On January 17, 2024, Paul Vragel will be the featured guest on the DMG Digital Podcast, interviewed by Nicole Donnelly, CEO, on the topic How to Get Buy-In to Change.
Discover the approach to seamlessly integrate beliefs, secure immediate employee buy-in to change, and accelerate the achievement of sustainable, scalable results. Don’t miss this insightful session on navigating organizational change successfully!
Register for the podcast here: https://bit.ly/3tYRYiO
Paul Vragel, Founder and President of 4aBetterBusiness, is interviewed by Isaiah Bollinger, CEO of Trellis (trellis.co), a full service eCommerce agency that can handle strategy, creative, technology, and performance marketing.
Discussions included customer expectations for digital interactions in order to do business with manufacturing companies, the effect on those expectations of actual processes in a company often diverging from how it is documented or expected they work, and developing immediate, enthusiastic buy-in to change to address this common situation. This conversation included eliminating fear in any initiative (including e-commerce benefits to sales) and transitioning from a blame-based culture to an improvement-seeking culture to ensure customer expectations are met.
Manufacturing Masters Podcast Episode #17: Getting Enthusiastic Buy-In to Create Rapid Change. In this episode of the Manufacturing Masters podcast, Paul Vragel is interviewed by Allison DeFord, fellow Manufacturing Master and chief trailblazer at Felt Marketing, about his unique starting point and the dynamics of getting buy-in and achieving change in a company. Paul recommends 4 key things you can do to get enthusiastic buy-in and implement rapid change to improve your manufacturing business. Use those key things to start before you’re ready (things will never calm down…), get your team excited about change and experience rapid results for increased productivity and faster growth.
Odwyer December 5
Paul Vragel spoke on Four Key Elements to Get Enthusiastic Buy-In to Change in One Day or Less as part of the education sessions at The ASSEMBLY Show on Tuesday, October 24, 2023.
Paul Vragel is spoke at the Thought Leader Talks, October 21, 2023, in Fort Worth, TX, on the topic “Get Company-Wide Buy-In to Change – In 1 Day”. Full details at the following link: https://lnkd.in/gbx_Neqd 
Paul Vragel was the featured speaker on the webinar “Igniting Transformational Productivity and Growth”, Tuesday, September 26, 2023, 9 AM Central Time. The webinar was sponsored by Blackmore Connects. Topics included: 4 Elements YOU CONTROL for achieving immediate, enthusiastic buy-in to change across an organization – in as little as 1 day – even if prior efforts have been unsuccessful; creating an environment safe for change, developing an improvement-seeking culture, and achieving sustainable, transformational improvements in productivity and growth in weeks and months.
Revolutionizing Industries – Paul Vragel cited as one of 10 Visionary Leaders who are Disrupting the Game by BossUpWeekly. The March 16, 2023 article noted: Paul Vragel is a seasoned entrepreneur and transformational leader with over 25 years of experience driving process, technology, and cultural changes in complex manufacturing businesses. With a diverse background spanning aerospace, automotive, and general industrial sectors in the US and abroad, Mr. Vragel is the founder and CEO of 4aBetterBusiness, Inc. This highly successful firm helps businesses achieve their goals. He has a BSc in Naval Architecture and an MBA from the prestigious University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He is also a Lean Sigma Blackbelt and ISO 9001 lead auditor.
Paul Vragel spoke at FABTECH2023 on the topic “How to Get Immediate, Enthusiastic Buy-In to Change”. This presentation covers techniques, proven in use for over 25 years, that have helped companies achieve company-wide buy-in to change – in 1 day, then leverage that buy-in to achieve transformational improvement in productivity and growth. FABTECH2023 was held September 11-14, 2023 at McCormick Place in Chicago.
Paul Vragel spoke at FABTECH2023 on the topic “5 Key Steps – Put People +Process First for Successful, Ongoing Digital Transformation.” This presentation covered:
- Moving Beyond Case-By-Case Technology Implementation
- How to Ensure People, Process and Technology work together
- How to Achieve Immediate, Enthusiastic Buy-In to Change
- Why Technology is the LAST THING You Need for Digital Transformation
FABTECH2023 was held September 11-14, 2023 at McCormick Place in Chicago.
Paul Vragel spoke at FABTECH2023 on the topic “How Do You Recover When a Change Initiative has Failed?” You’ve broken the trust with your employees, but still need to improve outcomes for your business to survive and thrive. FABTECH2023 was held September 11-14, 2023 at McCormick Place in Chicago
Paul Vragel spoke on the topic Enbracing Transformation: 4 Key Elements to Get Buy-In to Change on June 15, 2023 as part of The Victory Forum series.
Paul Vragel spoke on 5 Key Steps: Putting People + Process First for Successful, Ongoing Digital Transformation in the November 8 Smart Manufacturing Education Session as part of FABTECH2022, held November 8 through November 11, 2022 in Atlanta.
Paul Vragel, President of 4aBetterBusiness, Inc. spoke on the topic “Putting People and Process First for Successful, Ongoing Digital Transformation” at the Fabricator & Manufacturers Association’s Pipe & Tube Conference Memphis 2022, April 11-13, 2022, held at The Guest House at Graceland in Memphis. Topics included:
- Get beyond case-by-case technology implementation
- Why integrating people, processes, and technology is essential for success
- Why technology is the last thing you need for digital transformation
- 5 key steps for successful, ongoing digital transformation
Paul Vragel, President of 4aBetterBusiness, Inc. was a guest lecturer on “Operations Improvement Effects on EBITDA” at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business Private Equity Finance Class, at a session on January 25, 2022. The session covered the contribution of Operations Improvement to overall company valuation over time, industry variations, and specific examples from mid-market businesses including categories and differences in value drivers.
Paul Vragel, President of 4aBetterBusiness, Inc., was a guest lecturer in the Academy Friday portion of the MBA program at the Kelley School of Business of Indiana University. The Academy Friday program brings accomplished industry executives to share experiences and interact with students on actual business situations. This session, on November 12, 2021, revolved around student evaluation of a Challenge Case Study (developed from an actual 4aBetterBusiness client engagement), presentations on their solutions and discussion of the actual solutions implemented. The interactive session provided real-world perspective on improvement practices and processes, and was enthusiastically received by the students.
Paul Vragel was part of an expert panel, including representativs from Dow Chemical, PPG, Alchemy Cloud, Electric Ant Lab, discussing Ongoing Digital Transformation and the importance of addressing people and process issues up front to accomplish successful, ongoing digital transformations. This panel discussion was part of Paint and Coating Magazine’s annual Coating Trends and Technologies Conference , September 8 and 9, 2021, in Lombard, Illinois. Click <a href=”https://bit.ly/3ER2N7t”>here</a> to view and listen to a recording of the panel discussion.
Paul Vragel, Founder and President of 4aBetterBusiness, Inc., presented on “5 Key Steps for Ongoing Digital Transformation” at FABTECH2021 in Chicago, IL., September 14, 2021. Vragel presented as part of the Key Steps to Jump Start Your Smart Manufacturing Journeysession, and also contributed to the Smart Manufacturing Bootcamp at FABTECH2021.
Paul Vragel, President, spoke at the Fabricators and Manufacturers Association International Leadership Meeting on “5 Key Steps to Successful, Continuous Digital Transformation. The virtual conference was held online March 3 and 4, 2021.
Paul Vragel, President of 4aBetterBusiness, Inc., on October 23, 2020 again led sessions in the Academy Friday portion of the MBA program at the Kelley School of Business of Indiana University. The Academy Friday program brings accomplished industry executives to interact with students on actual business situations. The sessions revolved around student evaluation of a Challenge Case Study (developed from an actual 4aBetterBusiness client engagement), presentations by the students and review of their solutions and discussion of the actual solutions implemented.
Paul Vragel, President of 4aBetterBusiness, Inc., spoke on change and digital transformation at the 2020 Coating Technologies and Trends conference (virtual) September 10, 2020. Vragel was part of a featured panel “The Lab of the Future: Digitize to Accelerate New Product Development.” Topics addressed by the panel included where most companies are now, developing a transformation strategy, funding sources and execution and lessons learned. Other panelists include Sasha Novakovich, President and CEO, Alchemy Cloud, Inc; Jerry Powers, Technology Manager Coatings – Americas, Chromaflo Technologies; and Greg Williams, Ph.D, Section Manager, R&D Lab, BEHR. The session was moderated by Kristin Johansson, Editor-in-Chief of sponsor Paint and Coatings Industry Magazine.
Paul Vragel, President, spoke at the Fabricators and Manufacturers Association International Leadership Meeting March 3-5, 2020, on Leading a Company to Embrace Change and Digital Transformation, and as part of a panel discussion on What’s Keeping the Tube & Pipe Industry Up at Night.
Paul Vragel, President of 4aBetterBusiness, Inc., was a guest lecturer in the Academy Friday portion of the MBA program at the Kelley School of Business of Indiana University. The Academy Friday program brings accomplished industry executives to interact with students on actual business situations. The session revolved around student evaluation of a Challenge Case Study (developed from an actual 4aBetterBusiness client engagement), presentations on their solutions, review and questioning by 2nd year students, and discussion of the actual solutions implemented.
Paul Vragel, Founder and President of 4aBetterBusiness, Inc., presented at FABTECH2019 in Chicago, IL. Vragel moderated the November 13 session and spoke on the topic: “People and Process Actions to Prevent Digital Transformation Failure”
Paul Vragel, President of 4aBetterBusiness, spoke at the iNNOVATE conference, April 22-24, 2019, sponsored by iGrafx, on the topic “How to Painlessly Develop Immediate, Enthusiastic Buy-in to Change: A Transformation Story”.
Paul Vragel, President of 4aBetterBusiness, Inc., led the education session Innovative Techniques to Manage Significant Improvement and Change Initiatives, and spoke on Change is RUNNING at You…Are You Ready? at FABTECH2018 in Atlanta, November 6, 2018.
Paul Vragel, President of 4aBetterBusiness, Inc., lead 2 sessions for business owners and managers at regional meetings of the Metal Treating Institute, in Gurnee, Illinois and Toronto, Canada and speaking on Change is RUNNING at You…Are You Ready? Tom Morrison, CEO of MTI, commented “Anyone who is looking to make a cultural shift in “embracing change” in their company should see your presentation.”
Paul Vragel, President of 4aBetterBusiness, Inc., was a guest lecturer at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business MBA program, July 2017, and repeated in Fall, 2017. Vragel presented a “challenge” case study on an underperforming private-equity-owned company, derived from an actual client experience. Students reviewed the case and presented their solutions, which were reviewed along with the actual actions taken in the case.
Paul Vragel, President of 4aBetterBusiness, Inc., spoke on “5 Steps to Achieve What Customers Want: Everything, Without Problems” at Fabtech, November 6, 2017 in Chicago, IL.
Paul Vragel, Founder and President of 4aBetterBusiness, is interviewed by Isaiah Bollinger, CEO of Trellis (trellis.co), a full service eCommerce agency that can handle strategy, creative, technology, and performance marketing.
Discussions in this audio podcast included customer expectations for digital interactions in order to do business with manufacturing companies, the effect on those expectations of actual processes in a company often diverging from how it is documented or expected they work, and developing immediate, enthusiastic buy-in to change to address this common situation.
This conversation included eliminating fear in any initiative (including e-commerce benefits to sales) and transitioning from a blame-based culture to an improvement-seeking culture to ensure customer expectations are met.
In his Grow Your Business podcast Sam Gupta, President of ElevatIQ, experts in ERP across industries, interviews Paul Vragel about an effort he led that recovered from a failed acquisition integration (led by others) which left a company at 50% on-time delivery. Vragel discusses specific issues and steps required to achieve an operational transformation. This included developing immediate, enthusiastic employee buy-in to large-scale process change and a major ERP extension, which achieved 96% on-time delivery while reducing inventory by 22%. Click HERE to hear the podcast.
Jose Palomino, President of Value Prop International, in his Business Growth on Purpose podcast, interviews Paul Vragel on keys to large scale process improvement and how to create a safe environment for change and establish a culture in which everyone is seeking improvement (beyond “continuous improvement”) that is every business owner’s dream.
Paul Vragel, Founder and President of 4aBetterBusiness, was interviewed by Ray Ziganto, principal of the MFG out Loud podcast. This is a sales and marketing podcast. After hearing about the results 4aBetterBusiness has achieved, Ray interviewed Paul with the theme “the best friend a sales organization can have is a plant that can execute.” The podcasts, Episodes 51 and 52, cover the Origin Story for 4aBetterBusiness, as well as case stories of rapid, sustainable improvements that developed capabilities that increased sales – including achieving first-ever business with Toyota within 12 months. Click here to go to the MFG out Loud site to listen to the podcasts.
Paul Vragel was on the panel interviewed by Sarah Scudder in the SourceDay Manufacturing Woes podcast on August 9, 2022, in which a group of top notch, veteran manufacturing supply chain execs provide valuable insights into their mistakes, setbacks and failures. Paul Vragel spoke particularly about actions to take involving areas of the company beyond procurement to reduce supply chain risk and prevent supply chain problems.