We help machine and fabrication shops attract and keep good people.
Career paths, culture videos, and a community that brings the industry together.
The Short Version
4 Weeks
4 Weeks
4 Weeks
From your roster to a career and pay system on your floor
1/2 Day
4 Weeks
4 Weeks
In your building, and your people tell the story
250+
4 Weeks
250+
Manufacturing leaders and operators interviewed across the country
The Problem
Your best machinist wants a raise and a reason to stay.
Your job posting says "great culture," just like everyone else's.
And the shop down the road is fighting the same fight, alone.
The most common thing manufacturers tell us: "We don't have a story worth telling." They are almost always wrong.
From a decade on the shop floor
What We Do
Datum
Day in the Life Videos
Day in the Life Videos
A pay and promotion system for your shop. The next time a machinist asks what it takes to make $30 an hour, you hand them a page that answers it. We build it from your roster and your zip code. It takes about four weeks and a few hours of your time, and nobody takes a pay cut.
$9,999
Day in the Life Videos
Day in the Life Videos
Day in the Life Videos
We spend half a day in your shop. We walk the floor, sit down for a 30-minute interview, and film your people running parts. You get the video you link in every job posting, plus 30 clips for social.
$5,000 plus travel
Media & Events
Day in the Life Videos
Media & Events
I bring the manufacturing community together through the podcast, town halls, and hosting at trade shows and conferences.
Every event is different. Let's talk about yours.
Who We Serve
Shop Owners
Shows and Associations
OEMs and Vendors
Machine and fab shops with about 10 to 200 people. Usually someone good just quit, or almost did.
OEMs and Vendors
Shows and Associations
OEMs and Vendors
Machine builders, tooling, software, distributors. You want to sit across the table from owners, not wave at them from a booth.
Shows and Associations
Shows and Associations
Shows and Associations
You need a moderator, emcee, or host who understands this industry and knows how to hold a room.
Clients and Collaborations
Jim Mayer is a manufacturing storyteller
Fastenal is where I walked into my first machine shop, and I was in love. The sights, the smells, the people. I was home. That was West Coast Aerospace in Wilmington, California.
I've spent the last 25+ years selling in industrial distribution, working for OEMs like Keyence and BIG Kaiser, and at the NTMA, where I was director of marketing, comms, events, and media.
I started my company in 2018 and went full time in 2022 as a culture consultant for manufacturing. Turns out I hated being a consultant. In 2025 I was ready to quit when a company reached out and asked me to help tell their story. They'd seen my podcasts and my interviews at trade shows. That turned my company around.
We need to bring back the respect for working with our hands, for the people in the trades, and the pride that comes with making the things you and I use every day.
Things people ask before they book.
Please reach us at jim.mayer@themfgconnector.com if you cannot find an answer to your question.
Machine and fab shops with roughly 10 to 200 people, and the companies that sell to them.
Yes. If you make things and want to keep your people.
Most shop software answers, "Can this person run this machine?" Datum answers, "How does a person earn more money here, and how do you decide that fairly?" There's no app to log into. I build it, hand it to you, and train your team to run it.
A few hours. You send me your position list and your zip code, review one draft, and sit in on the rollout. If you can export a roster, you can start today.
For Day in the Life Videos, yes. Datum can be built remotely, and I'll come to the rollout.
Somebody good on your floor is wondering what's next. Call me before they ask somebody else.
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