CONNSTEP is pleased to present this quarterly column profiling leaders in the Connecticut manufacturing community - sharing their thoughts, insights and predictions.

Phil Cannon
Publisher, Manufacturers' Mart

My father started the publication 32 years ago. I grew up in Fairfield, lived in Windsor Locks, and now live near the New Hampshire border in Georgetown, Mass. I joined the business in 1985, and took over as publisher in 2003.

Manufacturers Mart is a regional industry newspaper focused on plant efficiency for a variety of industries, from manufacturers to hospitals, universities, printers, and more. We pride ourselves on getting our advertisers-local and regional distributors-closer to the customers who need them than other national trade publications.

The last several years have been very difficult for our business, due to foreign competition but also because of a general lack of respect for manufacturing. People still think of it as smoke stacks and pollution, rather than today's advanced manufacturing that requires academic degrees to run some of the machinery and the business. The truth is-and we all know it-today's manufacturing is pretty cool.

Suppliers in our region are feeling the pinch from distributors outside the area, Internet sales, and larger national distribution houses. This has greatly changed the landscape for our advertisers. More than ever suppliers today need to differentiate themselves and make themselves more relevant and critical to existing and potential customers. Many are becoming extensions of their customers' manufacturing floor by bringing work into their own facilities and delivering assembled or partially assembled products. They bring experience that large catalog houses don't have, and the inventory to fill any request.

Local is good.

We're going to need our states in New England to invest more resources and demonstrate a real commitment to manufacturing to turn it around. States need to make it more inviting for companies to work here, not less. We need lower taxes and energy costs, and other incentives that other states are offering, but so far in New England we seem to be chasing companies away rather than helping them to stay.

Phil Cannon

There are too few industrial arts classes in today's high schools. Many of my high school classmates in those classes went on to run manufacturing plants, but today's students get very little class exposure to voc ed. It's too bad, because the average manufacturing job pays well, and it is still a great career option.

My father told me the basics: go to work every day and always try to make something happen. Don't wait for the phone to ring. First and foremost, I'm a salesman, not a publisher. If I--or anyone who works for me--don't have an appointment scheduled on any given day, we go out and make cold calls. You never know what might happen.

Every businessperson needs to figure out how to make things happen. Too often it's easy to place blame elsewhere, but we need to continue to make investments in facilities, and in training and supporting our employees.

You have to take care of your people. They ARE your company-their talent, their knowledge, their effort-and they are not easily replaced. Treat them like you'd like to be treated, and then a lot can happen. Too often, people forget that.

Like all business people, I have some very good qualities and habits, and some not so good. My business style is very laid back, but I am impatient and hate it when someone tries to pull the wool over my eyes. If you make a mistake, own up to it, learn from it, and move on. I don't like managing people any more than I liked being managed in previous jobs.

Do your job well and I am your best friend. Otherwise, don't let the door hit you on the way out.

I believe that as long as you put out an interesting, readable, and good product, you cannot only survive but thrive in publishing today. We added our online edition in '96, and receive up to 15,000 visits each month. Customers still like the print version though, and don't want all their information online. I guess that's good, since it's hard to match print revenues online. But I expect that to even out as the industry and society evolves.

Society would miss out if there were no books, magazines, or newspapers-and I'm not just saying that because my business is in publishing. I don't believe you can reach everyone with just one form of media. Electronic and print will need to work together for a long time to come.

My customers keep my work fun and fresh. Of course I value the relationships I have with my steady customers whom I've known and worked with for years. And I love that there are always new potential customers to call on, new people to talk to and always more to learn.