The CWB Association Welding Podcast
The CWB Association Welding Podcast
Episode 183 with Frank Vargas and Max Ceron
The CWB Association hosted this year's annual CanWeld Conference in collaboration with Fabtech Canada in Toronto, ON. Join us as we bring you special episodes recorded on-site to keep our members on top of what’s new and exciting in the steel and welding industry.
Are you struggling to pick the right welding equipment? Frank Vargas, National Sales Manager at Uniweld and host of Torch Tales discusses Uniweld's commitment to maintaining high manufacturing standards and their global expansion. Frank shares valuable advice for young Latinos aspiring to break into the steel industry, and Torch Tales is a testament to Frankie's dedication and passion for youth mentorship.
Check out:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/frank-vargas-0273a173
https://www.instagram.com/torch_tales?igsh=MW9kNGJrZzhxMjV2bA==
https://www.instagram.com/travelingfrankie?igsh=MTk4MXZpcWdqbnU4aA==
https://www.instagram.com/uniweldproducts?igsh=MTYyZm04Znc4anNjMQ==
https://www.linkedin.com/company/uniweld-products-inc./
A special thank you to Cooperheat Equipment for sponsoring our Podcast Booth at 2024 Fabtech Canada! https://cooperheatequipment.com/
Thank you to our Podcast Advertisers:
Canada Welding Supply: https://canadaweldingsupply.ca/
Miller: https://www.millerwelds.com/products/mobilearc
What did you think about this episode? Send a text message to the show!
All right, I can check. Check, I'm good. So I'm Max Duran. Max Duran, cwb Association Welding Podcast, pod pod podcast. Today we have a really cool guest welding podcast. The show is about to begin.
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Speaker 1:Hello and welcome to another edition of the CWB Association podcast. My name is Max Duran and I am here, day three Fabtech Canada, losing my voice. Three days of podcasts and sessions and presenting and work and it's been nuts and it's been such a good time here on the floor and with Canwell. This is the last episode of the week and I'm wrapping it up with one of the best guys out there. We got Frankie Vargas, who is the national sales manager for Uniweld and the impeccable and unsurmountable host of Torch Tales.
Speaker 2:Wow, I don't even know what to say after that.
Speaker 1:Alright, thanks guys.
Speaker 2:It was great Awesome.
Speaker 1:Great interview. See you later. After that I don't want to hear anything else. Yep.
Speaker 2:Yep. Thank you for having me, Max.
Speaker 1:Thank you. Yeah, you bet, man, how you been. How's the show? Are you tired?
Speaker 2:Day three, man you know what you never know with these shows. You know how it works. You come in and expectations could be up here and it was okay this time around it was just a home run. We, yeah, we loved it. You know the kind of leads, the quality of people that are here, it's. It's amazing.
Speaker 1:So great time so far well, first of all, I think the the conference is bigger this year. I think people, the floor is sold out. Um, we exceeded all our numbers awesome that we expected. So that's a win already. But I also think that you're more recognizable now, you know. Well, two years ago here was like, okay, we know a little bit about these guys. But now, two years later, you guys have done a lot of money and put a lot of money into marketing, getting the face out there, getting the word out there. Do you feel like that is helping with the footprint here now?
Speaker 2:oh for sure, definitely. I mean we, we've had a footprint in Canada for maybe 20 years or so, but, like you said, for some reason, which is social media platforms nowadays- right. It has really worked. And now, yeah, we're getting places where there was no doors before. Now those doors are there and we're just coming right in.
Speaker 1:When you're looking at this year's show, you're back in South Florida. When you're looking at this, your show, you're, you know, back in south florida and you're getting ready to prep for the show and coming up with a plan. What would be or what was the, the win that you were looking for coming here to fab tech canada? You know you said you've been here coming, you've had business here for 20 years. What was it you wanted to achieve here?
Speaker 2:well, you, you never know. So you, you're open-minded, you know, not only do you want to solidify some of those relationships that you already have, and just seeing those customers that sometimes you don't get to see around.
Speaker 2:I handle all of the US and all of Canada, so of course I'm watered down everywhere. So when you come to a show like this and you get to see them because they're already here, it's a win-win. And then I get to work with some of my reps as well and also just kind of getting a feedback on what they got going on and see what they think about the industry.
Speaker 1:so overall it's just a win-win and and yeah, it's- great, you have like a sales target when you walk in that door, being like we're going to fabtech canada, I'm going to sell 1 million torches, like I don't know, like hey I wish you know, um, we take it slow and yes, so of course we have targets and there's different distributors here that we deal with.
Speaker 2:That we already have a relationship and we just want to grow with some of them, and you know, I don't want to mention names, cause you know how this, this works. Then you mentioned one and then the other is like well, what about me? So but there's a few here that I think we have done our job on making sure to for them to recognize the brand and for just to know that, hey, this is what we have, this is what we can do, and I think it's worked.
Speaker 1:Yeah yeah, now on the other side, you know there's there's the networking, there's the non-sales side of the business correct the branding, the recognition. How important is it to come up to Canada for that? I feel like you know. They say the american markets are roughly about 10 times bigger than the canadian market. Do you feel that you have that 10 stake in canada, or or you got to grow?
Speaker 2:no, not yet, not yet you know we're not even close to what we can do, and it's part of what you were saying before you know, just us getting out there and making sure people can recognize. Hey, wow, I'd worry about uniwell, but I wasn't sure about everything they can do and you know, we make so many custom and private things for many other companies, which you know, ndas, you can really talk about those either, but yes, I think more and more in the last couple of years, especially because of everything that you mentioned before, we just talk about it and they go like, yeah, I know what you guys do, of course.
Speaker 2:Yeah, okay, let's have that conversation, yeah. So I think that 10 it's really getting there and every time I we do the rounds, we're just getting conversations that they were not there before well, it's so interesting talking about those custom applications.
Speaker 1:I feel like for a long time, the, the torch, shoxy fuel companies out there last 20 years, we're really focusing on just, you know, shrinking down the lines to create like there's the light duty package, the medium duty package, the heavy duty package and then just different tips. That that's, that's the life. That's it, yeah, that's the life. And then now you're seeing in the last, I would say, five, ten years, a lot of companies coming up being like well, we have specific industry solutions to meet your specific needs, based on gas use. What you're cutting, what you're doing, how do you go through that process? How does someone say, hey, uneweld, I want to cut eight-inch plate with blah, blah, blah, correct Propane, I don't know Like whatever, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:And how do you figure that out? How does that whole work?
Speaker 2:Well, you know the customers and the people, people out there, they're the ones doing this day in, day out. Every once in a while, someone comes up to me and say hey, frank, how can I do this? I'm like, well, this is what I recommend, but you are the expert. At the end of the day, you're using this every single day. I'm selling just the out of it, right? Yeah, so every time we hear a customer and we go to their domain and see all right, this is what you're doing. Great, well, have you thought about this? What about this? And they'll bring ideas. They're the ones bringing all those ideas and we can just, yeah, we can do that. Oh, no, there's no way. You, you want one, only yeah, don't talk to us yeah, but you know if there's roi on both sides, for sure we can make anything happen.
Speaker 2:That's how big and flexible also we are at the same time and yes, the gases keep changing because you know, settling just a little bit more money out there, right yeah, it's expensive, so most people just want to use propane or something alternative natural gas right. So yeah, the torches, the heating tapes, the rosebuds, everything is changing to accommodate the gases that now people have access to so heating tips.
Speaker 1:I just wrote down heating tips I saw you that I'm like what yeah? This is the bane of the existence for many welders. Yeah, and you mentioned Rosebuds, although I don't think. I think Rosebuds is like Kleenex, I think it's a brand, right.
Speaker 2:Well yeah, rosebud is just a bigger heating tip. Let's just say that right, that's all it is when you have welding tips, which is just the one single flame, and then the rosebud is just that eight, six little holes, just giving you fire and just preheat fab.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So in the world of instructors, one of the hardest tools to teach to use is a heating tip properly. Yeah, Number one. They're 99% of the time too big of a tip for the amount of gas. Correct, Because I feel like that happens in the sales world. The salesman shows up at the shop and they say what do you need? Oh, we're trying to straighten out these beams. Yeah right, we need a heating tip. And so they go to the catalog and they find the biggest one at the bottom and say, yeah, I want that one. And they don't realize that you need like seven acetylene bottles to make that run. How do you educate your clients to make sure that they're buying the right type of heating tip for the right amount of pressure for gas? Because that's also one of the most dangerous processes, because those suckers can pop right off man.
Speaker 2:Well, that's the thing, and you know that's a great point. You know, all of us, we always want the biggest, the baddest right Like wow, that's the one I want. So, I think you know, every time I go to a school or I'm talking to anyone out there, I'm like all right, what is it that you're going to end up using it for?
Speaker 3:That's the first question and then I go.
Speaker 2:You don't need that. Of course I want to sell you the biggest one. I'm going to make more money on it, right? But that doesn't make any sense. Why would I do that? So, usually every settings that they see it's based on a specific standard 25-foot hose. I see that you have flashback arresters. I see that you have both at the torch end and at the regulator end. So now you have restricted the regular settings from the book.
Speaker 1:Right. You put 20 on the regulator but you got 10 coming out. The other end Correct and then.
Speaker 2:So for every 25-foot of hose, you have to adjust the size, you have to do all these other things, and most people just don't do that. They stay at the same settings that they saw on the little chart, but they have added all these other things. The rig it's based on a 100-foot hose, which should have been 11, 12, 13 PSI on the settling and 55, 60 on the oxygen, but they're all the way down and they're like well, this is not working. What's going on?
Speaker 1:It's like well, yeah, you wanted the big one but you never adjusted to everything else you got.
Speaker 2:That's right. Yeah, so it's one of those things, but I gotta tell you, because of social media, the gas apparatus and torches have come back in the last five years, like you mentioned. It's a lot of these guys doing art, doing flame art, doing all these other things, metal fab and metal, you know just bending and you name it. So it's amazing what social media has done to the one process that is almost 200 years old it's crazy, but I see it has come back in a big way yeah.
Speaker 1:so right now in canada we're reviewing. I think this next year, coming up 2025, they're going to be doing a trade board review, so we have a nationalized welding program gotcha. Right across canada, everyone gets taught the same thing same module, same books to meet the same standards. Right now there's oxyfuel as a part of our learning. Every welder in Canada has to learn how to turn them on safely, turn them off, the difference between the tips and how to cut and heat. They're talking about removing from the curriculum to include more arc processes. Gotcha, right, because they say to them, according to them, this is the logic. Yeah, if you're day one on the job site as a fresh hire out of school, you're not getting put on the torch, you're getting sent in to run the MIG or something else. When it's time to learn the torch, the glue, cut pieces, you may have been there. They will teach you, the shop will teach you. I don't know how I feel about that. How do you feel about that?
Speaker 2:Well, I can tell you this yes, of course technology has taken over. We all know that. But you know what? Knowing how to drive stick, or knowing how to run an automatic right wouldn't you want to be able to drive both?
Speaker 2:that's right so you can say you can actually drive right. So, learning the process and learning what an open flame, what a flame tool is, isn't that the same thing as everything else you're going to end up doing? There's an arc, there's a flame. If learn that process, if you learn how fire works, it just makes sense. So, why wouldn't you know these things, even though you're going to end up using a plasma or this or that? But, an oxyfuel. You are in the middle of the field, cutting a railroad six, eight inches thick.
Speaker 3:What are you?
Speaker 1:going to do there how are you going to cut?
Speaker 2:that? Are you going to do?
Speaker 1:there. Yeah, how are you going to cut that?
Speaker 2:you're going to bring your plasma into, yeah, the train station six months later, right, yeah, yeah, I'm still here it's a full-time job right so you know, it's one of those things I always tell, especially in our countries where we come from, and stuff like that oxy fuel. I was just in jamaica yeah ask me how many plasma cutters I saw out there. Yeah, zero, man Zero I saw guys doing bevel cuts and things with a torch that I can only dream of. Yeah, there's no way an ice.
Speaker 1:It's a glass, it's perfect. I'm like who?
Speaker 2:did that. Where's the machine? Because I don't see anything here. Yeah, it's Joe back there. I'm like Joe, come here again. And these, some of these guys are amazing. They stack dimes with torch on the heating table. That you could. You could just think that it was a machine and you just have no clue.
Speaker 1:But yeah, there's some talent out there I remember teaching oxy fuel welding and I, you know, as an instructor, I was trying to find some interesting facts, you know, to tell them, because even the kids coming up they're like man, what am I going to do this? I don't care about this, I want to take. Well, yeah, I want to take, take, take, take, take take, take, take take, yeah, yeah it's like man get over it, but anyways I?
Speaker 1:I would say, that's another show yeah, it's another show I would say to them you know, before arc welding became so easy and portable, all right, the world was built by oxy fuel welding process. You're looking at the eiffel tower. You're looking at the biggest bridges in the world. You You're looking at some major constructions. Empire State Building has tons of oxy-fuel welding done in it. It's not weaker, it's not worse, it's just slower. That was the only thing that really caused a bubble for it in the production world. It's about speed.
Speaker 2:It's about speed at the end of the day, and we get it, but sometimes, okay, that's the industrial side of things. What about? The art side, there's guys out there, like David Madero out of Mexico.
Speaker 1:Yeah man, that dude's awesome.
Speaker 2:Have you seen what this guy does?
Speaker 1:with the torch. I party with the guy man. He's been on the show. There you go.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I was just lucky enough that he was on my show as well. But the things he does with the torch, those art pieces, I mean, come on. It's like, look, these are kind of the things that you can do as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and for low-cost at-home hobbyists, there's probably not a better tool. Yep, right, because you can do so much with it. And people are like oh, I've got to fix my aunt's chair, I don't have a small enough arc welder. Well, do you have oxy fuel?
Speaker 2:because you can do anything with that cod weld braze bent come on give me one single tool that with a tote this big you can actually go out there and do any of that. Yeah, show me one, because I haven't seen it.
Speaker 1:Yeah although in my world I I always knew acetylene yeah, I was an acetylene guy, yeah. And now I see a lot of like natural gas and propanes, map gas coming out and they just don't hit. The same to me. How's the technology covering that?
Speaker 2:gap, you know what? Again, it depends. It's by pockets, depending where you are, they have access to certain things and sometimes it's all about money, Like if you're just going to be preheating all day long propane LP or anything like that is going to be the way to go. But, if you just want to cut quicker and you're just scrapping metal, maybe acetylene is the way. So you're going to see that 20% where it's all right. Am I using so much gas versus how much is costing me?
Speaker 2:and that's usually how the ratio, how they do the math, and I recommend either, or it's just what can you have access to? Because, it doesn't make any sense if I tell them yeah, just go propane only. Well, I'm going through a bottle with this or that, or I can't get it. Or I'm going through a bottle of this or that, or I can't get it, or I'm going through a settling and I'll cut in two minutes what usually takes me 10 with propane.
Speaker 2:So at the end of the day, I tell them this is what's out there, it's your decision to make. Yeah, you've got to figure out what's acceptable for you, correct, and most people think that you can't cut a clean cut with any propane based gas right, yeah, which actually that's not true. You can have some amazing clean cuts.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's not me doing it, because there's no way. Yeah, I can do those. I remember the first time I was handed a propane oxy setup, yeah, and I was like because you're waiting for it to cherry so you can start the cut, and I'm like hello yeah, hello I'll be back, hello like when is this turning red? Like, Like I want to cut already.
Speaker 2:That's the thing. It's so aggressive that you know the heat is right off the tip where propane it's. You know the BTU is a little bit further from the tip.
Speaker 2:So yeah, but there's some magic, there's a secret sauce there. I've seen people do like four buy. Yeah. The first time I saw that, especially a clean cut, I'm like dude, you're gonna teach me. Yeah, yeah, but the pressures are also way different. Like you're ramped right up they are, and that's why you can actually cut way bigger things with propane, because I suddenly saw such a wild gas volatile, you can go after 15 psi. But yeah, with anything probably you can get a little.
Speaker 2:No, I won't say that, hey, I didn't say that I work for a company and I got to say what I'm told. So yes, you can, but you know what I mean.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I do.
Speaker 2:It's a little different.
Speaker 1:Now let's talk about you. Frank your background. How did you get in this game? This is niche. So you got welding, we got this giant world, then you get into cutting, Then you get into torches. I mean, you're dialed right into this, this avenue, right? How did you get to here?
Speaker 2:I took an uber uh yeah um you know I I work for granger, so I've been on the industrial side for many years so I used to sell certain things and a lot of other products right, thousands of products, yeah. So I got exposed to the industrial side just by selling it, yeah, and then slowly I uniwell the company I work for now they were just looking 15 years ago because granger was they supply.
Speaker 1:You know well, they did yes, yes, yeah yeah.
Speaker 2:So they've always had a line, because uniwell has two divisions one is, uh h, back refrigeration and the other one is gas apparatus. So Granger has a little bit of both going on for them from our line right. And so Uniworld tried to hire me 15 and a half years ago and I said no the first time. It just wasn't the right time. Then the second time around. Somehow they found me again.
Speaker 1:No, clue how it was. And this is all like. This is still South Florida, all South Florida. Yes.
Speaker 2:And the reason why the second time I said you know what I'm gonna think about this one? Yeah, it was because I was coaching baseball about an hour away from where the grandeur was and where my kids were going to school. I'm like, all right, I think it makes sense. Now I think I'm tired of this long hour yeah so I said yes, and 15 years later, here I am here you are, I know.
Speaker 1:So in 15 years, you know with this, how have you seen the company progress or advance? What have been like some of the biggest changes you've seen within the last 15 years?
Speaker 2:You know one of the great things, and it's a double-edged sword. It's still a family-owned business.
Speaker 3:You know.
Speaker 2:it's been in business for 75 years and one of the things that we take a lot of pride is that we're still US made.
Speaker 2:So, 75% of what we do is US made. We've got to have the imports as well. We've got to have A and B for our customers, right. But one of the things that I've got to say is that one of the best things is that there's no red tape. It's me. Then I go to the owners, president of the company and I say, hey, this is what we need to do. We need to do, this is what I think we need to do.
Speaker 2:Yeah, with that being said because it's also a family-owned business. Sometimes there's budgets and stuff like that, like they gotta look at things. It's like wait, wait wait, frank, like you know, you're a little too wild why are you in jamaica again?
Speaker 1:yeah, it's right, yeah, it's like. Well, I'm selling torches, you know, and I'm firing things up um you know, but so yeah, so it's a double-edged sword.
Speaker 2:I love the fact that I have the flexibility to just think outside the box where there's not much red tape, like bigger companies.
Speaker 1:You know how that works. Oh man, I live it.
Speaker 2:I got to go through 10 different people before a decision?
Speaker 1:is made.
Speaker 2:It's just me and then the owners. So that's the plus side. And then what I've seen growth-wise is that because of both divisions, like Uniwall started with the gas apparatus and that was many, many years ago. Then we brought the HVAC division, which makes sense.
Speaker 1:You're still using copper, say, materials, fittings, racing, soldering, all these things right.
Speaker 2:So anything that it takes to operate, maintain and repair AC, industrial commercial, you name it. We have all the tools right, but then that actually has taken over the company meaning it's like 60-40 now.
Speaker 1:It's like when your little brother is taller than you. There you go. What?
Speaker 2:the f*** happened.
Speaker 1:I was here first, right yeah but get out of here, sit down.
Speaker 2:That's exactly what has just happened. So that has put us in the map on many different divisions and many industries out there, and we're just loving the ride.
Speaker 1:What about the technology and the torches? One of the things that sometimes smaller family-owned companies struggle with is investment into R&D Correct, because they don't have quite the backing to get into that world sometimes, which is a very expensive world to get into. How does Uniweld manage the R&D part, the coming up with the new next thing that's going to be needed in industry?
Speaker 2:At the end of the day, it's very hard to come up with a new torch right. It's like what's the process?
Speaker 3:What's the?
Speaker 2:technology behind a torch. So what we do is we come up with different things that just add and make that torch give you more value. So we can grab a regulator and change all these things and make it lighter and do the same work and the flow and all these things. But at the end of the day, you know, because we make all the major three styles of torches out there, we make every one of them.
Speaker 1:But what are those? A balanced injector.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so head mix, stick mix and tooth mix.
Speaker 1:Okay, right, right right.
Speaker 3:So those are the three major ones out there.
Speaker 2:And we make every one of those, and then we can combine a lot of those things and make a different torch.
Speaker 3:that nobody has you know which we do.
Speaker 2:We have certain things that nobody else does because we're able to hey, what about if we grab this thing and that other thing and we just blend them together like, oh, that's something new. But at the end of the day, there's not much new when it comes to that side of things. We make more efficient things and the quality will really stand behind it.
Speaker 2:But on the hvac side of things refrigeration, soldering, racing that's the techie division for us so on, that we have digital manifolds, vacuum gauges and vacuum pumps and all these cool digital things that communicate with your phone and give you all the readings you know when you're doing the vacuums on the ac so that's the techie side of the division for us.
Speaker 1:Do you see that technology, the techie side, getting in with the, the oxy fuel side, or the cutting side, like where it maybe tells you that your bottle's almost empty, or or stuff like that? Do you see it mixing the other way?
Speaker 2:yeah, stuff like that. I can see, you know, and I think there is certain things out there that you can grab already your bottles and it'll give you the read. You know, it's that easier to read than you know. Just look at the gauges looking at you know your clocks and shake it.
Speaker 3:I know, is there anything left?
Speaker 2:you know, I got nothing right, so so yes, that it's out there still right now, but I don't think that much changing on this particular thing yeah it's like if it works, why change it? And it has worked for 150 years so there's not much to do. It's like a match, right, like how much better can you make a match?
Speaker 1:but yeah, it works so that's kind of the technology behind the torches. Yeah, now what about the heavy industrial stuff? Like I worked in a steel shop, I worked in a steel mill for a number of years and when they cut the plates coming off the rolling mill they got like 10 foot long torches running on 200 psi natural gas yeah you know what I mean. Do you guys do that? Will you be able to? I guess is there any limit to what you guys can do?
Speaker 2:Well, of course there's always limits, right? But yes, so we do make a lot of custom stuff for other industries, like asphalt heating tips that go on these big machines as the road is getting paved and all that we make all these liquid propane torches and all these other coil tips for the pipeliners out there yeah, doing the preheat on this coil. So we make so many other things and that's the thing most people say to uniwell oh, they make torches until we have those conversations yes, oh, you do lots of stuff, we're still making flame tools at the end of the day but, some really really cool weird different flame tools.
Speaker 2:So the answer is yes, we can pretty much do anything.
Speaker 1:How do you enter? You said the company's been around, what 75 years 75 years this year. This year. So that's very impressive. But you're also in a world where there's the Victors, the Smiths. You've got these big, big names rolling around.
Speaker 2:I'm sorry, who are they? Yeah, big.
Speaker 1:They got chunks of the market share right, yes, they do. How do you, how do you stack in as a salesperson, as a company, when you come into even a trade show, yeah, and say, look at us, we have x.
Speaker 2:This is the difference. I think, at the end of the day, it's um the people yeah you know, a product is a product, it's Frank.
Speaker 1:Thank you, max, that's where I was going right.
Speaker 2:You know that's the only thing that I can say hey, this is what we got, this is our portfolio, this is our catalog and this is what I can do. But at the end of the day, I know the brand recognition is very important for a lot of different people out there, but we, for a lot of different people out there, but we have all these things that we can do to kind of, hey, play with our stuff, no questions asked. Let us know what you think. Yeah, you know. And then you come back and tell us what you think and we'll take that feedback. And sometimes nine out of ten was like whoa, yeah, I, I.
Speaker 1:This is good I get it well. I I I know like I listed off a couple brands there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I know exactly after 30 years in the industry, from each brand the things I don't like about them correct and the things I do yeah, right, and that's the way it is we all do, and the one thing that we take a lot of pride is like we've never sacrificed our us manufacturing yeah I cannot speak for everybody else you can control the production.
Speaker 1:If it you get a bad run, you can be like yo, yo, this isn't good enough. That's's correct.
Speaker 2:I don't have to wait 90 days 120 days just to like let me wait for the other container to come back from who knows where. So that's the one thing that we buy raw material in the US, we make the stuff in the US and we employ anywhere between 200 or 275 at any given moment.
Speaker 1:That's a significant size.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and we have a warehouse in Houston, a warehouse here in Canada, a warehouse in California, so we spread.
Speaker 1:So when you say that you're in charge of the sales for Canada and US basically North America- yeah, correct. Including Mexico or not. Mexico.
Speaker 2:No, so what happens is. The reason why you mentioned Mexico is because we have an export department as well.
Speaker 1:So we export all over the world, but you speak Spanish. Well, don't you want it?
Speaker 2:Well, here, here's the here's the story. So, yes, I am bilingual. Of course, I was born in the Dominican Republic and the first trade show I ever did in Mexico, I didn't speak the Spanish industry lingo, ah, so that is hard to learn. Correct industry lingo. Ah, so that is hard to learn, correct? So in my eyes, I'm like, of course I'm bilingual, of course I'm gonna go help. And then I get asked all these questions and all these words. I'm like what are they saying? Yeah, what?
Speaker 1:word is that what is that?
Speaker 2:and my guys are looking at me like dude. You're bilingual like I've never heard of that before. Yeah, so it took me a while and but now I help the export department in mexico and I'm going back to next year in Monterey, which actually should come.
Speaker 1:Man, I already talked to the FMA SME team, aws. Everyone's like. Max, you're at everything in the US, everything in Canada. Why are you not in Mexico? And I have? So I got to make the business. I got to make the business, you know.
Speaker 2:Expose them out there, right.
Speaker 1:I got gotta figure out how the cwb group can work in mexico first, of course, right, because I can't go down there and be like, yeah, I want to go down there make a, do stuff well, for you to figure that out, you got to go first and kind of check that right.
Speaker 2:The second time is when you, you know so my boss, who's probably gonna listen to this at some point. You heard it from frankie vargas it's very important that max goes to me and checks the industry and I'm bilingual and find that synergy right.
Speaker 1:My kids are half.
Speaker 3:Mexican for crying out loud Really. Yeah, my kid's mom is from Cuernavaca. You're in and especially Monterey.
Speaker 2:It's a cool town. Mexico City I was impressed with the show I got to say it was much better than I thought.
Speaker 1:I'm looking forward to it. I know David Madero is always there, I know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we had a nice dinner with adult drinks.
Speaker 1:Did his mom come?
Speaker 2:No, it was just him.
Speaker 1:It was just him she seems like such a wonderful lady.
Speaker 2:Really yeah, yeah, no, I think I'm going to see him in Orlando because we're planning some stuff together. What do? You mean, you're plan some stuff, the group, but then David Madero and us, and some things are happening.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay, Well, I hope it's in Espanol and we can do it together Actually yeah, there's everything.
Speaker 2:It's bilingual baby.
Speaker 1:Now you know what's next for Uniweld. You know, like you guys are doing the stuff, You're doing the social media, You're doing the videos You're getting out. Do you have an expected growth? Are you looking to expand to other countries? What's on the horizon for Uneweld?
Speaker 2:So the closest, next biggest thing that we are going to do new for us there's an organization called IOMA, International Oxygen Manufacturing Association. It's in Argentina, coming up. I've never been there and I'm going.
Speaker 1:Awesome.
Speaker 2:So it was a great opportunity.
Speaker 1:If you want to visit Chile, I got a house there you can uh, you can chill for a bit well, definitely, that's on my bucket list, because I once I was.
Speaker 2:I'm like you know what. I think I'm going to stay for a couple more days and just kind of go across to auburn. So, yes, I'll be reaching out because, yeah, that is part of the plan absolutely.
Speaker 1:My cousins can meet you, give you the keys to you how it works absolutely. Other friends of mine use it whenever they're down there Awesome.
Speaker 2:Why not, hey, I mean you have me at keys right. So that's a good one for us and that's something different, and we're just going to expand into that market we used to have a presence there, but because of a lot of political stuff. It's rough still, it is so it's just getting a tap better where we can at least look at and say all right, does it make sense?
Speaker 3:well.
Speaker 2:So that one I'm excited about it is yeah it is so that one we're excited about and we hire, you know, a few more guys in the middle east and all that. So we're always expanding and always growing and we do very, very well also in the middle east yeah, yep, I'm looking to expand in the middle east this next year too with the chapter. So yeah, there you go so well we'll.
Speaker 1:we're gonna run into each other in a lot of places, I think I think that's the plan.
Speaker 2:I think we're working into this, right yeah.
Speaker 1:Like when you're looking at that growth. You know how. Where does the education part of your business fit? You know, do you get involved with schools? Do you have discounts for colleges? Like is, is, you know, well conscious of the education part of the business?
Speaker 2:100 and what we have all of that that you just mentioned. Yeah, we have all kinds of educational programs for the schools as well. I think you know that's how you build the brand. But that's that's just long term yeah, you know before. It's really about the safety. Like, if you want to join this industry and you are seeing that the kids are the future, then might as well train them the right way yeah even if they don't buy your product.
Speaker 2:You know you want to see that roi on someone's future, on someone's face like hey, what you did for me two, three, four, five years ago you helped me find my path. So for us, we are a very big part of many different schools and we are always thinking outside the box. What else can we do?
Speaker 1:yeah, yep, well it's, it's self-serving yeah correct. Right, because you, you may, it may be you're playing the long game. Yeah, yeah, but branding with the high schools and post-secondary it goes a long way.
Speaker 2:It does they?
Speaker 1:learn on your torch. They're likely gonna use it forever you know, and we, we get it.
Speaker 2:You know, we're not, we're not dumb you know we we know how that's how that works, but at the end of the day, we also just want to give back and sometimes you know we don't even have a presence more than just that one time, but we still feel good, like, hey, good, we help you with that one thing that you did, or competition, or this or that and and it just feels good at the end of the day, regardless yeah, yep.
Speaker 1:What about your uh journey now into Torch Tales? Yeah, you know how. How did that start did? Did you bring Torch Tales to Uniweld or did Uniweld bring Torch Tales to you?
Speaker 2:so it's I. I brought it to the table and realistically it's not even tied to Uniweld at all.
Speaker 3:It's a it's a personal.
Speaker 2:It's a personal project okay and uh, you know, but I'm very transparent. They know exactly what I'm doing because I wanted to make sure that they didn't see it as I'm just piggybacking or whatever, which I am in the sense that I am in the industry and the connections right right.
Speaker 2:So it's something that I've always been into social media content, but always behind doors, and I used to coach baseball for a long, long time, so so I've always somehow been tied to youth and their progress and their path, and all that so being part of my section for the American Welding Society as well. Every time I would ever talk to someone oh yeah, I'm in the welding industry. Oh great, you're a welder. I'm like no no, I'm not. Oh, you make machines no.
Speaker 2:So the answers could be, no, for a few questions I'm like all right, so let me tell you what I do. So then, that kind of like you know what? There's so many other avenues in this industry and most people, these kids sometimes, they don't know that they could be a Max Serrano.
Speaker 1:They could be a.
Speaker 2:Frank, it doesn't mean that you're an actual welder, welding every day, right? So then I'm like how do I share that? How can I tell them that there's so many other things being exposed to many of you out there? I'm like you know, wow, we're at the bar having drinks and I hear your story. I'm like, whoa, that's very cool, that's interesting. People should hear this, People should hear this. Yeah, so I'm like I'm going to. I asked my first friend I think it was John Ospina from GATA. He runs GATA, the Gas and Welding Distributor Association in the US, and you know he's the director of GATA, and we were in Seven Springs, Pittsburgh, and I'm like, hey, John, do you mind if we record and have a conversation?
Speaker 1:And I post him somewhere.
Speaker 2:He's like whoa wait what?
Speaker 1:For what?
Speaker 2:Yeah, for what I was like well this is the idea, and we happened to go and we were just watching waterfalls around town. I was like, well, this looks like a great place, can? We do it here he said, yes, I'm like all right, it's on. Just on your phone or what yeah so that first one I had the level of your mics you know and just some of the stuff you know, very travel-packed kind of thing Because I travel so much, I can't have all this gear that you have with me.
Speaker 1:Well, I pay people to do it.
Speaker 2:Well, you're a big deal, Max. You know I'm right, here You're a big deal. So it was very unassuming. You know, we did it just standing, you know, with a waterfall background. So I love the idea of being mobile and just kind of being anywhere at any given moment. And then I kept asking people, they keep saying yes. They kept saying yes, I'm like all right, I'm five in, I'm 10, I'm 40 and now I'm like 65 in really wow and I didn't realize there was that many episodes.
Speaker 1:I thought you were in the 40 range yeah, you know.
Speaker 2:So I think number 50 drops this this coming saturday, and then I have another 15 or so already saved and. I have at least another 100 people in the lineup that they're waiting for me to get to them at some point. How do you ask me if I was going to get more than five guests? I'm like whatever You're full of it. Now, yeah, like I said, I'm just lucky, I'm grateful. Now what about?
Speaker 1:the time.
Speaker 2:Dude like what do you?
Speaker 1:do with the time you got family.
Speaker 2:Yes, I do you got kids.
Speaker 1:Yes, I do You're a North American sales manager for a giant company.
Speaker 2:Yeah, what do you do? How do you do it?
Speaker 1:You know, I have no clue, max I could spend another show just trying to tell you how I do this. Maybe we should start like a flow chart.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah trust me, if you look at my calendar on my phone, it's like all colors, every single day, there's 10 things, right, you know how it works. But you know I make sure that usually I either fly in the day before into an area or I fly the day after or even afterward. A lot of my guests are flexible enough and they're just cool enough to say sure, Frank, we'll work with what you got, as long as it works with my day as well. So I'm just lucky.
Speaker 1:Just sneak them in.
Speaker 2:I know. So it's 30, 35 minutes or so, not because I planned the time, but just because organically just kept happening that way and I'm like, all right, I guess that's the MO.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But yeah. So what happens is I find myself in a plane or in the middle of the hotel.
Speaker 3:Um, oh, shoot, I haven't done anything or I haven't edited this one like oh my god, I already said, this was gonna and then I started freaking out and I lose sleep and I'm like great so that's.
Speaker 1:That's the only panic uh mode that happens yeah so now that it's doing well and you like it, the great shows are fun. Do are fun. Do you want to grow that Like is this like? Are you thinking like side hustle number two you end up with a crew like me and editors and graphic department. Is there a vision for Torch Tales?
Speaker 2:You know, I'll be lying if I say that, hey, that happens great. It's not why I started this whole thing. I work for a company. I make a good living, I travel all over the place, I get to meet and make friends with great, amazing people. So that's not the end goal, because I want to respect what I work for and a few companies have approaches that, hey, we'd love to sponsor an episode or this or that, and my answer is no.
Speaker 1:That's going to get conflicted pretty quick.
Speaker 2:Yeah and I'm like no, I'm not going to touch that. I don't even want to entertain the idea because I don't want to start thinking while I'm at night. It might feel like well, I just missed that next drug, whatever. I just don't want to do that. So the long term who knows? Right now I'm having fun, people are digging it, for whatever reason, and hey, we'll see what happens.
Speaker 1:What's the longest episode you've done? Because we have a 45-minute-ish theme, for I've had some go along like two hours. I did one with Becker that was like three and a half. Yeah, I know, jason.
Speaker 2:When I'm driving I listen to a lot of the ones he does and sometimes, yeah, I'm like whoa, I got to my destination.
Speaker 1:And I still have an hour and a half to be continued, so the longest one I've done.
Speaker 2:I think it's about an hour. Yeah, and I but I normally don't like to eat that mark yeah, just because most time people attention how much they can take in, correct, you know?
Speaker 2:and, and the thing is that I do a video format other than just podcasts- it's a youtube channel, and I wanted to be different, a little bit different than you do such a great job, and so does jason, you know. So your podcast, you know the audio version, it's there, and I'm like you know what I want to be different I think I'm different that organic feel face to face. This is when I can react and then see hey, you just wink. Wait, why are you winking at me, right?
Speaker 1:so no, it's the person behind you.
Speaker 3:I knew it wasn't about me but it is about me, so yeah that's kind of my approach, yeah.
Speaker 1:And then in terms of the future and the expansion of the trades and what you're doing with Uniweld, do you think that there's going to be sort of an ask from Uniweld or thoughts of Uniweld of maybe doing something similar like Torch Tales, but actually for the company?
Speaker 2:so the uh, the uh, yes and no and the reason why I say that is because the only social content and everything that happens organically for uniwald, guess who's doing it yeah yeah, okay, all right so it depends how much more I want to put on my plate.
Speaker 1:That's right, and ask me if.
Speaker 2:I want to put more on my plate.
Speaker 1:You'll probably say yes, honestly.
Speaker 2:Actually, yes, I will probably say yes.
Speaker 1:So yeah, because we're dumb like that. I have zero time. I've slept nothing this week. Do I need a project?
Speaker 2:All right, Give me more, more, so yeah, so I mean I try to make sure that I have that balance, you know, without so far it's great. I, I love what I do. I love, you know, building the brand and and and just giving people just a different perspective on hey, we're not just 75 years old you know, we have all these other things that we can do, but yeah, at the end of the day, would would be on me and I I want to also have a good time with friends, you know and kids and stuff like that, and a wife.
Speaker 1:I mean, I already went through one wife on the second one. I've got to be more careful now, me too. I'm on my second round.
Speaker 2:So you know the story with me. You know I married my high school sweetheart, so I have a 27 and a 24-year-old young man 26 and 22.
Speaker 1:Oh, hey brother yeah, there you go.
Speaker 2:So now I remarried and now I went not only from having two grown, you made new ones, yeah no, my wife came with okay, yeah, came with two little girls. So now I have two little girls, four and eight oh boy, so I'm starting all over again.
Speaker 1:Yeah, my new one no kids. Yeah, no more kids for me. I'm empty nester now look at you what?
Speaker 2:yeah, no wonder you have all this time.
Speaker 1:Well that's the thing honestly like um, I've been, I've been traveling for my career most of my life and it kind of caused my first divorce, to be honest, just being on the road and doing that stuff, living that life and when I started teaching.
Speaker 1:So now I have an at-home job. I go there, I work for the college. Great job, it's super fun, I loved it. And then my kids moved out of the house, right, right. And then the pandemic hit. Oh, even worse. So now I'm at home and I don't even have my kids to bug anymore. Me and my wife have to stay together. Well, actually she didn't. She can still work.
Speaker 3:She's a social worker.
Speaker 1:They have to nothing to do. And then cwb called me being like hey, you teaching right now I was like no, you want to come run the association. Yeah, okay, let's try it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, hold on, let me check my agenda. Yeah, yeah, I mean, that's, I mean things happen for you.
Speaker 1:But because now I can travel again, now I can, I can be on the road three months a year and although it's hard and it's tiring and all that stuff, I can't, yeah, and that's look. There's nothing like that, you know, especially when you can, and you can do that now does your wife ever travels with you yeah, if she picks the ones that she likes to come to, of course, right like oh, you're going to chicago again, I want to come to chicago. That makes sense. Yeah, that's awesome, but you know that there's.
Speaker 2:That's great that freedom that you have and and that we all have nowadays. It's awesome, yeah. So yeah, I can't really make that quick decision because now it's a pack of three. I'm like hold on, let me look at the checkbook and see if we can actually afford this whole thing right, Oops, that one went on the company Amex again. Yeah right, yeah, so you know, but it's great. I'm having a great time, Max.
Speaker 1:All right. Last question what does it mean for you to have your heritage in this industry? How would you like to reflect or or have frankie vargas name, wow be associated to your heritage? Does that matter to you and if it does, how do you want to be a part of your work life?
Speaker 2:great question. That one was uh, yeah, wow, that one actually is going to make me think a little bit. You know, I guess everyone was. At the end of the day, what we're looking for is to be remembered in a good way and to say hey, frank always did what he said he was going to do.
Speaker 2:Because that's how I judge people. I judge people on what they say they're going to do and what they end up doing. Those are my only two rules, right. So I try to live that life as well. And if someone at the end of the day can say you know, frank is a cool guy, not just because he's fun and he can laugh and blah, blah, blah, but also because he's just a by the book guy and whatever he says is it's what's going to happen and that's the legacy that I want to make sure that people remember.
Speaker 2:Uh, if there is such a thing as a legacy, right, and to be able to be Hispanic and having the best of both worlds know, being bilingual and and know what you know rice and beans and plantains is right and also a great burger steak wings yeah, you know, and right, so for me straight to the burger wings. Well, what do you think I've?
Speaker 1:been here for a while you know.
Speaker 2:So yeah, you know that's what we do here yeah. So, yeah, I love the fact that I get to travel, be exposed, expose the US side, expose where I come from and also teach anyone that wants to listen. Hey, you can do all this as well, but for me, at the end of the day, the recipe is very simple, Max.
Speaker 3:It is very simple.
Speaker 2:The rest, let other people say and judge you and come up with their own ideas of what you left behind.
Speaker 1:Do you feel it's an advantage to be bilingual in your industry?
Speaker 2:For me it does I mean look? At me, I'm going to Mexico, I'm going to Argentina. I'm going to places and talking to distributors that sometimes they're. I have distributors in Texas or all over the place that but they're Mexican. That they don't speak English. That's right, and they just love like, hey, you're one of us, come here. Here's this $15,000 PO. I get it because I was able to just.
Speaker 1:And they're more comfortable right.
Speaker 2:At the end of the day, that's what it is. We feel more comfortable with the people we connect with and the people that oh, he's just like one of us.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yep I know that in my, in my world, anytime I get a chance to speak in my native language, because english was my second language I love it. I love it, and if it's professional it's even better. Yeah, you know what I mean yeah, it's great.
Speaker 2:I was telling my wife this the other day. It's like you know what I I've learned to now translate the professional english side of things to the spanish side of things because, I, I left very early on, yeah, so I didn't have a professional side in spanish and my, my spanish was like very, very street right yeah so now I'm like oh wow, look at me, I sound so professional in spanish wow, I'm growing up in front of my eyes yeah, I had to do a presentation in chile last year because I started up a chapter in chile.
Speaker 1:Because why wouldn't I? Right from there, of course. So we started up a chapter it's doing very well and they asked me to come down, hosted a conference like this, but in south america called conamex sam. It's fantastic conference and, um, they asked me to do a presentation and, man, I was sweating. Actually, I was sweating because, like, getting up in front of people I get up in front of people all the time, it's part of my job, but now I gotta get up in front of people. I get up in front of people all the time, it's part of my job, but now I've got to get up in front of people.
Speaker 1:Your people and translating, and I've got to do a technical professional talk on the industry, on metallurgy, in Spanish. I know my dad, he's an old boiler maker and so I was like grilling him, being like how do you say this in Spanish, how do you say this in Spanish, how do you say this in Spanish?
Speaker 2:And he's like I don't know, and I was like no man, I don't.
Speaker 3:That's the reason why I'm asking you it went well though. It went well, good for you, good for you. I think it's important because we do learn certain things here that it takes a little bit longer to get to other countries especially the safety part.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah and uh. When I travel abroad and I see some of the things that happen.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm like whoa, but hey, I don't know anything, right? Yeah, no safety glasses, nothing.
Speaker 2:The bottle, the bottle sideways and a motorcycle you know and you're like did I just see a settlement on a bike. Yeah, it's, but it happens.
Speaker 1:It's out there, yep, awesome and then let's talk about, just like, the next steps you know, for you. You know, where do you see yourself in unibold in the next few years? Is there, is there room for you, for personal growth at unibold?
Speaker 2:you know I think it's always you know most people, even if it's a family-owned business, there's always growth, as long as you plan your growth you know, because you can say all right, well, I cap here.
Speaker 1:But if you, think, who told you that? I know right, yeah, but most people, you know.
Speaker 2:They say, well, you know, there's just me. And then the owners and they think, well, there's not nowhere else to go. Right, but if you think outside the box, you can always grow the company, create new things. That is going to just make you more successful. That's right, because at Because, at the end of the day, the title doesn't matter, we just want to make more money so we can bring more food to the table, right?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:That's at the end of the day, that's. I don't care who tells you otherwise. That's what we're looking for.
Speaker 1:Absolutely.
Speaker 2:So I think, even though there's a cap, I might not be the owner of Uniwell, but if I think outside the things that the company sees value in me or any anybody else, I think you know there's never a cap, it's just the cap you put on yourself.
Speaker 2:So my title just changed, uh, this year, from regional to national sales manager, and so of course that's going to get me even more places and I'm just going to make sure that I take advantage of that and people see that as well that hey, now you get to see me, either less or more, depending, depending where right, but so that's the idea well you know.
Speaker 1:Congratulations on your new promotion. Thank you appreciate it um, and it's a very valid point that you make. It's something that I always try to tell kids when they're just getting in the industry and they start feeling like I'm not making enough money. Yeah, it happens often, because I think educators sometimes mislead kids and say you're going to go out there and make a million dollars.
Speaker 1:And you may make a million dollars, but not yet. Yeah, it takes a while to get there. Kids will say you know I'm not going to make more money. I just say to them well, are you making your boss more money? Correct, because it's a chain. It all ties together. If you want to make more money, you got to make sure he makes more money. That's the only way it's going to happen, because if he's not making more money, how is he going to pay you more?
Speaker 2:you're right, you either make him more money or you save him money yeah, one of the, you know the other day is the same thing. So if you see a process and you're just wasting dollars out the door, hey, we can do that better. I just saved you a hundred thousand dollars.
Speaker 2:Well, I want a piece of that yeah, exactly don't be afraid of saying I just did this, I just saved you this, or I just made you this. Yeah, I want a piece of that because I want to keep doing this thing. Yeah, but I want to feel that you also see my value that.
Speaker 1:You see that yeah correct that that's.
Speaker 2:I tell that all everyone yep, awesome.
Speaker 1:Last question, you know for for young let's. Let's be very specific here. For young latinos that are coming to north america, there's lots right now coming right lots all over canada, everywhere, everywhere, and and they're looking for the jobs. They're looking for good work and and this is, to me, is obviously where you should come. What advice would you give a fresh latino coming to north america looking to get in the steel industry? What would you say?
Speaker 2:to them. You know putting the work and also don't think that same thing. Don't just go in thinking that you're going to make money right off the bat Sometimes. Go in for free, go sweep.
Speaker 2:Go be exposed to that expert, because now it's investing. It's investing in yourself. So when you buy a book, when you watch a documentary, what is it that you're watching that for? To learn something right? So what's the difference between hey, you have a welding shop, I want to become a welder, don't pay me, I'm just going to come in the two hours I have a week and just sweep and be around you guys, learn the lingo, learn all these other things. Somebody's going to see this. And even if they don't see it there, by the time you go to the next thing and you're asking for hey, I think I'm worth something. Why? Why are you worth anything? Well, because I just saw all these things, I'm exposed to all these things and I can actually run a beat. Who taught you? I watched for six months, whatever. So that's the thing. Don't go in just thinking I want to get paid right off the bat. First of all, you haven't earned anything, you don't know anything.
Speaker 2:So, why would I pay you for nothing yet? And most people don't want to teach nowadays, so it's up to you to learn on your own, and then you can go say, hey, I know some things, pay me now.
Speaker 1:That's what I usually tell them Get on that first rung so you can start climbing.
Speaker 2:Invest in yourself and just give your free time to learn something. Yeah.
Speaker 1:All right. So how do people get Uniwell products? How do they find you Do your pitch?
Speaker 2:Well, Uniwell products. Again, like I said, you can go to our site, uniballcom, and we have reps all over the world. You can reach out to fbargas at uniballcom that's my email or you just go through the regular link and you have the info email there as well and, trust me, you're going to find somewhere. We have distributors, like I said, all over the world. We don't sell direct to the end user. You know we're very respectful to our distributors. So if you're an end user, don't reach out because we're going to send you to a distributor and we have, but you're still fine but but you're still going to
Speaker 2:find something and somewhere where you can buy the line, and yeah, that's the easiest way awesome man. Any shout outs to anybody you know, uh shout out to you thank you, I I'm keeping track of what you do, it you're you're doing a great job. I love the, the um, not just the content but, the persona you know, because it takes a little bit more than just let me get in front of the mic and just say some things right.
Speaker 2:So I love what you're doing and just keep up the great work and make sure you start doing some Spanish ones too, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, we're going to work on that. I have done a couple of Spanish ones, but I haven't released them because I'm shy and I want to do like a little group. I don't want to just really just want to walk away, gotcha Like. I want to have some type of continuity.
Speaker 2:No, I get it, but yeah, other than that, thank you for having me. It's a pleasure. Also thank you to the pink welder, that's next to me watching and giving Max the eye like hey, he's done.
Speaker 1:Let's go, yeah. So thank you to much for being on the show and for all the people that have been following, watching, downloading and commenting. Thank you very much for being our followers and making us as successful as we are. And this wraps up our Fab Tech series. Make sure that you check out the next ones. We're going to be doing this same thing in Orlando. We're going to be doing Fab Tech shows or, sorry, podcast shows. Down in Orlando, we're going to be hanging out bringing in the big names. We've got something on the books working with Becker. We've got something fun we're building right now. So it's going to be pretty cool, and hopefully I can weasel my way into whatever Frank is doing down there too.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, you will.
Speaker 1:Awesome, so stay tuned for the next episode.
Speaker 3:We hope you enjoy the show, our podcast, and visit us at cwbassociationorg to learn more. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions or suggestions on what you'd like to learn about in the future. Produced by the CWB Group and presented by Max Hump, this podcast serves to educate and connect the welding community. Please subscribe and thank you for listening.