Machine Shop Mastery

50. From Tragedy to Rebirth with Ashley Parent of Mills Machine Works When Greg Mills was diagnosed with cancer, he had only a few months to live. His children, Ashley, John and Megan decided they wanted to carry on the family legacy that their dad and mom had started. So they jumped into learning as much about the business as they could, with the precious few weeks that their father had left. Fro...

 49. Origins, Growth, and Lessons from a $60M Machining Company Matt Wardle is the president and owner of JD Machine, a three generation family-run precision machining business in Ogden Utah with over 200 employees and doing $60M in revenue. Originally founded by his father, and now with Matt's kids coming up in the business, JD Machine has realized huge success by focusing on their 4 key systems,...

48. From Office Admin to Shop Owner with Allison Giddens of Win-Tech Allison is the co-owner of Win-Tech in Kennesaw, Georgia. As an early 20-something, Allison took a leap of faith, and a 30% pay cut to work at her neighbor's machine shop, with the hope that someday it would lead to something great.  Fast forward 17 years later, and she owns and runs the shop with her co-owner! It's an inspiring...

47. Big Vision = Big Success in the Space Industry with Nathan Bourgeois from Oroborous Space & Defense Nathan Bourgeois is the founder and owner of Oroborous Space & Defense. Nate has an incredible story of success, founded from an audacious goal of building the best hardware that goes into space. That goal has driven him and propelled his company into a high-growth and profitable position, servi...

46. Defense Industry Success with Derek Kowalski from LOC Industries Derek Kowalski was the second employee of LOC Industries when he was hired at the age of 19. He's now the VP and co-owner of the shop that specializes in complex manufactured assemblies for the defense industry. Derek shares his story, which parallels the growth of LOC which focused on doing work directly for the DLA and the gove...

45. Process & Team for the Win with Mike Brown from Computer Integrated Machining Mike Brown is the CEO of Computer Integrated Machining in San Diego and Tempe. They specialize in complex, multi-axis part and assemblies for the aerospace and defense industry - especially from hard metals. Mike shares his journey, lessons learned, and his approach to growing a thriving, profitable business that sup...

44. Standardizing a Shop to Huge Success with Robert Smith from Smith & Company Robert Smith is the Founder and CEO of Smith and Company,  a new machine shop founded out of the principles and best practices that Robert learned over 30+ years growing the family-run machine shop, Smith's Machine, his father started in the 70s. They found huge success by building robust standardization and processes...

43. Growing and Improving a CNC Shop with Humility with Nate Ankrom from Genuine Machine Products Nate has been the President of Genuine Machine Products for the past 4 years.  Genuine is a defense and aerospace shop working for high-end discerning primes.  Nate shares his story of rolling up his sleeves and working alongside the team to improve processes, culture, continuous improvement, CMMC rea...

42. Making Precision Moves in Building a Highly Successful Machine Shop with Michael Tamasi from AccuRounds Michael Tamasi is the President and CEO of AccuRounds, a thriving 2nd generation machine shop in Avon MA.  Michael is a trained engineer and MBA and is a passionate advocate for the machining industry, the power of continuous improvement, industry associations (his first NTMA meeting was at...

41. Inspiring Business Growth and Building Success: A Conversation with Eric Hagopian from Pilot Precision Products Paul sits down with Eric Hagopian. His fascinating story starts with his grandfather's company Hoppe Technologies, which Eric eventually took over. Overtime, he sold that business and is now the CEO of Pilot Precision Products - the world's largest supplier of industrial cutting tool...

40. A Scientific Study of How to Run a Precision Machine Shop with Tom Nathan from Total Precision My guest today is Tom Nathan, a former science teacher who ended up getting involved in the precision machining industry, and becoming the Managing Director of Total Precision.  As my first international guest, Tom shares some great wisdom about his approach to learning the industry and being scienti...

39. Caring Your Way to Success with Kody Guidry from Coastal Machine & Supply Kody Guidry is one of the driving forces behind the success of Coastal Machine & Supply in Carencro Louisiana. Their remarkable success comes down first and foremost to a deep and authentic caring of the employees that has been instilled in their culture from the earliest days by Keith, and Kevin, two of the original fou...

38. Sharing My Own Thoughts on Shop Growth with Paul Van Metre from Pro CNC In this episode I interview myself, and share thoughts about the growth and story of Pro CNC - the machine shop I co-founded and owned for 17 years, as well as some of the themes and answers from my past guests.  I hope you find value in this episode and let me know if you'd like me to share more of my journey.  Comment or...

37. A Formula for Nearly Guaranteed Success in a Machine Shop with Matt Boucher from Machineosaurus Manufacturing Company Matt Boucher is the CEO of Machineosaurus Manufacturing Company - "Creating Precision with a Playful Roar". He gave up a very successful career as the CEO of large manufacturing companies and decided to move his family across the country and buy a small machine shop. Matt bring...

36. Achieving Excellence in a Precision Machining Business with Hernan Ricaurte from Ricaurte Precision Ricaurte Precision is a technology-driven, 2nd generation precision machining business that serves many high-tech industries with high-complexity machined parts with highly automated machines, including multi-pallet 5-axis machining centers.  Hernan didn't originally have an interest in taking o...

35. Steep Learning Curve of a Successful Machine Shop with Dave Capkovitz from C&K Tool Dave Capkovitz is a serial entrepreneur who at a very young age owned several businesses. When he had a life-changing event and sold all but C&K Tool, he began a journey of learning to be a great leader and business owner, while balancing his life and family priorities.  Dave tells the fascinating story of the...

34. Methodically Building an Enduring Machine Shop with Dwain Dyer from Concise Manufacturing Dwain Dyer is the Owner of Concise Manufacturing Inc. which specializes in unattended 5-axis machining of high-complexity, feature-rich parts. Dwain blew me away with his thoughtful and intentional approach to how he's building an "enduring organization", which has many facets to it, from the technology t...

33. Betting on Yourself and Starting a Bootstrapped Machine Shop with Lori Robertson from Cutting Edge Metals Lori Robertson is the Co-Founder and President of Cutting Edge Metals.  With 30+ years in the manufacturing industry as an employee, Lori finally decided to bet on herself and start a machine shop almost exactly a year ago.  She goes into quite a bit of detail about what she did to launch...

32. Digging Deep on Facility Builds and Shop Mergers with Eric and John from KMM Group In our first repeat guest episode, Eric and John from KMM group (Episode 22) go deep on the planning and execution of the building and planning of their new facility and the physical merging of 3 different facilities into one. They share how they've been approaching this huge move with their team to aleviate the...

31. The Power of Intentional Planning with Angie Holt from Rathburn Tool & Manufacturing Angie Holt is the president of Rathburn Tool & Manufacturing.  Rathburn is a 40-year-old 2nd generation precision machine shop in Indiana that serves the automotive, medical, safety, industrial and other markets.  Since Angie took the helm from the 1st generation, she and her sisters have made huge strides in...

30. A True American Dream Machine Shop Success Story with Heidi & Bob Devroy from Prosper-Tech Prosper-Tech was founded by Bob and Heidi Devroy after Bob lost his job at a large tool and die shop.  With 4 small kids, they dug into savings and started Prosper-Tech out of their garage. Many years later they have a thriving contract machine shop business serving commercial space, aerospace, defense,...

29. Launching a Machine Shop with Zero Experience with Nick Preece from Preece Machining and Assembly Nick Preece launched his machine shop, Preece Machining & Assembly (PMA) with no industry experience at all. He had gotten bitten by the machine shop bug by watching YouTube videos about machining and knew that was his path.  At the age of 22, he bought a small machine, rented a tiny space, and st...

28. How to Delegate Yourself Out of a Job with David Hannah from G-Zero David bought a 2-person shop in 2007, and has grown it for the past 16 years. As he made the difficult moves to grow his shop over the years, he always kept an eye on growth and the systems and roles it would take to achieve that growth. When Dave decided not to sell his shop to a 3rd party, he created a 5 year plan to have an...

27. Growing 4 Manufacturing Brands at Once with Sue Nordman from Obsidian Manufacturing Sue is the CEO of Obsidian Manufacturing and presides over 4 brands, the oldest of which has over 100 years of history!  Sue shares how this 3rd generation family business has been able to grow these diverse brands for many years by focusing on marketing, people, culture, values, and much more. It was a great c...

26. Lessons from Growing and Selling a Large Machine Shop with Mike Heath from RemainSafe Mike Heath got bit by the machining bug as a teenager. After learning some hard-learned lessons in shop ownership as a young man, Mike started a shop called Micor and grew it from nothing to over $14M in revenue before eventually selling it. Mike has a very thoughtful and introspective way of looking at being...