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My guest on today’s show is Kris Fugate, President of Revolution Machine Works, a prominent rotary transfer machine rebuilder, specializing in Hydromats. Hydromats can seem strange and overwhelming to those unfamiliar with them. Some say they their circular shape with 12 or 16 work stations reminds them of a UFO, and the machines can crank out complex turned parts like nothing else out there.

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Interview HighlightsHow Rotary Transfers Work

Kris started the interview explaining how rotary transfer machines, particularly Hydromats, function and why they are such unique productive machines. How is it possible that parts which require several multi-spindle screw machines, or have cycle times of 2 minutes on a CNC lathe, can run complete on a Hydromat in 20 seconds?

Most Hydromats are configured in a rotary dial-like shape. Unlike on a screw machine, in which the bar of material rotates and the tools are stationary, on a Hydromat the bar remains stationary and the tools rotate. Each station (unit) of the transfer machine functions like a CNC lathe or CNC mill. Units can do work such as turning, threading, milling etc. Each station machines one operation and then transfers the part to the next station for the next operation.

Advantages of Hydromats over other Turning Machines

Hydromats have individual feeds and speeds in each station, so they aren’t held captive to the slowest operation, such as on an Acme-Gridley or other traditional multi-spindle screw machine.

They usually come equipped with an inverting unit, which removes a part from a collet, rotates it and places it back in the collet so it can be machined from the other side. This feature makes Hydromats ideal for machining double sided fittings.

Unlike a lot of other rotary transfer machines, which are set up with the stations vertically arranged in the trunnion style that resembles a Ferris wheel, most Hydromats are set up horizontally, more like a carousel. This enables modular units that can be easily swapped, making easy, quick changeovers.

Also, Hydromats are designed with a hirth ring coupling, which enables them to maintain tight tolerances part after part.

Revolution Machine Works

Kris’s company, Revolution Machine Works, services and sells refurbished and rebuilt turnkey Hydromats, and also supplies Hydromat spare parts. They often do entire overhauls on the machines, stripping them down to the casting. They rebuild units, and equip the machines with new Fanuc controls. While the Hydromats that Revolution provides are the non-CNC hydraulic generation, the company sometimes equips the machines with individual CNC units made by the Italian rotary transfer machine company DM2. Revolution Machine Works also distributes new DM2 machines in the U.S.

Hydromats are Tough Business

Since I went into the used machinery business over a decade ago, I’ve spent a lot of time learning about Hydromat rotary transfer machines. I’ve traveled to Germany, Italy, Switzerland and Norway to find them because you can make a nice buck if you find the right customer. Still, it’s always seemed like we had to have 10 interested customers to sell one Hydromat. It can get frustrating watching the machines sit in the Graff-Pinkert warehouse for years.

Why do customers hesitate to buy these machines that can crank out great parts by the millions. Perhaps its because they often cost a few hundred thousand dollars, and then a bunch more money to set up. Kris could relate to my experience. A rebuilt, turnkey Hydromat, has double or triple the price tag of one that Graff-Pinkert would sell, and the customers expect considerable service.

In the interview, Kris pointed out a lot of the other challenges Hydromat customers face. The machines take up a lot of floor space—perhaps large enough to fit three CNC machines. They require at least one expert to keep them running correctly, and it can take six months to a year to train a Hydromat operator.

Kris says he and colleagues often joke that they picked the hardest way to make money.

We both agreed that it’s much easier to sell a Hydromat to someone who already has them. They have units on the shelf, expertise, comfort, and enough work for the machines.

Yet Kris says his work is most rewarding when he is able to get a new client into the Hydromat business. A Hydromat can be a game changer for a company in the high volume parts business, yet a purchase comes with significant risk. Years ago, he ran Hydromats in his family’s machining company D & S Machine Pts. He says he can still remember how it felt when the company paid over a million dollars to buy its first new Hydromat, its biggest capital investment at the time. I can tell that being able to put himself in the shoes of his customers is helpful for Kris to sell machines, but more importantly, it’s clear that it gives him a sense of purpose.

Question: Do you prefer to buy, used, rebuilt, or brand new machine tools?

The post Where Do Rotary Transfers Fit?, with Kris Fugate—EP. 144 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Using savings to buy a 20-year-old Swiss machine that’s been sitting idle for year is a gamble. Buying one to start a machining company without any customers yet or a place to put the machine means really going ALL IN.

Today’s podcast is Part II of my interview with Dulio Arellano, founder of Premier Swiss in Addison, Illinois.

We’re continuing Dulio’s story, discussing how he transitioned from working in job shops to becoming one of Tornos USA’s top technicians, and then how he rolled the dice, purchasing a used Tornos DECO 10 to start his own machining company.

If you haven’t listened to Part I (Episode 218) I suggest you check that one out first.

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Interview HighlightsWorking On the Shop FloorNoah Graff: Why do you feel it’s important for you to still work alongside your people on the shop floor?

Dulio Arellano: There are a lot of benefits to being involved in the shop, even if you could step back and just concentrate on other things like sales and office-related tasks for running the business. This is not only for the owner but also for companies that have managers, lead persons, or people with jobs in the office.

The attitude of the people is much different if you come out there and work with them. In my point of view, it’s kind of like, okay, I’m the owner, and I care about the shop more than anybody here. That’s why I’m going out there and talking to the people.

If you go out there in the shop and talk to the people, try to make their jobs easier. When people see that things are running, they change their attitude. I have a couple of guys that work here who have told me that they’re very proud to work here because, as an owner, you might see me at my desk for a full day working on sales and trying to close deals. But the next day, I might be underneath the machine, full of oil, changing the motor and helping this guy trying to do something or figuring things out so they run well.

Advice for Starting a Machining BusinessNoah Graff: Do you have any advice for people out there thinking about starting a machining business?

Dulio Arellano: I think that for the people who are thinking of starting a business, they just have to keep in mind that if they really want it, it’s going to happen, but it’s going to require a lot of patience and a lot of hard work. It’s not easy, and it doesn’t happen fast. And if you don’t enjoy the work, if you don’t do it because you like the kind of work, if you don’t like the pressure or being in that position solving problems, maybe it’s not for you.

Being Flexible to Change Directions in LifeNoah Graff: How did you expect your life to turn out until now versus how it actually did?

Dulio Arellano: Well, I had learned from starting the business and from taking the job at Tornos that I wasn’t expecting to take, that you always have to have goals. But you also have to be open to what opportunity presents and be willing to switch directions at any minute. That could be a slight change or a complete change to another direction if the right opportunity presents itself.

I don’t know what the future holds. I don’t know how the market is going to be, what field we’re going to go into, if I’m going to continue expanding, if I’m going to reduce the amount of equipment I have, or if I’m going to upgrade the equipment. I just know that I have my goal on where I want to be, but at the end of the day, I think that things happen and push you in a certain direction where you must go.

That’s how it’s been in the last six years that I’ve been in business. I plan certain things, and things go in a different direction. You have to change, make things work, or take the opportunity and change your plans.

The post Betting Your Savings to Start a Machining Company, Dulio Arellano (Part II)—EP 219 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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On today’s show we’re talking about how to set up machine tools efficiently.

Our guest is Paul Van Metre, co-founder of ProShop ERP. ProShop produces a comprehensive web-based and totally paperless shop management system for small to medium manufacturing companies. Paul says that using a few best practices, guided by ProShop’s management system, can reduce a machine setup time up to 50%.

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Main Points

Paul shares his background. He grew up in New York and studied mechanical engineering in college. He says he found it dry, so he began looking for something more hands on. He found a program in Washington State that was heavily involved in the Formula SAE competition, which he fell in love with. He and his teammates decided to start a machine shop together right out of college. (3:10)

Paul says that for their machine shop’s first three years (in late 1990s) the company used Excel to make its job routers and travelers. As it added more machines, it put a computer next to each one. (5:15)

Paul explains that the idea for his company’s proprietary shop management system came out of desperation and need. As the company grew, introducing more machines and employees, Excel was not keeping up. His team researched shop management software in the old school Thomas Register books. (6:25)

Paul says that none of ERP software firms his company looked at offered products designed specifically for managing the shop floor. The products also required paper printouts, which Paul and his team felt was a step backward from what they were already doing using Excel. Ultimately, they decided to hire a software designer to design a custom ERP system for the company. Paul says it took a little less than a year to develop workable software to handle the company’s needs. (7:35)

Paul says it took about eight years before the company’s ERP software received outside attention. During the economic slowdown in 2008, a production manager from his company’s biggest customer came to the shop to work one day a week. When he tried using the ProShop ERP he liked it so much that he told his own company about it. (10:50)

The customer convinced Paul’s company to let it use ProShop ERP. Paul says that within six months of using the system his customer’s productivity was boosted so much it was able to free up three full time employees, and it drastically decreased its lead-times on various jobs. Then the customer asked if Paul’s company would allow some of its vendors to use ProShop ERP. Paul and his team then realized the opportunity to start a new business selling their ERP, which they founded in 2016. (12:30)

Paul says he misses the joy of the production process of running a machine shop, but he says providing ProShop to help other companies succeed is what he enjoys the most. (15:45)

Paul says that by using a few best practices a shop can save up to 50% of machine setup time. (17:45)

Paul says proper setup process starts when a machine has already been torn down from its previous setup. The teardown should be part of the machine’s previous job’s processes. (18:46)

Paul says the first thing to think about when starting a machine setup is to have all of the materials ready for the job at the machine—tooling, instructions, and rich media such as videos and photos to guide the setup person. This is because if a setup person has to leave the machine to get something that she forgot she can run into a multitude of distractions in the shop which significantly delay getting back to work on a machine.

Paul says one of the worst obstacles in slowing down setup time is when the shop doesn’t even have a necessary tools or materials on site. Then the setup process loses days while the company waits for materials to be shipped in. (23:00)

Paul says it’s very important for a setup person to have detailed work instructions for a job ready (SEE VIDEO BELOW). He says that ProShop ERP’s paperless system makes it easy for people to have all the important info about a job at the machine at all times (again, so they don’t have to get up and leave the machine). Having paperless instructions also makes it smooth to set up jobs that were already run on that machine in the past because the setup person doesn’t have to find an old printout. The instructions from the old job are ready on a computer next to the machine and may have important updates from the last time the job was run. Having organized instructions at a machine that are easily accessible enables a different person to set up a machine than the previous one. Paul says that ProShop ERP has plans to have software integrated right on machine tools in the future.(24:45)

Paul says ProShop ERP also helps with cutting time on the inspection step of a setup. It sets up processes for a setup person to do her own inspection on a part so the part looks good before it is sent to the Quality department. When the part goes to the Quality department there are notes for the quality technicians to pay attention to. (29:45)

Paul says another important part of every setup is continuous improvement on a part. One of the key features of ProShop ERP is that it allows machinists to document process improving ideas, flag their planning department, create action items, and assign tasks to save even more time. It’s all in one place so that communication is simplified and efficient. (31:40)

Paul says one of the most interesting things he learned last week was that 6% of the forests on the West Coast have burned this year within the last few weeks, which is nearly 20 times more acreage than last year. (34:05)

Paul says a key takeaway is that setup is very logical and doesn’t require specialized software if you have key systems in place. He believes that a little upfront work will have huge ROI on your time on the back end of the process. (35:15)

Question: What aspect of work do you wish you were more organized for?

For more information on ProShop ERP, visit: https://www.proshoperp.com/.

The post How to Cut Machine Setup Time in Half, with Paul Van Metre – EP 97 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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For today’s show, we’re running an episode from the Job Shop Show podcast, where I was interviewed last year.

Host, Jay Jacobs, and I talked about a lot of important topics, such as what to consider when you’re buying used machinery, negotiation tactics, and of course, how to create serendipity.

If you like this interview I recommend you check out the interview I did with Jay in episodes 196 and 197, as well as other episodes on the Job Shop Show.

More coming soon!

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The post How to Think Like a Used Machinery Dealer–EP 117 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Pasta machines operate a lot like cam screw machines, Antonio Adiletta told me when I interviewed him for this week’s podcast.

Antonio is co-owner of Arcobaleno and GAM Precision in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. After growing up in Italy, Antonio moved to Canada and then eventually emigrated to the United States with his wife and business partner, Maja. He has manufactured, sold, and serviced fresh pasta making machines for 26 years, and for the last decade, he has simultaneously run a CNC machine shop.

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Interview HighlightsWhen Antonio started his career in manufacturing at a young age in Como, Italy, he apprenticed at a company that produced fresh pasta machines. For folks unfamiliar with fresh pasta, not all pasta comes as dry noodles in a box. Fresh pasta is soft and looks like dough. When restaurants boast that they serve “homemade pasta” they’re talking about fresh pasta. Often fresh pasta noodles are formed with an extrusion process, which is great for producing tubular shapes, like rigatoni, spaghetti, or penne. The other main method for producing fresh pasta noodles is the lamination process (rolled process), which is used for flat noodles like pappardelle and fettuccini. When I asked Antonio to tell me his favorite pasta noodle, he explained that choosing the right pasta depends on the marriage between the specific pasta noodle and the sauce. For tomato sauce, he likes spaghetti because of its thin diameter. For meat sauce, he says gnocchi or short rigatoni (mezze maniche) are ideal counterparts.

As an apprentice in Italy, Antonio set up and serviced industrial pasta machines weighing as much as 5,000 pounds. Often he worked on machines that made tortellini and ravioli because those machines required more fine tuning than those making simpler noodles. Decades later, when Antonio bought his machining company, GAM Precision, he realized that Brown & Sharpe screw machines operate using the same principles as tortellini machines. Like operating a Brown & Sharpe, in which a cam indexes the turret, in a tortellini machine a cam indexes the stuffing or moves the filling injector.

Antonio and Maja Adiletta, owners of Arcobaleno
and GAM PrecisionAntonio eventually moved to Canada where the Italian pasta machine company that employed him had opened a distribution office. He worked there several years setting up and servicing machines. In 1995, he started his own company, which built industrial fresh pasta machines in-house. In 2002, Antonio and his wife moved their business to the United States. At first they continued to build their own line of machines. However, after a while, they decided that business model was too labor intensive, so they went back to distributing machines from a supplier in Italy.

In 2012, Antonio and Maja purchased GAM Precision to diversify their business. It seemed like a good fit because they already owned some CNC equipment and had experience in manufacturing. Within a decade, they have modernized GAM from a cam screw machine shop to a highly automated CNC job shop, featuring some of the most powerful Citizen Swiss CNCs on the market.

Pasta Extruder + Mixer from ArcobalenoAntonio says in the United States Arcobaleno has no competitors who can match its service in the industrial pasta machine space. However, the pasta machine business is challenging because unlike precision parts customers, who consistently demand more product, pasta machine customers often don’t need to buy new machines for many years because they are so durable. This means the company has to constantly look for new customers.

At the end of the interview, Antonio walked around his showroom to explain various industrial pasta machines in his product line. He also showed me some colorful consumer models sitting under a Christmas tree. He told me about the challenges of making gluten free pasta—“because the gluten is really like a glue, that holds it together.” We compared the lighter gnocchi made in southern Italy to that of northern Italy composed of a much higher ratio of potato to flour. He preached the importance of salting the water abundantly before cooking pasta—enough to make it taste like sea water.

Antonio knows that it’s the little details that produce perfection.

Question: What’s your favorite pasta dish?

The post Pasta Machines and Precision Parts, with Antonio Adiletta — EP 140 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Working in the machining industry I hear the term “lean manufacturing” mentioned a lot. But what does the word “lean” really mean in this context? And how do you implement it your company?

To help me clarify these questions, I interviewed Matthew Rassi, founder of Twenty Helping Hands. He’s a lean manufacturing consultant who has been working in the manufacturing industry for over two decades.

Matthew says that the first step for a company to adopt lean manufacturing is to bring all of its people together to exchange ideas, from the CEO to the person sweeping floors.

In his experience, the people on the shop floor often have valuable insight for solving problems that upper management hasn’t even considered. The collaboration process also motivates employees because they feel heard.

Matthew and I talked about supply chains and limiting waste, but the most important concept I learned in our conversation was the lean principle of running directly at problems instead of dodging them. How on earth do you that? It helps to have someone like Matthew to guide you on that path.

The post Getting Comfortable with Lean Manufacturing, Matthew Rassi-EP 216 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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In honor of this weekend’s PMPA National Technical Conference, we’re resharing a podcast we did last year with Elliott May, engineer at BME in Port Huron, Michigan. BME builds original custom attachments for cam multi-spindles. They also rebuild Acme-Gridley screw machines.

Elliott and I talked about a lot of fascinating things in this interview. How to keep old mechanical beasts relevant, getting young people into machining, and what it’s like to work closely everyday with your dad—who’s also the boss.

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View the podcast on our YouTube Channel.

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Main PointsCustom Attachments

Elliott says that customers come to BME when they want to make a part on a cam screw machine but can’t figure out how to make it happen. The company offers an extensive line of proprietary attachments such air operated pickoff assemblies, rotary recess attachments, and synchronized slotting/milling attachments.

Elliott’s father, Brett, started BME 15 years ago. Nine years ago, Elliott started working at the company at age 14. His first job was cutting steel bars with a bandsaw. Later he worked in shipping and receiving, and then graduated to assembling attachments for multi-spindles. After studying engineering for a few years he began working in tandem with his father engineering attachments. Generally they are tasked with tweaking attachments already in their product line to suit the jobs of specific customers. A few times a year, they are called upon to engineer more novel devices, when a customer’s job calls for something special that they haven’t invented yet.

Elliott says his father, Brett, is the “idea guy.” Brett analyzes what he wants to accomplish, then Elliott puts the idea down on paper (often CAD). They both are constantly putting their heads together to solve problems. It’s not uncommon for the two to stand at several whiteboards for long periods of time, brainstorming various drawings, trying to work out a solution. Elliott says they have a good chemistry at work, and over the years his role has changed as his knowledge and skills have grown. He admits that when he was younger and less experienced he may have been too overconfident in his ideas and he had to be put in his place. But nowadays, it sounds like he is genuinely challenging his dad in the engineering room.

Acme Rebuilding

As a used machinery dealer myself, selling old cam multi-spindles, I grilled Elliott on a lot of the same questions we grapple with at Graff-Pinkert, our family business. I asked him if rebuilding old multi-spindles from the ground up, particularly Acmes, was a good business to be in. Graff-Pinkert still refurbishes some cam multi-spindles such as Wickmans and Davenports, but the work we do is much less comprehensive than that of BME. Also, we stay away from doing a lot of work on Acmes. The parts for Acmes can be very expensive, and the Acme rebuilding process is extremely labor intensive.

For a rebuilt Acme, BME charges several hundred thousand dollars. The price depends a lot on what kind of turnkey the customer requires, if any. Elliott says the rebuilding and attachment businesses compliment each other. Often the rebuilt machines come equipped with BME’s proprietary attachments. He says he believes the cam multi-spindle business has a significant future because the machines are often still the best option for high volume jobs, assuming companies have the personnel to run them.

Elliott May, Engineer at BMEYoung People in Machining

I asked Elliott why it’s a struggle to get young people to go into manufacturing and an even greater struggle to get them to run old multi-spindles. He says manufacturing has to shake off its bad reputation from the past, as having a top-down style of management that doesn’t care about the needs of employees. He suggests that if manufacturing employees could count on a clean, pleasant work environment, and felt supported and heard by management, more people would want to go into the field.

Working with His Dad

I was very curious to get Elliott’s perspective about working closely with his father, as I also work with my father. I asked him if he felt like he was in a strange position as someone who is not the boss, but also not a normal employee either. It’s a position that I’ve often analyzed for over a decade.

Despite being only 23, Elliott says he has the advantage of having the longest tenure at BME of all its employees. He also says because of his experience and confidence in his ability, he earns the respect of his coworkers. I remarked to him during the interview that he often referred to his dad in the third person as “Brett,” rather than “my dad.” He says it’s a useful way to draw less attention to himself as the boss’s son, even if everybody knows he is. I personally have seldom used this strategy because referring to my dad as “Lloyd” just feels strange. But I admit that I sometimes refer to him as “the boss,” or some other euphemism, when I’m talking about him at work.

It was Brett’s idea for me to ask Elliott to be on the podcast. I could genuinely feel his enthusiasm about the idea when he suggested it to me over the phone. I joked to him that it seemed like he was really “kvelling” about his son excelling in the business. He easily inferred the meaning of my Yiddish.

After interviewing both Brett and Elliott, it’s clear to me that both men share a passion for the nuts and bolts, and working together.

Question: What’s something important you learned from your father?

The post Innovating New Attachments for Screw Machines, with Elliott May—EP 143 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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I’m dealing with a customer right now who seems interested in some CNC machines Graff-Pinkert has for sale. They told me they needed this type of machine ASAP! And these machines are RARE!

They even said they had a big job for the machines already and they are on the “verge of pulling the trigger any day now.”

But then they stopped returning my phone calls. They’re ghosting me, and my crock brain is getting the best of me.

I know these kinds of scenarios have happened to most of you listening to this, either in your professional life or your personal life.

And no matter how successful you are, you have to be very strong mentally to deal with this problem in the right way.

As machinery dealers buying and selling equipment all over the world, this happens to us at Graff-Pinkert, constantly.

Today, I’m going to tell you how I deal with customers like the one I just mentioned, people who stop returning my calls or seem to be just stringing me along. So the next time it happens to you, you won’t go crazy and hopefully you’ll make the deal in the end.

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Link to Graff-Pinkert’s Acquisitions and Sales promotion!

Interview HighlightsAs I just mentioned, right now I’m working on a deal for some expensive CNC machines. It’s a significant deal. Not the biggest one Graff-Pinkert has ever had, but it’s up there.

It seemed like they really wanted the machines. We worked with this customer for different deal a little while back, so I think they like us and trust us.

I went back and forth with the customer for a month. Closing the deal seemed to be getting nearer. But for the last few weeks, they’ve stopped being available when I call or text. They are GHOSTING me.

I’m frustrated. I’ve put a lot of time and energy and thought into this deal. I like to think that I’m a great person who someone would want to talk to. Yet they don’t even have the decency to communicate with me, to tell me yes, no, or maybe.

Enough venting.

It’s time to snap myself out of this crap and explain how I deal with situations like this.

Let’s break this down to a typical ghosting scenarioYou had a nice back and forth communication going for a little while, and things seemed to be progressing in a good way. Then all of a sudden, your customer isn’t available when you call and doesn’t call you back. They also stop returning your texts and emails. Let’s be real here, if this has been going on more than a week, it’s not a great sign. But it still doesn’t mean the deal is dead. If a customer showed significant interest once upon a time, the game is not necessarily over.

Don’t take their silence personally.The first thing to remember when you’re being ghosted is don’t take it personally.

Taking things personally when people don’t get back to me has historically been a weakness of mine. I’ve been ghosted by people I’ve known for years who I felt I had a great relationship with. I’ve been ghosted repeatedly by my old best friend, and it used to hurt me and piss me off, but I still appreciate him as a friend, so I stopped taking it personally.

If I can deal with my friend of 36 years seemingly falling off the face of the earth, I should be able to deal with less important people I haven’t known that long who aren’t calling me back.

Recognize your fear of the unknown.Maybe the worst part of getting ghosted is dealing with the unknown. Humans are naturally tortured by fear of loss. It often feels worse than actually losing. Fear of loss, AKA death, protected us in the wild for billions of years.

We plead with the heavens. Why can’t they just say no if they don’t want to work with me? If they just say no, the fear of loss will be gone, the torture will be gone. I will at least know where I stand, and I can move forward with my business and my life.

This is true. Getting told “no” can be a beautiful thing, and I’m going to talk about that in a bit.

Why you might be getting ghostedIn order to stay sane and prevent yourself from doing something stupid when you get ghosted you need to understand why the person might be ghosting you.

The number one reason in my opinion why people aren’t getting back to you about your big important deal—they just don’t care as much about it at this moment as you do.

It’s possible the opportunity you’re providing is fantastic and the other person could be interested. But it’s just not at the top of their mind right now.

Maybe they’re distracted by personal stuff like a family member who got sick or they’re sick. Or, they’re on vacation. Maybe something else is going on with their business that’s just a bigger deal than your deal—at this very moment.

It would be nice if people had the courtesy to just tell me that they’re deflected with something else. After all, a text or an email takes 30 seconds. It’s something I think I’d do, but not everybody is that courteous. So don’t worry about that. Just stay mindful that a lack of communication might have nothing to do with you.

Another significant reason people ghost you is that they don’t know what to say to you. They’re having trouble making a decision. Maybe they’ve been offered an alternative to what you’re selling and they don’t know which one to choose.

Maybe they’re embarrassed about their indecision because that they’re not sure they have enough money to pay for your product. That happens a lot to us, dealing with both startups and big companies.

Many people are uncomfortable saying “I don’t know what I want to do,” or “I’m not ready yet to make a purchase.”

Also, your customer might be calculating that it would be poor strategy to tell you that they’re indecisive.

Stay mindful of those possibilities. It can take a long time before people are ready to make a deal.

My dad says that deals are like fruit. Sometimes you just have to wait for them to ripen. We’ve waited years for single deals to finally break.

You have to keep things in perspective.Another thing that can help when you’ve been ghosted is to remind yourself to keep perspective about this deal. This BIG deal. Is it really that big in the scope of your life?

When I’m getting stressed out by a deal or other problems I encounter in life, I think about what the great negotiator, Jim Camp, wrote in his book, Start with NO. He says that all you really NEED in your life is food, air, and your loved ones. Everything else is just stuff you want.

Always have multiple deals going on simultaneouslyIt’s important to make sure to never let yourself be consumed by one deal—no matter how big or important it seems. One way I do that is by keeping a lot of other interesting deals going on at the same time.

If you have other good things going for you, you’ll be less consumed by the person stringing you along. Better yet, you’re going feel less needy, which will make you happier and more confident.

You will also be less likely to call people too many times when you’ve been ghosted. When you call a customer too many times, even when they are truly interested, you come across as needy and you lose negotiating power if the deal does happen.

But if you have a lot other deals going for you, when your ghost wakes up you’ll have a chip on your shoulder when you finally talk. You’ll approach the conversation knowing that YOU have value. And your customer will believe that you have value because they called YOU.

Use “no” questions.Besides being mindful of the reasons why a person could be ghosting you, what else can you do?

How can we wake up this ghost and wake them up in a good way that makes a deal more likely to happen?

You need to use “no” questions.

“No” questions are questions designed to get someone to respond to you with a “no” rather than a “yes.”

Why are “no” questions helpful?

Psychology studies have shown that people have a much easier time saying “no” than “yes.” It’s as if people are abused animals whose guard automatically goes up if they sense you want them to say “yes.” The reason for this is because it implies you’re trying to get something from them.“No” questions are super useful in a negotiation because they make you seem much less threatening.

In the case of contacting a customer, using “no” questions make it more likely they will pick up the phone and that you will come across as less needy.

How do you do it?

Whenever you contact anyone in a professional context, after you introduce yourself, always ask, “Is it a BAD time to talk?”

Contrast that question with, “Is it a good time to talk?” When you ask if it’s a “good time” you’re asking FOR something. You’re asking for their time. You’re asking for the most scarce resource any of us have. That’s going to increase the possibility the person who answers phone is annoyed by your call. You also seem needy and low status as you’re begging someone to grant you their time.

Back to the person who’s ghosting you.

If you send someone a text message asking if it’s a BAD time to talk, first of all, they will appreciate you being mindful that they have things to do. Then, many people will think to themselves, “Hmm, well, I guess it’s not a horrible time to talk,” and they will respond. Or, they will say, “Actually it is a bad time. I’m at a meeting, I’m at funeral, I’m in Ireland.” But at least they will say something to you rather than staying silent.

There’s another power “no” questions have when you’re trying to wake up a ghost. They can create a fear of loss for the person you’re trying to talk to. When you text or email someone, “Are you no longer interested in my product or service?” if they ARE actually interested, it might make them nervous that you could give up on them if they don’t reply back.

Or, maybe your “no” questions will just make the ghost feel more comfortable telling you they’re not interested, which is disappointing but at least you can get on with your life. There will be other deals. And hopefully, most of them will be with people who don’t ghost you.

If your “no” question attempts are failing you I’ve got something extra in my the arsenal.

It’s what I call the “nuclear bomb.” It’s the last resort after you’re tortured for at least a month by a customer. It’s for a deal that seemed so promising, before the customer’s silence frustrated you and vexed you to the point where you’re ready to lay it all on the line to find out whether or not the deal is truly dead.

You send the ghost a one sentence email. In it, you have a subject line that says, “Have you given up on this project?” Put that same line in the message. No “Hello.” No “best regards.” Just that one line. I’ve done it more times than I wish. Nine times out of ten they write back. In my memory, it usually resulted in them saying that they were still trying to make a decision, but they just didn’t know what they were going to do.

Whatever they answer, it’s almost always a relief because at least they communicated with you.

Hopefully by that point you’re no longer obsessed with the deal anyway because you have others going at the same time.

Remember these lessons.If a customer ghosts you don’t take it personally.

Keep every deal in perspective in the scheme of what truly matters in your life.

Be mindful of the reasons why your customer might be silent, because they still might be interested, and it’s counter productive to let deals stress you out.

Have lots of opportunities going on at the same time, to keep you sane, make you less needy, and because that’s the way to run a successful business anyway.

Finally, use “no” questions—both to prevent a customer from ghosting you, or to wake them up in way that doesn’t make you come across as needy.

Don’t give up too early, and don’t blame yourself for a result that might be out of your control.

The post Ghosted by a Customer, What Do You Do?—EP 215 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Imagine a sheet metal prototype shop that was so fast and reliable it never turned down a job if it were physically possible to complete and the customer was willing to pay the price. My guest today, Jay Jacobs, built his former company RAPID from a team of five to over 300. Before being acquired [...]

The post A Shop that Makes Promises Like Domino’s Pizza, Jay Jacobs (Part 1) EP-196 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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The post A Shop that Makes Promises like Domino’s Pizza, Jay Jacobs (Part I) EP-196 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Today’s podcast is the fourth episode of our season interviewing people involved in CNC Swiss machining.

Our guest is Mike Reader, owner and president of Precision Plus, a CNC turning company in Elkhorn, Wisconsin. Mike came into the machining business at 31 years old following a career in the fast paced finance industry. When he first arrived, the company was using old school Tornos cam Swiss machines and running a lot of commodity-type parts. Over the years Mike has built a world-class machining company, diversifying the company’s product lines with the help of newer technology. All the while, his original cam Swiss machines still keep spitting out parts.

Scroll down to read more and listen to the podcast, or listen with Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts or your favorite app.

Main Points

Mike gives an overview of Precision Plus. The company has 30 CNC Swiss machines, 40 older Tornos Cam Swiss machines, and some Miyano CNC lathes (single, double and triple turret). Mike says he has diversified the company’s clientele over the years. Precision Plus focuses on medical/dental, aerospace, and a variety of products in the industrial sectors. He says he has purposefully stayed away from doing automotive work because in his past experiences those clients were not looking for “a win for both sides.” (3:15)

Mike talks about being interested mechanical stuff when he was growing up in Delavan, Wisconsin. He says he was always the kid in the garage trying to make the go-cart go faster—the adrenaline guy. In high school he did well in technical classes as well as the standard curriculum. (4:45)

With encouragement from his guidance counselors he went to University of Wisconsin, Madison, where he majored in Economics with an emphasis in finance. After graduating he went to Chicago to get into the commodity futures world, starting out as a runner at the Mercantile Exchange and Chicago Board of Trade. Eventually he moved up to working in clearing operations and then got a job at Bank of America running their clearing operations. He says that world was intense and competitive—a lot of “work hard play hard” 80-hour weeks. (6:00)

Mike talks about using the Predictive Index Personality Assessment to organize his workforce at Precision Plus. He gives the assessment to employees in order find the correct spot to put people in to be successful. He also talks about the importance of pushing his people on the shop floor to keep stretching themselves. He likes to make his people strive to figure out how to do things better, faster, and smarter. He says if he ever gets to a point when he is no longer doing that, it will mean the business is in decline. (8:00)

Mike says when he first started managing he wanted to hire people who reminded him of himself. He says we all think instinctively that others should think the same way we do, but he learned from the Predictive Index tool that people don’t all think the same and they don’t all hear the same. His says the first time he looked for employees his instinct was to look for the pedigree of the “best and the brightest,” but that was difficult because college graduates often don’t want to start their careers working in Elkhorn, Wisconsin. They want to go off and see the world like he did. Later, Mike changed his criteria for new employees. He started looking for smart, driven people who wanted to get to work right out of high school, in addition to graduates of technical colleges and 4-year universities. (9:50)

Mike says Precision Plus often likes employees who are trained in-house, so they learn to to things the way company prefers. It also helps create a good company culture. (11:15)

Mike tells the story of moving his family to London to work for Bank of America and then coming back home to Wisconsin only 10 months later when his mother was diagnosed with cancer. His father had bought Precision Plus only seven years before but had to go care for Mike’s mom. All of a sudden at 31 years old Mike was thrust into running a machine shop, which at the time was still pretty rough around the edges. It was a dark oily screw machine house in 1995—no CNC lathes, only Tornos mechanical Swiss machines and secondary equipment. (12:15)

Mike says when he first got started at Precision Plus he looked at the customer portfolio and could see that the company had a lot of opportunities to grow. At the time the company was doing a lot of brass connector pins on Tornos cam Swiss machines. (15:40)

Mike says that he really enjoyed working in the commodity futures arena in the first chapter of his life. He says the last 25 years in manufacturing have been meaningful for him. He talks about how in the early 2000s a lot of companies sold out American manufacturing to make greater margins by making parts overseas. At that point he realized that the had to move up market. He saw that the company needed to get into more highly engineered products than simple connector pins. He said it gave him purpose to keep manufacturing in the United States and create rewarding, good careers for Americans. (17:00)

Mike talks about the parts that go into musical instruments which Precision Plus produces. He says the company has been making parts for that customer since before he arrived at the company. They make screws and arbors that go into oboes, bassoons, and piccolos. (19:00)

Noah asks Mike what he thinks of when he hears the word “happiness.” Mike says it means being successful and being in control of your destiny. He says its important to him that Precision Plus is a private company where he has the freedom to make the decisions that are best for the company. (20:30)

Mike says the key to future growth for Precision Plus is continuing to increase the complexity of the parts it produces, setting it apart from other companies making more commodity-type parts. He says the way to accomplish this is by investing in better machines and pushing his people to keep upping their game. (21:20)

Mike talks about the roles of his various machines. He says there are no bad machine tools, just bad applications of machine tools. He says the Tornos cam Swiss machines are still a good solution for lower complexity parts with tight tolerances. For more complex parts Precision Plus uses Miyano CNC lathes. He holds up an aerospace parts the company makes complete on a triple turret machine, which he says had 98 different features on the print. (See video below). He says the shop also features many Tsugami and Star CNC Swiss machines that produce great parts and have great support. (22:15)

Mike says Precision Plus is interested in acquiring another machining company if he can find the right fit. He would prefer to buy a turning company not doing automotive work located in the Midwest because he likes the work ethic that the Midwest is known for. Also it would be best if the company can also add to Precision Plus’s current capabilities. (25:40)

Mike says the thing that bothers him the most running a machining company is that not everyone sees the world as he does, and he can’t stand missed opportunities. He says the most important thing is for people to work to the best their abilities, with a positive attitude, no matter what they are tasked with. (26:35)

Question: What do you think of when you hear the word “happiness?”The post Ep. 112 Developing a World-Class CNC Turning Company with Mike Reader first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Josh Hacko is a fourth generation watchmaker. He says he was born into his vocation, but in reality, his work is truly his own. Josh is the Technical Director of two sister companies, NH Micro and Nicholas Hacko Watchmaker, which manufactures luxury wrist watches in Sydney, Australia, that can cost tens of thousands of dollars. [...]

The post How We Became the First Independent Watch Manufacturer in Australia, with Josh Hacko: EP-195 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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This podcast has been going for five years now, and those people who listen to it frequently might be tired of the Graff-Pinkert ad at the beginning of the show. I I’m tired of it, so I finally created a new one. For people who are listening to this show for the first time, I’m [...]

The post How to Persuade Customers to Buy Your New Product–EP 194 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Editor’s Note: This podcast was recorded in Spring of 2022. Tyler has now been retired for over 2 years, and Noah is the proud father of a 1 year old. In early 2022, Tyler Jarosz sent me an email to ask if Graff-Pinkert would be interested in a used little parts washer he no longer [...]

The post How a Machinist Entrepreneur Retired at 40, with Tyler Jarosz—Ep. 154 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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George Konidaris is the cofounder of the startup, Realtime Robotics. He’s also a Professor of Computer Science and the director of the Intelligent Robot Lab at Brown University.

Right now, programming a robot arm to perform a repetitive task typically requires a robot integrator to program where every joint of a robot should go. It’s a ridiculous and tedious process.

But with Realtime Robotics’ AI technology, you can instruct a robot to do a task and you don’t have to tell it a zillion steps explaining HOW to do the task.

The post Finally, Robots that Know Where They’re Going, With George Konidaris–EP 193 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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On today’s podcast we continue our season talking to successful companies who produce their own products. Today’s guest is Joel Trusty, co-owner and President of Trusty-Cook, a company that manufactures a diverse group of industrial polyurethane products such as dead blow hammers and spindle liners for bar loaders. Joel says one of the keys to [...]

The post Listening to Customers and Selling Hammers with Joel Trusty – EP103 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Today’s guest on the podcast is Jayme Rahz, CEO of Midway Swiss Turn, a small precision machining job shop in Wooster, Ohio. Around a quarter of Midway Swiss Turn’s business is supplying the U.S. Department of Defense. While supplying the DoD can be a lucrative opportunity for a manufacturer, the work comes with some hurdles [...]

The post How a Small Manufacturer Becomes Secure Enough for the DoD, with Jayme Rahz–EP 192 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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In November of 2015, our used machine tool company, Graff-Pinkert, bought a Schütte S32PC, mfd. 2002, in Cologne, Germany, from a dealer we didn’t know. It was a nice looking machine. A big 32mm CNC Multi-Spindle, painted red and cream because it came out of a Mercedes factory. We were excited to bring the machine [...]

The post How Unexpectedly Helping People Creates Profitable Relationships: Seeking Serendipity first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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On today’s show we’re talking about one of my favorite things, podcasts! Recently, I’ve talked to a few Swarfcast listeners who are considering starting their own podcast shows, so I thought it made sense to make an episode discussing the merits of hosting a podcast as well as some advice if you want to build [...]

The post Do You Have Any Business Starting a Podcast? With Kevin Chemidlin–EP 190 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Supplying parts to the U.S. Department of Defense is a topic that’s intrigued me for a while. Sometimes machining companies tell us they have long running, lucrative jobs supplying parts to the D.O.D., and it always has seemed a little mysterious to me. What are these parts they are supplying to the government? How does [...]

The post Manufacturing Parts for the Department of Defense, with Mike Topolewski—EP 189 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Steve Jobs once said, “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.” On today’s show, I’m going to tell you a story about how dots in my past came together serendipitously to help me solve [...]

The post Meeting the “Right People” at the Right Time: Seeking Serendipity–EP 188 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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On today’s episode, we’re shaking things up. We’re playing an episode from a podcast I guested on, the Business Growth on Purpose podcast with Jose Palomino. One of the topics we focused on in the interview was how I discover new leads and opportunities in our used machinery business by using strategies that create serendipity. [...]

The post How I Discover New Leads and Deals–EP 187 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Spinner is a German CNC machine tool brand that’s been around for 73 years. The company sold 1,200 CNC mills and turning centers, and automation systems in Europe last year, yet in the United States, a large amount of people in the machining industry have never even heard of them.

At the 2023 Precision Machining Technology Show, I stumbled upon Spinner’s booth when I stopped there to ask if I could borrow a box cutter. Then I met Salim Awad, President and CEO of Spinner North America, who graciously agreed on the spot to being interviewed.

Salim has a fascinating personal story. He’s from Colombia, he was an army diver in Iraq, and he founded his own law firm. And since 2022, he’s been entrusted with bringing a German machine tool brand to the United States.

From my experience as used machine tool dealer, it often seems as though machine tool brands are like religions for machining companies. Once a company has experience and success with one, it’s hard to convert them to something different—let alone to one they’ve never heard of.

On today’s show, we’re going to talk about how you penetrate a crowded B2B market. How do you get customers to pay a half a million dollars to try a new machine? How do you market yourself? How do you earn people’s trust?

The post Getting Customers to Buy an Unfamiliar Brand, With Salim Awad first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Today’s episode is extra fun for me because I had the pleasure of interviewing my brother, Dr. Ari Graff.

Recently, Ari has shifted his career focus from practicing psycho therapy to life coaching.

His coaching focuses specifically on helping men who feel unhappy and stuck in romantic relationships, as well as single men who have difficulty maintaining or starting satisfying relationships.

As you might have guessed, today we’re not going to be talking about the machining business. But I wanted to do this interview because to reach your full potential in your professional life, it’s beneficial to have a solid personal life.

In this interview, you’re going to hear ideas about why some romantic relationships fail that you may not have considered before. We’re also going to talk about how with the right approach you have the potential to improve an unhappy relationship.

Whether you’re a man in a dysfunctional romantic relationship, someone single, or someone in a seemingly wonderful relationship, this interview will likely make you think. And for women listening to this, you’ll find it interesting and important as well.

The post How to be a Better Man, with Dr. Ari Graff–EP 185 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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For those who don’t know, I am a used machinery dealer, with a specialty in selling Screw Machines.

I like to romanticize the used machinery business by referring to it as treasure hunting. We specialize in selling rare models of machinery, located in remote locations, owned by esoteric folk, serendipitously stumbled upon.

Every used machine we sell has a story behind it.

And I have found the machines and deals that have most interesting stories often turn out to be some of the most lucrative.

Today I’m going to tell you one of those stories.

It all started three years ago, when a machinery dealer in Texas called us about a powerful yet very specialized used screw machine that belonged to one of his good customers. The machine was a beautiful, virtually unused, Swiss made, Escomatic EC08, Mfd. 2013. It was a 6-Axis, CNC, coil-fed screw machine with a max rpm of 10,000 that could machine parts up to 8mm diameter and 100mm in length. It was a powerful machine for the right job, but I would not be shocked if less than 50 models of its ilk existed around the world.

So who owned this machine?

Remember the horrible shooting in Las Vegas in 2017 that killed 58 people? One of the things that made that horror possible was the bump stocks that were attached to 13 semi-automatic weapons belonging to the shooter. For those who don’t know, bump stocks are attached to semi-automatic rifles to mimic the rate of fire of automatic rifles. After the shooting, a federal agency banned them. Supposedly, the owner of this Escomatic EC08 had produced those bump stocks, a machining job that was no more. Just to clarify, I don’t think he used this Escomatic to produce parts for bump stocks, he just happened to be the guy who made them.

In any case, this machine had 400 hours on it and had sat in a warehouse for several years. We see this story play out sometimes in our business. A beautiful new machine is bought for a specific job, and that job never even started. Then the machine sits, because the owner has more important things to do than fuss about getting rid of a moderately expensive piece of equipment (I think around $300,000 retail) that few people in the world have even heard of.

Because there are so few Escomatic EC08 machines in the world, particularly in the United States, it could be valuable but also the kind of machine you would never want to buy for stock. Graff-Pinkert peddled this machine for years. Once in a while, a customer would flirt with it, but nobody had ever come close to buying it.

Then one day, I was contacted on the internet by shop owner in the Czech Republic interested in the machine. We sent an email quote and he immediately accepted our offer, sight unseen. It was surprising but not unprecedented.

But, if there is one thing I have learned in the used machinery business, very few deals are easy. When a company overseas that you have never heard of instantly agrees to buy a machine that no-one else has ever been interested in, it’s good to take a breath and remember that no deal has been made until money is in your account.

But this customer truly was ready to pay and take the machine immediately. They didn’t want to come inspect. Covid was rampant at the time, and the machine was in the middle of nowhere Texas. Besides, it looked perfect and had been run 400 hours, probably just for testing. But before they wired the full payment, they asked Graff-Pinkert to guarantee that the machine was in good condition. We could have held our breath and done that, but it didn’t seem wise.

We did not feel comfortable guaranteeing a machine that had not been turned on for at least three years. We suggested to the customer that they pay for someone to inspect the machine and get it going. They agreed without hesitation.

The machine was deep in the heart of Texas, in a town of a little more than 200 people. We needed a CNC ace, who didn’t mind taking a roadtrip to the middle of nowhere to wrench on a machine he probably had never heard of. We called up my friend Chris, a customer who had purchased Citizen M32 not long before. Chris lived in Houston, five and half hours drive from the machine. He had worked for Citizen prior to cofounding a production shop and still loved servicing machines. Chris was nicknamed the Mad Scientist of machining because supposedly he could fix anything. He was the perfect man for the job! (By the way, we did a great podcast interview with him a while back, Episode 110).

Chris drove 350 miles to the 200-person town to get to work on the machine. The machine didn’t turn on. But why, if it had run only 400 hours? Because rats had gotten inside it and chewed up wires in the back of its PLC. The rats were gone long before Chris got there, but he could see their old droppings. There was no reason for them to stay there because there isn’t much to eat inside a virtually unused screw machine.

The PLC control was beyond repair, and we prayed it was the only problem with the machine. I called up Tornos USA, who used to distribute the machine, to purchase a new one. Tornos was helpful, but it took over a month to get the part sent to Texas. Chris traveled back to the machine and we crossed our fingers that it would turn on. It did!

And we lived happily ever after.

Sometimes the stars do align. Serendipity leads a machinery dealer in Chicago to the impossible to find customer or the impossible to find machine. In this case, a shiny, red, rat infested but immaculate, coil-fed CNC screw machine from Switzerland, likely sent to a 200-person town in Texas for making bullets (that were never made), then revived by a CNC mad scientist before being sent to the Czech Republic, where it likely was repurposed for medical work.

Question: What are the strangest machinery deals you have been involved in?

The post Tale of a Used CNC Machine–EP 184 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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On today’s show we’re talking about what you do if your business’s growth has become stagnant.

Our guest is Jose Palomino, founder and CEO of Value Prop, and the host of the Business Growth on Purpose Podcast.

Jose gave me great insight about how you objectively examine the health of your company and take steps to make changes.

We talked about B2B marketing and what you can do revitalize relationships with your customers.

If your business’s growth is stuck, or you’re just trying to build a business, you’re going to get something out of this interview.

The post How to Revive Your Company’s Growth, With Jose Palomino–Ep. 182 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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I am a treasure hunter for a living. I pay my mortgage by finding obscure used machines from all over the world and then finding people who want to buy sexy-ugly, high tech equipment. The only way to do that, is by interacting with customers in ways that create serendipity.

Today I’m going to tell you how calling people on the phone, even when it seems like a long shot, can result in serendipity. If you approach talking to people with the right strategies you have the potential to create tons of meaningful, significant, productive conversations.

The post How to Make Your Conversations Count—Seeking Serendipity first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Today’s podcast episode is the second half of our interview with Dr. Onome Scott-Emuakpor, the founder of Hyphen Innovations, a firm that develops low cost, damage resistant aerospace components.

In this half of the interview we dug deeper into Onome’s creative approaches he uses when developing aerospace components such as embracing resource constraints and failing fast.

We also discussed Onome’s desire for more young African Americans to pursue degrees in engineering.

The post Thinking Like an Artist to Solve Engineering Challenges, With Dr. Onome Scott-Emuakpor (Part II)—Ep. 182 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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On today’s podcast, we talk about how you can apply the artistic side of your brain to solve engineering challenges.

Our guest is aerospace engineer, Dr. Onome Scott-Emuakpor, founder of Hyphen Innovations, a firm that develops new advanced aerospace components for the Department of Defense and other clients.

Onome immigrated from Nigeria to the US as a child. In high school, he was an average student but excelled in fine arts classes. In college, he played Division I basketball at Wright State.

While at Wright State, Onome realized he had a passion for engineering. Today, he says one of the keys to his success as an engineer is using the same type of creative approaches he embraced as a fine arts student.

Question: What type of fine arts classes did you take as a student.

The post Thinking Like an Artist to Solve Engineering Challenges, With Dr. Onome Scott-Emuakpor (Part I)—Ep. 181 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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One of my favorite machinery dealers we work with is from Brazil. He specializes in sending machine tools to South America.

A used machinery deal is usually a challenge to close—even if a customer says they need it. Even if it’s an excellent machine that’s rare on the used market, at a good price, it is hard to close a used machinery deal.

But selling a machine to Brazil from the United States adds extra challenges. The customers usually can’t inspect the machine in person, and the Brazilian government charges more than 30% import tax on used machinery brought into the country.

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You can also view the podcast in video form on our YouTube Channel.But my friend from Brazil is the most optimistic partner I’ve ever worked with. His optimism makes working with him fun, yet it’s frustrating sometimes. Once I told him that his constant excitement for deals that were going to happen, was starting to make me skeptical when he would tell me about his next great prospective buyer.

He smiled and told me that to succeed in the machinery business, which is often fueled by finding equipment or customers seemingly by chance, you have to be optimistic. If you seldom believe deals will succeed then it’s not a good business to be in. If you don’t believe that someone in another hemisphere will pay good money for a dirty, 20-year-old Walter CNC grinder that somehow you stumbled upon at an auction in Rockford, Illinois, it will be hard to make it in the used machinery business. That was a good deal we did together.

I discovered the podcast coaching program I recently joined from a paid ad while scrolling through Instagram late on a Saturday night. When the program, Grow the Show, was pitching to me, they told me my show’s listenership would likely grow 10- 20% in the first month. They said within a year it could be bringing in $100,000 in revenue.

I was seduced by these optimistic claims because they gave me hope, even though I knew deep down I should keep my expectations tempered. After all, they didn’t know me nor my podcast audience. They also didn’t know how much time I would have to put into their program.

But I allowed myself to buy into their optimism and made the significant investment to try it.

I’m happy to say in the last six months the podcast has grown a significant amount in listenership. Not yet to the extent that they sold me, but I’m pretty sure it would not have grown much at all if I didn’t take a chance on the program. Seeing that Instagram ad turned out to be serendipity. But only because I was optimistic it would work.

I met my wife, Stephanie, on an internet dating site. That became serendipity because I was optimistic enough to believe it was worth the time to meet her for a drink.

Maybe your machine shop is taking on an exciting new type of work for a customer you stumbled upon at a trade show. Maybe you’re thinking about hiring someone you met randomly working at Home Depot because they seemed sharp. To make those chance discoveries mean something, you must be optimistic that they will lead to something successful.

This is Seeking Serendipity.

Question: What are you the most optimistic about in your business?

The post How Optimism Will Lead You to Luck in Business: Seeking Serendipity first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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On today’s show, Lloyd Graff and I are discussing our observations of the machining industry in 2022 and our instincts about where the industry is headed in the coming year.

As used machinery dealers at Graff-Pinkert, we saw trends in 2022 such as reshoring, the resurgence of old school cam screw machines, and a growing number of machining businesses that soon may be for sale.

We think these trends will accelerate in 2023, and we hope this conversation will uncover some opportunities that your business can take advantage of in the coming year.

Listen with the player at the bottom of the page or at your favorite podcast app.

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Noah Graff: So dad, when you think of 2022, what’s the first thing that comes to mind?

Lloyd Graff: I think of recovery from the pandemic. I think of change. I think of opportunity. I think it was a continuation of the last half of 2021 when companies and people regained their confidence, decided they were in a mood to make changes. And we were in a position to help them make change

Noah: Which machine did Graff-Pinkert sell the most in 2022? And did it surprise you?

Lloyd Graff: Oh, absolutely. In the past two years, we’ve sold a tremendous number of Davenport screw machines. We’ve probably sold a hundred Davenports.

Noah: It’s just crazy. Just for people’s reference, the Davenport machine has the same design as it had 80 years ago. It is also known as the machine that won World War II. It’s a five spindle, multi-spindle. It still is one of the fastest machines around. It can produce a part in one second.

So dad, what does it mean that the Davenport was the machine that we sold the most of.

Lloyd: It means the kind of work people run on Davenports came back to the United States from China. Work that did not demand impeccable tolerances that you might get on a CNC multi-spindle or a Swiss. It did not require as rugged a machine as a National Acme screw machine. There are a lot of Davenport plants in Mexico where machinists and Davenport operators are obtainable and trainable.

Noah: Why don’t we discuss one deal we did last year that was very interesting. It was actually a company that was running Davenports.

Lloyd: In this particular deal, the company had been in business since 1945.

They were able to pound out a nice living for the family by running this business based on running brass and a little bit of aluminum through Davenport screw machines for a variety of clients.

The owners got up in age, and the key owner, who still was very active in the business, was in his eighties. He and his family decided that if they could sell the real estate, which happened to be extremely valuable, that it was the time to get out before they could no longer run the business. It turned out that this building was on 10 acres of land between Tampa and Clearwater, Florida, and it was on the highway. They got an awful lot of money for the property.

The new owner of the building said they had to be out by the end of the month. So they called Graff-Pinkert because they had seen our advertising way back in the Automatic Machining days. They called us, and we said, “I think we can help you.”

Initially Graff-Pinkert offered to buy all of the equipment and they would hold on to the intellectual property, the customer list, and knowledge on how to run the parts. But ultimately they came back to us and said, “are you sure you don’t want to buy the intellectual property also?” And we ultimately did pay a significant amount of money to also get customer list and the intellectual property.

Then we found somebody to buy it. And it turned out that their interest was much greater in the intellectual property than the Davenports. Although they did take Davenports and shipped about 60% of them to Mexico.

It made us think that there is an awful lot of intellectual property buried in these old machining businesses, and in most cases it’ll never be realized because they get to a certain point and they say, the hell with it, I’m just gonna liquidate the shop. Or they get tired. The workers ultimately go away because they see better opportunities elsewhere.

Noah: Graft-Pinkert is getting more into buying and selling companies, and we’re going to talk about that more in the podcast as time goes on. One of the things we’ve seen that seems significant in 2023 is that Baby Boomers are retiring. Other people are looking to consolidate and grow, so it seems like a very interesting opportunity for us.

Lloyd: Another thing is that it is very hard for small businesses to acquire new customers as opposed to bigger businesses. It’s easier for big businesses because other big businesses want to deal with big businesses, and they have the wherewithal to have salespeople and may use social media in ways that are effective.

It’s also difficult for small businesses being run by people in their forties and thirties and twenties who have big ambitions but really do not know where in the world to find new customers. They may have access to capital, they know how to run the machines, they’re good organizers and they have big ambitions.

What do they do? They look for possible acquisitions to acquire new customers without the effort, without the long lead time, and with the intellectual property, the knowledge of how to make the parts for potential clients.

Perhaps they put it on much more advanced machinery or maybe even find sources out of the country—Mexico, Taiwan, India, who knows where. It’s a fascinating opportunity and people are waking up to it. So it’s an opportunity for us to lend our knowledge, and in some cases to both the sellers and the buyers.

Question: What areas of your business seem the strongest in 2023?

The post Opportunities for Your Machining Business in 2023 EP–178 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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During my career as a used machinery dealer, I’ve met many successful companies in the machining business who have no social media presence and don’t even have a website. Surprisingly they use some of the most advanced equipment and have more customers than they need.

Today we’re pulling out a favorite podcast episode about a company just like that.

I interviewed Jay Sauder, owner of Sauder Machine in Plymouth, Ohio. Sauder makes a variety of precision components such as casings for mechanical pocket watches and wheel cylinders for horse drawn buggies driven by Amish people.

Sauder Machine has no sales team nor a social media presence, yet it has a diversified, profitable customer base that continues to grow through great networking. Jay Sauder told me about how doing great work and establishing great relationships with customers has been the fuel to keep his business rapidly growing year after year.

Listen with Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, or your podcast favorite app.

Main Points

Jay talks about the origin of Sauder Machine. His dad started the business with his uncle in 1982 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Jay is the fourth generation of machine shop owners in his family. In 2009 he started at the business and eventually took over administrative duties from his dad, who prefers to be working on machines to pushing pencils. Jay says when he started, the business had a lot of good customers, but his dad had not been charging some of them enough for various jobs to be profitable. (3:00)

Jay talks about his Mennonite background and how that has brought him Amish clientele. He grew up as Old Order Mennonite, a religious group with many common customs and origins as the Amish. He started driving a horse and buggy when he was 15 years old (he has only been driving a car for six years). Jay says the communities vary, but on the whole, Amish people are more conservative than Mennonites. Jay says he grew up with electricity and telephones in his house, while Amish people usually don’t have those amenities. Mennonites don’t have to have beards and don’t have to dress quite as conservatively as Amish. (5:00)

Jay says the commonalities and connections between Mennonite and Amish communities have brought Sauder Machine some important customers. Sauder Machine designed a hydraulic brake system for Amish and Mennonite carriages. The carriages already had brakes, but they were using cast iron rear cylinders imported from China, which were modeled after those on a 1941 light-duty Ford truck. Sauder’s wheel cylinders are made of anodized aluminum and are water resistant. The company also makes master cylinders. Since Sauder started making the wheel cylinders in 2012, it has produced 140,000 of them, which the company makes on an OKK CNC 500mm pallet horizontal mill. (7:45)

Jay says his company uses no advertising, sales team, manufacturer’s rep, or social media. The company has a single page website that Jay says has brought him a few RFQs in the past. He says his business connections and customer good will are his key getting new business. (10:20)

Jay talks about a casing for a mechanical pocket watch he produces. Amish people do not wear wrist watches, and some require the watches to be mechanical rather than battery operated. An Amish watch producer in Wisconsin had been been importing his casings from China, but he was looking for a supplier in the United States. He spoke with an Amish owned machine shop in Ohio that Sauder made parts for, and they referred him to Sauder. Sauder sent him a quote and the watchmaker immediately ordered 5,000 pieces, which Jay says he will make on the company’s INDEX C65 lathe. (11:00)

Jay talks about a 2% discount he gives every customer if they pay within 10 days. He says 90% of his customers take this discount, everyone from the Amish watchmaker, to steel producers and Parker Hannifin. (15:00)

Jay says the same principles that have grown his business within the Amish community have helped him in other spheres. He says that a steel company customer in Ohio refers new clients to Sauder Machine. Jay says he keeps the steel company as a middleman, rather than working with those new clients directly. This reinforces their cooperative relationship. (16:00)

Noah asks Jay, what advice he would give a new company who does not have an existing network of customers to bring it referrals. Jay admits that he does not have experience in this scenario, but he suggests to try a service like manufacturing.com to source work, which hopefully would start a network of more customers. (18:30)

Jay says since he took over the business operations of Sauder, he has had to go to longtime customers and dramatically raise prices because the company was losing money on various jobs. He says some of the customers left, but within a year they came back and didn’t even try to negotiate. He says if you do parts right the first time, customers are not going to want to go elseware. (20:30)

Jay talks about the negotiation process with customers. Noah asks him what he would do in a hypothetical scenario where customer came to him with target a price of $2.00 per part, while he knew that Sauder could actually produce the part for $1.00. Jay says his first instinct is to offer to make the part for $1.75. This way Sauder makes some decent money, and the customer feels good as well. He says however, that if later he is able to improve his process internally to make the part cheaper, the price of the part to the customer will often stay the same. Sometimes he might lower the price to strengthen a relationship with a customer or stave off competition. (24:20)

Jay talks about his constant reinvestment in his business. He always is concerned with upgrading equipment and taking care of employees. He says taking the right steps to do good work is one of the most important ways to keep customers and find new ones. If people know they can buy parts from his company and there won’t be problems they will continue to come back and bring him new customers. (27:20)

Jay says he likes to buy equipment (always used) if he sees fantastic opportunities—he does not need to have work for it yet. He says the most money he has ever paid for a machine was $140,000 for a Traub he recently bought, which might have cost 6 or 7 times that price new. He says he is considering buying his first new machine, a Mazak Multiplex, for a Parker Hannifin job. To make a part come of the machine complete he needs a machining center that can do probing, induction hardening, and grinding. He says he is not afraid about losing the job because he could repurpose the machine. He also says that large companies often make decisions slowly. He says a part Sauder makes for Parker took two years from the time it made a sample part until being approved for production. Then it took another year to make one change on a print. (29:40)

Noah asks Jay to tell him something he learned last week. Jay says he learned he can draw out a solid piece of steel rod cheaper than the price of tubing by using an Iscar SUMOCHAM drill. He says the material cost is about $.60 cheaper. Jay says his philosophy is “live and learn, crash and burn. If the tool doesn’t crash you’re not pushing it hard enough.” (32:45)

Question: Is word of mouth the best way to find new work?

The post Finding Customers Using Old-School Networking, with Jay Sauder–EP 121 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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On today’s podcast I interviewed Trevor Blondeel, the founder of Operations Kickstart and the host of the podcast, Mindfulness Manufacturing.

Trevor uses mindfulness techniques to coach manufacturing executives so they can better lead their companies.

The idea is that if his clients become more conscious of their feelings and their current behavior, it will inspire sustainable change in how they work with others and lead.

If you’re interested in the topics of coaching and understanding yourself better I think you will like this episode.

You can also view the podcast in video form on our YouTube Channel.

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Noah Graff: Give me a quick summary of Operations Kickstart and how you came to start it.

Trevor Blondeel: We work with manufacturers to connect (management) to the shop floor.

I ran manufacturing plants for 25 years. I made a lot of mistakes and got a lot of battle scars. And I did a lot of actions well.

In 2016, I went off and started (Operations Kickstart) to help solve the problem of “disconnect.” Often we have great owners of manufacturing plants and businesses who really enjoy their teams and want to do well, but they get disconnected. That’s the problem that we solve. Everyone has great intentions, but sometimes our intentions don’t land with the perceptions of others.

Graff: What caused you to pivot in your career?

Blondeel: It definitely was a lot of personal growth. I started reading more on emotional intelligence. I started doing mindfulness practice. I really started exploring and heightening my own self-awareness— seeing that the way that I thought people saw me wasn’t always that way. I started learning more. I was blessed with some great training and some great mentors and coaches who helped me identify that just by shifting a couple behaviors, I could make such an impact for others.

It’s like that first hour in manufacturing. If you start with a good vibe and you start with a green hour and everybody’s organized and aligned, there’s a better chance you’re going to have a better production day.

When you come in, and your boss is not in a good mood, that kind of spins off to the rest of the group.

Graff: Give me the general definition of mindfulness. How you use it in coaching manufacturing executives?

Blondeel: Where your two feet are. Where you are planted right now, is your mind where your two feet are?

Are you present in what you’re doing right now? Because often we have 10 different tasks on our mind, and we’re jumping from task to task or from conversation to conversation because we have a lot to get done. For me, mindfulness is taking that breath, realizing that right now I’m talking to Noah.

I’m not checking my phone. I’m just focused on listening to what you’re saying and really getting my mind in a mode where I’m not thinking about what I want to say next. I’m actually just taking in what you’re saying to me.

Graff: Millennials are a huge part of the workforce now. How does your mindfulness coaching help for working with millennials.

Blondeel: I have a 23-year-old son. All I know is that he has a unique perspective that I learn from. Whether it’s millennial or whatever label we want to have on it, every generation is a little bit different, and that’s actually what manufacturing needs. We need younger people, especially in the trades.

They’re going to be more curious and challenge a little bit more. It’s not going to be the “come to work I’m getting paid a good dollar, so I’m just going to be quiet.” So there’s a greater need to add value.

It’s going to require us to have more dialogue back and forth, and it’s going to be less direction and more conversation.

They understand the bigger picture. They understand how they connect to the vision, and they understand how their value is connected to what we do for this plant and this community. You don’t have to motivate people. You don’t have to push anybody because they’re connected and they’re driven.

Graff: Your website says that 25% of manufacturing workers are engaged at work, 8% less than the national average of 33%, according to Gallup. Making manufacturing the least engaged industry.

Blondeel: Gallup surveys people, asking, “How engaged are you in your work?” “Do you enjoy working there?” “How passionate are you?” They look at the different industries, at how excited people are.

Manufacturing has one of the lowest engagement rates and one of the highest pay rates.

A lot of times we’re (telling) people, “trades get paid really well in manufacturing, and there’s some good benefits, and you can be secure for life financially.”

A lot of that is true, but I believe we can have both (high workplace engagement and pay rates). We can create an environment where we can connect to the people and we all have value.

Question: What do you do to connect with other people in your workplace?

The post You Can Connect With Your Shop When You Know Yourself, With Trevor Blondeel–EP 177 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Today we are starting a new podcast show and blog on the Today’s Machining World Podcast Network called “Seeking Serendipity.” Click the following links to listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Google Podcasts.

As our regular readers and listeners know, we talk a lot about serendipity in Today’s Machining World and on Swarfcast. Serendipity is the concept of being in the right place at the right time. Some people call it being lucky, a Spanish customer of Graff-Pinkert once translated it as “destino.”

But why produce a blog and a podcast about serendipity for a media outlet directed at the precision machining community? Because it’s a concept that applies to the manufacturing business and to living a successful, happy, and interesting life.

“Seeking Serendipity” will often center around my experiences as a used machinery dealer, whose livelihood relies on serendipitous events, such as one we had this week.

A machinery dealer I’m close with in California called me last week to get an opinion on a Tsugami Swiss machine he had in stock. It was a beautiful machine, manufactured in 2016, but we were both a little fuzzy on its demand. I made a mental note, but didn’t think much of it. I didn’t know anyone who wanted that machine, but as I like to say in our business, all it takes is one customer—that one right customer to make a successful deal.

Tsugami B0205 II at Graff-PinkertA few days ago, a manufacturer inquired about a machine on Graff-Pinkert’s website, a Tsugami B0205 II manufactured in 2014. We have been trying to sell that machine for a while. I just can’t understand why nobody has bought it yet. But that’s a story for a different blog.

I was excited to call the customer back to discuss the B0205 II. Unfortunately, he wasn’t actually looking for that model. He just contacted us because we had a Tsugami.

The next morning, for some reason the guy’s machine request was lingering in my brain. I suddenly remembered my friend in California who had asked me for advice about that same model the guy was looking for! I called him right away and the machine was still available. I then called the manufacturer I had spoken to the day before. I sent him a quote, and within an hour he wrote back that he would buy the machine!

A whole machinery deal nearly completed in a few hours. In case you’re wondering, deals like this don’t happen everyday, and as I write this, no transaction has been finalized yet.

Why did this deal happen? What did the three parties in this deal do to create this “luck?”

First, I have a good network of people I talk to regularly about machines. This other dealer and I share information often. We have a relationship and have built trust over time. If he didn’t know me, he likely would not have called me the week before to get my opinion about this machine, and there would be no deal.

Secondly, the deal happened because a customer searching for treasure took the initiative to experiment. He contacted me, even though I hadn’t advertised the exact machine he wanted. Perhaps he was thinking that if we had a similar Tsugami to what he was looking for, just maybe, we might have the Tsugami that he actually wanted.

Then, I connected the dots. I listened to the elements manifesting around me and followed my nudges, which led me to bring the machine to the customer.

People in the precision machining industry rely on serendipity constantly. They solve problems for a living. To be successful they have to be present in the moment. They have to notice all the opportunities at their disposal, experiment, and put everything together to make things “work out.”
Honestly, I’m not going to claim to be a serendipity guru yet.

I don’t know exactly how this blog and podcast are going evolve, and I don’t want to sound like I think I know everything. I’m experimenting and following my nudges with the faith that this will work and be great! I want to take people on this journey with me. We will learn new strategies and share them as a community, which of course, is a key ingredient to creating serendipity.

Question: When did you encounter serendipity recently?

The post Seeking Serendipity: A Machinery Deal Gone Right first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Recently, we have seen a growing number of mergers and acquisitions in the manufacturing space.

After these deals are finalized there’s a lot of uncertainty for the employees caught in the middle of reorganization.

Our guest on the podcast today is Jennifer Fondrevay. Jennifer is a best selling author and the Founder of Day1 Ready, a consultancy that advises companies on how to prepare for challenges that result from changes in the workplace.

This interview will be helpful for anybody dealing uncertainty in their work environment.

You can also view the podcast in video form on our YouTube Channel.

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Main PointsNoah Graff: Explain your company, Day1 Ready. What is the significance of the name?

Jennifer Fondrevay: I felt that too often in mergers and acquisitions, buyers sellers on both sides, thought day one was the moment they announced the deal. My philosophy was, nope, that is not day one. Your day one is from the moment you as leaders or business owners or CEOs, start thinking about a merger or an acquisition. Even if you don’t share with anyone that you’re thinking about doing a merger and acquisition, people start to pick up on your decision making, the fact that you’re traveling a lot, that you’re not in the office. My focus is helping you be day one ready, so that the moment you make that announcement, you are ready for all the questions you’ll get.

This is how people react. Here are all the ways that you need to be prepared as a leader to help your people navigate the change that’s going to happen.

Graff: Tell me about your book, NOW WHAT?: A Survivor’s Guide for Thriving Through Mergers & Acquisitions?

Fondrevay: I interviewed 60-plus CEOs and CFOs from Fortune 500 as well as small and middle sized businesses. Consistently they shared the same challenges that they had with people. How people react to change.

I was a chief marketing officer at several multi-billion dollar [companies], and I went through three separate multi-billion dollar deals. The first [deal] that I talk about in my book is really what motivated me to write the book. I had the privilege of working at Navteq, heading up the B2B marketing. We were acquired by Nokia in 2008 for roughly $9 billion.

Graff: What advice do you have for executives coming into an M&A deal?

Fondrevay: Consistently come to the deal with respect for the other side. You have to treat this like a marriage.

I have never seen a deal go well when both sides are either arrogant or one side is arrogant, thinking they’re saving another business.

Humans don’t like change, they abhor uncertainty. There’s a lot of things that are going to play out. Variables you cannot control, but focus on what you can control. Prepare your people, have answers to questions.

Graff: You break employees down into several types in your keynote. Explain some of them.

Fondrevay: The “former rockstar” is the person who consistently in the original company had the Midas touch. They could have been head of sales, head of product, head of marketing. The person who had the CEO’s ear.

The struggle that will turn them into a former rockstar is that once the deal is done, the metrics for success change.

Graff: How do you help them?

Fondrevay: Acknowledge the really important role that they played in helping get the business to where it is. But with the rockstar, the number one piece of advice I highlight to CEOs is you can’t coddle them. Because then he or she tends to keep things as the old way of doing things. After a certain point, if you let that person stay on and they continue to say, “this isn’t gonna work,” he or she can become toxic.

Graff: What is another type of employee you discuss in your work?

Fondrevay: “The missing in action.” The people who hold back. They really don’t contribute much. They don’t volunteer and lead anything. They put in the bare minimum because they’re trying to see how things are going to play.

The reason why in our discussion I referenced quiet quitting is it’s a lot of the same symptoms. They actively disengage. But you may not necessarily pick up on it right away. They’re physically present, but you aren’t even sure what they do.

So you need to prepare for how that [organization] chart is going to look? What will be the titles, the departments? Are people going to maintain the same compensation? Will they have their vacation days? These sound like very basic questions, but the more you don’t have answers to basic questions, the more people worry and hold back to see what’s going to happen.

Graff: Give me one more type of employee?

Fondrevay: The dominatrix. That person who is laser focused on the objectives and getting the job done. They’re not there to make friends. They aren’t there to build consensus. That personality can be enormously seductive and very beneficial early on.

When we talk about Elon Musk, that is absolutely his leadership style. He doesn’t hide how he leads. He’s said upfront. “I’m hardcore. If you can’t take it, then go.”

But what can happen is you lose key talent because people say, “I can’t put up with this. This is not the kind of boss I wanna be with. My values don’t align with this person.”

Who knows how this will play out.

Question: When have you felt the most uncertainty in your work environment?

To get in touch with Jennifer Fondrevay, you can go to her website, https://jenniferjfondrevay.com or contact her on LinkedIn.

The post How Do You Manage Employees When a Company is Acquired? With Jennifer Fondrevay—EP 175 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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In light of the current chaos in Brazil, we decided to post a great past interview we did with Ali Jamil Jomaa, Executive Director at Samot, a huge Brazilian automotive supplier. Hearing Jomaa describe how difficult it is to run a company in Brazil I think will give some perspective on why so many Brazilians are angry about their country’s politics.On today’s show we are heading back to Brazil as we continue our season exploring the machining industry around the world.

Our guest is Ali Jamil Jomaa, executive director at Samot, one of the most significant automotive parts suppliers in Brazil. Jamil has been at Samot for 32 years and is an authority on the tricky business of running a large machining company in Brazil.

You can also view the podcast in video form on our YouTube Channel. Main PointsJamil gives his background. He says he has been working at Samot for 32 years, since he was 18 years old and loves what he does. He started at the company on the shop floor doing maintenance on CNC lathes.

Though he already had some training working on CNC machines, as a teenager Jamil worked for his father, who owned a Lebanese restaurant. He also happened to be dating the daughter of the owner of Samot, Tomislav Jancar. One day he was delivering food from the restaurant to her father (his future father in law), and they spoke about Jamil’s knowledge of CNC machines. This led Tomislav to ask Jamil if he wanted to work at the company. Over time he worked his way up to Executive Director. (3:00 – 6:30)

More About SamotJamil tells the story of Samot’s owner, Tomislav, immigrating with his family to Brazil from Austria when he was 13 years old as a refugee of World War II. In Brazil, Tomislav studied mechanics and then went to work at Mercedes Benz and Volkswagen. Then he started his own machining company in 1960. (6:30 – 8:15)

Jamil says that Tomislav’s business philosophy was to always reinvest in the company, keeping up with the latest technology. This legacy is clear today with the company’s many INDEX CNC multi-spindles and other late model turning equipment. (8:15 – 10:00)

Jamil says that the majority of Samot’s customers are Tier 2 automotive (87-88% of sales). He says the remainder of the parts the company produces are for the defense industry. (10:00 – 10:45)

Business in BrazilJamil talks about how Brazil’s low valued currency (currently approximately 5 Brazil real to one US dollar) effects his company’s exporting strategies. Jamil says that while other companies try alter their business models with fluctuating currencies, he prefers to continue to export regardless whether real’s value falls or rises. He believes if Samot can make parts efficiently it can remain competitive all the time. He says he has put three sales representatives in the United States to bolster the company’s exports. (11:00 – 12:45)

Jamil talks about why Brazil is a tricky place to do business. He says companies have to pay considerable taxes and provide lots of benefits for employees. He says the median salary for an employee at Samot is the equivalent of $10,000 US per year. He says the lowest paid person makes $5,000 and the highest paid makes $80,000. Jamil says that Samot has to pay 80% on top of an employee’s salary. This means if an employee makes $10,000 it costs Samot $18,000. The company has to pay several types of taxes and benefits such social security, private health care, and food (he says the company has a great restaurant). Employees also receive a 13th month of salary for vacation that is also increased by 30%. He says employees have to work 150 days per year to pay their taxes. (12:45 – 19:20)

Jamil talks about the disparity of income across Brazil’s population. He says Brazil has 210 million people. He says 47% Brazilians are “economically active people,” but among those people, 25 million are unemployed (searching for work). He says 40% of those economically active people are doing work off the grid. He says that 75% of Brazilians are medium to lower class and 19% of Brazilians are at the bottom “miserable class.” Jamil says that every month he and some friends distribute food to 250 poor people in the street. (19:20 – 24:00)

The Future of BrazilJamil says he sees a bright future for Brazil, but he doesn’t know how long it will take. He says the government has been making a lot of promises about privatization and taking away extra benefits given to government workers. He says if the tax laws are changed, the country can thrive because it has so many diverse resources. (24:00)

Jamil says he knows a lot of Brazilians who want to move to other countries. However, he says that most of them don’t want to move because of economic conditions. Instead, they want to get away from the corrupt government and crime. (26:20)

Jamil says in recent times he has realized a great spirit of the employees at Samot, seeing how well they have come together to deal with the obstacles presented by COVID-19. (27:00)

Question: Where are you vacationing during the COVID-19 summer?

The post Running an Automotive Supplier in Brazil, with Ali Jamil Jomaa – EP 93 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Our guest on the podcast today is a machinist, entrepreneur, and master craftsman.

Josh Shapiro is the owner and founder of JN Shapiro Watches, one of the few high-end luxury wristwatch makers in the United States. His latest line of watches will be priced at $70,000 dollars and up.

His operation uses the most state of the art CNC Swiss and turn mills, as well as manual turning technology developed as far back as the 1500s!

Listen to the podcast or read the highlights to learn how Josh is producing watches like nobody else has in United States for last 50 years.

You can also view the podcast in video form on our YouTube Channel. Highlights from the InterviewNoah Graff: First, explain your company, JN Shapiro.

Josh Shapiro: We make high-end luxury wristwatches. We’re one of the very, very few companies in the United States that manufacture watches. We started out just making the faces of the watches. Our expertise is with something called Guilloche, which is doing engraved geometric shapes on the faces of watches, and that’s done using non-motorized, very old school machines. They’re really special. From there we moved on to making our own cases. Now we are very close to having our first prototype completely in-house movement done.

Graff: How much do the watches cost?

The price was $30,000 to $40,000 depending on the case material. The new series that we’re going to launch soon is $70,000 up to about $85,000, depending on material and customization.

JN Shapiro WatchSo they’re very expensive, but we put in about 400 to 500 hours on each timepiece. So much time goes into making each one of those watches.

Graff: How did you get into watchmaking?

Shapiro: I just had a love of old things, so I ended up becoming a history major and then becoming a teacher.

I walked into a local watch store here in Los Angeles called Feldmar when I was about 25, and just fell in love with watches.

One of the first watches I saw was a Skeleton Chronograph watch. There was just so much going on there. It was so fascinating to me. Watches are mechanical. Watches are a really beautiful thing. It’s wearable jewelry that’s functional. It’s fascinating how the gear train flows together. How the escapement functions, the pendulum, just the whole interplay of all the pieces.

While I was a teacher and principal, I was doing watchmaking as a hobby. Then around 2015, I purchased a really nice set of Guilloche, or engine turning machines, and that allowed me to do professional level work. I started producing watch faces, watch styles for other watchmakers, and started thinking in the back of my head of launching my own brand.

Around 2018, I launched my first series, and that’s when I started really reducing my role as a principal, until finally leaving completely two years ago.

Graff: Explain engine turning

Shapiro: The concept is there are cams made out of bronze on the spindle of the machine, and those cams are rocking against the stop. As the spindle is turning, it’s creating these geometric patterns. Then you can phase the cam, independent of the workpiece, and you can create these really beautiful geometric shapes.

It’s an old art. Engine turning machines have been around since the time that lathes came into existence, around 1500.

I have a number of them. The first one I bought, I scraped together every cent I had to afford it. Then, then I ended up selling that set of machines and buying another set of machines. The second set of machines cost me around $30,000. I didn’t have that much money, so I had to sell my 67 Mustang Fastback to afford it.

Graff: How many staff do you employ for making the watches?

Shapiro: It’s me plus seven. I’ve taught everyone in the company how to do engine turning. I have one trained CNC machinist. I have another watchmaker who is turned into a CNC machinist. I have three other watchmakers who are doing various watchmaking tasks and manual machining tasks.

I have one person who’s a trained jeweler, who has pursued a whole career in hand engraving, and one admin. So everyone has a really great skillset and really enjoys making things.

Graff: Tell me about the various machines in your shop.

Shapiro: My first big CNC machine, which we still have, is a Haas office mill. That’s actually a great watchmaking machine, and there’s a lot of people in Switzerland that have these Haas office mills because they’re really, really accurate.

Then we got a Hardinge, HLV, which is like the premier tool room lathe.

And then we picked up the, the (Citizen) L20 from you that was to practice on before we got our new shiny L12, which is getting here Wednesday.

The big machine that we got this year was a Kern Evo. Kern makes the most accurate milling machines on the planet.

It’s a sub-micron machine. We can’t measure sub-micron here in our shop, but it’s nice to know that we’re working with the machine that accurate, that precise. It’s the first Kern Evo used for watchmaking in the US, which is really exciting.

JN Shapiro Watch PartsGraff: Explain the watch movement

Shapiro: A movement is the guts of a mechanical watch. It’s everything inside of it, just like a car engine and transmission. There are some [watch] brands in the United States that do cases and dials, and some purchase everything from Switzerland. They’re just designed in the United States, like Shinola watches. You know they’re importing a good chunk of all their stuff. They got in trouble with the FTC for saying it was American made.

Slowly more is being done here. Our watch that we’re working on is the first time since the sixties that all the parts, all the little parts, everything are made in the United States.

The old series, the Infinity series, that we sold out on, we were making the case, the hands and the dial. So not the movement of the watch.

That was according to plan. I did the Infinity Series to have the funding to grow the company enough to be able to make the movement. Some people make the mistake of trying to do the movement, which is the most difficult thing, right off the bat. And if it’s not a critical success, then they’re out of business.

Graff: Why do people buy expensive watches?

Shapiro: I guess the best example is if you look at the car world. You can buy a Toyota or Honda, and it’ll get you from point A to B, and you can also buy McLaren and it’ll get you from point A to B. From the outside observer, they say, okay, the McLaren looks cooler and rich people buy it.

But then you get into the engine. You know the car goes fast—very, very fast. There’s a ton of engineering that goes into the car to make it be able to do that.

The quality of the parts that are in the car are produced at a much higher level than in a car that’s mass produced. It’s the same thing for a watch. It tells the time, but the quality and time that we put into each and every one of the parts is astronomic.

[A watch] is something that’ll last hundreds of years. It’s a piece of art, and it’s functional art that you can wear on your wrist. Art is the spice of life. It’s not something that’s necessary for you to eat, or live. But it’s what makes our civilization special beyond just being a toy for wealthy people.

When someone sees a work of art it’s inspiring, and that’s what we do with our watches. They’re more than just time telling devices.

Question: What is your favorite watch?

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Why was 2022 the best year of my life so far?

(This blog was also recorded as a podcast narrated by Noah Graff). Listen with the player below, Apple Podcasts, or on your favorite podcast app)

Reason Number 1: I Improved My State of Being

I began working with my life coach, Ginny Cutler, in January. She is coaching me on “being” who I WANT to be. The idea is that if you “feel” stuck, the only way to become unstuck is to transform your state of being.

She says to ask yourself, “What would I be doing if I didn’t feel stuck?” And then do that!

With her help I wrote a document with several statements that declare who “I AM.” Every morning I walk around my neighborhood and recite these statements. Ideally it is good to say them loudly, not caring if others around you hear.

The “I AM” statements I recite the most are:

—I am a bullet penetrating all resistance in my way.

—I embrace discomfort.

—I am following all my nudges—whenever, however, wherever they push me.

—I am a serendipity magnet. I create, I see, I seize opportunities everywhere.

—I am successful, and I am becoming more successful every day.

—I am a productivity machine, focused and ready to begin immediately.

My transformation continues to be a gradual process, but I know I am moving forward to a much better state of being.

Reason Number 2: There’s MORE to the Used Machinery Business

It was a great year for our used machine tool company, Graff-Pinkert. According to Lloyd Graff, the owner and my father, we made the most big deals this year in our company’s 80-year history. We made a few blunders, usually when we bought machines at auctions, but we more than canceled them out with some great scores.

Great scores feel good. They help pay my mortgage. Finding treasure though serendipity and coming up with creative deals—that’s fun.

But I want to feel that what I do for a living means more than buying a machine and selling it for a higher price than what we purchased it for. I know there is more to the used machinery business, but I need to pause and look for it.

Noah Graff with Davenport Multi-Spindle Screw Machine at Graff-Pinkert & Co.I don’t do it enough, but sometimes I think about the purpose we have as used machinery dealers. We provide valuable equipment to machining companies that they might not be able to obtain elsewhere, so they can succeed in their businesses. If they succeed, they create new jobs and create products the world needs.

In 2022, we encountered more startup machining companies than we’ve ever seen. We enabled some of them to purchase their first machine tools. They would not have been able to build their businesses if they had to pay multiple times the price to buy a new machine.

We also helped a company sell their family operation when they wanted to retire. We enabled them to receive some compensation for their life’s work, which they likely would not have achieved otherwise.

It was also fulfilling this year to develop relationships with customers and partners around the world. It feels great to collaborate with other people in the machining industry. We help each other to be successful and sometimes we become friends.

Last of all, working alongside my father, Lloyd, has been a gift this year, as it always has been. We both try to remember to stop sometimes and be present in the moment when we are talking about a deal or collaborating on a blog. Sometimes we even actually tell each other how much we enjoy working together. We know these are precious times. We get to work together regularly with someone we appreciate, and enjoy, and love.

Reason Number 3: We Grew Today’s Machining World’s Podcast

Our podcast, Swarfcast, is growing more than ever. Its download numbers are up 50% over the last 30 days. This is partly do to a new podcast coaching program I joined a few months ago called the Grow the Show Podcast Accelerator Program. The most significant contributors to listener growth have been my participation on LinkedIn and being a guest on other podcasts, which I have to say has been a lot of fun and educational.

Noah and Lloyd Graff doing Podcast InterviewRegardless of download numbers, I’m proud of every one of the 31 episodes I put out this year. They are all enjoyable to listen to, and they teach people things that might help them in their lives. Making the podcast is fun. I get to talk to cool, interesting, smart people. I enjoy the creativity of the production process. But what’s more important is that making Swarfcast, just like writing our blogs, gives me purpose because I know our work affects thousands of people.

Reason Number 4 (By far the most important reason 2022 was the best year of my life!): I Became a Father!

April 6, 2022, my wife, Stephanie, and I had our first child, Abraham! Having any child is a miracle, but we are both in our 40s, so we have extra gratitude for our miracle, as Abe did not come easily.

Noah, Stephanie, and Abe GraffI understand why people say being a father is the most important job they will ever have in life. It’s a fun job and a hard job. Thank God I have an almost perfect wife and we live in the age of quality disposable diapers. We are also extra blessed that Abe happens to be a great sleeper, a fact which I am probably jinxing now.

My analyst once told me, “Adults don’t make kids. kids make adults.” Up until this year, I was a kid. I only had to take care of myself. In 2022, I was blessed to receive an incredible but defenseless person I now have to protect and support.

I’ve always been grossed out by babies, but being with Abe I feel a love I have never before experienced. He brings new meaning and purpose to my life. My wife, Stephanie, and I think he is brilliant, of course, and we are positive he is the sweetest, cutest kid on the planet. Not trying to brag, but honestly, people tell us all the time that he looks like the Gerber baby or even a cherub.

Questions: What was the best thing that happened in your life in 2022?

How did you grow in 2022?

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After serving in the Navy SEALs for nine years, Bill Berrien retired from the military in 1999, ready for a new chapter in his life. He attended Harvard business school where there were six other SEALs in his class.

After graduating from Harvard, Bill worked as a Six Sigma Blackbelt at General Electric Health Care, which brought him to the Milwaukee area in 2002. Rather than climb the ladder at a large corporation, Bill’s ambition was to eventually acquire his own business.

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Main PointsPreparing to Acquire a Business After working at G.E., Bill worked in private equity in the health care field to gain experience and earn the capital needed to purchase a company. Bill often advises people starting their careers to take a similar path to his. First, get a job at a large established company like G.E. that has opportunities to get training and exposure to different areas. This can help people figure out their interests and strengths, which may pay off in future endeavors. He says that today, running Pindel, he uses a lot of the principles he learned at G.E., such as root causing, critical thinking, and numbers orientation.

After he finished working in venture capital, Bill spent a year searching for the ideal business to purchase. He looked at around 120 potential companies, about 75% of which were related to manufacturing. In the end, he chose Pindel, a successful 75-year-old family company in precision machining with about 80 employees. He liked the company’s customer base and ownership, and he saw areas in the business that he believed he could improve and grow.

Bill’s Start at PindelBill says when he first came to Pindel he didn’t have a set game plan. He had no prior experience in precision machining, so the first thing he did was take the time to learn the business from the company’s former owner, Mark Pindel, who stayed on several years.

Bill believes he gained some respect and trust from the company’s employees because he was a former Navy SEAL. He jokes that he did not tell anybody he went to Harvard, and some people at the company might find that out for the first time if they listen to this podcast.

Evolution of Equipment at PindelWhen Bill purchased Pindel it was primarily comprised of good old Acme-Gridley multi-spindles and some CNC equipment for doing secondary operations. Bill has kept the Acmes going, but he has also gotten big into Swiss, so he can run complex parts complete for the aerospace and medical industries. He has kept the company’s production in the medium volume range, with runs of 1,000 to 1,000,000 pieces.

There were only three old, underutilized Swiss machines when Bill arrived at Pindel. He realized that the company was outsourcing its most complex parts and saw expanding the Swiss machining department as a way to bring more work in-house. The company bought new Tsugami Swiss machines to run formerly outsourced work, and there was still capacity leftover for more Swiss work. Many of the parts that had been blanked on multi-spindles and finished on CNCs could was put on the Tsugamis to machine parts complete.

Pindel’s cam multi-spindles are still used for making parts for the industrial sector. What is noteworthy about the company’s multi-spindle department is that the average age of its operators is around 31, rather than the stereotypical multi-spindle operator age that is close to retirement.

A New Separate Company Specifically for CNC MachiningBill has found that medical, aerospace, and defense customers prefer a “pure play” supplier for the CNC components. They don’t want a supplier that also runs Acme-Gridley parts.

Meanwhile industrial customers don’t want costs associated with expensive CNC equipment that raises part prices. To solve this issue, Pindel incubated a new company called Liberty Precision dedicated to customers for CNC parts.

Military Parallels to Advanced ManufacturingSince Bill bought Pindel 10 years ago, he has observed some similarities between advanced manufacturing and the Special Operations community. Both are composed of small, highly cohesive, trained teams enabled by advanced technology. They both strive to do outsized things—to punch above their weight.

Under Bill Berrien, Pindel has taken a page from the military with its Pindel Professional Development program. The program has six levels of multi-spindle machinists and six levels of CNC machinists, four levels of quality technicians and four levels of industrial maintenance. Each level incorporates Tooling U classes, shop floor qualifications, and NIMS credentialing. Such a comprehensive training program allows the company to hire for attitude and train for skill.

To encourage new recruits to choose the multi-spindle track versus the CNC track, the first three levels of multi-spindle machinists are paid more than the first three levels of CNC machinists.

I ended the interview, asking Bill one of my favorite questions, “When you think of happiness, what does that mean to you.”

Bill explained a scientific concept called “freudenfreude,” which means taking joy from other people’s good fortune. This is the opposite of the more well known concept, “Schadenfreude,” which means taking pleasure in other’s misfortunes.

Bill takes pleasure from others around him succeeding.

Question: What did you learn in college that helped you in your manufacturing career?

The post How a Navy SEAL Runs a Machining Company, with Bill Berrien (Part II)—EP172 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Bill Berrien has had an extraordinary professional journey. He earned an MBA at Harvard, worked for General Electric and then in private equity. Ten years ago, he purchased Pindel Global Precision, a successful two-generation machining company near Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which he has modernized and grown over the past decade. Oh, I forgot to mention, he [...]

The post How a Navy SEAL Runs a Machining Company, with Bill Berrien (Part I)–EP171 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Today’s guest on the podcast is Jon Perin, owner and President of Perin Industries, a young CNC machining company in Webster City, Iowa. Jon, started Perin Industries in 2018, after a 12-year career as a hospital administrator. Like many entrepreneurs, Jon has had to face some daunting challenges. Starting out, he aggressively bought new state [...]

The post Best of Swarfcast: Starting a Machining Company is Hard, With Jon Perin — EP 136 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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It seems like every other day as a machinery dealer, I talk to someone who says they would purchase a machine from me, if only they could find a person to run it. Today’s podcast guest, Ann Wyatt, founder of Ann Wyatt Recruiting, makes her living by finding manufacturing professionals for companies. She says that [...]

The post How to Find New Manufacturing Talent, with Ann Wyatt first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Dave Polito is my Star CNC guru. He’s always been there when I’ve had questions, whether they were about a 1999 SA12, or a sweet SV38R located in Asia, or the ever flummoxing Siemens control on an ECAS-20. Dave is the owner of Quality Machine Tool Services, the Star Distributor for Illinois and southern Wisconsin. [...]

The post STAR CNC Swiss Guru, with Dave Polito—EP 169 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Today’s guest on the show is Jeff Rizzie, Director of Digital Enablement at Sandvik Coromant. Sandvik is renown for its cutting tools, but the company has branched out into selling cloud-based machine monitoring software called CoroPlus Machining Insights. Machining Insights measures the overall equipment effectiveness, or OEE, of a factory’s machines, collecting data such as [...]

The post Knowing What Your Machine Is Up To, with Jeff Rizzie–EP 168 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Our guest on the podcast today is Rogério Mezadri, Director of Samot Mexico, a 200-employee automotive shop in Guanajuato, Mexico. Rogerio and I discussed what it’s like running a machining company in Mexico. We talked about nearshoring trends and Mexico’s challenge to produce enough skilled manufacturing workers. Yes, they have that problem too!

The post Machining in Mexico, with Rogério Mezadri–EP 167 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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At IMTS 2022, I stumbled upon a booth with an impressive 28 foot rocket on display, constructed by students from the Purdue University Bechtel Innovation Design Center. Anirudh Pal, an operations manager at Bechtel, and Xander Wells, an undergraduate teaching assistant at Bechtel, told me the story behind the rocket’s creation when I interviewed them [...]

The post Manufacturing Launching in College, with Anirudh Pal and Xander Wells—EP 166 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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At IMTS 2022, I had the privilege of interviewing Bryan Stusak and Steve Vanderink, two product specialists from Iscar Metals, world renown seller of cutting tools for machining. We talked about the latest developments in cutting tool technology that enable faster changeover, and how to save money by using inserts properly when removing small amounts [...]

The post How to Save Money on Cutting Tools, with Bryan Stusak and Mike Vanderink–EP 165 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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This podcast is the second part of our interview with Will Healy III about how to get the most out of trade shows, IMTS 2022 in particular. Main Points Participate and Follow Social Media Related to a Show Will suggests announcing ahead of time on social media that you will be going to a trade [...]

The post How to Get the Most From a Trade Show, With Will Healy III (Part II)–EP 164 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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With the International Machine Tool Show (IMTS) coming up next week in Chicago, we decided it was important to do a podcast about how to get ready for a trade show. The following is a summary of our 2-part interview with Will Healy III. Will has been going to machining industry trade shows such as [...]

The post How to Get the Most From a Trade Show, With Will Healy III–EP 163 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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On today’s show, we’re discussing the scary reality that manufacturers are the number one target of cyberterrorists around the globe. Manufacturing companies are at risk for ransomware and intellectual property theft. It’s even possible for hackers to take control of a factory’s machine tools remotely. Our guest is Drew Phillips, senior systems integration engineer at [...]

The post Defending Your Manufacturing Company From Cyberterrorism, with Drew Phillips–EP 162 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Our guest on the podcast today is Shawn Gaskin, owner of Swiss Technologies of New England and Stone Medical in Plainville, Massachusetts. Shawn started Swiss Technologies over 20 years ago, with one L20 Citizen making parts out of sterling silver for Tiffany and Company. Over the years, his company has grown into a diversified shop, [...]

The post Running a CNC Swiss Medical Shop, with Shawn Gaskin–Ep. 161 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Our guest on today’s podcast is Adar Hay, co-founder and CEO of Jiga, a company providing a Web platform for manufacturing buyers and suppliers to communicate and establish new relationships. It’s ironic how in today’s world, in which we have so many channels to communicate and network, it’s still complicated to do those things well. [...]

The post Communicating Better with Other Manufacturers with, Adar Hay–Ep. 160 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Our guest on today’s podcast is Justin Tauber, co-owner and Vice President of Integrated Machinery Systems (IMS), a machine tool distributor in Itasca, Illinois. Justin’s company sells a wide variety of machine tools, ranging from turning machines, machining centers, grinders, 3D printers and automation equipment. In our interview, Justin discussed the merits of high end [...]

The post Should I Buy the Expensive or Cheaper CNC Machine? With Justin Tauber–Ep. 159 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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I came into contact with Edwin Nyuysever Mbinkar a month ago, when he sent an email to Graff-Pinkert inquiring about an expensive Mikron 5-axis machining center on our website. He explained that he was the manager of a High Tech Centre (British spelling of “Center”) in Cameroon, and he wanted his school to have the [...]

The post Manufacturing in Africa? With Edwin Mbinkar–EP 158 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Today’s podcast is an American Dream story. Our guest is Dulio Arellano, owner of Premier Swiss, a Tornos shop in Addison, Illinois, which he founded in 2017. Dulio came to the United States from Mexico when he was 18 years old. After working in various machine shops, Dulio got a job as a technician at [...]

The post Best Of Swarfcast: Starting a Swiss Shop with Dulio Arellano—EP 68 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Today’s guest on the podcast is Matt Wardle, owner and President of JD Machine Corp. in Ogden, Utah. JD Machine currently produces around 4,000 active part numbers, serving a diverse group of sectors, which include aerospace, defense, and medical. Matt says he sometimes envies other machining companies who have a more narrow focus on the [...]

The post Trading Sanity for Stability in a Machining Company, with Matt Wardle—EP 157 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Today’s guest on the podcast is Matt Wardle, owner and President of J.D. Machining in Ogden, Utah. J.D. currently produces around 4,000 active part numbers, serving a diverse group of sectors, which include aerospace, defense, and medical. Matt says he sometimes envies other machining companies who have a more narrow focus on the types of […]

The post Trading Sanity for Stability in a Machining Company, with Matt Wardle—EP 157 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Our guests on today’s show are Michael Ottenweller and Terry Hanson, of Ottenweller Company, a medium-sized fabrication and machining company headquartered in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Ottenweller is a 108-year-old fourth generation family business. I spoke with Michael and Terry about how a family business can grow and thrive for over a century and continue to […]

The post How a Machining Company Thrives after 108 years in Business, with Michael Ottenweller and Terry Hanson—EP 156 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Today we’re celebrating the milestone of 150 episodes of Swarfcast. This is actually Episode 155. We just didn’t get around to doing this one until now. I hope you enjoy as we look back at four of our favorite past episodes spanning the last four years. Four years! Not much has happened for me? Besides […]

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Tyler Jarosz sent me an email about a month and a half ago to ask if Graff-Pinkert would be interested in a used little parts washer he no longer needed in his machine shop. He found out about Graff-Pinkert from listening to Swarfcast, which I’m proud to say is the only podcast he has ever […]

The post How a Machinist Entrepreneur Retired at 40, with Tyler Jarosz—Ep. 154 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Our guest on today’s show is Steve Tamasi, owner and CEO of Boston Centerless, a distributor and manufacturer of ground bar stock. I asked Steve why there is such a shortage of raw materials for precision turning manufacturers and what companies can do to deal with this problem. We also talked about how the war […]

The post How to Navigate Material Shortages in Swiss Machining, with Steve Tamasi—EP. 153 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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The post Best of Swarfcast: Starting a Machining Company is Hard, with Jon Perin—EP. 136 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Our guest on the podcast today is Jennifer Grant, marketing manager for Haizol Global Europe. Haizol is a company that connects manufacturing companies in plastics and metal working with suppliers in Asia, most often China. The company’s value proposition is that it bypasses daunting challenges inherent when outsourcing to foreign countries, such as vetting suppliers […]

The post How to Find the Right Asian Supplier, with Jennifer Grant—EP. 152 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Nobody knows how the current tragic war in Ukraine will play out, but I hope that those listening to the second half of our interview with Dr. Andrew R. Thomas will get a little bit of new insight into how the conflict fits into the world’s energy economy. Andrew is an author and business professor […]

The post The Fracking Revolution and Ukraine Part II, with Andrew R. Thomas—EP. 151 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Today’s podcast is Part 1 of a two part series discussing the current state of the global energy supply and how it ultimately relates to the war in Ukraine. Our guest is Dr. Andrew R. Thomas, author and business professor at University of Akron. He has published 25 books, most of them at the intersection […]

The post The Fracking Revolution and Ukraine, with Andrew R. Thomas —EP. 150 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Our guest on the show today is my friend Miles Free, Director of Industry Affairs at the Precision Machined Products Association (PMPA). Miles was actually the first featured guest on this podcast four years ago, and we are very thankful to have him back for episode 149. He is definitely one of the most passionate […]

The post Why the Machining Industry is Thriving, with Miles Free —EP. 149 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Our guest on the podcast today is Jim Gosselin, owner and President of Genevieve Swiss Industries. Genevieve Swiss sells innovative accessories specifically for Swiss CNC lathes, such as live tooling and cutting tools, to combat the problems small parts manufacturers constantly deal with. Scroll down to read more and listen to the podcast. Or listen […]

The post Best of Swarfcast: Live Tooling and Accessories for CNC Swiss, with Jim Gosselin —EP. 114 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Our guest on the podcast today is Brian Balasia, CEO and Co-Founder of TalentEi, a company that produces a software platform that matches employers and job seekers across a variety of sectors. Brian says the platform enables companies to hire superior people, more quickly, and at a better price than traditional hiring methods such as […]

The post A More Intelligent Way to Hire, with Brian Balasia—EP. 148 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Our guest on today’s podcast is Lauren Dunford, CEO and cofounder of Guidewheel. Guidewheel produces a sensor that clips onto a machine tool’s power supply to collect data while it runs. The data helps manufacturers understand what processes on the shop floor need to be improved and guides them toward solutions. Scroll down to read […]

The post Tracking Your Shop’s Performance, with Lauren Dunford—EP. 147 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Today’s episode is Part II of our interview with industrial auctioneer Robert Levy. In Part I, I tried to get an understanding of what’s going on inside the mind of an auctioneer. In the second part of the interview, I asked Robert to give me some practical advice on how to be a successful bidder […]

The post Machinery Auctions Off the Stand with Robert Levy, (Part II)–EP. 146 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Today’s episode is Part I of a two part interview with Robert Levy, President of Robert Levy Associates. Robert has been an industrial auctioneer for 44 years and knows more about the auction business than anyone I’ve met. Auctions are fascinating and sometimes mysterious to me, so my goal in this interview was to get […]

The post Machinery Auctions Off the Stand, with Robert Levy (Part I)—EP. 145 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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The post Where Rotary Transfers Fit, with Kris Fugate—EP. 144 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Our guest on today’s podcast is Elliott May, engineer at BME in Port Huron, Michigan. BME builds original custom attachments for cam multi-spindles. They also rebuild Acme-Gridley screw machines. Elliott and I talked about a lot of fascinating things in this interview. How to keep old mechanical beasts relevant, getting young people into machining, and […]

The post Attached to Multi-Spindles, with Elliott May—EP. 143 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Have you ever asked yourself what your purpose is when you go to work in the morning? Sometimes I wonder if I’m spending enough time making an important impact on the world, or if I’m too wrapped up in the mechanics of making deals on machine tools. In this week’s podcast we interviewed Brent Robertson […]

The post Best of Swarfcast: Finding Purpose in Your Work with Brent Robertson—EP 37 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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oday’s show is the first episode of our new season about Swiss-Type CNC machining. Our guest is Marc Klecka, founder and president of Concentric Corporation, a prominent distributor of Citizen-Cincom CNC Swiss lathes in Cleveland, Ohio. Scroll down to read more and listen to the podcast, or listen with Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts or your favorite […]

The post Best of Swarfcast: Citizen CNC Swiss Lathes with Marc Klecka—EP 109 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Our guest on today’s podcast is Dr. Andrew R. Thomas, best selling author and Associate Professor of Marketing and International business at the University of Akron. Thomas says today reshoring is finally happening. After decades of sending manufacturing work to China, Western companies are finally realizing this strategy is often not the answer for generating […]

The post Why Manufacturing is Leaving China, with Andrew R. Thomas—EP 142 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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As the end of 2021 approaches, Lloyd and I spent this podcast reflecting on the last year. Though the pandemic continued for a second lap, a lot of companies in the machining business enjoyed a tremendous rebound. Thankfully for us, our used machinery business, Graff-Pinkert, did really well too, which we needed after a miserable […]

The post Reflections on the Machining World in 2021 — EP 141 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Pasta machines operate a lot like cam screw machines, Antonio Adiletta told me when I interviewed him for this week’s podcast. Antonio is co-owner of Arcobaleno and GAM Precision in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. After growing up in Italy, Antonio moved to Canada and then eventually emigrated to the United States with his wife and business partner, […]

The post Pasta and Precision Parts, with Antonio Adiletta — EP 140 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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On today’s podcast I spoke to Achim Bauer, one of the most knowledgeable people I know about Tornos DECO CNC Swiss machines. His company, Bauer & Licht Industrietechnik OHG, in Pforzheim, Germany, is one of the only companies in the world that specializes specifically in rebuilding Tornos DECOs. Recently, I had the privilege to pick […]

The post Tornos DECO Swiss Meister, Achim Bauer EP 139 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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On today’s podcast we’re telling the life story of F.C. Phillips in Stoughton, Massachusetts, a fourth-generation machining company that lived from 1911 until January of 2020. Our guest is Brian Snow, former co-owner of the company and a grandson of its founder, F.C. Phillips. I spoke to Brian about what enabled his company to last […]

The post 109 Years of a Machine Shop EP 138 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Our guest on today’s podcast is Joe Sullivan, founder of Gorilla 76, a successful industrial marketing agency specializing in the manufacturing arena. My goal in this interview is to uncover the secrets behind effective B2B marketing. Today, anyone who owns a smartphone has the tools to tell the world about their company. But how do […]

The post Marketing by Sharing Your Expertise, with Joe Sullivan EP 137 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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The post Starting a Machining Company is Hard, with Jon Perin first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Our guest on today’s podcast is Joe Bennett, Vice President of Sales at Seaway Bolt and Specials, a privately held cold heading company in Columbia Station, Ohio, founded in 1957. In the cold heading process, coiled steel is cut into slugs, which are then hit multiple times, ultimately pounding them into a desired shape. The […]

The post Running a “First Class” Cold Heading Company, with Joe Bennett first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Today’s podcast is the second half of our conversation about Graff-Pinkert’s business in 2021. I particularly liked this part of the conversation because we dug deeper into our approaches to selling machinery, talking to people, and one of our favorite subjects—how to find serendipity. Scroll down to read more and listen to the podcast. Or […]

The post Upping Our Machinery Business Game, with Noah and Lloyd Graff first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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For today’s podcast, I decided it was a good time for us to reflect on our used machinery business so far in 2021. It’s been an interesting and profitable nine months for Graff-Pinkert, so we had plenty to talk about—enough to stretch it into a double episode. Also, I was having trouble finding a new […]

The post Rebound of 2021 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Our guest on the podcast today is Reid Leland, founder and President of LeanWerks, a precision machining job shop in Ogden, Utah. Lean Works operates using open-book management, which means the company shares its financial information with all its employees on a regular basis. Reid says this transparent management style makes its employees aware of […]

The post Sharing What’s Working and What Isn’t, with Reid Leland first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Two weeks ago, Mike Taylor inquired on a Tornos GT26 Swiss lathe Graff-Pinkert had for sale. He told me that for him the machine would be like buying a new motorcycle. If he bought it, he would spend months learning how to use it himself before expecting to make any money with it, and it […]

The post Innovation from Playing with Machines, with Mike Taylor first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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After Graff-Pinkert sold a second used Lico CNC lathe to Vanamatic, a 3rd generation screw machine shop in Delphos, Ohio, I had a great conversation with Adam Wiltsie, the company’s Director of Operations. At that moment, I was quite envious of Adam—I was sitting at my desk in my office, while he was outside on […]

The post Make Your Employees Want to Stay, with Adam Wiltsie, EP 130 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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The Today’s Machining World team is on vacation this week. We will be back next week with our regular blog and podcast. We hope you enjoy this edition of Swarfblog from August 7th, 2019! Our guest on today’s podcast is Zak Pashak, founder of Detroit Bikes, the largest bike frame manufacturer in the United States. […]

The post Best of Swarfcast: Ep. 46 – Building Bikes in Detroit, With Zak Pashak first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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In part 1 of my interview with Bill Cox, owner of Cox Manufacturing in San Antonio, Texas, Bill talked about the power of his company’s robust apprenticeship program. But how does Cox Manufacturing get so many employee candidates, while most machining companies are dying to get any job applicants? Answer—the company has built a strategic […]

The post Ep. 129 – Recruiting Long Term Shop Employees, with Bill Cox (Part 2) first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Unlike the majority of machining companies right now, struggling to find enough skilled people to fulfill demand, Cox Manufacturing in San Antonio, Texas, boasts a continuous pipeline of new talent. In fact, Bill Cox, the company’s owner, says right now the company has a stack of applications for shop apprenticeships, of which he will pick […]

The post Ep. 128 – Building a Great Apprenticeship Program, with Bill Cox first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Pioneer Service employs a diverse group of people—varying age groups and genders, African Americans, Latinos, and a few old white guys, too. Twelve of its 31-person workforce are women. The diversity provides the company with a great pool of talent and creates a special work environment. Today’s podcast is part two of my interview with […]

The post Ep.127 – Creating a Successful Diverse Workforce, with Aneesa Muthana (Part 2) first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Several months ago, I called Pioneer Service Inc. when I noticed online they had a used Doosan for sale. The woman who answered the phone beamed with enthusiasm. She told me that she couldn’t wait to come to work every day because of how much she loved her job and the company she worked for. […]

The post Ep. 126 – Creating a Successful Diverse Workforce, with Aneesa Muthana (Part 1) first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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On today’s podcast I interviewed Kathryn Shibelski. Kathryn is a second chance hiring advocate. Her firm, KES HR Consulting, works with companies who are considering hiring incarcerated or formerly incarcerated people. The job candidates have often been convicted for drug offenses, white collar crimes, sex crimes, and even murder. Obviously, the idea of hiring people […]

The post Ep. 125 – Hiring Ex-Felons, with Kathryn Shibelski first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Today’s guest on the podcast is Jim Regenor, founder of VeriTX, a company which helps clients dramatically reduce lead times and increases readiness for military and airline customers with blockchain technology. Scroll down to listen to the podcast. With today’s 3-D printing technology parts can be produced on site so clients don’t need to wait […]

The post Best of Swarfcast: Ep. 75 – Using Blockchain in Manufacturing with Jim Regenor first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Note: The Swarfcast team is enjoying a short summer break this weekend. We’ll be back next week with a fresh blog. In the meantime, enjoy this great episode from 2020 on incorporating Kaizen principals into your daily life, with guest Darrell Sutherland. Today’s guest on the podcast is Darrell Sutherland, founder and owner of Dylan […]

The post Best of Swarfcast – Ep. 85 – Kaizen Principles for Personal Growth with Darrell Sutherland first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Today’s show is the first episode in our new season about hiring and retaining good employees in machining companies. Our guest is Scott Eighmy, co-owner and CEO of American Turned Products, a medium-sized precision machining company in Erie, Pennsylvania. Scott says his company is struggling like many manufacturing businesses right now to hire new good […]

The post Ep. 124 – Valuing Employees, with Scott Eighmy first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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On today’s show we’re talking about how to set up machine tools efficiently. Our guest is Paul Van Metre, co-founder of ProShop ERP. ProShop produces a comprehensive web-based and totally paperless shop management system for small to medium manufacturing companies. Paul says that using a few best practices, guided by ProShop’s management system, can reduce […]

The post Best of Swarfcast – Ep. 97 – Reducing Machine Setup Time up to 50% with Paul Van Metre first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Our guest on today’s podcast is Christian Busch, author of the new book, The Serendipity Mindset: the Art and Science of Finding Good Luck. Have you ever noticed how certain people always seem to get lucky breaks? According to Christian these lucky people have a skill for recognizing luck when it materializes. In his book […]

The post Ep. 123 – How to Find Serendipity with Christian Busch first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Happy Memorial Day from the Swarfcast team! We’re enjoying some family time this holiday weekend as the summer weather is finally upon us. We will return next Wednesday with a fresh blog for your enjoyment. In the meantime, tune in to a Best of episode from November 2020. Today’s podcast is the final segment of […]

The post Best of Swarfcast – Ep. 104 – Machining the Perfect Pen with Ian Schon first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Today’s podcast is Part IV in our series about how machining companies find new work. Our guest is Tony Uphoff, CEO of Thomas, the parent company of Thomasnet.com, an online directory of over 500,000 North American manufacturers that was founded 123 years ago. Thomas filters its listings into 72,000 categories, which enables buyers and suppliers […]

The post Ep. 122 – Using Thomasnet.com to Find Customers and Suppliers with Tony Uphoff first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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This season we’re talking about how your machine shop attracts new customers. Today, we wanted to share a podcast from our second season which we feel provides a useful solution to finding fresh business. Tune in to our interview with Greg and share your own experience with manufacturing networks in the comments below. Thanks for […]

The post Best of Swarfcast – Ep. 61 – Facilitating a Manufacturing Network with Xometry’s Greg Paulsen first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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For the third episode of our season about how machining companies acquire new work, I interviewed Jay Sauder, owner of Sauder Machine in Plymouth, Ohio. Sauder makes a variety of precision components such as casings for mechanical pocket watches and wheel cylinders for horse drawn buggies driven by Amish people. Sauder Machine has no sales […]

The post Ep. 121 – Finding Customers Through Great Networking with Jay Sauder first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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On today’s podcast we continue our season about how machining companies acquire new work. Our guest is Wes Szpondowski, plant manager of Wyandotte Industries, a multi-spindle job shop near Detroit that predominantly runs good old ACME-GRIDLEY screw machines. We interviewed him last week when he came to Graff-Pinkert to inspect an ACME 1-5/8” RB-8. Wes […]

The post Ep. 120 – Constantly Quoting Work with Wes Szpondowski first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Today’s show is the first episode of a multi-part series about how machining companies acquire new work. Our guest is Federico Veneziano, CFO and COO of American Micro Products Inc., a precision machining company in Batavia, Ohio. Federico says one his key strategies for getting new customers is proving to them his company will minimize […]

The post Ep. 119 – Minimizing Your Customers’ Pain with Federico Veneziano first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Today is the final episode of our series about mental health in the workplace. Our guest is Darcy Gruttadaro, Director of the Center for Workplace Mental Health at the American Psychiatric Association Foundation. Darcy’s organization works with companies of all sizes, giving them tools to support the mental health of their employees. She says […]

The post Ep. 118 – Coping with Stress at Work with Darcy Gruttadaro first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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On today’s podcast we are continuing our season about mental health. Our guest is Dr. Ari Graff, a psychologist at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, a nationally ranked rehabilitation research hospital based in Chicago. Patients come to Shirley Ryan to recover from severe illnesses and injuries. Dr. Graff’s job is to help patients mentally heal from […]

The post Ep. 117 – Mental Recovery with Dr. Ari Graff first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Today’s podcast is a “Best of Swarfcast” from Summer of 2019, a two-part interview we did with John Habe IV, President of Metal Seal Precision, a machining company based in Mentor, Ohio. Over the last several years, John has grown Metal Seal Precision both organically and through major acquisitions. According to John, growing through acquisitions […]

The post Best of Swarfcast – John Habe IV on Valuing a Machining Business, Parts I & II first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Today’s podcast is the first episode of a new season about mental health. Our guest on the show is Jackie, owner of PXR Machining. Jackie spent the majority of her life trying to mask a significant part of herself from others and deny her own feelings about who she always knew she was. Through therapy […]

The post Ep. 116 – Mental Health in the Machining Business with Jackie, owner of PXR Machining first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Back in February I had the pleasure of being interviewed on the MTD Podcast, an excellent podcast about machining in the UK. Hosts Joe Reynolds and Giovanni Albanese grilled me about a lot of our favorite topics featured on Swarfcast, like treasure hunting, reshoring, Trump, and Swiss CNCs, which my British counterparts often call “sliders.” […]

The post Ep. 115 – Treasure Hunting, Swarf, and Sliders with Noah Graff first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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We interviewed Brett May of BME Inc. Screw Machine Attachments for today’s podcast. Brett’s mission in business is to make old cam multi-spindle screw machines like National Acmes, Wickmans, and New Britains into productive money makers in today’s competitive machining environment. Scroll down to listen to the podcast with Brett May. Brett builds unique attachments […]

The post Best of Swarfcast – Ep. 25 – Brett May on Keeping Screw Machines Relevant first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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The post Ep. 114 – Live Tooling and Accessories for CNC Swiss with Jim Gosselin first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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On today’s podcast we continue our series about Swiss machining. Our guest is John Belmonte, owner and President of Mitotec, a precision turning company in Necedah, Wisconsin. Recently Mitotec purchased a Tornos MultiSwiss 8X26 multi-spindle screw machine. The unique design of the MultiSwiss enables such quick changeovers the machine is running many of the same […]

The post Ep. 113 – A MultiSwiss Screw Machine to Maximize Production, with John Belmonte first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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We’re currently working on fresh new episodes of Swarfcast. In the meantime, we felt this “Best of” was fitting for the recent season on CNC Swiss machining. In March of 2019, we interviewed Ken Mandile, founder of Swissturn, a successful CNC Swiss machine shop in Oxford, Massachusetts. Ken’s children are not interested in taking over […]

The post Best of Swarfcast Ep. 31 – Ken Mandile, Employees Are Buying His Business first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Today’s podcast is the fourth episode of our season interviewing people involved in CNC Swiss machining. Our guest is Mike Reader, owner and president of Precision Plus, a CNC turning company in Elkhorn, Wisconsin. Mike came into the machining business at 31 years old following a career in the fast paced finance industry. When he […]

The post Ep. 112 Developing a World-Class CNC Turning Company with Mike Reader first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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On today’s podcast we continue our season about Swiss machining. Our guest is Dan Rudolph, co-owner and founder of Rudolph LLC. Rudolph LLC produces medical parts as small as .1 millimeter on Citizen lathes. The company has only three staff members, Dan, his wife, and his father, but Dan says he has no plans to […]

The post Ep. 111 – Producing Tiny Parts on Swiss with Dan Rudolph first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Today’s show is the second episode in our season about Swiss machining. I interviewed Chris Armstrong last week while he was parked at a rest stop somewhere in Texas. He was en route on an all day trip to service a customer’s Citizens. I met Chris and his partner, Ryan Madsen, owners of Texas Swiss, […]

The post Ep. 110 – Citizen Mad Scientist, Chris Armstrong first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Today’s show is the first episode of our new season about Swiss-Type CNC machining. Our guest is Marc Klecka, founder and president of Concentric Corporation, a prominent distributor of Citizen-Cincom CNC Swiss lathes in Cleveland, Ohio. Scroll down to read more and listen to the podcast, or listen with Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts or your favorite […]

The post Ep. 109 – Citizen CNC Swiss Lathes with Marc Klecka first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Our guest on today’s show is Benjamin York. Benjamin’s company, Theory 168, makes a product called Tool Life that collects and analyzes data on machine tools to optimize efficiency in machine shops. Scroll down to read more and listen to the podcast with Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts or your favorite app. Main Points Benjamin talks […]

The post Ep. 108 – Tool Life Optimization with Benjamin York first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Our guest on today’s show is Professor Yossi Sheffi, author of the new book, The New (AB)NORMAL: Reshaping Business and Supply Chain Strategy Beyond Covid-19. In the interview, Sheffi explains how companies and governments around the world have dealt with the supply chain disruption over the past year’s pandemic. He also gives insight on how people […]

The post Ep. 107 – Reshaping the Supply Chain After COVID-19, with Professor Yossi Sheffi first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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On today’s show we’re looking back on the year 2020. Obviously, it was a tough year for the majority of people around the world. Loved ones were taken away, and many businesses couldn’t stay afloat. There were a lot of things that sucked. But there were a few pleasant surprises along the way as well. […]

The post Ep. 106 – The Machining World of 2020, with Noah and Lloyd Graff first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Today’s podcast is the first episode of our new season about companies related to medical manufacturing. Our guests are Jim and Mary Rickert, owners of Prather Ranch in Fall River Mills, California. Prather’s closed herd, in which no female cattle have been introduced since 1975, enables it to sell cow bone and other organic matter […]

The post Ep. 105 – Selling Cow Bone to Medical Manufacturers with Mary and Jim Rickert first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Today’s guest on the podcast is Jim Regenor, founder of Veritx, a company which helps clients dramatically reduce lead times and increases readiness for military and airline customers with blockchain technology. Scroll down to listen to the podcast. With today’s 3-D printing technology parts can be produced on site so clients don’t need to wait […]

The post Best of Swarfcast: Using Blockchain in Manufacturing with Jim Regenor first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Today’s podcast is the final segment of our season about companies who produce their own products. Our guest is Ian Schon, founder of Schon DSGN, a company that makes high quality metallic pens machined on Citizen CNC Swiss lathes. One of Ian’s core philosophies for the production and marketing of his pens is to tell […]

The post Ep. 104 – Machining the Perfect Pen with Ian Schon first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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The post Ep. 103 – Listening to Customers and Selling Hammers with Joel Trusty first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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On today’s episode we continue our season talking about companies who produce their own products. Our guest is George Breiwa, founder of DynaVap, a company that produces a unique type of vaporizer, using Index multi-spindles and CNC Swiss lathes. George says that one of the keys to the company’s success is growing and nurturing a […]

The post Ep. 102 – Growing a Community of Passionate Customers, with George Breiwa first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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On today’s podcast we’re continuing our 5th season, discussing companies that machine their own products. Our guest is Zach Dunham, Director of Marketing at Bantam Tools, a company which builds an 80-pound desktop CNC milling machine that costs under $4,000. This machine is designed for both novice and experienced machinists who want to quickly prototype […]

The post Ep. 101 – Prototyping on a Desktop CNC Mill with Zach Dunham first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Today is a special occasion. It is the 100th episode of Swarfcast A lot has happened in our lives since the podcast began two and half years ago, and today we are going to look back at how the show reflected the world as it evolved. Scroll down to listen to the podcast. Or listen […]

The post Ep. 100 – Looking back on 99 Episodes of Swarfcast first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Today’s Show is part one of a new season in which we’re talking about companies that produce their own products. Our guest is Howard Smith, owner and CEO of Wilson Bohannan, a 160-year-old padlock manufacturer. Scroll down to listen to the podcast. Or listen on your phone with Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts or your favorite app. […]

The post Ep. 99 – Machining a Successful Product for 160 Years, with Howard Smith first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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On this week’s episode of Swarfcast, we’re talking about preventing fires inside of machinery. Our guest is Mike Campo, Midwest Regional Sales Manager with Firetrace International, makers of fire suppression systems and solutions. Fire suppression systems keep businesses, people and equipment safe by automatically detecting and suppressing fires in high-risk equipment, like CNC machines, vehicles […]

The post Ep. 98 – How to Prevent Fires in Your Machine Tools with Mike Campo first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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The post Ep. 97 – Reducing Machine Setup Time up to 50% with Paul Van Metre first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Today, we’re going to do a quick Throwback Thursday to March of this year, to a discussion about going digital with machine data. This week’s podcast is an interview we did with Eric Fogg, co-founder and head of machine connectivity at MachineMetrics. MachineMetrics produces an IOT device that connects directly with machine tool PLCs and […]

The post Best of Swarfcast – Ep. 73 – Tracking Your Machine’s Productivity with Eric Fogg first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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On today’s episode we are discussing the machining industry in Spain. Our guest is Patrick Bosch, Managing Director of Nagamohr, a 150 employee Tier 2 automotive company headquartered in Madrid, Spain. According to Patrick, despite Spain’s reputation as having a relaxed culture, its people are quite serious about manufacturing. Scroll down to listen to the […]

The post Ep. 96 – Precision Machining in Spain with Patrick Bosch first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Our podcast team is taking a short break to enjoy Labor Day weekend with our families. In the meantime, in keeping with the international theme of Season 4, we hope you will listen again to the podcast we did with Graeme Sinclair, owner of Parish Engineering, a machine shop in Melbourne, Australia. Scroll down to […]

The post Best of Swarfcast – Ep. 35 – Graeme Sinclair on Precision Machining in Australia first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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This week we head to Canada, as we continue our season exploring the diverse world of machining around the globe. Our guest is Sander Boelen, founder of Allegiant 3D in Montreal, Canada. Allegiant 3D engineers and produces prototypes for OEMs in the photonics industry around the world; companies making products like lasers, medical instruments and […]

The post Ep. 95 – The Machining Business in Canada with Sander Boelen first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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On today’s show we’re discussing the machining business in South Africa. Our guest is Peter Frow. Peter has been immersed in the machining business and has also been a participant in the social change of South Africa over the last 50 years. While so many of his countrymen emigrated, Peter stayed and has recently started […]

The post Ep. 94 – The Machining World of South Africa with Peter Frow first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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On today’s show we are heading back to Brazil as we continue our season exploring the machining industry around the world. Our guest is Ali Jamil Jomaa, executive director at Samot, one of the most significant automotive parts suppliers in Brazil. Jamil has been at Samot for 32 years and is an authority on the […]

The post Ep. 93 – Tricky Business of Running an Automotive Supplier in Brazil, with CEO Ali Jamil Jomaa first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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On Season 4 of Swarfcast, we’re talking to people involved in the machining industry around the globe. On this week’s show, we visit India. Today’s guest is Mayank Patel, director of Mayank BrassFit in Jamnagar, India. In the interview Mayank tells Noah his company produces Brass fittings primarily for Tribal Manufacturing and Parker Hannifin, both […]

The post Ep. 92 – Machining Brass Fittings in India with Mayank Patel first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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On this week’s episode we’re continuing our tour of the machining world outside the United States. Today’s stop is Brazil, where I’m speaking with Rogerio Salvatico, Industrial Manager at Engemet, a major precision parts supplier for Tier 1 and Tier 2 Automotive in Sao Paolo, Brazil. Scroll down to listen to the podcast. Or listen […]

The post Ep. 91 – Producing Automotive Parts in Brazil with Rogerio Salvatico first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Today’s podcast is the second episode of a season in which we’re talking to folks in the machining world outside of the United States. We’re making a second stop in the UK to talk to Tom Pearce, founder of CIRC Manufacturing in Westbury, England, a small CNC shop specializing in producing flow control products using […]

The post Ep. 90 – Running a CNC Swiss Shop in the UK with Tom Pearce of CIRC Manufacturing first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Today’s podcast is the first episode in a multi-part series in which we’re interviewing people in the machining world outside the United States. Our first stop was England, where we interviewed Joe Reynolds. Joe is Director of MTD, a company with several popular websites based in the UK that market prominent machine tool builders and […]

The post Ep. 89 – Machining in the United Kingdom with Joe Reynolds of MTD first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Today’s guest on the show is Timo Lunceford, general manager of Swiss Productions, a 25,000-square-foot Swiss CNC shop in Ventura, California, that specializes in fluidic medical components. Recently Swiss Productions introduced two 7-axis collaborative robots to work in tandem with two Haas CNC mills. Timo says the robots increase the production on each machine by […]

The post Ep. 88 – Collaborative Robots on Haas Mills with Timo Lunceford first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Today’s guest on the show is Zac Bogart, founder of Productive Robotics. Productive Robotics manufactures a 7-axis collaborative robot called the OB7. Zac says that the OB7 is different from other robots because it can’t be programmed with code, it only works by the operator showing it what to do. Also, by featuring 7 axes […]

The post Ep. 87 – A 7-Axis Collaborative Robot for Non-Programmers, with Zac Bogart first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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On today’s show, we’re talking about manufacturing returning to the United States from overseas. Our guest is Mike Micklewright, Director of the Kaizen Institute. Mike says we may have finally reached a tipping point when manufacturers accept that it makes sense to produce goods again in North America. Scroll down to listen to the podcast. […]

The post Ep. 86 – Work is Coming Back from China, with Mike Micklewright first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Today’s guest on the podcast is Darrell Sutherland, founder and owner of Dylan Aerospace in Auburn, Washington, a Tier 1 supplier for Boeing. Scroll down to listen to the podcast. Or listen on your phone on Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts. Darrell is also a professional mentor. He believes in using the Kaizen manufacturing principles […]

The post Ep. 85 – Kaizen Principles for Personal Growth with Darrell Sutherland first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Our guest on today’s podcast is Tom Scanlan, publisher of Surplus Record, an online and printed marketplace for buying and selling used industrial equipment, founded in 1924 by Tom’s Grandfather. Scroll down to listen to the podcast. Or listen here on Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts. I use Surplus Record along with several other online […]

The post Ep. 84 – Advertising Machinery with Tom Scanlan of Surplus Record first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Today’s guest on the show is Gordon Erickson, founder of KWALYTI Tool in Batavia, Illinois. KWALYTI specializes in tooling up packaging machines, often for food products such as meat and cheese. Since the COVID-19 crisis began, KWALYTI has played an essential role in combating the epidemic. The company has tooled machines to package cotton swabs […]

The post Ep. 83 – Tooling Machines to Fight COVID-19 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Our podcast team is taking a short break this weekend to enjoy time with our families (virtually in some cases). In the meantime, this is one of our favorite episodes from earlier this year. Scroll down to listen to the podcast. In January, we interviewed Rick Miller, owner and co-founder of Elijah Tooling, a company […]

The post Best of Swarfcast Ep. 66 – Creating Products People Use, with Rick Miller first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Today’s guest on the podcast is Marco Schiavoni, owner of Pizza Metro, one of my favorite pizza places in Chicago. Marco has been in the restaurant business for 20 years, and like most business owners he’s seen his share of ups and downs over time. Scroll down to listen to the podcast. I spoke to […]

The post Ep. 82 – Running a Pizza Place During COVID-19 with Marco Schiavoni first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Today’s podcast is the second half of a two part interview with Chris and Brandon Voss, coauthors of the best selling book on business negotiation, Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It. Scroll down to listen to the podcast. Chris Voss used to be an FBI hostage negotiator. When he […]

The post Ep. 81 – Negotiating Like an FBI Agent with Chris and Brandon Voss Part II first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Today’s podcast is part 1 of a two part interview with Chris and Brandon Voss, co-authors of the best selling book on business negotiation, Never Split the Difference, and executives at Black Swan Group, a company offering business negotiation training. Scroll down to listen to the podcast. Never Split the Difference teaches how to approach […]

The post Ep. 80 – Negotiating Like an FBI Agent with Chris and Brandon Voss first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Today’s guest on the podcast is Taber West, founder of Gravity Worx, the manufacturer of a high performance suspension electric bike, called the E160FS. Scroll down to listen to the podcast When Taber was younger he raced bikes professionally, but as he aged and gained weight he no longer could do the type of cycling […]

The post Ep. 79 – Building the Ultimate E-Bike with Taber West first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Our guest on today’s podcast is Ben Cohen, sports writer for the Wall Street Journal and author of the new book, The Hot Hand: The Mystery and Science of Streaks. Scroll down to listen to the podcast. In the book, Ben analyzes many types of hot streaks, from basketball shooting streaks, to investing streaks, even […]

The post Ep. 78 – Is the Hot Hand Real, with Ben Cohen first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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On today’s podcast we interviewed Rick Wheeler, owner of O’Malley Manufacturing in St. Petersburg, Florida, a company originally founded in 1910. Scroll down to listen to the podcast. Over the years O’Malley has had a knack for finding niche products to produce such as the Hair Snare, Lint Snare and Bait Bucket, which are all […]

The post Ep. 77 – Niche Products and Injection Molding with Rick Wheeler first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Today’s guest on the podcast is Gabriele Oettingen, professor of psychology at NYU and author of the book “Rethinking Positive Thinking: the Science of Motivation.” Contrary to conventional wisdom that asserts “positive thinking is always positive,” Oettingen’s studies have shown that people who embrace only positive thinking as a way to reach their dreams are […]

The post Ep. 76 – Focusing on Obstacles with Gabriele Oettingen first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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The post Ep. 75 – Using Blockchain in Manufacturing with Jim Regenor first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Our guest on today’s show is Terry Iverson, co-owner of Iverson and Company and author of a new book called Finding America’s Greatest Champion: Building Prosperity Through Manufacturing, Mentoring and the Awesome Responsibility of Parenting. Scroll down to listen to the podcast Terry and his family have been in the machine tool and production business […]

The post Ep. 74 – Getting Young People Into Manufacturing with Terry Iverson first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Our guest on today’s show is Eric Fogg, co-founder and head of machine connectivity at MachineMetrics. MachineMetrics produces a device that connects directly with machine tool PLCs and controls to track realtime and historical data on equipment. Operators use the data to assess how machines are truly performing, which is often quite different from what […]

The post Ep. 73 – Assessing Your Machine’s Performance with Eric Fogg first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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On today’s podcast we’re delving into a topic that’s been on many people’s minds these days, the coronavirus. Scroll down to listen to the podcast Our guest is automotive supply chain expert Dan Hearsch, Managing Director at AlixPartners. Dan is briefed daily by his associates in China about how people in manufacturing are dealing with […]

The post Ep. 72 – Coronavirus and the Supply Chain with Daniel Hearsch first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Our guest on today’s podcast is David Taylor, owner of Machine Tool Spares, one of the world’s most respected rebuilders of Wickman multi-spindle screw machines. Machine Tool Spares is based in Coventry, England, the birthplace of Wickman machine tools. His company turnkeys Wickmans and sells Wickman spare parts all over the globe. David shared his […]

The post Ep. 71 – Selling Wickman Multi-Spindles with David Taylor of Machine Tool Spares first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Today’s podcast is part two of an interview we did with Michele Tajariol, co-owner and Vice President of TAJMAC-ZPS, one of the world’s most prominent producers of multi-spindle screw machines. In the interview Michele gives his take on the competitive market of European multi-spindle brands. He also shared his experiences selling machines to China and […]

The post Ep. 70 – Machine Tool Building with Michele Tajariol of TAJMAC ZPS, Part 2 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Today’s guest on Swarfcast is Michele Tajariol, an old friend of ours and co-owner of TAJMAC-ZPS, one of the world’s most prominent producers of multi-spindle screw machines. Scroll down to listen to the podcast. In the interview, Michele discussed how his family’s business grew from a used machine tool dealer in Italy into a diversified […]

The post Ep. 69 – Life of a Machine Tool Builder with Michele Tajariol first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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The post Ep. 68 – Starting a Swiss Shop with Dulio Arellano first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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In 2020, I intend to feel less overwhelmed and work smarter, not longer. Today we are featuring one of my favorite podcasts from 2019, “Work Less and Do More, with Ari Meisel.” Scroll down to listen to the podcast with Ari Meisel. Like many people, I get overwhelmed at work. Sometimes I don’t get the […]

The post Best of Swarfcast – Ep. 32 – Work Less and Do More, with Ari Meisel first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Our guest on today’s podcast is Sunny Han, founder and CEO of Fulcrum, a cloud based enterprise resource planning system, or ERP, for small to medium sized manufacturing companies. Besides creating a great ERP, Han says his true aspiration is to create a vast network of manufacturing companies, enabling them to work together seamlessly. Scroll […]

The post Ep. 67 – Connecting Manufacturers Through the Cloud with Sunny Han first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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On today’s podcast we interview Rick Miller, owner and cofounder of Elijah Tooling, a company that sells innovative CNC work holding equipment. Scroll down to listen to the podcast. Rick has a knack for for coming up with unique products and has several patents in the work holding sector. He says that innovative ideas are […]

The post Ep. 66 – Work Holding that Works with Rick Miller first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Happy New Year! As much of the Swarfcast team is on vacation through the holiday season, we’re sharing a few of our favorite podcasts from 2019. This week, we feature an episode we did with Aneesa Muthana, the owner of Pioneer Service Inc., a CNC machine shop located in Addison, IL. The episode originally aired […]

The post Best of Swarfcast Ep. 33 – A Successful Woman in the Machining Business first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Happy Holidays! While much of the Swarfcast team is on vacation through the New Year, we’re sharing a few of our favorite podcasts from 2019. This week, we revisit Episode 39, in which Noah interviews Jay Sauder, owner of Sauder Machine in Plymouth, Ohio. This episode originally aired in May. Noah writes, “One of Sauder’s specialties […]

The post Best of Swarfcast Ep. 39 – Machining Parts for the Amish first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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In today’s podcast Lloyd and Noah Graff reflect on their experiences in the machining world of 2019. What did we see this past year? What did we learn? How did it feel? Scroll down to listen to the podcast Main Points (2:07) Lloyd says when he thinks of 2019 he thinks of his “constant battle […]

The post Ep. 65 – Our Take on the Machining World of 2019 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Today’s podcast is part two of an interview we did with David Wynn, CFO of ABF Engineering and Machining, a third generation screw machine shop in South Fulton, Tennessee. Dave makes a lot of his profits on mechanical screw machines that are older than him, but he emphasizes using advanced technology to automate his business’s […]

The post Ep. 64 – Automating a Machining Business with David Wynn first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Today’s Swarfcast is part one of an interview we did with David Wynn, CFO of ABF Engineering and Machining, a third generation screw machine shop in South Fulton, Tennessee. After earning an MBA, David joined his family’s business 17 years ago. His stated mission is to run a machining business composed of old cam screw […]

The post Ep. 63 – Running a Machine Shop like a Tech Company with David Wynn first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Today’s podcast guest is Travis Erickson of Precision Components of Oxnard, California. Precision Components runs Tornos CNC Swiss lathes, specializing in producing custom mil-spec contacts primarily for the aerospace industry. Travis and his father handle all of the company’s machining and quality duties and employ only three people in their shop. Scroll down to listen […]

The post Ep. 62. Small but Profitable Swiss Shop with Travis Erickson first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Scroll down to listen to the podcast. Today’s podcast centers around a company that provides capacity for machining firms that lack resources to meet clients’ needs. Our guest is Greg Paulsen, Director of Application Engineering for Xometry. Xometry provides manufacturing on demand using an artificially intelligent quoting system and a manufacturing partner network of over […]

The post Ep. 61 – Xometry’s Greg Paulsen on Facilitating a Manufacturing Network first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Scroll down to listen to the podcast. Today’s podcast is part 2 of an interview we did with Alec Mandis, Chief Executive of Accord Precision, the largest machined component manufacturer in New Zealand. Over the years Accord has strived to set itself apart by developing a diverse group of niche products. One example is a […]

The post Ep. 60 – Alec Mandis, Machining in New Zealand Part 2 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Scroll down to listen to the podcast. Today’s podcast is part 1 of a two part interview with Alec Mandis, Chief Executive of Accord Precision, the largest machined component manufacturer in New Zealand. Accord exports precision products around the world, with 30% going to the United States. Alec described to us what it’s like to […]

The post Ep. 59 – Alec Mandis on Machining in New Zealand first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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On today’s podcast we delve into the world of centerless grinding, a vital process in precision machining that some less informed folks label as a dirty, dark art. Our guest is Romas Juodvalkis, founder of Allways Precision, one of the largest Cincinnati centerless grinder rebuilders in the United States. Scroll down to listen to the […]

The post Ep. 58 – Romas Juodvalkis, Centered on Centerless Grinding first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Today’s podcast is about reducing friction in our machining and our lives. Our guest is Jerry Gates, founder of Gates Engineered Lubricants, a company near Houston, Texas, which produces metal working fluids, industrial lubricants, and rust inhibitors for a variety of applications. Scroll down to listen to the podcast. Main points of the interview (3:15) […]

The post Ep. 57 – Jerry Gates on Running Well Oiled Machines first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Today’s podcast is part 2 of an interview we did with Wes Szpondowski, plant manager at Wyandotte industries, a 60-year old screw machine shop in Wyandotte Michigan founded by his grandfather. Wes talks about his aspirations to keep Wyandotte relevant for the next forty years. He also discusses the fatal traps a machining company can […]

The post Ep. 56 – The Screw Machine Guy, Part 2 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Today’s podcast is part 1 of a 2 part interview we did with Wes Szpondowski, plant manager at Wyandotte industries, a 60-year-old screw machine shop in Wyandotte, Michigan, founded by his grandfather. Scroll down to listen to the podcast. Wes gave me the inside scoop of what it takes to run a high production shop […]

The post Ep. 55 – Wes Szpondowski, Screw Machine Guy first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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In today’s podcast we discuss what a person can get for $20,000 per year at a highly regarded technical college. Our guest is E.J. Daigle, Dean of Robotics and Manufacturing at Dunwoody College of Technology in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is also lead faculty member of the school’s top ranked robotic snow plow team. Dunwoody College […]

The post Ep. 54 – E.J. Daigle on Technical Education That Works first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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On today’s podcast we’re talking about bar loaders for multi-spindle screw machines. Our guest is Chris Manning. Chris has been installing and repairing integrated bar loaders around the world for 20 years, primarily Cucchi bar loaders. Integrated loaders, usually those made by Cucchi or IEMCA, replace the traditional stock reels on multi-spindles. Scroll down to […]

The post Ep. 53 – Chris Manning on the Beauty of Bar Loaders first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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On today’s podcast we discuss how to run a profitable high volume machining business. Our guest is Harry Eighmy, co-owner and C.O.O. of American Turned Products (ATP) in Erie, Pennsylvania. Scroll down to listen to the podcast Harry and his brother Scott believe it is important to invest heavily in high-end turning equipment such as […]

The post Ep. 52 – Harry Eighmy of ATP on Running High Volume Work Successfully first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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On today’s podcast I interview Dr. Doug Conroy of Conroy Orthopedic & Sports Physical Therapy. Doug has been treating injured folks for decades, including me as I rehab my left Achilles tendon. Our interview focuses on the negative effects a workplace environment can have on the human body. Scroll down to listen to the podcast […]

The post Ep. 51 – Physical Therapist Doug Conroy on Protecting Your Body at Work first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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For the fiftieth episode of Swarfcast we are playing clips from some of our favorite past podcasts. Scroll Down to Listen to the Podcast Highlights include: (3:06) From episode 1, Lloyd talks about his decision to go into the family machinery business. He also talks about his working relationship with his father and his father’s […]

The post Ep. 50 – Robots, Vaporizers and Transfer Machines first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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On today’s podcast we interview Sebastien Schmitt, North American Robotics Division Manager of Stäubli, a prominent robot producer from Switzerland. Sebastien explains how Stäubli focuses on building robots to help produce smaller automative components for car interiors and parts under the hood rather than assembling large car bodies like some of its competitors. Scroll down […]

The post Ep. 49 – Sebastien Schmitt of Staubli on Robotics in Diverse Fields first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Our guest on today’s Swarfcast is Jonathan Ladouceur, head of engineering at Twente Additive Manufacturing, a company specializing in architectural 3D printing. We met Jonathan last week when his company bought an ABB IRB 6700 track mounted robot from Graff-Pinkert. Rather than 3D printing with plastic or metal, Twente 3D prints with concrete, creating huge […]

The post Ep. 48 – Jonathan Ladouceur on 3D Printing Houses first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Bo Burlingham has spent much of his career writing about the lives of entrepreneurs. I recently interviewed him at his home in the rustic hills of Oakland, California. Scroll Down to Listen to the Podcast We talked about the need to plan for a strong and successful conclusion to a business career, as described in […]

The post Ep. 47 – Bo Burlingham on Successfully Exiting a Business first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Our guest on today’s podcast is Zak Pashak, founder of Detroit Bikes, the largest bike frame manufacturer in the United States. All bikes that the company sells are assembled in Detroit, and its high-end models have frames constructed of high quality American Chromoly steel. Zak lamented to us that he couldn’t find many companies in […]

The post Ep. 46 – Zak Pashak on Building Bikes in Detroit first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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For most people manufacturing and Israel are two topics that are not normally spoken about together. Patrice Zamor, the guest on today’s podcast, lives in both of these worlds. Scroll down to listen to the podcast. Patrice emigrated to Israel from France in the 1970s and has spent much of his career working for Ditron […]

The post Ep. 45 – Patrice Zamor on Manufacturing in Israel first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Today’s podcast is part two of an interview we did with Bruno Schmitter, CEO and COO of Hydromat USA. When Bruno came to America in 1979, his competition was National Acme and New Britain Multi-Spindles. Today he says his competition is mainly CNC Swiss and 5-axis Turning Centers. Bruno argues that having one machine that […]

The post Ep. 44 – Bruno Schmitter on Hydromat vs. Swiss Machining first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Today’s podcast is part one of a two part interview we did with Bruno Schmitter, CEO and COO of Hydromat USA. In 1979 at the age of 25, Bruno came to St. Louis to sell and popularize the previously unknown transfer machine in North America. Bruno told us that at a young age growing up […]

The post Ep. 43 – Bruno Schmitter on Bringing Hydromat to America first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Today’s podcast is part 2 of an interview we did with John Habe IV, President of Metal Seal Precision, a machining company based in Mentor, Ohio. Listen to the podcast on the player below. Over the last several years John has grown Metal Seal Precision both organically and through major acquisitions. According to John, growing […]

The post Ep. 42 – John Habe IV on Valuing a Machining Business first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Today’s podcast is part 1 of a two part interview we did with John Habe IV of Metal Seal Corporation, a machining company based in Mentor, Ohio. Scroll down to listen to the podcast. John and his two brothers own Metal Seal and several other machining companies, along with some granite countertop firms. He told […]

The post Ep. 41 – John Habe IV on Growing a Machining Business through Acquisitions first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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In Throwback Thursday fashion, Lloyd and Noah are out of town this week, so we’re sharing one of our favorite podcasts from the past. Be sure to listen in and weigh in on the new question below. In December, we interviewed John Saunders, founder of Saunders Machine Works and the creator of the NYC CNC YouTube channel. John is […]

The post Best of Swarfcast: The Self-Taught Machinist, With John Saunders of NYC CNC first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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In today’s podcast I was interviewed about a book I am writing which documents a year in which I have met at least one new person every day. I started 364 days ago when I met a guy named Tommy, working the bar at a restaurant in Chicago called the Blue Door Farm Stand. Listen […]

The post Ep. 40 – A New Person Every Day, With Noah Graff first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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On today’s podcast we interviewed Jay Sauder, owner of Sauder Machine in Plymouth, Ohio. One of Sauder’s specialties is making hydraulic wheel cylinders for Amish horse-drawn buggies using sophisticated CNC equipment. Sauder and his 10 employees are all members of the Mennonite church. Earlier in his life, Jay himself drove a horse and buggy, but […]

The post Ep. 39 – Jay Sauder on CNC Machining Parts for the Amish first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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On today’s podcast I spoke with James Persenaire, a district manager at FANUC America Corporation. James gave insight into the strengths and weaknesses of collaborative robots and how Fanuc’s collaborative robots differ from competitors such as Universal Robot. He also addressed misconceptions about traditional robots that they are expensive and dangerous. He emphasized that the […]

The post Ep. 38 – Connecting on Cobots: James Persenaire of FANUC first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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The post Ep. 37 – Finding Purpose in Your Work with Brent Robertson first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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In today’s podcast I interviewed Ben York, an inventor and consultant for machining companies. I met him at the 2019 Precision Machining Technology Show where his company, Theory 168, was presenting his Perfect Zero Alignment system. The system uses a camera installed in a CNC machine to set work coordinates and align and set tooling […]

The post Ep. 36 – Ben York on Taking the Art Out of Machining first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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In today’s podcast we interviewed Graeme Sinclair, owner of Parish Engineering, a prominent precision machining shop in Australia. Graeme has been in the machining business for 60 years, since he served his apprenticeship at age 14. In the interview Graeme discussed the challenges faced by machine shops in Australia verses the rest of the world, […]

The post Ep. 35 – Graeme Sinclair on Precision Machining in Australia first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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On today’s podcast we interviewed Ed Crowley, owner of Crowley Tool Company, a company that specializes in making custom insert form tools and quick change tooling packages for the precision machining industry. Ed explained in detail how his company has developed modular tooling that an operator can change on the fly, which can reduce set […]

The post Ep. 34 – Ed Crowley, Master of Insert Tooling first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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On today’s podcast, we interviewed Aneesa Muthana, owner of Pioneer Service Inc., a CNC machine shop that features 26 Star CNC Swiss lathes. Aneesa shared her fond memories of being raised on the floor of a centerless grinding shop, M&M Quality Grinding, founded by her Yemeni immigrant parents. While other girls were playing with Barbie […]

The post Ep. 33 – Aneesa Muthana, the Success of a Woman in the Machining Business first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Like many people, I get overwhelmed at work. Sometimes I don’t get the work done I want to do, so I stay at the office an hour or two extra. By the time I get home I feel like I don’t have enough free time for relaxation and other activities. Scroll down to listen to […]

The post Ep. 32 – Work Less and Do More, with Ari Meisel first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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On today’s podcast, we interviewed Victor and Betty DaCruz, owners of DaCruz Manufacturing in Bristol, Connecticut. Victor and Betty have transformed their company over the last three decades from a multi-spindle screw machine shop with ACMEs and New Britains into a high-tech CNC turning operation. While other companies complain about not being able to find […]

The post Ep. 30 – Developing a Machining Culture with Victor and Betty DaCruz first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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On today’s podcast, we interviewed Mark Fordyce, Team Leader of the Hydromat Parts & Rebuild department at Component Bar Products in St. Louis. Mark is a Hydromat Maestro. He has been working with rotary transfer machines for over 40 years, first as a self-taught setup man in a job shop, followed by working in the […]

The post Ep. 29 – Mark Fordyce, Hydromat Maestro first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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On today’s podcast, I interviewed Bryan Batten, CEO of Palmetto Precision Machining, located in Anderson, South Carolina. Palmetto Machining is a precision machining/fabrication shop specializing in tooling and automation for the automotive industry. Bryan, who jokingly refers to himself as a mechanical psychologist, discusses the difference between working with automotive companies in different countries, his experience […]

The post Ep. 28 – Bryan Batten, Mechanical Psychologist first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Today’s podcast is Part 2 of our interview with Dave Thuro, second-generation owner of Thuro Metal Products. In this episode, Dave discusses his growth philosophies. He believes in aggressively acquiring as many job opportunities as possible, but then saying no to most of them. The company tries to acquire at least two long term accounts […]

The post Ep. 27 – Dave Thuro on Growing a Machining Business (Part 2) first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Today’s podcast is part one of a two-part interview with Dave Thuro, second-generation owner of Thuro Metal Products, a successful job shop in Long Island, New York. The business produces parts for a variety of industries, including aerospace, fuel injectors, HVAC, bearing and linear and, more recently, optics and lighting. Scroll down to listen to […]

The post Ep. 26 – Dave Thuro on Growing a Machining Business (Part 1) first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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The post Ep. 25 – Brett May on Keeping Cam Screw Machines Relevant first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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On today’s podcast, I interviewed Albert Lettmen, a Lean Six Sigma and Quality Systems consultant and educator who has worked for decades with prominent manufacturing companies around the world. Albert grew up in Jamaica, studied business in Scotland, and then worked for companies in Europe, China, Canada and the United States. I was surprised when […]

The post Ep. 24 – Albert Lettman on Lean Manufacturing Around the Globe first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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In today’s podcast, we reflect on the machining world in 2018 through the lens of what went right and what went wrong for Graff-Pinkert’s used machine tool business and Today’s Machining World. Scroll down to listen to the podcast. One key observation from 2018 is that Graff-Pinkert is becoming more reliant on our extensive knowledge […]

The post Ep. 23 – Reflections on the Machining Business 2018 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Scroll down to listen to the podcast with Federico Veneziano. On today’s podcast we interviewed Federico Veneziano, COO and CFO of American Micro, a 100 person machining company near Cincinnati, Ohio. In the interview Federico compared the various philosophies he has observed in machining companies throughout Europe, China and the United States. Federico grew up […]

The post Ep. 22 – Federico Veneziano on Machining Business Around the World first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Scroll down to listen to the podcast with John Saunders. In today’s podcast we interviewed John Saunders, founder of Saunders Machine Works and the creator of the NYC CNC YouTube channel. John is an innovative entrepreneur who lives and breaths CNC machining. When he was 24 he had an idea to sell an automatically resetting […]

The post Ep. 21 – John Saunders, Entrepreneur and Self-taught Machinist first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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In today’s podcast we interviewed Scott Roy, a Senior Staff Engineer at Google who specializes in artificial intelligence. He also happens to be my brother-in-law (Lloyd’s son-in-law). One of Scott’s most recent projects at Google is to improve the way machines communicate with people in diverse human languages—last week he was working on communicating in […]

The post Ep. 20 – Scott Roy on Machines that will Think Like Humans first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Scroll down to listen to the podcast with Rick Rickerson. Rick Rickerson is in charge of the machining lab at Purdue’s Northwest Indiana campus in Hammond. In today’s podcast he talks about why he loves his job. “It’s all about students” he says. His passion for teaching beams throughout the interview. Rick has been doing […]

The post Ep. 19 – Rick Rickerson on Educating Engineers to Understand Machining first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Scroll down to listen to the podcast with Jerry Levine. In today’s podcast we interviewed Jerry Levine. A chemical engineer, Jerry Levine’s working career stretched from polyester to politics. He led the team at Amoco Chemicals that conquered the production problems in making polyester in the 1960s. Jerry then learned what it was like to live […]

The post Ep. 18 – Jerry Levine on Why Global Warming is Not a Problem first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Scroll down to listen to the podcast with Armand Barnils. In today’s podcast we interviewed Armand Barnils, plant manager of the U.S. division of Ventura Precision Components, a multinational precision machining company headquartered in Barcelona, Spain. Armand grew up on the outskirts of Barcelona and studied Industrial Engineering in Spain. Through a foreign exchange program he […]

The post Ep. 17 – Making it in America with Armand Barnils first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Scroll down to listen to the podcast with Bill Cox. In today’s podcast we interviewed Bill Cox, owner of Cox Manufacturing in San Antonio, Texas, a job shop that makes parts for a variety of industries—oil and energy, medical, and defense to name a few. Bill’s father started the company in 1956 but died when […]

The post Ep. 16 – Bill Cox on the Evolution of a Machining Business first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Scroll down to listen to the podcast with George Breiwa. About two months ago I got a call from a company asking for a price on a Traub TNL18 on our Graff-Pinkert Website. For those unfamiliar, Traub makes arguably the heaviest, most expensive and advanced CNC Swiss machines on the market—the “the Hummer of CNC […]

The post Ep. 15 – George Breiwa on Machining Vaporizers first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Scroll down to listen to the podcast with Scott Livingston. Scott Livingston’s Grandfather Horst, after whom Horst Engineering Company in Connecticut was named, often talked about bicycles with Scott during his childhood. Cycling was part of Horst’s life in Germany before he fled from the Nazis in 1938 and came to America. Horst started his […]

The post Ep. 14 – Scott Livingston on Combining Cycling and Citizens in His Machining Business first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Scroll down to listen to the podcast with Jason Zenger. In today’s podcast I interviewed Jason Zenger, president of Zenger’s Industrial Supply, in Melrose Park, Illinois, a company that specializes in selling tooling and industrial supplies to the metal working industry. Jason also has a popular podcast called “Making Chips,” which he cohosts with Jim […]

The post Swarfcast Ep. 13 – Jason Zenger on “Making Chips” and the Industrial Supplies Business first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Scroll down to listen to the podcast with Logan McGhan. In today’s podcast we interviewed Logan McGhan, a used machine tool dealer at the firm KD Capital. Logan’s journey to selling used equipment spanned numerous stages. At around age 7, his father, who also worked in machining, brought home a complex part from a trade […]

The post Swarfcast Ep. 12 – Logan McGhan on Reinventing a Career in the Machining World first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Scroll down to listen to the podcast with Mike Fair. At the 2018 International Machine Tool Show I recorded a podcast with Mike Fair, Product Manager of Rethink Robotics, a robotics company specializing in collaborative robots for use on the factory floor. What sets Rethink Robots apart from several of the other collaborative robot companies […]

The post Swarfcast Ep. 11 – Mike Fair of Rethink Robotics on Friendly Cobots first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Scroll down to listen to the podcast with John Griner. In today’s Podcast we interviewed John Griner, founder of Griner Engineering in Bloomington, Indiana. John has been cranking out turned parts for the last 40 years, and since the ‘90s his bread and butter has been the legacy Hydromat business. He’s a renaissance man. He […]

The post Swarfcast Ep. 10 – John Griner, Twists and Turns of a Hydromat Shop first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Scroll down to listen to the podcast with Russell Ethridge. Today Brett Kavanaugh is being interrogated in hearings of the Senate Judiciary Committee as he attempts to thread the political needle to become a U.S. Supreme Court Justice. In today’s podcast I interviewed Russell Ethridge, a solo practitioner lawyer in Detroit, who also listens to […]

The post Swarfcast Ep. 9 – Russell Ethridge Small Business Lawyer first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Scroll down to listen to the podcast with Jeff Reinke. In today’s podcast we interviewed Jeff Reinke, Editorial Director of Industrial Equipment News (IEN). He gave his take on several of the fastest emerging trends in the machining business, including electric cars and 3-D printing. Reinke said that right now Elon Musk is suffering the […]

The post Swarfcast Ep. 8 – Electric Cars and 3-D Printing with Jeff Reinke first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Scroll down to listen to the podcast with Dr. Martin Levine. In today’s podcast we interview Dr. Martin Levine D.O. Martin is a third generation Osteopathic physician who worked in a family practice for 30 years, treated Olympic athletes and gave Mike Tyson a pre-fight physical—twice. He also happens to be my first cousin once […]

The post Swarfcast Ep. 7 – Dr. Martin Levine D.O. Talks Health Care in America first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Scroll down to listen to the podcast interview with Robert Levy. In today’s podcast we interviewed Robert Levy, longtime industrial auctioneer and owner of Robert Levy Associates, a firm that consults with companies looking to monetize their industrial assets. Robert joined his family auction business, Norman Levy Associates, in 1980 but only had the opportunity to […]

The post Swarfcast Ep. 6 – The Mind of an Auctioneer with Robert Levy first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Scroll down below the blog to listen to the podcast interview with Esben Østergaard. Today’s Swarfcast is an interview Noah and I recently conducted with Esben Østergaard, founder and chief technology officer of Universal Robots, a Danish firm that sold out in 2015 to automation conglomerate Teradyne for $285 million. Esben started the company on a […]

The post Ep. 5 – Esben Østergaard of Universal Robots first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Listen to the podcast with the player below. In today’s podcast Lloyd Graff and his son Noah delve into their family used machine tool biz… er treasure hunting business. They discuss how Noah came to work at Today’s Machining World and Graff-Pinkert, what it’s like working together and basic alchemy. Question: Would you like being in […]

The post Ep. 4 – Our Family Treasure Hunting Business first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Miles Free, Director of Research and Technology at the Precision Machined Products Association, opines on electric cars, economic patriotism and how American machine shops have evolved to thrive in today’s economy. Question: Are tariffs aimed at China economic patriotism or a tool for the enemy? Listen to Swarfcast in the player below.

The post Ep. 3 – Part 2 of Miles Free Interview first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Listen to Swarfcast in the player below. In Episode #2 of Swarfcast, Today’s Machining World’s podcast, Noah interviewed Miles Free of the PMPA (Precision Machined Products Association). Free is one of the world’s foremost authorities on the steel trade. They discussed how the recently implemented tariffs on raw materials into the United States affect the […]

The post Ep. 2 – Talking Tariffs with Miles Free first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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Listen to Swarfcast in the player below. At long last, Swarfcast, Today’s Machining World’s podcast, is up! Swarfcast centers around similar topics that readers have enjoyed in Today’s Machining World during its first 18 years. Wow, that’s awhile. Each week, Lloyd and Noah Graff will interview colorful people who will give their take on the […]

The post Ep. 1 – TMW Launches Swarfcast first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

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