Swarfcast

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. All bikes that the company sells are assembled in Detroit, and its high-end mod...

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 Aneesa Muthana, co-owner and president of Pioneer Service Inc....

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. So, for our current season about how machining companies find good employees, I knew I needed to interview...

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 for products to be sent by land or sea. All that need...

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 Aerospace in Auburn, Washington, a Tier 1 supplier for Boei...

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 employees, so he needs to get the most out...

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%. Scroll do...

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 he guides readers on how they can create luck, recognize it when it appears...

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 our season about companies who produce their own products. Our guest is Ian Schon...

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 to pinpoint the exact partners who fit their needs....

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 listening. Today’s podcast centers around a company that provi...

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 team nor a social media presence, yet it has a diversified...

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 says one of the keys to Wyandotte’s success i...

Disclaimer: Many employees face incredible pressure from a variety of angles, often juggling their work and personal responsibilities. It’s no wonder many feel the high levels of stress and low energy that indicate burnout. Unfortunately, many people don’t have the bandwidth to even begin to navigate it. To that end, HelpGuide.org created this resource, Burnout Prevention and Treatment , that cove...

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 emotional trauma that comes along with being dam...

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 can be financially rewarding but does n...

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.” Scroll down to read more and listen to the podcast, or...

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 which eliminate secondary...

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 jobs the company has on its s...

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 Swissturn when he eventually retires, so fiv...

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...

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 app. Main Points Marc talks about his comp...

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 about his company, Theory 168. He says the company focuses o...

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 can prepare for the next time the world’s supply...

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. People adapted, they embraced limitations, and even found new opportunities for success. Scroll do...