problem waiting to happen.Safety and efficiency aren't opposites. Slowing forklifts just 2–3 mph reduced incidents without killing productivity. Lisa’s team adapted by hauling more per trip. When you remove the trade-off mentality, humans will innovate to make both work.Monday morning, do a walkabout. Clean floors, clear pedestrian pathways, proper lighting, and PPE worn without being asked are your fastest indicators of whether your facility is truly high-performing or just getting by.Highlights:(0:00) Why most facilities are running on hope and don't know it(02:44) The three-part framework for this episode (03:04) What Plankton from SpongeBob gets wrong about high performance (05:14) The real definition of a high-performing facility (05:41) Lisa's first job: no processes, no training, and forklifts nearly rolling off docks (10:03) How to read a facility's culture in the first 30 seconds (13:50) The systems that keep things humming even on a bad day (17:35) "I have to choose between safe and efficient" and why that's a myth (21:38) The vendor criteria most facilities completely overlook (23:10) Why your equipment has a memory  and you should use it (26:13) The Monday morning walkabout: where to start if you don't know where to startResources:Lisa Colles’ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lcolles/ Robert Dietrick Company’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/robert-dietrick-co./Mike’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-smith-92728864/ Download RDC's free 10-category, 50-point facility assessment checklisthttps://rd-co.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/facility_checklist.html

Running a warehouse or manufacturing facility is hard work. Every day, you're moving products, managing people, and solving problems, all while trying to do so more safely and faster.Clocking In is the podcast for the people on the floor, at the dock, and behind the operations that keep facilities running. Each episode delivers practical advice from industry experts and operators just like you. Expect real talk on safety, productivity, and keeping things moving even when they don't go as planned.The challenges never stop. But neither do you.Resources:Robert Dietrick Company’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/robert-dietrick-co./Mike’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-smith-92728864/