NARRATOR: Major funding for "Made in Maryland" is provided by... Offering big bank capabilities and boutique bank care, CFG Bank supports businesses of all sizes and industries including manufacturing across Maryland.

We are CFG Bank, your success is our business.

This program is in part made possible through a partnership with Kaiser Permanente which has been serving the Maryland community with high-quality healthcare for over 35 years.

The Maryland Marketing Partnership amplifies all that makes Maryland a great place to live, work, and do business in, including our bright minds, diverse population, and connectivity.

Learn more at business.maryland.gov.

Chesapeake Employers Insurance, proud to support "Made in Maryland" and the exciting future for manufacturing in Maryland.

And by... ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ NARRATOR: For generations, heavy industry, food processing, and textiles were the heart of the American economy.

Maryland became known as a hub of technical innovation and industrial ingenuity.

Today, that legacy continues as Maryland leads the way in developing modern manufacturing practices.

RICK HUETHER: Last year we made almost three million cans for Frito Lay.

NARRATOR: Through each Industrial Revolution, Maryland manufacturers have adapted and evolved, promising a stronger, safer, cleaner future for the state and its residents.

BOBBY WATTS: We make the imaginable real.

NARRATOR: It's a promise baked into the DNA of companies like Independent Can.

RICK: We can compete with anybody in the world.

NARRATOR: And Watts Innovations.

BOBBY: Our drones are the pickup truck of the unmanned skies.

NARRATOR: Two companies using technology to revolutionize manufacturing.

(theme music playing).

NARRATOR: The transition from agriculture to mechanized industry defined the first Industrial Revolution.

Electricity, gas, and oil, the second.

And by the third, nuclear energy and computers were transforming our world.

The rise of renewable energy sources and the use of emerging technologies to connect production lines to virtual spaces has become the hallmark of the fourth Industrial Revolution, Industry 4.0.

In Maryland, manufacturers are harnessing the benefits of Industry 4.0 to improve products and stay competitive.

Even industries dating back to the 19th century are embracing the future.

In the 1880s, Baltimore was the center of the American canning industry.

But by the 1920s, Independent Can was among the few remaining can manufacturers left in Baltimore.

Today in Harford County, Rick Huether is the third generation to lead Independent Can's trailblazing manufacturing of custom tins.

RICK: The Huether family took over the can operation, from '48 on.

It's a fun business, my son Ryan has been in the business for about 22 years.

My dad is 97 and still active in the business.

NARRATOR: This family business is a major player in the global specialty tin can market.

A market projected to value nearly a billion dollars by 2032.

RICK: So we make cans for Fortune 100 companies, last year we made almost three million cans for Frito Lay.

NARRATOR: And Independent Can Company's innovative use of technology is revolutionizing metal packaging and printing.

RICK: We engineered a printing operation that takes all over the VOCs, the volatile organic compounds, through a thermal oxidizer that allows us to exit cleaner air than we bring in from Harford County.

NARRATOR: Digital technology is increasing capabilities across all industries, including unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones.

The drone market has exploded since 2013 with revenue expected to exceed 38 billion dollars by 2027.

In Baltimore County, Watts Innovations, led by founder and CEO Bobby Watts has been developing drones for nearly a decade.

BOBBY: We refer to our drones as the pickup truck of the unmanned skies because basically it's a empty platform, our drones are used for a wide variety of use cases from everything from filming movies, TV shows, commercials, to performing solar farm inspections, cellphone tower inspections, or even things such as package delivery.

NARRATOR: These industrial, heavy-lift drones have been made possible by streamlining manufacturing, and advanced technology.

BOBBY: We are absolutely beginning to see the usefulness of robots at scale, drones are saving lives, they're helping to keep people out of harm's way, they're helping to improve efficiency, and helping to save costs.

I'm from the Baltimore area originally, you know, born and raised here.

Ever since I was a kid, I was always making something and trying to sell it to my friends.

Uh, building and selling skateboard ramps, when I was in elementary school, those didn't sell too well, but I was, I was always exposed to that and, and always wanted to be a part um, in entrepreneurship and I guess now we've just taken that a step further.

NARRATOR: Engineering and manufacturing unmanned aircraft are Bobby's calling.

BOBBY: I've been involved with unmanned aircraft for over 20 years now, everything from the hobby side to entertainment side to now industrial use cases.

NARRATOR: It all began in 2003 when he received a radio-controlled helicopter kit.

BOBBY: Built that on my living room floor and that started a wonderful five-to-10-year passion and hobby of mine of flying radio-controlled helicopters for fun.

I ended up becoming, as crazy as it sounds, a professional RC helicopter pilot through my high school and college years.

NARRATOR: It would take time for Bobby's passion and ability to align with opportunity.

BOBBY: Watts Innovations is my 18th attempt at creating a product or business.

Some of those ventures were a success, others were a massive failure.

I started Watts Innovations in 2016, in a spare bedroom.

My girlfriend at the time, Carly, who's now my amazing wife, was helping me since day one, to help customers design products.

NARRATOR: Each failure helped pave the pathway to success.

BOBBY: In my experience, it's really three things.

Number one you have to find something that you're really good at, like really good at.

And then number two you have to find something that you actually like and then number three is out of your control, number three is just, does the market want what you have to offer?

And a lot of times my failings were due to number three, was just not there.

But basically you literally just have to stay in the fight in order to see another day, that's what we've been doing lately with Watts Innovations, and seven years later we're still in the fight.

NARRATOR: Independent Can Company has been in the fight for nearly 100 years.

RICK: My grandfather was distributing tin plate for US Steel, so he was representing a steel company to the can companies in Baltimore.

The Parker family wanted to devest themselves of the can operation because they wanted to define themselves as a metal printer.

So they sold the company to my grandfather who was their largest supplier and Independent Can was his largest customer.

NARRATOR: The Huether family bought Independent Can in 1948.

Rick joined the company in 1975.

RICK: Success is being creative, it's got to be in the DNA of the organization.

It also has to recognize markets change, a family business can take a long-term approach to how it views the markets we're in.

NARRATOR: Implementing green technology has helped make Independent Can a market leader.

RICK: We got into printing in 1993 and everybody kind of thought we were crazy.

The first facility that had a close capture, when we did it the EPA then required anybody else in the metal decorating business to put in the same technology.

So it's allowed us to be a little bit of a leader.

It's all about the health of the industry and having users of packaging want to be a part of that medium in that we're 100% recyclable and we're working very hard to, to minimize the carbon footprint of our industry.

NARRATOR: For Rick, adopting the technologies driving Industry 4.0 is essential.

RICK: If you're making something, you've got to believe the future is better than the past.

If you don't, you're going to treat the business the way it is.

NARRATOR: The key is constantly looking for process improvements.

RICK: Industry 4.0 will allow us to deliver products to our customers in a much faster manner.

You can take mature equipment and have it making very contemporary products.

NARRATOR: Technological advances create opportunities to retrofit existing equipment and embracing Industry 4.0 means safer jobs too.

RICK: This also requires people to understand that they'll be managing systems versus managing machines.

And the systems will tell them what the machines need and make their job more interesting versus more physical.

So we've got to build change into everybody's job description.

Since 2019 we've put 30 million dollars back into the business, that's putting in the nine-color printing line, which is the largest single investment we've ever made in, in a process.

NARRATOR: Independent Cans' nine-color printing line is the only one of its kind in the Western Hemisphere.

RICK: We're expecting to cut delivery time down by 50%, that's what allows us to print for some of the other can companies that are not investing in that type of quality.

Our philosophy of myself, my father, we cooperate with a lot of people in our industry.

We don't attack competitors, so we've built relationships with all the major can companies and not only domestically but globally.

If they break down on something, we'll share technology with them to keep them going so we don't disappoint a user of a metal can, 'cause if somebody in the can business disappoints somebody, they'll blame the industry, not necessarily the company.

NARRATOR: Automation has helped Independent Can maintain its edge in a competitive global economy.

RICK: We're a survivor and a thriver.

NARRATOR: And virtual workflows are accelerating the pace of research and development.

BOBBY: So I think that's what Watts Innovations does best, is we make the imaginable real in a very quick amount of time.

NARRATOR: Digital design and modular manufacturing enable Watts to quickly produce hundreds of drones for customers throughout the United States.

BOBBY: We design and track over 1,000 different parts and then we build them in a very specific way that makes our end product.

NARRATOR: The freedom digital technology provides for manufacturers is groundbreaking.

BOBBY: It allows us to be very nimble it allows us to be in control of our bill of materials, it allows us to be in control of the end product that goes out the door and it allows us to be quite secure with regards to cyber security concerns and such.

NARRATOR: Modern manufacturing helps protect critical infrastructure from harm.

BOBBY: We know that our information isn't being sent out to nefarious places where it should not be sent and this also means our customer's information as well.

NARRATOR: These digital security protocols are benefiting consumers too.

BOBBY: We've been working to allow one of our drones to carry a package of up to 10 pounds to perform a completely autonomous delivery, so if somebody orders a product from that store then their team is capable of pressing one button and the drone flies itself and performs a package delivery and the craziest thing is, it's real.

There have been over 10,000 recorded deliveries.

It's pretty exciting to see and I, I think we're just starting to scratch the surface of it.

NARRATOR: In Maryland, manufacturers are utilizing cutting-edge technology to make cleaner more sustainable products.

Independent Can Company is one of a few one-stop shops for custom tin packaging in the country.

The process starts with printing and coating.

RICK: Our printing system requires that we put a, either a clear size coat or a color coat on the surface for the UV inks to adhere to the surface, and then that is protected with an overcoat of a varnish, which gives it a very durable surface.

We then would go to making printer plates which are placed on the press.

The printing process can be just a coat, it can be eight colors, nine colors on the outside of the can, the system clamps the metal and takes it through all the printing heads without releasing it so you've got near-perfect registration from press to press to press.

NARRATOR: Once coating and printing are complete, the sheets are assembled.

RICK: We take the flat sheets, split them into body blanks or strips for can ends or lids, and once those body blanks are prepared, they go into a body maker that will form the shape of the can and then the bottom will be placed on the can and then the can is finished, you can have a slipcover for a cookie, cake, confectionary tin or a seamed-on end like a bean can or a pea can.

NARRATOR: Independent Can Company's modern printing processes incorporate features that protect customers and consumers from counterfeit products.

Watts Innovations' state-of-the-art industrial drones also prioritize customer concerns.

A process that starts with the design and engineering teams.

BOBBY: This is Rossi, she's one of our mechanical engineers, what Rossi's working on right now is a design of our next-generation ground station.

So how's it work?

ROSSI FORCE: You press this button down.

BOBBY: Yep.

ROSSI: And it makes this guy move and... BOBBY: And it kicks it out?

Then as soon as that part is designed, she can send it wirelessly to any one of our four 3D printers and this allows us to instantly know if the design's going to work or not.

So this is our R&D room where we actually take brand new concepts, and 3D printed parts and brand-new aluminum parts and circuit boards and we combine them with a very special skill set.

So we're here with Chris, one of our systems engineers.

He's testing a new heatsink that we designed to keep the radio cool during extreme use.

Up next is the software side of things.

So this is Mark, one of our software and systems engineers.

Mark and the software team have actually been working on a new piece of software that allows our delivery winch to deliver packages faster.

So I'm here with Gabe, we're about to test a new piece of software that we've loaded onto our delivery winch.

Locking speed is three times normal?

GABE RIVOLTA: Yep.

BOBBY: Okay.

GABE: 3.5 times actually.

BOBBY: Okay, here we go.

Completely autonomous delivery.

Our first test went pretty well, so we just got to see one of probably 200 attempts that we will do on this next piece of software before we roll it out to more drones to perform more testing.

NARRATOR: Once a design is engineered, meets regulations, and passes initial testing.

It heads into production for manufacturing at scale.

BOBBY: It starts with the parts that we either design or we work with other vendors to bring in their parts, so here we have the actual flight controller also known as the "autopilot" which is basically the brain of the drone itself.

This is Jay, he heads up our quality control program.

So Jay's running the software right now that's going to inspect a new batch of circuit boards which our electrical engineers have designed.

We have software and inspection tools that allow us to go through and very easily identify if that circuit board was made as it should with the quality that it should.

This is our production manager and so Kyle's now working on a new drone, this is the "under the hoods" of one of the new drones that'll take to the skies in the coming weeks.

We're not only building the drones themselves but the wire harnesses and the various accessories that go on the drone.

So as the team is uh, rounding the corner on producing the products here, we then go into final quality control and ensuring that the final product works as it should.

Uh, so this is Lacey, she's one of our technicians here at Watts Innovations.

This is a delivery winch and this device can autonomously lower a one-to-ten-pound package to the ground from all the way up to 125 feet in the air.

And so our team developed this and put it into production in nine months which was wild.

So we'll also test-fly every single drone that goes out the door as well.

So this is the QC testing.

NARRATOR: Modern technology is creating a better future for all segments of manufacturing.

RICK: We can now buy steel that is called bluemint, but we can buy it with 60% less carbon in it today and that technology by 2030 will all be bluemint, so we're working towards a future that is very carbon-free.

It's gonna protect the business that is in steel.

NARRATOR: And creating opportunities for emerging sectors of American industry.

BOBBY: Over 90% of the drones that are purchased every year are made by exclusively one company based out of China.

A lot of these drones are funded by the Chinese government then that can pose a potential homeland security risk.

The DOD is starting to recognize this and understand the urgency that, "Hey, we actually need American-made drones, uh, we, we need to be putting in that effort and that funding now and help this technology evolve even further and grow so that the U.S. can become once again a leader in this space."

NARRATOR: And doing business in Maryland has its advantages.

BOBBY: What Maryland offers is just a wonderful central area on the East Coast and just the amount of talent that we've been able to either just uh, bring here from the area or able to lure here uh from surrounding states or in some cases from across the country.

Maryland's doing a great job to help companies like ours succeed.

I don't really believe that I would have been able scale Watts Innovations in another state.

RICK: Being in Maryland is, is a great location.

Our family's here, our family lives in Maryland, we made a commitment to our employees and to the family and to the all the people that serve us from the tin mill side and from the tooling and logistics that we want to make it here, we are still committed to making it in America, with American workers and that's the way it's gotta be, that's, that's our plan.

NARRATOR: A skilled workforce has been essential to the success of each Industrial Revolution.

RICK: We are in the fabric of, of five different communities around the country.

We're a people business.

We need people to understand that they're important, they're respected, they're part of the success of the business.

Bryan Powell, our Vice President of Engineering and now Plant Manager of Belcamp has grown from a department engineer to being plant manager of our largest facility.

BRYAN POWELL: I've been with Independent Can Company for 27 years.

For me, manufacturing was always a driving factor in my career choice because I like making things.

The, the biggest thing I love about manufacturing, and manufacturing here at Independent Can Company um is the people and the opportunity that it affords uh for learning, for traveling, um and for uh, really scratching that itch of wanting to make a difference.

RICK: A business can have all the equipment, but unless you have the people that want to do it, we don't go anywhere without 'em.

STEVE BLOUIN: I love to talk about the fact that we are actually making things in Maryland.

We can go to the stores all the time and see the packaging that we make here and it's always great to see something that we know we had our hands on.

RICK: In career path, it doesn't matter whether you're 18 or you're 70, what do you want to do over time?

Victor really was curious in what he wanted to do.

So we moved him into a mechanical training program, he became an expert in the round and shaped can making.

VICTOR MARTINEZ: Since I grown up, I was interested in working with equipment.

I knew that I could do a good job working as a mechanic and repairing the equipment on the lines and so that was really gratifying to me, I felt very proud of myself and I'm able to help my coworkers.

RICK: So you try to coach and train before you move people and also give them a safety net, as we move people around and Ana in our plant is just a pleasure.

ANA PAEZ: I'm a press operator here in Independent Can.

Some people think that manufacturing's like a low job and it's not, it depends what you want to do.

It could be a low job if you want to stay at the bottom, but you can grow.

I like doing this job and I feel good doing it so that to me, that's reward for me.

RICK: So there are paths to success that do not require taking out loans to go to college.

We have people in our business that are taking home six-figure salaries that are in, in the factory, and in the operations of the business.

Not just in management.

NARRATOR: Manufacturing opportunities exist for a wide variety of skill sets.

BOBBY: Many of our team members here came in from a very high level of radio-controlled building and operating as well.

Others in our production facility, for example, come from military experience uh, or from some other large company drone programs.

So Jay came to us as a quality engineer.

JAY CASTELLANO: I was working for a medical company and then prior to that I was in the Air Force.

Took the basics, like general education, my associates, but I took more certifications and that led me to become a quality engineer.

So the thing about quality management is that it is a living, breathing organism, it's very fulfilling to see these drones go out in the way that we incorporate our culture of quality.

BOBBY: I think everybody really believes in what we're trying to create here and in the technology that we're creating.

Gabe has really shifted his role, actually to working on the regulatory and compliance side because not only is building a drone hard, but being able to operate in the national air space is also quite hard.

GABE: What I love about my job is coming to work every day and doing something different and learning something new.

If you follow your passions, you can do what you want to do.

And whether you have a degree or you just have a high school diploma, like myself, I ended up utilizing my drone certification to allow me to get to where I am without having that degree.

BOBBY: No matter what lens you approach it from, manufacturing really requires every discipline possible.

I think everyone here understands our vision, they understand that it's a bit of a, of a bumpy road.

NARRATOR: For these Maryland-based manufacturers the future is bright.

BOBBY: Personally I'll be fulfilled and happy as the leader of this uh, rowdy bunch here, so long as I'm able to lead an eager team coming in to create better technology and create new products and to help solve the problems that our customers have and just really provide value to everyday people.

RICK: We're only six years from 100 years in the business and there are projects on the books that are phenomenal, so our goal now is to really bring back a tremendous amount of work from the low-cost countries 'cause through automation and through A.I.

and through Manufacturing 4.0, we can compete with anybody in the world.

♪ ♪ TRAVIS BELL: I love to roast coffee because it's the connection in the community that coffee comes from, it's just not simply putting it into a machine and hoping it turns out while there's takes a lot of science and uh craft to know how to roast the coffee so that's an exciting part for me to be able to use creativity on how we roast the coffee.

I think the way we connect with our consumers right now is our ability to roast coffees in a way that highlights the flavors of the profiles and it's an opportunity for people to experience uh, the coffees as they are and not with added flavors to them.

Being a Black-owned company uh gives us a face here in Baltimore that we haven't had and so being able to show that um, anyone can roast coffee or be in this coffee space and it's welcoming for everyone uh, has been important to us and that's how I feel like we can uh continue to make a deeper connection with the community around us.

NARRATOR: Major funding for "Made in Maryland" is provided by... Offering big bank capabilities and boutique bank care, CFG Bank supports businesses of all sizes and industries including manufacturing across Maryland.

We are CFG Bank, your success is our business.

This program is in part made possible through a partnership with Kaiser Permanente which has been serving the Maryland community with high-quality healthcare for over 35 years.

The Maryland Marketing Partnership amplifies all that makes Maryland a great place to live, work, and do business in, including our bright minds, diverse population, and connectivity.

Learn more at business.maryland.gov.

Chesapeake Employers Insurance, proud to support "Made in Maryland" and the exciting future for manufacturing in Maryland.

And by... ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪