How to Increase Employee Retention through Building Design with Todd Drouillard

Connect with Todd Drouillard Website: https://www.hed.design/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/todd-drouillard-aia-b9a7a629/ Lisa Ryan:  Hey, it's Lisa Ryan. Welcome to the Manufacturers' Network Podcast. Our guest today is Todd Drouillard. Todd is the section leader of the manufacturing and product development sector within the national architecture and engineering design firm, H E D. As a member of the state of Michigan construction code commission board of directors, Todd focuses on design innovation and improving speed to market in manufacturing, supply chain, and design for automotive and battery technology. Todd, welcome to the show. Todd Drouillard: Thank you. Thank you again for having me on. We're happy to be here. Lisa Ryan:  Todd, please share a little about your background and what led you to do what you're doing. Todd Drouillard: Sure. It all started when I was ten years old, which is crazy to think that you knew what you wanted to do when you were 10. I wanted to be an architect. I had a brief period just because I grew up in the Metro Detroit lake area and was highly influenced by the shows we would have. So a short time, I wanted to design vehicles. That kind of squashed a little bit when I discovered that my artistic talents weren't as great as they should have been. So I did go ahead and received a degree in architecture in the area that made sense to work in automotive. So that's where I've been spending most of my time, probably two-thirds of my 20, 21 years of doing this. And the work has been focused strictly on the manufacturing side. So my role at H E D is precise in that I look for ways that we can design buildings to build better products. Lisa Ryan:  Okay. So what was it about architecture? That's so fascinating that you were captivated at age 10. Todd Drouillard: Yeah. I just loved to look at blueprints and drawings, and when my folks had a cottage built a few years before I was born. They still had the old blueprints, and I