Original subtitles

I'm a big believer in the dignity of work.

I like working, and I think people take pride when they work hard and they do a

good job.

And, you know, we've got the better part of 2 ,000 employees at Ruger, and they

work their tails off, and they are very proud of what they've built.

One of my favorite activities is going to the factories.

and walking the production lines and talking to the employees that are

product.

They're really the ones adding the value that the customer wants.

And while a lot of it is done on CNC machinery, at the end of the day,

lot done by hand too. Final assembly, tweaking the product, and in particular,

testing. Every gun at Ruger is tested a lot before it leaves the factory.

We know it's safe, and we know it's accurate.

And one of the best parts about testing is that a lot of it's done by hand. So

we get to shoot a lot. And that's fun.

My whole career has revolved around manufacturing and innovation.

And I've been in other industries where innovation wasn't well received.

You know, I spent years in manufacturing plumbing products. And plumbers don't

want new products.

Unless their dad used it and their granddad used it, they're worried about

callback, so they don't want it.

And then when I finally got the opportunity to start shooting again and

Ruger and be in the firearms industry, I knew we had a huge opportunity because

people like innovation in firearms.

They like to see the newest and the latest thing.

Frankly, we probably make the best firearms in the entire industry.

And they just keep getting better and better. We devote a lot of engineers to

figuring out how to not only make the guns better, but to make them more

accurate and more reliable.

And that's what we do. Rugged, reliable firearms for responsible citizens.

And our employees are into that.

Me too.

When I got to Ruger, there were a couple of big changes that had to happen.

A lot of people were very comfortable in what they were doing in the factory.

Most people were on piece rate.

And so they just made tons of parts, whether they were needed or not.

And that resulted in Ruger having way too much inventory, tying up all the

needed to operate the business.

And I don't think people were as involved in a finished product the way

today.

The other challenge was that Bill Ruger was a tough boss.

And he was brilliant in that the guns he decided to build turned out to be great

market successes.

But he didn't want anybody else's opinion.

He didn't really want the customer's opinion.

He didn't want the opinion from his salespeople or his engineers.

And people had gotten used to that over the decades, and so people were very

hesitant to make decisions.

Turn Ruger around and make it really successful.

We needed everybody to have ownership in all the decisions and what was going

on, have ownership of the product they're making, and not be hesitant to

decisions. So those two things had to be addressed in the first year. It was a

big cultural shift.

So these are our melt units. We have two of them.

On second, we man one.

And pretty much we're heating it up to about 29 .85, depending on the setup

we pour.

So these guys will charge the unit.

They're also in charge of loading up all their ovens so they can fit about three

or so setups in each one.

So to put the shells in there, they'll actually melt out all the wax, burn out

all the carbon, then they can roll it, and we send it into our cooling chamber.

So he has to pay attention to a lot of stuff from his oven speed, up the tap,

his unit running, as well as all of this to make sure everything's running as it

should.

It's important to follow the steps because if you don't, say you go too

you're going to end up with a lot of pitting, the parts are going to be

possibly jump.

So we want to try and send the best quality product.

Therefore, what our process card says, we're going to follow that as fluidly as

we can.

Are you proud of the work you do here? I am, yes. Very proud of the work I do.

I've been here for about 10 years.

So today we're up here in Newport.

In Newport, New Hampshire, we have about almost 800 employees.

And today I'm with Ron Nelson. Ron runs our 1022 line, really one of the most

iconic and important lines to Ruger. The 1022's been around for a very long

time. We've produced over, what, 8 million, almost 9 million guns? Yeah, a

It's been a lot of guns over the years, a lot of great guns.

And almost everybody has a 10 -22 in their gun safe or learned to shoot on a

-22. So for us, it's very important.

And Ron and his team do a fantastic job keeping up with the many different

specials we make. We make all kinds of configurations.

We make some that are commemorative to help, like, support the U .S. shooting

team. We make other ones that have distinctive engraving on it.

And so his team is able to navigate through all those different versions and

make all of those on the same line.

I've always had a fascination for mechanical things and how they work.

falls in that category a lot for me.

I'm passionate about my firearms, the Second Amendment rights.

I'm not crazy over the top like some, but I do.

Keep that silent, strong opinion. It's my right to do it, and that's what I'm

going to do, and nobody can tell me any different.

At this point in my career, I love to teach new people things.

You've got to kind of let go of the steering wheel sometimes and let them

their bumps.

You know, I still learn coming in every day from these young engineers that come

in. I ask them a lot of questions.

I see things that they do with tool makers.

Everybody has something that I want to know about, too.

So I like to listen.

I've always told a lot of people when you're talking, you're not listening.

if you come in thinking you know everything, you're not going to learn

For me, this job has opened up a lot, so I hope I give back as much as I get.

I've met a lot of nice folks, a lot of smart folks, a lot of people that are

good at their trade.

So before I leave and I retire, I hope I can give back too. That's my goal.

My name is James Periscandola.

My title is a manufacturing engineer for the 1022 line. The biggest feeling when

you get to 1022 is it's busy and there's a lot going on. We make the most guns

for Ruger out of any of the lines that we have, and it's fast -paced.

So I think it may be overwhelming to start for a lot of people.

Every day I work with Ronnie Nelson.

Ronnie Nelson is Mr.

1022.

He's probably the guy who knows the most about 1022s. He's been working there

for, like, 30 -plus years.

I don't know. I just like working with that. That's probably just his passion

what stands out.

He absolutely is a big people person.

As an engineer, I'm not much of a people person, so I envy Ronnie's ability to

work with people from all different kind of walks of life and get them into our

system and get them making guns.

So we run 24 -7.

So it's almost impossible here to meet with everyone all the time, and Ronnie

finds a way to move his schedule around so he can meet with the guys starting at

4 a .m. and also meet with the guys that are changing shifts at 11 p .m. and

make sure that, you know, he can interface with all. I think he's got

employees, so he tries to find a way to talk to all those people.

My grandfather was a hard worker.

He came over from Canada, married my grandmother, had nine kids.

Nobody got nothing without earning their way.

It was just instilled in you.

Nothing's free.

You want it? Come get it. It's not going to be given to you. But my grandpa was

also the first guy to give you the shirt off his back when he knew you were down

on your luck or whatever. So my mother was the same way.

Now I'm going to get emotional because my mother passed away when

I was 22.

She was probably a harder worker than anybody I know.

So I learned a lot from her, her work ethic.

She worked that good year, did a lot of doubles.

You have people in your life that have to have that instilled by their parents.

I think it's brought down.

It's your upbringing.

It's your environment.

Somebody who doesn't have those responsibilities is not going to pass

So I think there's a lot of family, a lot of your environment, the friends you

keep, and where you hang.

You always try to, I don't know, it was a pride thing. You took pride in.

The result of what? At the end of the day.

I mean, you go home, you look in the mirror, did I do the best job I could do

today? And sometimes you say, yeah, you did. And other days, you could have done

better. So you got to be honest with yourself.

I don't take pride in being lazy or taking shortcuts or close enough. I

want to do the best job I can. And I have that expectations of my employee.

Nobody's perfect. We all make mistakes.

You learn by them.

That's a value.

If you don't learn, that's a problem.

We all should have that kind of mindset.

I'm here to learn something.

I'm here to give it my best effort.

I'm going to make mistakes.

I've got to learn by them.

We're heading down here to take a look at our Kaizen wall.

And what you'll see is it looks like a lot of paper on the wall.

But when we take a look at it, every one of these is an initiative by folks on

our shop floor to make our processes better.

And each one of these, if you take a look at them, is a different subject.

something about, like I said, it may be a machine -specific thing. It may be the

cell trying to make it better. But every one of those ideas comes from our

associates on the shop floor. The best ideas don't come from the bosses in the

office. It comes from people on the shop floor that are making the process.

And that's what's so great about the Daily Kaizen.

And again, some are bigger cost savers than others, but all of them are well

-intentioned and make our company better and make the product better. And that's

what I love seeing about every one of them.

Nicole had gone to school at Whelan for this. She had previously worked for me

before. And she called me while she was there, wanted to know if I had any

interest in bringing her back. She told me what she learned over there.

I said, absolutely, I'll take you back. And I said, you've been a good worker.

I know I need somebody in powder coat to help me out there.

We've got level threes now. So I said, you'd be a perfect fit for that spot.

So ever since then, she's come back.

I've given her the freedom to do whatever she needs to do in there to

up. Awesome. I mean, that's $19 ,000.

Yeah.

Hey, how are you? Good, how are you?

Good, good.

And we're just looking at this kaizen you guys did. This was awesome. Oh,

you very much.

On the powder coating, that was awesome. 19 grand favors.

Yes. That was awesome.

It definitely improved our process in there quite a bit. Our rework has become

very minimal. And you can't even read that. And our quality is so much better.

That's awesome.

Thank you. And who else helped?

Me and Ron. Oh, you and Ron. I don't have my reading glasses on. You and Ron.

just gave you the keys to the car and let her drive. Right, right. Well, thank

you. That's awesome. Yeah, thank you very much.

So Ron was telling me some of the other things you're working on, so that's

great. Yeah, we're processing a new FIPO set up in there, left handling of the

receivers, which we love. The APF loves that. Right, right.

So just all positive innovation going on in there right now. Cool. Yes.

That's great. Well, thank you.

thank you

i

think that our success is because we value our people higher than anything

doesn't end at work unfortunately sometimes you bring it home with you i

to bring home the negative stuff but you develop that family value at work so

the people are equally

valuable to you outside of work as they are at work.

But I had sometimes but you know in any given family you know you will spend

that much time together.

I go home with my own daughter.

I scold her and I praise her. I do the same with you.

And then I have to speak to Ron because I'm the HR guy.

And then I scold Mike.

You know something stands out about Nicole is she always has a good

She's always smiling inside or outside of work.

That's something that, you know, you feel when you walk by. As far as Ronnie

goes, I've known Ron for a long time.

We've had some pretty deep conversations.

We don't always agree. When we do disagree, we disagree in a good manner.

We come to, you know, we don't hold things against each other. You can't.

Business is business.

Physical work isn't always work.

Sometimes the mental stress of mentoring one of your stars or debating.

The right moral thing to do in HR is, that's more exhausting than how many

that I physically participate in making today.

So the daily activity of keeping my folks busy, looking out for their best

interests, that alone is a job.

No, it's true friendships that we're in.

When someone picks up a gun, At 1022,

they probably don't realize all the different personalities, all the

people that put their hands on that firearm.

Ruger is not one person. Ruger is a multitude of people contributing to that

firearm and that process.

It means a lot to us.

So there's a lot of people that contribute.

Some contribute with advice, some contribute with skill, some with hard

Some just smile and face at the door to meet you in the morning, but everybody

has a practical way.

Well, there is a day when numbers are in the car.

But as you get older, you realize, how do you get your numbers?

How do your machines run? Who makes you look good or bad?

It's your people, right? So I'm hoping that people say that what you taught me

gave me value, and I've learned a lot.

I don't want it to be just lost, forgotten.

I want it to have value.

I like to think that I've made a contribution to the improvement of the

I like to think of my team as a whole going forward after I leave, continue to

do the same thing.

So it's all about what's the best for 1022.

It's not about what's best for Ron.

1022 has become a big part of my life, and I hope it becomes a big part of

Nicole or Brenda, Garrett, James.

They're the generation that's going to carry it forward.

So I hope they feel as strongly as I do about taking pride in the product line.

Guns evoke memories for all of us. And for me, it's something that I go back

you know, as a childhood.

With my grandfather, it was the Model 67 single -shot rifle.

I remember when we shot.

Shot a 22 -long rifle. We were like, wow, we're shooting the big bullets

So that was a big deal. And for me, every time I see one on a gun rack, I'm

tempted to buy it.

You know, this gun, at the end of the day, it's a single -shot bolt -action

rifle. Not very fancy, not very expensive.

Not fancy wood, not really fancy anything.

But really, for me, it's the memories of shooting with my grandfather.

The thing I probably remember most, besides the thrill of me shooting,

watching my mother shoot, and I had no idea that she was such a great shot, and

she used to shoot my grandfather, and I was just blown away by the fact that my

mom was a great shot with the .22, and she outshot me, and I was very

and I would brag about my mother being a great shot.

Firearms can bring back those memories, whether it's smell, sight.

We were out by the family farm, big garden there that I used to go to my

grandfather to help him weed the garden,

A .22 or a .30 -30 in case there was a gopher trying to raid his tomatoes, but

that's the thing that I remember was, you know, weeding the garden doesn't

like fun, but when I got to do it with my grandfather and bring the .22 with

him, I was sure hopeful we saw Mr.

Gopher, you know, there.

He did not want to see the gopher there, but I was hoping Mr. Gopher would show

up.

So, you know, when you pick up a gun like a Marlin, an 1895 SBL, it's a lever

-action gun. You know, in my case, I remember back to when I was a kid

reruns of The Rifleman, playing Lucas McCain with his Winchester 94.

In this case, this Marlin, I pick up, this is a quality piece of work. This is

great product made by American people, and this is the kind of firearm that you

pass down to two or three generations. This is not something that... is uh you

know in our disposable economy of today that we buy and then throw away this is

something we maintain for the next the coming generations so that grandkids and

great -grandkids can say this was my my grandpa so -and -so's rifle and he took

me to shoot with it one day and and have those memories that i that i'm

fortunate enough to have i just don't have his model 67 anymore