Manufacturing Transformed: Real Shops, Real Stories

End 2 End Manufacturing didn't start with high-tech machines or enterprise systems. It began as a contract welding shop focused on responsiveness, trust, and doing right by the customer.  As the company grew, adding CNC machining, design, and prototyping capabilities, it became clear that tribal knowledge and whiteboards couldn't sustain the pace. That's where Gioni Bianchini, General Manager, saw...

Shops can lose money quietly due to missed deadlines, rushed shipping, and confusion that no one wants to admit. The real issue is often buried in scattered paper records and knowledge locked in one person's head. It feels normal until survival is at risk. At Serbin Machining, there was no pretending things would improve on their own. New owners saw the chaos immediately and decided to invest in P...

Most shop owners don't realize how much the structure and feel of their shop impact everything, including employee morale, customer trust, and long-term growth. Caught up in production chaos, they overlook the deeper issues holding them back: clunky systems, reactive decision-making, and a culture built on fear rather than trust. Tim Rousseau changed all that. He built Above All CNC to be clean, s...

Most shop owners don't realize it, but the way they lead their team and the systems they use may be quietly holding them back. In this episode, we hear from Perry Kuehn of K Tooling, a shop owner with decades of experience who thought his business was running fine… until it nearly ran off the rails. What followed was a transformation that reshaped his culture, workflow, and client relationships. A...

Some machine shop owners come into the industry late. Adam Verdon was born into it. From shredding paper in the office as a toddler to operating machines as a teenager, Adam grew up at G.V. Industries, the precision machining company his father founded in 1978 after returning from Vietnam. Today, he's not just leading the company, he's reshaping it. With a deep respect for GV's history and a clear...

Plenty of people still picture manufacturing as dark, dirty, and dangerous. That image sticks, even though the real day-to-day inside many shops couldn't look more different. But when perception lags behind reality, it's no wonder few young people see themselves in roles like toolmaker or machinist.  Darryl Gratrix didn't grow up knowing he'd land in the trades. He went the university route first....

Shop owners are so deep in the daily grind that they don't see how outdated systems are quietly setting limits on their business. When processes feel "good enough," it's easy to miss how much time, money, and opportunity are leaking out of a business every day. Ben Dunn didn't come from machining, he came from hospital administration. And that fresh perspective made it impossible for him to ignore...

Running a shop often means wearing every hat and holding every answer. For Andy Reinwald at Ripley Machine, that translated to years of nonstop work, nearly no time off, and the weight of every open order living in his head. It was sustainable until it wasn't. Things came to a head after a rough year in 2016. Revenue was slipping, customer service was lagging, and the company was running on outdat...

Most shop owners don't realize how much stress is baked into their day-to-day. They're running jobs, juggling people, chasing parts—and slowly getting used to the constant pressure. For Phil Gurecki, it was normal to be the only one who knew where everything was, how it worked, and what came next. Until it wasn't. As Accurate Machine grew, so did the complexity. Assemblies got tougher. Tooling got...

Most machine shops are filled with skilled workers, powerful machines, and a relentless drive to get parts out the door. But behind the scenes, inefficiencies can quietly eat away at profitability, morale, and even long-term survival. Many shops rely on outdated systems, fragmented information, and tribal knowledge that vanishes when key employees leave. The result? Missed deadlines, costly mistak...

Most job shops turn to ERP systems expecting more efficiency but end up with more headaches, more spreadsheets, and more frustration. Most ERPs weren't built for job shops—high-mix, low-volume work, constant scheduling changes, and the need for real-time visibility. Instead of fixing the chaos, they add layers of complexity, leaving shops struggling to keep up. Traditional ERP systems were designe...

Most manufacturers don't realize just how much inefficiency is baked into their daily operations—until they start pulling back the layers. That was the case for Johnny Goode, President of MSP Manufacturing, who stepped into the family business in 2020 and immediately saw opportunities for change.  Paper-based processes, siloed systems, and hidden inefficiencies were costing the shop time, money, a...

In this episode of Manufacturing Transformed, I sit down with Ron Wallace, the owner of Ace Machining, a leading job shop located in Nova Scotia, Canada. Ron shares the remarkable story of how he went from starting his business with just a few machines to now overseeing a thriving operation with advanced equipment like Swiss lathes, waterjets, and five-axis mills. Ron's journey has been filled wit...

Zimmer Design & Manufacturing, an ITAR-registered AS9100 Contract Manufacturing machine shop in Austin, TX, has experienced remarkable growth—70% since its launch in 2020.  Founder Adam Zimmer started the company in his garage, crafting cigar stands and ashtrays as a hobby with a manual lathe and mill. A pivotal moment came when he purchased equipment and customers from a friend closing his shop,...

In this episode of  Manufacturing Transformed, Brannon McKinney, General Manager at Faircloth Machine Shop, shares the incredible evolution of a small repair shop into an AS9100-certified leader in aerospace manufacturing.  When Brannon joined Faircloth 16 years ago, fresh out of community college, the shop had just eight employees and relied on conventional machines and a homemade ERP system. Tod...

This third-generation precision machining business is thriving and growing thanks to a well-executed vision, a focus on culture, and the adoption of the best technology, like ProShop ERP. The transformation that CARR Machine has seen in the past five years has been nothing short of remarkable.  Jim and Ryan are aligned in the vision of the company, they use their core values to drive the hiring, f...

In this episode, we sit down with John Zmuda, President of Moseys Production Machinists, to uncover how his team revolutionized their operations by ditching outdated manual processes. From the frustrations of late-night spreadsheet marathons to unlocking double-digit growth, John shares the transformative impact of adopting modern ERP and QMS software. Learn how transitioning to a machine shop ERP...

17. Manufacturing Transformed This Man's Life with Daniel Anglemyer from Hibshman Screw Machine Daniel went to work on a hog farm at the age of 12 for $5/hr. With family members in jail for drugs, great job options weren't plentiful. But after getting a job at a machine shop, and eventually landing at Hibshman Screw Machine Products, Daniel has flourished, meeting his wife, buying a home, moving i...

16. 4x Growth In 4 Years with Kevin Richards from JJR Fabrication Kevin and Bryan Richards took a chance opportunity to build a few parts for another business and realized the potential to have a viable business. Today they have a rapidly growing precision machining and fabrication company selling high-value aerospace assemblies. Their success can be traced to amazing leadership, but also a dedica...

15. Building a Company with ProShop as the Foundation with Nick Preece from PMA Nick Preece has a deep passion for machining which he stumbled up on while watching YouTube videos of machining while he was an engineering student. After deciding to buy a machine to make parts as a hobby, he realized he needed to earn some revenue just to pay for his hobby. 6 years later, he has a thriving AS9100 cer...

14. A One Man Machining Army with CJ Abraham from PPD CJ is a humble and extraordinarily capable guy. He can keep a CNC machine running literally 24/7 for 6 weeks straight without a minute of downtime. But he spins self deprecating jokes about not running a legitimate business. That's one of the most endearing qualities about CJ. In this really interesting conversation CJ shares why he bought ProS...

13. You're Never Too Small for an ERP with Tom Rougeux from RX Industries Tom is the owner of RX Industries, a precision machining company serving high-end markets from Hilton Head Island SC. In his previous job, he had been an implementer of SAP for more than 5 years, so he had the battle scars to prove that he knew what he did and didn't want from the ERP system he'd use for the company he had j...

12. How to Cut Metal More Often, Solo Episode with Paul Van Metre There are a lot of roadblocks to cutting metal as much as we'd all want to in our shops.  From not having the right material on hand, to setups that take WAY too long.  In this solo episode, Paul talks about a question he was asked about how ProShop can actually help increase the value-added time of cutting chips. When companies can...

11. Building a Business Worthy of Passing to Your Children with Chad Vanderbeek from Hibshman Screw Machine Products Chad Vanderbeek knew that the company they were running was not one he would be happy to hand off to his children if they were to take over the business one day. Things were too chaotic, information was not readily enough accessible to make the best decisions, and he felt that the c...

10. A New Breed of Precision Machining Businesses with Sean and James Cerven from Cerven Solutions James and Sean Cerven were both a bit bored during Covid and decided to buy an inexpensive CNC machine for fun, having never run one before, and mostly seeing them on YouTube videos.  Fast forward just a few years and they have a thriving business with high-end CNC machining equipment specializing in...