Machine Shop Mastery

25. Building a Model for Lifelong Upskilling of Manufacturing Workers with Bill Berrien from Pindel Global Precision Bill Berrien is a former Navy Seal, Six Sigma Black Belt, and CEO of 3 companies including Pindel Global Precision. He bought the company in 2012 when it was already 65 years old and has shaped it into a highly successful, and widely diversified machine shop today. They focus very h...

24. Demystifying the Buying and Selling of Machine Shops with Mike Payne from Hill Manufacturing Mike Payne of Hill Manufacturing has been involved with buying, selling, or managing over 130 companies. He has bought 5 machine shops in the past 5 years. So he has a wealth of knowledge to share about what makes a business more valuable, what sellers are looking for, and how to make sure a deal gets...

23. The Birth, Growth, and Exit story of an 8-Figure Revenue Machine Shop with Kelsey Heikoop from Pro CNC This is a special episode for me, as I got to sit down and interview my best friend and Co-Founder of Pro CNC, Kelsey Heikoop. I've worked with Kelsey for 30 years, 17 years of which were starting and growing Pro CNC. Kelsey and I talk about tons of different topics of how we started, grew, a...

22. Vision and Values-Based Leadership with Eric and John from KMM Group KMM Group is a truly world-class machine shop near Philadelphia that specializes in doing high-precision and complex work for discerning customers. KMM is a merger of 3 companies that were owned by John and Eric. With over 100 employees, they serve the who's who of OEM manufacturers across many industries.  Eric and John shar...

21. The Winning Formula of Strategic Planning and Generosity with Anne Duyck from Duyck Machine Duyck Machine was started by Andy Duyck in 1981 when he was just 22 years old. It's grown over the years to be a modern, technology and culture-driven company of 35 people. Anne is one of the next generation of leaders in the business and shares the remarkable story of their growth. She shares about the...

20. Using Automation to Drive Success in a Machine Shop with Jerry Mullins from Western Precision Products Jerry Mullins is co-owner of Western Precision Products, a very successful 2nd generation machine shop near Portland OR.  They have leaned heavily into automated machining processes to serve the aerospace, defense and commercial space industries. With an impressive amount of revenue per emplo...

19. Building a World-Class Shop with Brad Keselowski from Keselowski Advanced Manufacturing Brad Keselowski is a championship-winning NASCAR Driver, Team Co-Owner, and in his spare time, he runs a fast-growing and successful machine shop that specializes in metal additive manufacturing combined with finish subtractive machining processes. They've seen explosive growth in the past 4 years of being...

18. A Machine Shop Turnaround Story, Solving People and Technical Problems with Fred Stipkovitz from UltraTech Aerospace When Fred Stipkovitz was hired as the president of UltraTech Aerospace, they were looking at steep losses and had a toxic culture.  In less than 1 year Fred and the team turned the place around to profitability and improved the culture significantly.  They also risked it all by...

17. Riches in the Niches for a Machine Shop with Ted Toth from Rosenberger North America Ted Toth ran a 4th generation machine shop until they sold it to a German conglomerate. 10 years later, Ted is still loving what he does as a technical advisor. The secret to their family's business was getting really good at a very specific niche, which made their company valuable to acquire.  Ted shares the...

16. Rapidly Growing a Machine Shop with Mitch Free from ZYCI Mitch is a machinist turned entrepreneur with an amazing story to tell. He started his career as a machinist in the 80s and eventually went on to found MFG.com , FastRadius.com , and most recently ZYCI.com which serves the aerospace, space, defense, and industries among others.  Mitch has had a unique perspective having visited hundreds...

15. A Masterclass In Machine Shop Ownership with Aneesa Muthana from Pioneer Service Aneesa is the CEO of Pioneer Services and has been working in manufacturing since the age of 11. In this interview, Aneesa shares the secrets of her success in growing a highly successful CNC machine shop.  We learn about some of the major hurtles she's overcome including losing 90% of their clients in 6 months an...

14. Growing a Thriving Machine Shop Based on Honesty with Bob Mosey from Moseys Production Machinists Bob is a second-generation shop owner, and over the past 47 years has led the shop to great success, with a focus on honesty, family values, and a lot of hard work. Bob shares the importance of core values, constantly focusing on new business development, the importance of industry associations, a...

13. Growing a Machine shop to over $100M with Roger Atkins from NTMA Roger is the current President of the NTMA where he supports the machining industry with his work.  But Roger has deep shop experience and has helped to lead and grow several shops, including one to over $100M in revenue. Learn some of his thoughts and ideas on growing a very large machine shop. About NTMA: The NTMA is a membersh...

12. Inspiring a New Generation of Female (and Male) Machinists with Melissa Ramos fromf M95 Machining Melissa is the owner of M95 Machining. She's a 27 year old dynamo who's proving that anyone can be a machine shop owner. Her strategies for using social media to market her company, while also showing that this industry is inclusive and for anyone is inspiring and insightful for shops of any size....

11. Optimizing the Rate of Learning in a Machine Shop with Ken Frankel from Three Sigma Manufacturing Ken Frankel leads Three Sigma Manufacturing with a passion for learning, improving and studying what's possible, both from a technical perspective, but also an intellectual perspective. A trained engineer, Ken brings a deep expertise and understanding of engineering principles as well as a philoso...

10. Investing In Kids in Manufacturing and Leading with Humility with Matt Guse from MRS Machining Matt is an incredibly down to earth, humble and solid business leader who's grown MRS Machining to a leader in the machining industry. He's deeply invested in being an advocate for getting kids excited about the machining industry and shares lots of actionable strategies for doing that well. Listen t...

09. Going All-In on Community Engagement and Workforce Development - A Master Class with Kristin Carlson from Peerless Precision Kristin Carlson is the President of Peerless Precision in Westfield MA.  Peerless makes very high tolerance and intricate parts for many industries. Kristin personifies an outgoing, passionate and driven manufacturing leader by getting involved in other organizations, bo...

08. Relentless Documentation of SOPs, Paying Yourself First, and Other Advice for Shop Owners with James Marzilli from Marzilli Machine Co. In this episode, James Marzilli shares his journey from trade school, becoming a tool and die maker, and eventually starting his shop in 2011 when his grandmother co-signed on a loan for him. Jamie has a great story and an infectious passion for the trade and...

07. Embedding with Clients and Investing in Relationships with Alan Hartmann from Hartmann's Inc. Hartmann's Inc is a large machine shop with facilities in Texas and Florida.  They are a 3rd generation family run shop that is broadly diversified across many industries and ship product all around the world that support medical, automotive, aerospace, and others. Alan shares how they partner deeply...

06. Building a Strong and Flexible Machine Shop with Travis Moore from Jemco Inc Jemco Inc is a 40 year old AS9100 certified machine shop in the Seattle Area that is broadly diversified across many high-tech industries. About Jemco Inc: The Pacific Northwest Aerospace Alliance 2024 Company of the Year recipients, JEMCO is a precision machining and sheet metal fabrication company serving the aerosp...

05. Lessons in Buying and Growing a Machine Shop with Justin Quinn from Focused on Machining Justin Quinn bought a machine shop several years ago and has grown it significantly by focusing on modernizing equipment, embracing digital transformation, investing in marketing and sales, embracing industry groups, and ensuring that their core values are in alignment with their employees and their client...

04. The Power of Investing in People - Lessons from Jamie Spitzer with Precision Machine Jamie's story is a remarkable one. From the investment of love and support he received from family and friends when he was first starting his shop, to the sizable investment he puts back in his team today to ensure that Precision Machine is an amazing place to work, Jamie's story is a fascinating one to learn...

03. How Culture & Getting Uncomfortable Drives Growth with Jim Carr from Carr Machine Carr Machine is a 50 year old company in Chicago that is broadly diversified and serves many industries including Aerospace, Medical and Defense. They have a strong focus on culture, core values and providing a First Class experience for their clients which is a formula that is working well for them as they have...

02. 3 Generations of Client Focused Relationships with John, Jesse and Susan from Precision Shapes Founded in 1941 - Located in Titusville, FL Precision Shapes Specializes in High Quality Precision Machining for the Aerospace, Commercial and Defense Industries. They are AS9100:D and ISO 9001:2015 certified. In today's episode we talk about their origins, how they carved out their niche in long bar...

01. Process is King! Serving Clients Through Process Improvements with Scott Shortess from Advanced Plastics & Machining ADVANCED has been in business since 1979 by Steve Shortess and has been run for the past many years by his son Scott Shortess who is the guest on this episode. They specialize in machining complex parts for the aerospace, defense, oil & gas and other industries. They are a techn...