"It's a lot of tribal knowledge that you can never seem to capture at all."

That's John Molloy, Training Manager for Fluid and Motion Control at Emerson, on the hardest part of his job: getting 40 years of institutional knowledge out of the people who have it and into the people who just started.

John has spent 28 years at Emerson, most of it split between selling valves and training the people who came in after him. He also sits on the VMA education committee.

In this episode of the Fully Open Podcast, host Gil Welsford Jr. sits down with John at VMA headquarters to talk about what actually works when a company tries to close the gap between its most experienced people and its newest hires, before that experience walks out the door.

💡 What you'll hear:

- Why John believes sales is really just teaching, not convincing
- The informal buddy system Emerson uses to pair new hires with veterans
- The 90-day rule for what a new hire should realistically know, and the mistake of trying to teach everything at once
- The one thing John tells every new hire on day one
- What John sees engineers get wrong that no spec sheet can teach them
- How John uses AI to build training materials today, and why human oversight still matters

🎯 This isn't just a conversation about training programs. It's a look at what it actually takes to keep decades of hard-won knowledge alive once the person who has it retires.

👤 Connect with John Molloy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnpmolloy/
🔗 Learn more about Emerson: https://www.emerson.com
🔧 Explore Valve & Actuation Solutions from ValveMan: https://valveman.com/

If something stood out or sparked a thought, I would love to hear it.

Matt Thiel doesn’t see “employees first” as a slogan — he sees it as the engine for growth.

Because in industrial, you don’t get to coast. You either build a culture that unlocks potential, or you fall behind.

In this episode of the Fully Open Podcast, host Gil Welsford Jr. sits down with Matt Thiel, President of AUMA Actuators. Matt walks through the 9-year journey that led to a 35% increase in output with zero new hires, and how it all started with a simple, powerful philosophy.

💡 What you’ll hear:

• The “Employees First, Customers Second, Shareholders Third” philosophy in action.

• How to get the feedback you need to hear, not what you want to hear.

• The practical steps (surveys, coffee meetings) that build real trust over time.

• Why a long-term vision is the key to unlocking massive efficiency gains.

• The “phone down” rule for protecting your family and your focus.

• The story behind AUMA’s famous Heinz Field ketchup bottle actuators.

🎯 This isn’t just a conversation about actuators and valves — it’s a masterclass in modern industrial leadership and building a company people are proud to work for.

🔗 Learn more about AUMA Actuators: https://www.auma.com/

🔧 Explore Valve & Actuation Solutions from ValveMan: https://valveman.com/

Jeff Scott doesn’t talk about “growth” like a slogan — he talks about it like a responsibility.

Because in industrial, you don’t get to coast. You either build capability, or you fall behind.

In this episode of the Fully Open Podcast, host Gil Welsford Jr. sits down with Jeff Scott of NOSHOK. Jeff has spent 51 years inside the business, starting in shipping and receiving as “the third man” in a 400 sq ft storefront, and helping it grow into a modern operation built for the long haul.

💡 What you’ll hear:

• What “e-commerce” actually means in industrial (and why it’s not just “ordering online”)
• Why product data, drawings, and speed-to-answer are part of customer experience now
• How NOSHOK moved certifications from paperwork to process using ERP, serial numbers, and QR codes
• Why quality programs and compliance are the real moat (not low price)
• The stewardship mindset: “We serve the business. The business doesn’t serve us.”
• The simplest truth Jeff repeats: you either grow or you die

🎯 This isn’t just a conversation about valves and instrumentation — it’s about building a company that stays credible, relevant, and trusted for decades.

🔗 Learn more about NOSHOK: https://www.noshok.com

🔧 Explore Valve & Instrumentation Solutions from ValveMan: https://valveman.com