# Scaling a High Growth Company with Plethora CEO Jim Quinn

- Show: [Manufacturing Happy Hour](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour)
- Published: 2020-07-28
- Length: 51m
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2020-07-28-scaling-a-high-growth-company-with-plethora-ceo-jim-quinn
- Listen: http://manufacturinghappyhour.com/22

## Summary

Jim Quinn, CEO of Plethora, explains how the company uses proprietary software to automate quoting, design for manufacturability (DFM), and CAM for custom CNC parts, reducing lead times from weeks to days. He discusses Plethora's rapid scaling, including a move from San Francisco to Georgia to access trade skills, and shares lessons on supply chain resilience, reshoring, and leading through organizational growth.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2020-07-28-scaling-a-high-growth-company-with-plethora-ceo-jim-quinn#t=0) Introduction and Plethora Overview
- [7:08](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2020-07-28-scaling-a-high-growth-company-with-plethora-ceo-jim-quinn#t=428) Automating DFM, Quoting, and CAM
- [10:30](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2020-07-28-scaling-a-high-growth-company-with-plethora-ceo-jim-quinn#t=630) Supporting the Full Product Lifecycle
- [13:14](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2020-07-28-scaling-a-high-growth-company-with-plethora-ceo-jim-quinn#t=794) Speeding Up Design Cycles
- [19:13](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2020-07-28-scaling-a-high-growth-company-with-plethora-ceo-jim-quinn#t=1153) Career History and Joining Plethora
- [21:10](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2020-07-28-scaling-a-high-growth-company-with-plethora-ceo-jim-quinn#t=1270) Supply Chain Lessons from Applied Materials
- [27:11](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2020-07-28-scaling-a-high-growth-company-with-plethora-ceo-jim-quinn#t=1631) Scaling Operations and Reshoring
- [32:14](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2020-07-28-scaling-a-high-growth-company-with-plethora-ceo-jim-quinn#t=1934) Leadership, Culture, and Hiring

## Topics

- [Scaling production](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/scaling-production)
- [Design for manufacturing & NPI](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/design-for-manufacturing)
- [Sourcing & supply chain](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/sourcing-and-supply-chain)
- [Manufacturing partners & offshoring](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/manufacturing-partners)
- [Leadership, teams & culture](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/leadership-and-culture)

## Most relevant to

companies scaling up

## Mentioned

- Plethora (company)
- Applied Materials (company)
- Fitbit (company)
- Apple (company)
- Georgia Tech (company)
- ISO 9000 (other)
- ITAR (other)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [#037 - Disrupting with digital manufacturing, with Nick Pinkston of Plethora, USA](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-hardware-entrepreneur/2017-09-13-037-disrupting-with-digital-manufacturing-with-nick-pinkston-of-plethora-usa) (The Hardware Entrepreneur)
- [When Your Shop Is No Longer Bound by Geography w/ Sanjeev Singh Sahni](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-manufacturing-executive/2026-08-18-when-your-shop-is-no-longer-bound-by-geography-w-sanjeev-singh-sahni) (The Manufacturing Executive)
- [248. Xometry’s Oscar Lovera & How AI Is Rebuilding Manufacturing](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-next-byte-podcast/2026-07-14-248-xometrys-oscar-lovera-how-ai-is-rebuilding-manufacturing) (The Next Byte Podcast)
- [Episode 274: Fold time back on itself](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/making-it/2020-08-28-episode-274-fold-time-back-on-itself) (Making It)
- [Ep. 3 - Tools While Scaling Up; How Much Structure is Too Much?](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/open-hardware-manufacturing-podcast/2023-08-24-ep-3-tools-while-scaling-up-how-much-structure-is-too-much) (Open Hardware Manufacturing Podcast)

## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2020-07-28-scaling-a-high-growth-company-with-plethora-ceo-jim-quinn. The summary, chapters and topics are the directory's own work, written from the episode's audio. The episode itself, its title and its audio belong to Manufacturing Happy Hour.