Swarfcast

Today’s episode is Part II of our interview with Roger Duffy, owner of F&F Machine Products . In Part I we touched on Roger’s natural entrepreneurial instinct and how he loves to push himself to get out of his comfort zone. In this episode, we’re delving further into Roger’s business adventures and philosophies.   He believes in a theory he calls the “Goldfish Bowl Syndrome,” which he observed...

How many times has something happened to you that really sucked but then eventually turned out to be a good thing or even a great thing that happened for you?   Today, I’m going to tell you a story about when a big machinery deal went to hell and then how its failure led to an amazing turn of events—a way better result than if things had gone the way they were supposed to go . You know. Serendipit...

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 challe...

At Graff-Pinkert , I’ve sold a lot of machine tools to successful entrepreneurs, including my guest on today’s show, Roger Duffy, owner of F&F Machine Products . But, just a few people like him really have stood out for their outward ballsiness in business. Roger says he loves being an entrepreneur because it allows him to take risks, to dive into the unknown, whether that means trying entirel...

“I can’t hire a cam multi-spindle operator who knows what they’re doing! I’m throwing out my multi-spindles and going all CNC.” “These old Acmes , Wickmans, or New Britains pay for themselves every three months. They’ve left a wide open field for me!” Selling screw machines for our used machine tool business, Graff-Pinkert, we hear both stories every week. It is the story o...

As the housing market has slowed recently in our current economy, alternative types of construction such as 3D printing with concrete have become more and more relevant. It brought me back to a classic podcast episode we did a while back. The technology has advanced since we recorded this episode in 2019, but still you will be wowed. ******** Our guest on today’s Swarfcast is Jonathan Ladouceur, h...

Happy New Year everybody! On today’s podcast, Lloyd Graff and I reflect on the ups and downs of machining world in 2023 and give our thoughts about what we might see 2024. As you would expect, we discuss a number of topics in addition to precision machining, such as the US’s unpredictable economy, anti-semitism, and my intention to bite off more than I think I can chew and then figure out ho...

We originally published this episode in 2019. It was a better time in Israel’s history, before the country was savagely provoked to go to war to protect its existance. Israel is a country full of industry and world class innovative companies, such as the manufacturing company Ditron Precision. This interview contains insight on how Israel is so important to the world’s metal working in...

Today I’m debuting a new episode series under the Swarfcast umbrella that I’m going to put out every so often. From April 19, 2018, until April, 19, 2019, I spent an entire year meeting at least one stranger every day and documented everyone I met. Some days I met 10 people, other days I was lucky to have a short conversation with one person. After a few months, I decided I would write about the e...

Have you considered whether your business is salable? My guest on today's podcast says only a small fraction of companies have built an organization and leadership structure that makes them attractive to buyers. Damon Pistulka is founder of Exit Your Way, a firm that helps businesses sell their companies. What’s unique about Exit Your Way is that before it tries to sell a business, it helps the bu...

Last week, Lloyd Graff wrote a blog called “What Brings Me to Work,” which we think will speak to a lot of you out there, people who work in a family business, and people of retirement age who keep working—not because they have to, but because they get to.  Maybe you’ve read the blog already, but even if you have, we think you will enjoy hearing it in podcast form, being read by the man who wrote...

The last year and a half, I’ve been a rookie family man. I’m trying to balance selling sexy-ugly iron, podcasting, and being a good dad and husband. I’m a distractible person with mild ADHD. I like to have fun, get out of the house, and I sometimes have trouble pulling myself away from the TV.   Four years ago, I read the book, The Art of Less Doing: One Entrepreneur’s Formula for a Beautiful Life...

Today’s guest on the show is Paul Huber, CEO of COMEX, in Monroe Connecticut. Paul is a machinery dealer specializing in cam Swiss automatics. That’s cam Swiss, not CNC. I’m talking about Bechlers, Stroms and Escomatics , not Citizens. Paul is 84, but proudly says feels like he is 60 as he raises his 17-year-old son. He has been working on screw machines for over 67 years, starting as an apprentic...

In college, one of my favorite elective classes was bowling—I took it twice. Maybe you poo poo the idea of taking bowling at an expensive institution like the University of Wisconsin, but that was the class where I learned about the powerful science of “ pin action .” To the bowling novices out there, do you ever wonder why the good bowlers throw those huge curve balls down the lane, rather than j...

How do you know what to charge for your product? How do you negotiate with customers and leave the least money on the table? And not just for one transaction but for the long run? On today’s episode, Part II of our interview with Jay Jacobs, we discuss strategies that you can use the next time you ask yourself, “What should I charge for my manufactured parts?” Jay’s former company, RAPID Man...

As Graff-Pinkert has gotten more into consulting machining businesses who want to sell their companies, we are constantly learning new things about what determines the value of machining firms.   Wednesday, I flew home after visiting a client we are helping sell its Swiss machining operation. On the plane, I thought back to a favorite episode of Swarfcast in which we interviewed John Habe IV, who...

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 customers were 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 by a publicly traded company for a price he couldn’t refuse, RAPID was manufacturing over 30,000...

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 mac...

I love this classic episode because it emphasizes how having fun with your product (or service) and feeling free to experiment with it can lead to success and happiness. 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...

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 was tired of it, so I finally created a new ad. For people who are listening to this show for the first time, I’m a used machine tool dealer with a family business called Graff-Pinkert. We specialize in selling equipment for the precisi...

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 needed in his machine shop. He found out about Graff-Pinkert from listening to Swarfcast, which I’m proud to sa...

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...

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 company’s success has been talking to customers ab...

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 to overcome, including acquiring a Cyber Security Maturity Model Certifi...

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 to the US until the seller allowed it to get wet when he put it outside in a rainst...