About this episode

Mike Marzetta discusses the leadership philosophy and culture that drives Altek's success in advanced manufacturing.

Most machine shop owners will talk your ear off about spindles and tolerances. Ask Mike Marzetta what makes Altek work and he says the word love . Not as a slogan. As the actual thing holding a 200-person advanced manufacturing company together. Mike runs Altek in Spokane, a shop his dad started 50 years ago that's grown into full contract manufacturing: machining, injection molding, assembly, testing, finishing, even its own R and D. But the throughline of our whole conversation isn't the capability list. It's culture. Mike wrestled at the Division I level and was an All-American, and he runs the company like a team, camaraderie first, because he's seen what happens when you have all the talent and none of the trust. We get into the hard business calls too. How he watched commodity work migrate offshore in the early 2000s and dragged a reluctant shop, and his own father, toward AS9100 and FDA certification. How he co-founded a consortium to brand all of Spokane as an advanced manufacturing hub instead of marketing Altek alone. And how betting heavily on the 737 has meant riding out five white-knuckle years of ramp up, ramp down, ramp up. Then there's the people playbook, which…

People in this episode

Host: Paul Van Metre

Guest: Mike Marzetta

Topics covered

• leadership philosophy
• teamwork
• company culture
• advanced manufacturing
• business strategy

Keywords

• teamwork
• leadership
• manufacturing
• company culture
• business strategy

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Altek, AS9100, FDA, 737

Places: Spokane

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