There are some conversations that change the way you look at an entire industry.
My interview with Cris Muchowski did that for me.
Most people don’t picture a manufacturing VP as someone who started out… literally washing parts. But that’s Cris. He walked into Manitowoc Tool & Manufacturing right out of high school, took the wash line job, and spent the next 19 years quietly climbing his way through every hard job in the building until he ended up helping run the whole thing.
No fancy shortcuts.
No fast-track program.
Just skill, patience, and doing the next job well enough that someone handed him a harder one.
Talking to him felt like meeting a blueprint for what American manufacturing should be.
Here’s what I learned.
1. Manufacturing’s Best Leaders Don’t Come From PowerPoint — They Come From the Floor
Cris didn’t “break in” through a management job. He literally started where most people wouldn’t even look for talent anymore.
Wash line → quality lab tech → quality engineer → quality manager → plant manager → VP.
That’s not career mobility.
That’s a system working the way it’s supposed to.
The wild part? MTM didn’t lose him to burnout or boredom.
They invested in him.
They also invested in everyone around him:
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28 journeyman tool & die makers
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A full in-house apprenticeship program
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Partnerships with Lakeshore Technical College
While most companies scream about the “skills gap,” MTM quietly solved theirs the old-fashioned way:
grow your own people.
This is what’s missing everywhere else.
2. MTM Doesn’t Bet the Farm — They Build It, Brick by Brick
Most companies want the big public win.
MTM prefers doing 1,000 small smart things no one sees.
A few things Cris said that stuck with me:
They intentionally avoid automotive.
Because one giant customer shouldn’t own your shop.
They grew 35% headcount in a single year — with control, not chaos.
That’s unheard of.
They invest in capabilities before the market forces their hand.
Like expanding welding before customers even asked for it.
This is a company that plans for 2030 while most people haven’t planned past lunch.
3. Onshoring Isn’t a Buzzword — It’s a Permanent Reset
Some people still think reshoring is temporary.
Cris made it clear: that ship sailed.
MTM is feeling it in real time:
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Customers shifting from 50/50 to 75/25 domestic
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Parts that simply don’t ship well from overseas
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Surging demand across the US, Mexico, and Canada
What they make is too heavy, too precise, and too time-sensitive to survive an 8–12 week boat ride.
This is the kind of work that’s guaranteed to stay here.
4. Reputation Is a Sales Strategy (and They Prove It)
For the size of the operation they run, I expected MTM to have a massive outbound sales engine.
Nope.
They only have THREE salespeople.
And they're booked solid.
Why?
Because manufacturing still runs on the most brutally honest KPI on earth:
Do good work → get more work.
You can’t fake that.
5. Cris’s Story Is What Manufacturing Needs More Of
We talk a lot about the “image problem” in manufacturing.
Here’s the truth:
Manufacturing doesn’t have an image problem — it has a storytelling problem.
A VP who started on the wash line?
A company that grows people instead of replacing them?
A culture built on patience, mentorship, and mastering hard skills?
That’s a story young people need to hear.
Not the old “dirty, dying industry” narrative.
One of my favorite lines from Cris was his advice to his younger self:
“Be more patient. Listen better. Becoming an expert takes years, not months.”
That’s not just advice for workers.
That’s advice for an entire country.
Final Takeaway: Cris Reminded Me What American Manufacturing Really Is
Before this conversation, I thought I already understood the power of internal career ladders.
But Cris showed me a deeper truth:
Strong companies don’t just build product.
They build people.
His story proves:
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You don’t need a degree to build a career worth being proud of.
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Onshoring is here to stay and opening huge opportunities.
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Patience and competence still win.
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And some of the real leaders in this industry aren’t on LinkedIn—they’re still out walking the floor.
If you ever needed proof that manufacturing is alive, evolving, and full of real opportunity, Cris Muchowski is it.
