Buckaroo Podcast
Buckaroo Podcast Episode 3: One Thing Every Manufacturer MUST Consider Before Hiring a Legal Partner
Find out steps to take if an employee tests positive for CCOVID-19. Discover the most important thing to think about before hiring legal counsel. Learn the greatest challenges manufacturers face today and possible solutions.
Guest: Stephen Ferrucci, Attorney at Law, with the law firm, Clapp Ferrucci.
If you liked this video, please subscribe to our channel. To discover how we can help your
company, please visit www.gobuckaroo.com.
Find out steps to take if an employee tests positive for CCOVID-19. Discover the most important thing to think about before hiring legal counsel. Learn the greatest challenges manufacturers face today and possible solutions.
Guest: Stephen Ferrucci, Attorney at Law, with the law firm, Clapp Ferrucci.
If you liked this video, please subscribe to our channel. To discover how we can help your
company, please visit www.gobuckaroo.com.
Welcome to the buck room marketing, new media podcast, your resource for B2B marketing for manufacturing in related industries, you create unrivaled products and services. We tell your story now onto the show.
Speaker 2:I'm your host, Deborah Dailey. And I'm the co-founder of Buckaroo marketing new media. Today. I have the pleasure of interviewing Mr. Steven Ferrucci, who is a partner at the law firm of clap for Ruchi welcome, Steve.
Speaker 3:Thanks. How are you?
Speaker 2:Good. I'm glad to have you on today's show. Why don't we start off and you tell us a little bit about your background.
Speaker 3:Sure. Um, I I've been a lawyer for the past 30 years for about the last 15 years. I've worked primarily with manufacturing companies. Um, and in fact, I was in-house general counsel for a manufacturing company on the east side of Indianapolis that made plumbing control products for a number of years since then, about 2 8, 9 years ago, I left in-house and, uh, became a partner with Sean Clapp. And now I still have my former client, uh, my former employer as a client. And then I picked up other manufacturing clients along the way.
Speaker 2:What drew you to manufacturing?
Speaker 3:Well, uh, a couple of things, you know, when I was growing up, my dad worked in a manufacturer as an enemy manufacturing company. He, he made micrometers, so that was his career for 45 years. The company was in Rhode Island where I grew up and, you know, I learned a lot from him about some of the challenges of manufacturing at that time. And then, uh, when I became a lawyer, eventually I worked my way from being a prosecutor where I started to work with business clients and then eventually manufacturing clients, just because with manufacturing, you have a lot of different, uh, subject matters within the law. So we have HR issues. We have contract issues, supplier issues, intellectual property issues, and then your general everyday issues of buying and selling real estate and the likes. So to me, it was a good way to have a broad subject matter area that I could help clients with
Speaker 2:That way you don't get bored either.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's true
Speaker 2:For, uh, newbies. What's a micrometer,
Speaker 3:Uh, it's a device that measures something like the thickness of a piece of paper. So it's very, uh, it's a device that you can use to measure very small things.
Speaker 2:I know engineers usually use them don't they? They do. Okay. Now, um, how long have you been a partner in, uh, clap Frucci again,
Speaker 3:It's 2009. So I left my former employer in 2007, started off on my own as an independent contractor or of council with Sean clap. And then he and I became partners in all nine renamed the firm in 2010. So about, uh, 11 years as a partner in private practice on my own for the last 13.
Speaker 2:Okay. Does Sean specialize in the same area?
Speaker 3:No. Shawn, uh, handles primarily business real estate matters. So he's got a strong emphasis in, in real estate and we have an in-house title company that, uh, that I also am involved with.
Speaker 2:Okay. Now, with COVID-19 where a lot of your clients affected, uh, as considered being non-essential
Speaker 3:Actually the clients that I had in manufacturing sector were, were considered to be critical infrastructure workers. So, um, almost all of my clients continue to operate during that timeframe, um, as critical workers under the size of guidelines.
Speaker 2:Um, now are your clients, is there any, um, boundary restriction as far as are they nationwide or
Speaker 3:I've got some clients and in fact, my former employer, uh, they distribute products nationwide. Um, uh, some of my clients are, uh, local and regional suppliers. Um, I've got another client, for example, one of my clients is a manufacturer of chemicals and they distribute to water treatment facilities largely in the Midwest, but not outside the Midwest. So some are regional and some are national.
Speaker 2:Okay. Uh, do you do anything outside of the United States?
Speaker 3:Um, I did a little work with companies in Canada for some time, uh, that is since stopped largely because the client I was working with decided not to distribute in Canada any further.
Speaker 2:Okay. Okay. Sounds good. Um, why don't you tell me what are some of the shared challenges that your clients have?
Speaker 3:Oh, sure. Um, I would say that the primary issue that my clients all face is keeping, uh, attracting keeping and incentivizing key key folks. You know, they're, some of my clients have very high turnover and by the time they get people trained, those clients are moving elsewhere for a dollar or$2 or$3 more per hour at other manufacturing facilities. So it's a, the turnover is tough and once they get somebody trained, we want to keep them and incentivize them. And most of my clients are small manufacturers who can't really afford to, um, you know, it's difficult to pay somebody two, three,$4 more an hour. So that's, that's a shared issue. Um, another issue that, that people, uh, sometimes run into is finding people in the front office, right. To, to assist them with a CFO, like activities controller, like activities, just because they're not large enough to, to really have a full blown staff with a COO CEO, CFO, et cetera. So, um, I assist them with, you know, outsourcing some of that, uh, you know, with, for example, marketing, you know, finding a right outsource marketing team and those types of things.
Speaker 2:Sure, sure. Um, when you said you deal with companies that are small, primarily small, uh, privately held
Speaker 3:Yeah. In fact, all privately held. Yeah. And,
Speaker 2:Um, what size define small,
Speaker 3:Uh, T to me, uh, anything under 500 would be small. You know, most of my clients are in the range of a hundred or less, you know, even fewer. I mean, I've got a lot of clients that are 25 30 people in total, you know, that have annual sales in the revenue range of say 3 million up to 40 or$50 million a year. But, but most of them are 25 and a fewer, and they have less than$20 million in sales a year.
Speaker 2:Sure. And have most of these companies been in existence for quite a while?
Speaker 3:Yeah. So some have some haven't. Um, most of them, I say I've been around for 10 or 15 or 20 years, you know, we still have the manufacturing base in central Indiana. So, you know, you have a company that may make a product and you've got all of the suppliers that supply the component pieces and parts to the company that makes the product. And I represent both the kind of the company that makes the product and the company that supplies the product to the, to the other company. So, um, most of them, you know, our local regional, uh, based around Indianapolis.
Speaker 2:Okay. Okay. Um, you know, manufacturing is such a big word, you know, a lot can go into it between automation and pharmaceutical and whatnot. Uh, give us an idea of the types of products your manufacturers currently create.
Speaker 3:Sure. Uh, so one of them creates plumbing control products. So it's a valve that mixes hot and cold water. And so that people aren't scalded, right? So a hotel or a hospital or a nursing home you'll want to distribute water that doesn't skull people. So that's one type of product, another company, uh, manufacturers, uh, component pieces for the automobile industry. So they're making, they're doing, you know, plastic injection molding. So there's a lot of parts and pieces that go along with that. A third company, as I mentioned before, is involved in water treatment. So they manufacture chemicals that they supply to water treatment facilities and hospitals to treat water, uh, and you know, to assist them in assessing risks, like Legionella in their facilities.
Speaker 2:Okay. Okay. Um, besides, you know, we've talked about some of the unique challenges and obviously we're all getting back to what I call a new normal, um, with the pandemic and everything. Um, what should a manufacturer do if someone tests positive or, um, if you suspect that they've tested positive.
Speaker 3:Okay. So if they test positive, the question is, are they asymptomatic or are they symptomatic? So if they test positive, um, you know, you want to send them home. And then what the CDC recommends is that they stay home for 10 days, if they remain asymptomatic and then they return to work. Okay. If they're symptomatic, they're not going to be allowed to come back for 10 days since their symptoms, uh, have first appeared and then stopped. So it's 10 days from when they have stopped before they're able to come back to work now with regard to what about everybody else? Right? So you, you have somebody who's an employee, they test positive. What about the people around? Right? So just because there's a potential exposure or an exposure to someone who is a tested positive doesn't mean that those folks have to quarantine for two weeks. What you want to do is, uh, an employer should probably should, according to the CDC guidelines, take employees, temperatures, or prescreen them. When they come to work, to the extent they are able to, we want to have regular Mon monitoring of the employee, right? So if they show symptoms, send them home, immediately want to wear a mask. In some cases in manufacturing facilities, you can't wear a mask because it's unsafe to do so, but where it's safe to do so, you want to wear a mask you want to clean frequently touched surfaces, bury, uh, regularly. Uh, and then finally, uh, uh, make sure that you create conditions for social distancing. So employees should maintain their six feet of distance. And to the extent you can in the manufacturing facility create a process where people socially distant while they're working. Sure.
Speaker 2:And I'm sure while they're eating.
Speaker 3:Yeah. In fact, that's one thing that the CDC recommends is that you, yeah. You have different break times so that no one is all congregating in the break room, around the microwave at the same time or around the fridge at the same time. So you want to try break that up. Hmm.
Speaker 2:Um, I know that, uh, the other day I was shopping at Kroger and there was a gal and an employee came in and the first thing she did was take his temperature and log it. And I thought it was interesting because that's pre COVID, that's not anything we would have seen. And when I've actually traveled to see my clients, they've done the same thing with me as far as taking my temperature and making sure I haven't had any exposure.
Speaker 3:Yeah. I, I think it's really important that employers prescreen people. So when they show up to work, they that you do take their temperature. And if they're exhibiting signs of fever to send them home.
Speaker 2:So I have a client where, um, a lot of their team members go on site to other companies, commercially based to do preventative maintenance. What happens if, you know, one of their customers says, Hey, we've had a positive test. What are they, what should they do?
Speaker 3:Well, I think the employers is going to do a couple of things. First, the employer needs to determine who that employee had been in contact with and the two days prior, and then, and the day that the test is positive. Right? So you have some idea of who the exposed folks are. You can tell exposed, potentially exposed people that there's been a positive test for COVID, but you have to be mindful of HIPAA, HIPAA regulations. So you can't see the name of the person, but you can see that this, this has occurred. Right. Okay. Um, and then, you know, encourage the employee or the independent contractor who provides preventative maintenance, that if they're concerned about it, they should be tested, um, uh, beyond that, uh, you know, again, cleaning surfaces and, and having set up conditions for social distancing is real important.
Speaker 2:Sure, sure. Well, that's certainly a new area that, you know, everybody is trying to navigate for sure. Um, what else would you like to add to our conversation today?
Speaker 3:Well, I, I guess, you know, um, when a little advice for manufacturing clients in particular, when you, when you're going to hire counsel, um, you might want to make sure that the council has been exposed to a lot of different areas that the council can help you with. Because if you hire an intellectual property attorney that in turn is not going to know anything about HR or anything about real estate. So, you know, uh, most of your legal needs can be met by one client, or excuse me, one lawyer who's been exposed to a number of different things. And if it's something that's more complex, that attorneys should be in a position to be able to advise you as to seeking further expertise in an area. Right? So, um, one of the things I was excited about when I left my former employer is to become kind of the in-house counsel or defacto general counsel for manufacturing companies, because I'd been exposed to many different plans.
Speaker 2:Tell me what's the greatest lesson you've learned in working with manufacturers?
Speaker 3:Oh, um, planning. Uh, I think that would be, um, very important because, you know, being able to keep longevity in the business and planning ahead having a succession plan in place, because I've seen a lot of folks who kind of have not groomed people to take over, and then they get to a retirement and now they're facing, what do I do? You know, I want to retire, but I don't have enough people that, you know, that I trust within my organization. And then they try to sell their business and maybe they don't get as much for their business because they're in a position where they have to sell it versus, you know, being, having a succession plan in place. So I think that's really important, uh, especially in a small company, you know, identifying people, grooming those people, having a plan in place so that you can eventually pass that business on and everything you created stays intact.
Speaker 2:Right. We have that same issue with marketing. So many times, um, clients are running from fire to fire, taking care of their own customers. They're not able to stop and take a breath and think about their own plans as far as how they want to grow the company and their company goals.
Speaker 3:Right. Right.
Speaker 2:Um, if our listeners want to reach you, um, what's the best way to do that?
Speaker 3:Well, a couple of different ways they can call me. And my number is 3 1 7 5 7 8 9 9 6 6 or more quickly email me and my email is S for Ruchi F E R R U C C I at Sean, M Mac-Lab S E a N M C L a P p.com. And our website is Sean clapp.com.
Speaker 2:Um, I assume you're on LinkedIn. I am on LinkedIn. Yes. Okay. So they could reach you that way.
Speaker 3:They can't do that. That's true. Well,
Speaker 2:Thank you so much for joining me on buck root TV today. Um, it really great to have you and, you know, share some of your knowledge, uh, in relation to what's going on in the manufacturing industry.
Speaker 3:Thanks for the opportunity today, Deb. I appreciate it very much.
Speaker 1:Thank you. Thank you for listening to the Buckaroo marketing new media podcast. If you'd like to learn more about B2B marketing for manufacturing and related industries, please visit us like go book a route.com[inaudible].