217- How Joe Willis Navigated the Highs and Lows of Building Manufacturing IT Empires

Dissecting Popular IT Nerds

Technology

5 • 49 Ratings

🗓️ 16 October 2023

⏱️ 69 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Joe Willis With over 15 years of experience, Joe Willis is skilled at guiding organizations through growth and change. He has extensive expertise directing international infrastructure expansion, managing complex ERP systems, and leading cross-functional teams through major projects. Joe leverages technology to drive business efficiency and growth. His strength lies in partnering with leadership to align IT solutions to strategic goals through clear communication, relationship building, and a focus on delivering value. He thrives on overcoming challenges to transform operations. How Joe Willis Navigated the Highs and Lows of Building Manufacturing IT Empires What hard-won lessons did one IT veteran learn from navigating diverse industries and global expansion challenges over decades in the field? Tune in as Joe Willis shares his experiences tackling multifaceted EDI implementation projects and scaling infrastructure on an international scale with host Mike Kelley. You’ll discover proven strategies for overcoming hurdles like satisfying non-native partners and adapting to shifts within growing organizations. Apply these invaluable insights to your own career advancement, no matter which phase of professional evolution you’re in.

Transcript

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0:00.0	All right. Well, welcome to another episode of Dissecting Popular IT Nerds.
0:14.7	Today I'm excited to introduce Joe Willis, the director of IT for Fellers.
0:19.9	Although this is a new role, Joe has been through the IT grinder.
0:25.3	Joe, why don't you introduce yourself and tell us a little about your history.
0:29.4	Yeah, I'm Joe.
0:30.7	I've been in IT for about 15 years.
0:36.6	Started out in computer graphics, did a lot of engineering design work for a company that
0:44.9	built industrial generators and all the enclosures and all the components that support those. and went into IT from there.
0:58.4	And then I keep kind of finding myself in a space of companies that are trying to grow to the next level.
1:06.3	It's often been purchased by private equity from a mom and pop. and they're trying to figure out how to scale and grow their IT.
1:16.1	So, yeah, as you mentioned, I'm new to Fellers.
1:19.4	I've been there for about three years.
1:20.8	It's my first introduction into kind of the warehouse and distribution space.
1:27.4	There's a lot of interesting challenges here that I've never encountered before,
1:32.3	but most of my experiences in manufacturing, metal forming, and the like.
1:39.3	Oh, okay, so I actually hadn't picked up on the warehousing piece of it.
1:46.1	Having a little understanding of that and kind of touch you on, are you guys doing any of the warehousing automation?
1:52.2	Do you guys have any of the bots cruise around the warehouse and moving things around?
1:56.8	No, we're not there yet.
1:59.2	So Fellers is purchased by private equity a couple years ago.
2:05.6	Prior to that, it was very much driven by a can-do spirit, a lot of hard work,
2:11.6	and a lot of people to make that happen.
	...

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