Casey Harrison: Welcome to today's episode of See Yourself IN, where you'll learn about cool jobs, people, and companies in Indiana. You'll hear about skills that will help you find success, and most importantly, we hope to inspire you to dream big. I'm Casey Harrison, your host. On today's show, we're going to dive into Indiana's advanced industries and why they're important.
We'll talk about skills that are transferable across jobs and industries and determine some of the best ways to start exploring these opportunities. Today we're joined by Rickie Crawley Jr., Operations Manager with IBC Materials and Technologies. Growing up in Gary, Indiana, Rickie never imagined that he'd work in Indiana in the defense industry.
Many of our listeners may not know that Indiana companies serve the needs of the United States defense industry. So we're going to get into all of that and more on today's episode of See Yourself IN.
We're joined today by Rickie Crawley. Rickie, we are so excited that you are here. Yeah. So we're going to dive right in. Tell us about where you grew up.
Rickie Crawley: Okay. So Gary, Indiana. don't hold me to that. Okay. I know we have a lot, a lot of stereotypes and bad outlet or looking at it, but yeah. so I'm an army brat.
So my father did 10 years in the Army. My mom did three years. So that's how they actually figured out how to make a relationship out of it, right. So I was born in Fort Polk, Louisiana on an Army base. And my father was born and raised in Gary, Indiana. So he moved the family there. So we actually grew up right in a nice poverty area
So I would not talk bad about Gary as it relates to its still humble beginnings that allowed me to get a little bit more focused on what I wanted to do in my life and what type of upbringing I wanted for my kids. So it was kind of the perfect storm for me.
Casey Harrison: Yeah, we can't skip over Gary Indiana without me asking your favorite Jackson 5 song.
Rickie Crawley: Oh my goodness. Michael Jackson, you know, he, he really got more popular. You got to think about me. So I'm more of a 90s baby, right? So Michael Jackson, you would have to ask my father that one. Okay. That's fair. And he actually, my father went to Roosevelt High School where a lot of the Jackson 5 actually performed.
So before his time, but they was there.
Casey Harrison: That's very cool. Okay. Well, so you grew up in Gary. Yes. Were you thinking as a high schooler about what your pathway might look like after graduation?
Rickie Crawley: So my mom is a biology teacher major. I wanted to start it off in dental school, right? I wanted to be a dentist. So obviously doing research and partnering with my advisor, we didn't have these nice connected civics that we have for networking events.
So partnering with my advisor, she basically encouraged me to more go into a science background, science field. It'd get me kind of in the door for medical school. Sure. Knowing that my mother already had somewhat of that background, I figured I had a resource there as well. So that was good. So I went into chemistry.
Biology was more of a memory work. I liked the math that came along with chemistry. So I took that on, right? But junior year in college, got that call that my daughter was coming into the world. Had to get out there into the industry. So did a shift in our career, goals and projections and had to get out there into the market.
So I started at Coca Cola in the lab, you know, using my chemistry background. The reason why I shifted from out of the lab with our chemistry work was, man, we had so many opportunities where we wanted desired results with our long research and our long developing. Gathering the data and never got the desired results and it crushed me, it crushed me, it crushed me.
And so I want to shift it more towards people development, procedure development. So I went to go get my Master's in business and I think it's a better career for me, better rewarding, can see the development.
Casey Harrison: Well, so let's go back. You just touched on a ton. So let's go back maybe and take it one by one. So, you graduated high school, you were focused on chemistry.
Did you know where you wanted to go to college?
Rickie Crawley: So it was either Purdue or IU. So I didn't want to go too far from home, okay. And the decision why Purdue versus IU was, IU was further. So, I wanted the ability to come back home. I was real big into my mom, dad. I have two siblings, right, so the opportunity to be close, they can come pick me up for the holidays, right?
I don't have to look for air flights, I don't have to be on this long bus ride. My mom and dad can get me when it's time to get me. So that was more of the decision why Purdue over IU.
Casey Harrison: And during your college experience, I know you talked about shifting fields of study, maybe stepping away and doing something different for a while.
How did you start as a college student thinking about building a network or did you even think about it?
Rickie Crawley: Networking was real huge in my, so going to Merrillville High School, transition from Gary schools and to Merrillville. That's probably where I understood the power of networking, the power of understanding advanced technology, understanding resources, doing your own due diligence as it relates to what you want to be out of life.
So going to college, my collegiate career, I just knew at that time the collegiate degree. What's going to get you the foot in the door and, you know, just from a cultural standpoint and understanding resources and the lack of, and sometimes the schools that we have. I felt like I was behind the eight ball a little bit, right, as we didn't have the necessary resources at Duncan Elementary and Beckman that I went to, and Gary as it relates to Merrillville.
So taking on Purdue was a hard shift, right? You're out there by yourself, you feel like you're on an island until you truly understand. It's like, hey man, you need to partner with someone. You need to understand where's your professors, where the TAs are. So I joined a fraternity. Fraternity was huge, Phi Beta Sigma, go mob to those Sigmas out there.
But that helped so huge, right, when it came to professionalism. When it came to business mind and planning, we had to plan events, right? We had to do different charity events, sponsor events. So the networking of just understanding how to, how to create a dialogue, how to create a proposal, you know, getting that type of support from different tier levels of our fraternity and our advisors was huge for me.
So it, it turned a shy kid into more of a vocal, outgoing, hey, let's build, let's, let's partner. Let's, what do you do? Why, why are you so great? Why, how did you make that decision? And I believe if you go with that type of heart versus an envy heart and just trying to understand people's walks. And the variables and the experience and all the things that, that, that make a person and the decisions that they make.
And do you want to learn from that, that individual? Do you want to mirror that individual? Do you want to take a few things from that individual and encompassing you is very, very huge as it relates to partnership with different people and networking.
Casey Harrison: Yeah. I mean, drop the mic. That was, that was fantastic.
Rickie Crawley: Thank you.
Casey Harrison: So. You finished at Purdue with a new baby and you recognized you needed to get into the workforce. So talk about how you landed that first job.
Rickie Crawley: So, great thing, great question. Purdue was real big on having career fairs. So Coca Cola came to a career fair, right? So you think about the amount of kids, man, you're looking at your competition with this Purdue degree, potential Purdue degrees, and we got long lines of various companies out here.
And still at the time of Purdue, I still wanted to go into some type of research and development company, right? So we're looking at Eli Lilly. We're looking at different companies that was specific for chemistry and biology students and but the degree right and GPA that you need to have put me at a different level.
Coca Cola took a chance on me. I started in that lab as a lab technician within eight months. I was able to get promoted to a process specialist. then mirrored to QA, supervisor and just career just boomed and blossomed from there.
Casey Harrison: I love that. So at what point did you start thinking about Another degree,
I would say my Coca Cola, timeframe, once again, just understanding, even at Purdue, you had the labs, the labs that the time that it took, right.
And the research that it takes and gathering the data and information you have once again, the desired result that you want to get to. And if you don't get there, and if you don't have that resources or that time or that money now, what do you do in this type of situation? And you're constantly, constantly marketing, I will believe in that aspect.
If it's failures, you constantly need to learn from those failures. And do you go back to the drawing board? Do you go back to regrouping? And I'm not wired to do so. I'm not, I'm sorry. I, I need to, I, how I'm wired, I need to understand the value that, that my impact and brings to the table. I need to see the results and I need to see the development and that's why I shifted.
I shifted around more people and more procedures and more processes where I could see the results a lot sooner than I did in that lab. I think that's the reason for my shift.
Yeah. So you earned your advanced degree is in?
Rickie Crawley: Yes. Oh, MBA. So I got a Master in Business Administration.
Casey Harrison: Yes. And you, did you immediately know how you wanted to apply that?
Rickie Crawley: Yeah. At that time, like I said, during the shift, I wanted to go into more just manufacturing and understanding how to, to lead people. So, yeah, so that degree allowed me to understand how the business operate, right? How do you take on the multi-facets and multi-departments and still be able to manage it as you grow into the company?
What is the different tools and resources are you going to use to give you a bigger outlook on how to properly? I believe manage a business based on previous experiences, success stories, failures, and maybe some learning things that you can get from those takeaways. to get your, your master's in business, you had to provide a business plan, write a marketing plan, and the business plan is taking, you know, a product and how do you evolve that with the different entities, even your, your finances had to be included, right?
So those different sectors as it relates to a good business or growing a business was huge for me. And, that's what I'm doing.
Casey Harrison: Yeah. Yeah. I have my Master's. I don't have an MBA, but people ask me all the time, was it worth it? And I always say it was invaluable. I mean, it enabled me maybe not right after completion, but later on it really enabled me to think bigger and go further. Would you say the same?
Rickie Crawley: I would. Definitely agree to that, that response, because now it allows you to think outside the box, right? It allows you now to take on a different understanding, right? Or, oh, that's the way you can do it, right? So as you tap into other business plans, as you tap into other business success stories and what their products and how they involved, how they innovated, what did they do to lose that niche in the market? Right? So all those learnings, all those experiences was huge for me. Yeah, we are.
Casey Harrison: And here we are. Well, so today, Rickie is the operations manager with IBC Materials and Technologies. Tell us a little bit about what an operations manager does.
Rickie Crawley: Operation manager, right? Once again, that's where the business degree came into play. so we have multi-facets. We are both R&D and a manufacturing company. We take care of our warfighter, right? Our partnerships with the Navy and the Air Force. What we do now is we have the ability to support our Air Force and our defense team with the Navy as well, where we have, we create missile rails. So the missile rails, right. I understand now times some people frown upon wars. I understand some people look down on it, but our country is very, very big and I can respect our stance on making sure we're ready at, the very least that we're ready. And we always involve in, in the technology and tap into it.
You'll be surprised how the government pushes various companies to consistently innovate. You'll be surprised how the government can see a problem. And understand how our, our other countries are potentially, other allies, or even those perceived enemies, how they're evolving. We had the ability to, to try to stay ahead of the game.
So what they asked IBC to do is how do we manage our, our assets and how can we reuse them? How can we go into the field where once upon a time when the missile rail was, was with the Air Force. We only have one time use right with the different explosions that's going on the gases. That's, that's a part of that process. The handling. All those things were factors on allowing the missile rail to fail at what it was designed to do. So what we did is IBC went into bed and understand how the PEO, which is a process where we have the ability to manipulate based on the properties of our metal, a chemistry bath, right?
A chemical bath. There go chemistry right there. So we had the ability to come up with a chemical bath based on the properties of the metal, whether it's steel or aluminum, it's our two top, metals that we, we use or we go after. We also had the ability to manipulate the electrical current, the electrical current and the chemical bath.
As we dip this, this metal, it creates arc flashes, the arc flashes adhere to the metal. So unlike a lot of coding practices or applications, you use it or you can relate it to a paint film. Right. It's a film on top of this product, eventually probably going to chip away. Eventually it's going to fade. We don't have that issue.
We had the capability to now allow this to adhere to the metal. So now the metal properties has changed, right? It's a part of the DNA of the metal. And which is huge. So we have now the capabilities to, to apply this onto military assets where now they can go dependent on the weather. It's corrosion resistant. It's salt resistant as it relates to the Navy, right? You get in the Air Force, you got different air pressures that it goes, different temperatures, different handling, right? So you got to train on how to handle, but now you don't have to use that, that, that, that process because it's resistant. You can drag that across a concrete parking lot and we can still be useful. You can handle it how you want. Okay. And it still can be useful and you can dip it in salt water and it will not corrode. It will not rust away. So very excited to be a part of that.
Casey Harrison: I mean, it's amazing that all of this is happening right here in Indiana. I feel like this is a beautifully kept secret. What would you say to people listening that are fascinated and don't know this is happening and maybe want to look for areas to plug in?
Rickie Crawley: Networking is huge, right? I'm real big on today, ignorance is a choice. So go after your desires. Go after your wants. Go out there. Hey, that don't make sense.
Go find out what that subject matter expert is. Go find out the literature. What we have in a technology base, our internet, man, the information that you can find out there, is huge. I would continue to suggest or encourage everybody to ask the questions. Go network. Partner with your subject matter experts. But the biggest thing, ask the questions, please ask the questions.
Casey Harrison: Yeah, I love that. So let's lean into inclusion within this industry because I think a lot of people think about the government and they don't think that they are an inclusive employer. And so maybe talk a little bit about your industry, being a contractor, just what it's like to be diverse in this field.
Rickie Crawley: So we're in Lebanon, our CEO is Russian, our Vice President is Indian, your operation manager, which is considered your plant manager at IBC is black and Sicilian. All right. So the government, as I, as, as it relates to, I think they have a negative, probably perception from, you know, different individuals that don't truly understand the government just want you to meet their needs and want you to meet their wants, right? And if you have a technology or if you have a product, the government was give you so much funding to get to that desired result. And they're very, very patient when it comes to if you, if you state that, hey man, this is, this is the product. And this is what we can do to be able to meet your need as, as, as a service engineer for you, for you government.
The, the partnership and the funding that comes along with it is huge, right? But the government is also asking, make sure within your proposal, you are outlining everything that your product is able to do for us before we get in bed with you. And, I believe, like I said, they have a negative perception from a lot of individuals that do not tap into what their truly wants and desires are.
Casey Harrison: Yeah. Well, so let's talk about your elevating in your career. I mean, since you graduated high school in Gary, you've certainly had tremendous strides. How have you continued to evolve how you nurture your network as you've elevated in your career?
Rickie Crawley: It goes back to asking those questions, right? What is the next need? What is the next wants? What do you want your legacy to consist of, right? And I break it down in three sectors. I break it down in a professional, personal, and the spiritual sector. What is the legacy Rickie Crawley dream that you want to have within that? So innovation is huge, right? Constantly understand what's the niche in the market.
How do you stay advanced? How do you stay ahead of the game? Right. And it's constantly growing into your understanding your literature, your knowledge, your wisdom is constantly being horned and developing where you can just stay ahead. Right. but you supporting a wants and a need to protect the overall country and, and, you know, allies.
Casey Harrison: It's pretty powerful work. So you could arguably, you could maybe, do this work from almost anywhere in the country. Yes. Why are you and your family still in Indiana?
Rickie Crawley: I have parents that's still in Indiana. My wife has parents that's local here. My legacy is my family. my legacy will not be IBC. My legacy will be making my parents, my wife, and my kids proud.
So to support that priority. And those are my life rules, right? You always have to have life rules. What are, what are your footprint? What is the legacy that you want to present, right? And some, it's different for different folks. I don't think we should frown upon what's your legacy or what you want your legacy to be.
But the stay in Indiana is huge for us because now I can not only parallel my spiritual, professional, as well as my personal lifestyle, and still be great in every asset or facet or lane. And that's huge for me. And Indiana can do that for me.
Casey Harrison: Yeah. I just keep wanting to ask, so I'm going to ask it.
Rickie Crawley: Ask it.
Casey Harrison: What would you say to the people listening right now and Gary that maybe don't feel like a pathway to having a career like this. That's so not only impactful, but just so important is possible. What would you say to them?
Rickie Crawley: Every day I put that pressure on me as a standard example. It is a such thing as black excellence. Okay, it's a such thing as not being held to your past, but being of your past. It is a such thing as having hope. It is a such thing for striding to partner with positive individuals around you. We just talked about the networking advantage. Some of the panelists always said. Who you surround yourself is, is who you will be, right?
Those five important people around you. Are they family, friends, and do they have your best interests? And when you put yourself around that, man, you can overcome so many obstacles, so many barriers and constraints, and that should give you your pride. And then you always got to remember this. Each one reach one, each one, teach one.
Constantly, develop yourself and humble yourself to you, always coaching and teaching and developing. Shift that paradigm, shift that mindset shift, that heart and don't use it as an excuse. Yeah. keep overcoming.
Casey Harrison: Yeah. That's beautiful. Rickie. I'm so glad that you could join us today on See Yourself IN. Thank you for coming by.
Rickie Crawley: Yes. Thank you for having me. I love what you're doing. Thank you so much. appreciate the team. you got a great thing going here. So continue blessings.
Casey Harrison: We're so glad that you were able to join us today to learn about Indiana's advanced industries and how you can start or enhance your career journey.
Until next time, we hope that you'll be able to see yourself in the unlimited opportunities in Indiana.