Swarfcast

Nobody knows how the current tragic war in Ukraine will play out, but I hope that those listening to the second half of our interview with Dr. Andrew R. Thomas will get a little bit of new insight into how the conflict fits into the world’s energy economy. Andrew is an author and business professor at University of Akron. In 2018, he published a book called American Shale Energy and the Glob...

Today’s podcast is Part 1 of a two part series discussing the current state of the global energy supply and how it ultimately relates to the war in Ukraine. Our guest is Dr. Andrew R. Thomas, author and business professor at University of Akron. He has published 25 books, most of them at the intersection of global strategy, business development, security and energy. In 2018 he published a book cal...

Our guest on the show today is my friend Miles Free, Director of Industry Affairs at the Precision Machined Products Association (PMPA). Miles was actually the first featured guest on this podcast four years ago, and we are very thankful to have him back for episode 149. He is definitely one of the most passionate people I know about the machining world. It was a great conversation in which we cov...

Our guest on the podcast today is Jim Gosselin, owner and President of Genevieve Swiss Industries . Genevieve Swiss sells innovative accessories specifically for Swiss CNC lathes, such as live tooling and cutting tools, to combat the problems small parts manufacturers constantly deal with. Scroll down to read more and listen to the podcast. Or listen on your phone with G oogle Podcasts ,   Ap...

Our guest on today’s podcast is Lauren Dunford, CEO and cofounder of Guidewheel . Guidewheel produces a sensor that clips onto a machine tool’s power supply to collect data while it runs. The data helps manufacturers understand what processes on the shop floor need to be improved and guides them toward solutions. Scroll down to read more and listen to the podcast. Or listen on your phone with G oo...

Have you ever asked yourself what your purpose is when you go to work in the morning? Sometimes I wonder if I’m spending enough time making an important impact on the world, or if I’m too wrapped up in the mechanics of making deals on machine tools. In this week’s podcast we interviewed Brent Robertson of Fathom . Brent is a business philosopher and consultant. His mission is help people discover...

Our guest on today’s podcast is Dr. Andrew R. Thomas, best selling author and Associate Professor of Marketing and International business at the University of Akron. Thomas says today reshoring is finally happening. After decades of sending manufacturing work to China, Western companies are finally realizing this strategy is often not the answer for generating better profits. Scroll down to read m...

As the end of 2021 approaches, Lloyd and I spent this podcast reflecting on the last year. Though the pandemic continued for a second lap, a lot of companies in the machining business enjoyed a tremendous rebound. Thankfully for us, our used machinery business, Graff-Pinkert, did really well too, which we needed after a miserable 2020. If you find time to listen to this episode, we hope you will e...

Pasta machines operate a lot like cam screw machines, Antonio Adiletta told me when I interviewed him for this week’s podcast. Antonio is co-owner of Arcobaleno and GAM Precision in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. After growing up in Italy, Antonio moved to Canada and then eventually emigrated to the United States with his wife and business partner, Maja. He has manufactured, sold, and serviced fresh pas...

On today’s podcast I spoke to Achim Bauer, one of the most knowledgeable people I know about Tornos DECO CNC Swiss machines. His company, Bauer & Licht Industrietechnik OHG , in Pforzheim, Germany, is one of the only companies in the world that specializes specifically in rebuilding Tornos DECOs. Recently, I had the privilege to pick his brain about the nuances of the powerful sliding headstoc...

On today’s podcast we’re telling the life story of F.C. Phillips in Stoughton, Massachusetts, a fourth-generation machining company that lived from 1911 until January of 2020. Our guest is Brian Snow, former co-owner of the company and a grandson of its founder, F.C. Phillips. I spoke to Brian about what enabled his company to last for over a century and what ultimately led it to shut its doors. I...

Today’s guest on the podcast is Jon Perin, owner and President of Perin Industries, a young CNC machining company in Webster City, Iowa. Jon, started Perin Industries in 2018, after a 12-year career as a hospital administrator. Like many entrepreneurs, Jon has had to face some daunting challenges. Starting out, he aggressively bought new state of the art CNC equipment to make parts for the medical...

Today’s podcast is the second half of our conversation about Graff-Pinkert’s business in 2021. I particularly liked this part of the conversation because we dug deeper into our approaches to selling machinery, talking to people, and one of our favorite subjects—how to find serendipity. Scroll down to read more and listen to the podcast. Or listen on your phone with Google Podcasts ,   Apple Podcas...

For today’s podcast, I decided it was a good time for us to reflect on our used machinery business so far in 2021. It’s been an interesting and profitable nine months for Graff-Pinkert, so we had plenty to talk about—enough to stretch it into a double episode. Also, I was having trouble finding a new guest I wanted to interview.  Scroll down to read more and listen to the podcast. Or listen on you...

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...