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Today's Machining World
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Noah Graff, used machine tool dealer and editor of Today’s Machining World, interviews machining company owners, equipment gurus, and experts with insight to help and entertain people working in the machining field. We discuss topics such as how to find quality employees, customer acquisition, negotiation, and the best CNC equipment options for specific jobs.

  1. 4D AGO

    Your AI Life Coach Is Lying to You, with Brooks Canavesi–EP 262

    Today’s AI conversation is about vulnerability—not automation, efficiency, and replacing jobs. Brooks Canavesi, co-founder of Baryons, is taking AI somewhere different. He’s not trying to replace the human. He’s trying to make the human better. I’ve actually been using ChatGPT to supplement my own life coach for a while now, so when I learned what Baryons is building, I had to find out more. The company calls it a Flourishing Partner. It’s an AI platform that checks in with you on your phone, holds you accountable, and actually pushes back when you need it. The goal? Help people flourish. Listen on your favorite podcast app using pod.link.     .   View the podcast at the bottom of this post or on our YouTube Channel. Follow us on Social and never miss an update! Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/swarfcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/swarfcast/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/todays-machining-world Twitter: https://twitter.com/tmwswarfblog ************* Link to Graff-Pinkert’s Acquisitions and Sales promotion! Brooks has been in technology for a long time. His team built systems for DARPA, the Department of Defense, Mary Kay Cosmetics, and AccuWeather before landing in the AI space. They were working in machine learning before most people knew what it was. But Brooks is honest about the fact that ChatGPT was a reset for everyone, including them. What he and his team decided to do with that moment is what makes this conversation interesting. While the big frontier labs like OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic raced toward general intelligence, Brooks wanted to build something more specific. Something more human-focused. “We wanted to focus on increasing human agency. Not taking jobs away, but working with humans to improve their overall abilities.” Baryons’ product is voice-based. You call in, talk to your AI Mentor for a few minutes, set your intention for the day, and check back in at the end of your shift. It listens. It remembers. And unlike most AI tools, it’s designed to challenge you, not just tell you what you want to hear. That last part matters more than it sounds. Brooks explained that a lot of therapists are seeing clients come in with damage done by AI tools in between sessions. LLMs such as ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini can be sycophantic. They agree too easily. They reinforce patterns instead of breaking them. Baryons is built to interrupt that. For businesses, the product goes even deeper. When you have a whole team using it, Baryons anonymizes the signals and surfaces patterns for leadership. If eight out of ten people on the manufacturing floor are mentioning the same supply chain problem, management hears about it without anyone being called out. It’s a way to give employees a voice and give leadership information they’d never otherwise get, especially in a remote or distributed workforce. Brooks told me that people who use Baryons regularly start to change in ways others can notice, including him. “I hear from people I haven’t seen in six months. They say ‘something’s different about you. And it’s a good thing.’” I pushed Brooks to explain what separates Baryons from how I’m using ChatGPT Plus, which has persistent memory built in and could read my voice inflection (though I haven’t used that setting yet). He said there are overlaps, but it’s different when you call Baryons on the phone to check in because the exchange feels even more like talking to a person. The sycophancy is also a huge difference. I asked him to explain why Baryons is different. He said it comes down to what they call the Understanding Engine. It’s a patented technology that analyzes how you speak, the words you use, your tone, and up to 26 dimensions of how you think. It’s designed to build a picture of you the way a person would, organically through conversation, and use that to respond in the way that actually serves you. It doesn’t just reply in a way that feels good in the moment. I like to think I want to be challenged, but I confess that when ChatGPT asks me sensitive questions like a mentor might, sometimes it can really cut. I’ve lashed out at it, saying “you don’t understand me!” I’ll type swear words at it. Sometimes it really doesn’t get me. But unfortunately it’s also right sometimes about things I don’t want to hear (in my case, read on a screen). I am slightly nervous about how it will feel. But I’m going to try Baryons. The image of myself interacting in an oral conversation with an AI agent on my phone makes me uncomfortable. I think before long it’s going to sort of feel like I’m talking to a real person. Thinking about this makes me feel ummmm…what’s another word for uncomfortable. I guess I’ll ask Claude for a suggestion. From Claude: For that last word — you’re describing the feeling of unexpected intimacy with a machine. A few options: Vulnerable — probably the most honest and resonant Exposed — similar but slightly more raw Uneasy — softer, more ambiguous Strange — simple, unpretentious, very you I’d go with vulnerable. It’s honest, it fits the personal development theme of the whole piece, and it’ll resonate with readers who feel the same way about the idea. Question: Could you ever see yourself working with an AI Mentor?

    1h 21m

  2. MAR 17

    So You Want To Be More Confident?–EP 261

    The most interesting things I’ve ever done — the best conversations, the best podcasts, the best calls — they all required me to be confident enough to move forward, when the results were far from certain. Today I’m going to tell you something I just learned that can get that confidence up when you need it most. (Blog continues below video) Listen on your favorite podcast app using pod.link.     .   View the podcast at the bottom of this post or on our YouTube Channel. Follow us on Social and never miss an update! Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/swarfcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/swarfcast/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/todays-machining-world Twitter: https://twitter.com/tmwswarfblog ************* Link to Graff-Pinkert’s Acquisitions and Sales promotion! I’ve been selling used machine tools for 15 years in my family’s 80-year-old business. I still get anxious when strangers ask me what I do. Most people don’t know what a machine tool is, let alone a screw machine. Honestly, there are probably moments where I feel insecure about working with my dad. Several years ago, I started using what I call serendipity hooks when I introduce myself — loading my intro with enough different things that something will connect. I’ll say: “I sell used machine tools, but I also host a podcast, and I’m building a YouTube channel about serendipity, which doesn’t leave me much time, because I’ve also got a 4-year-old son who’s amazing.” Something in that list usually lands. But even with that trick, it really bothers me that the first thing on the list, selling machinery, the way I pay my mortgage, my family’s legacy, still doesn’t always come out confidently. And I think a lot of you know this feeling. Maybe you work in a machine shop and other people don’t get it right away when you tell them you’re a setup person or a machinist. You consider yourself a confident person. But that one simple question, “what do you do?” still trips you up. Two weeks ago at the Precision Machined Products Association Management Update conference, the first speaker is a guy named Ryan Avery. His talk is supposed to be about leadership, a topic I know is a weakness of mine, so I’m intrigued, if also a little daunted. Ryan grabs everyone from the get-go. He comes off the stage, walks right into the audience, and tells us we’re going to do an exercise about confidence and he needs a volunteer. I figure, if there’s ever a moment to work on my confidence, this is it. I raise my hand. Suddenly I’m up on stage. The exercise is simple. Ryan asks me to introduce myself to the audience twice. First while stepping backwards. Then while stepping forwards. Now, the PMPA conference is probably the easiest room in the world for me to do this. These are my people. But I want to make it a real test, so I decide to include the serendipity channel in my intro, something many of them might find strange, but hopefully intriguing. First try, stepping back: “Hi, I’m Noah Graff, I sell used machine tools, I host a podcast, and something about serendipity…” The words are fine. The delivery is so so. I know I can do better. Second try, I step forward. “My name is Noah. I sell used machine tools. And I’m passionate about serendipity.” They’re the same words, more or less. But stepping forward flips something in my brain. There’s actually research behind this. Psychologists call it embodied cognition. When you physically move toward something, it activates what they call an “approach mindset.” Your body tells your brain: we’re going in and you can do it. It reminds me of learning to play tennis. Stepping into the ball, not hitting off your back foot–It doesn’t just work mechanically. I think about my favorite shot, 2-handed backhand down the line, moving into the ball with authority. It just feels perfect. The rest of the conference, people keep coming up to me. Other attendees, even some of the other presenters wanting to talk. We end up having some good conversations about AI tools, hiring, all kinds of things. Of course, I still have many flashes of insecurity throughout the weekend. That night I go salsa dancing in Charlotte. There are some decent dancers, but nothing I haven’t seen before. I’ve been dancing even longer than I’ve been selling machines. I’ve shaken it all over the world while doing business. Tokyo, Krakow, Rio, Grand Rapids. I’m confident and it’s an adventure. With dancing it’s hard to know how things are going to go. The experience of dancing with one person can give me such a high. It can be so fun. Then I dance with the next person, who looked like they would be a good dancer, but they give me bad vibes. They don’t smile, we’re not in sync, I start worrying that they’re bored. I can’t wait for that song to end. It’s the same that night in Charlotte as it was in Barcelona and Berlin and Bangkok. But the uncertainty is worth it–dancing with someone new, calling a customer you don’t know, sharing a new idea with a room full of people. You step forward anyway. Because certainty and confidence are not the same thing. Question: Does it ever make you anxious when someone asks what you do for a living? Why?

    7 min

  3. MAR 3

    He Bought the Shop He Worked For, Federico Veneziano (Part II)-EP 260

    Federico Veneziano didn’t just buy the machine shop he worked for — he became the sole owner of a 70-year-old company and then changed its name, culture, and direction. When Federico bought American Micro three years ago, there were over 25 shareholders. Now there’s one. The company had 86 employees. Now it’s 130. And the name? Gone. It’s BoldX Industries now. This is part two of our interview. In part one, we covered his journey from Italy to DMG to American Micro to ownership. This episode is about Federico’s rebirth. His vision. A culture shift. Products with purpose, like handcuffs that can’t be picked and ladders that save lives. Expansion plans. A book trilogy. A new baby. What can I say? Federico is bold. Listen on your favorite podcast app using pod.link.     .   View the podcast at the bottom of this post or on our YouTube Channel. Follow us on Social and never miss an update! Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/swarfcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/swarfcast/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/todays-machining-world Twitter: https://twitter.com/tmwswarfblog ************* Link to Graff-Pinkert’s Acquisitions and Sales promotion! Interview Highlights 25 Owners to One Federico says he always knew he wanted to own a company. His grandfather ran a logistics company. His father was an architect with his own firm. He grew up around entrepreneurs. American Micro was founded in 1957. By the time Federico bought it, the founder’s six children had become over 25 shareholders across multiple generations. Only four or five were active in the business. No succession plan. In 2023, after several attempts to purchase the company over the years, Federico finally bought full ownership of American Micro. Then he changed the name. Why rename a company with nearly 70 years of history? Federico wanted a fresh start. He wanted something that represented who he is. Handcuffs and Ladders Federico grew up loving machining. But today, he’s moving toward value-added products that BoldX designs and builds from start to finish. One example is handcuffs. The current design used by law enforcement is over 100 years old. It can be shimmed or picked. BoldX owns a new design that eliminates those vulnerabilities. Another product the company produces is a smart ladder for commercial construction, designed to reduce accidents so workers go home to their families. Federico says these products have changed the culture at BoldX. They give employees purpose beyond a paycheck. They’re building things that matter. Integration Over Work/Life Balance Honestly, I get overwhelmed just talking to Federico about all the things he’s up to. He’s running a 130-person company, writing books, starting a publishing company, expanding to multiple states, had a new baby 16 months ago, which he called the happiest moment of his life. But when we talked, he seemed calm about it. Lately I’ve been reading about essentialism, the idea that you have to make hard choices to focus on fewer things that matter most in your life. It seems like Federico continues to add opportunities to his plate because he sees so many interesting ones, which he believes can fit together into an ecosystem. He says he doesn’t believe in separating work and life into silos. The idea is that if his family shares the vision, if the team is aligned, it all moves together. I admire Federico’s incredible ambition and achievements, but I’m awed by his passion for life he exudes.

    1h 3m

  4. FEB 17

    Learning, Teaching, Owning, with Federico Veneziano-EP 259

    At 12, he was cutting metal in northern Italy. By 21, he was teaching DMG’s own technicians how to use their machines. At 47, he owns the whole company he first walked into just to set up a machine. Federico Veneziano is the owner of BoldX Industries and an old friend of mine. His story requires two episodes. This is part one: the serendipity, the winding path through shops and countries and setbacks. Part two, we will get into what he’s building now. But first, this is how he got here. Listen on your favorite podcast app using pod.link.     .   View the podcast at the bottom of this post or on our YouTube Channel. Follow us on Social and never miss an update! Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/swarfcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/swarfcast/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/todays-machining-world Twitter: https://twitter.com/tmwswarfblog ************* Link to Graff-Pinkert’s Acquisitions and Sales promotion! Interview Highlights Teaching the Experts Federico grew up about 60 miles northwest of Milan in a small town called Omegna. He started working in a machine shop at 12 years old. By his early twenties, he had developed deep expertise on Siemens controls, particularly the 840D. When DMG sent technicians to train him on a new machine, they were still new on the control themselves. He ended up helping them. That information got back to DMG headquarters, and they offered him a job. He traveled the world servicing CNC machines. Eventually he proposed an ambitious plan: working three years in the U.S., two years in Germany, three years in China. They agreed. He arrived in the US on August 4, 2004. His English wasn’t great, nobody had booked him a hotel, and he didn’t have a credit card. The first day was rough but he figured it out. The Job That Changed Everything One of Federico’s first projects was at American Micro in Batavia, Ohio. The company had been founded in 1957 by a Swiss immigrant. He spent a year there setting up a GMC 35, then Gildemeister’s CNC multi-spindle, for a fuel connector job that required gun drilling on a multi-spindle. It had never been done before. The project required developing new spindles and tooling just to make the part work. During that year, he built relationships with the team. When things went wrong with DMG around Christmas 2005, he walked away. He had no plan. It was ten days before the holiday. Then American Micro called. He joined as a process engineer and spent the next two decades working through every department: quality, supply chain, sales, engineering. He became close with the owners, particularly René, one of the founding family’s sons. He bought in as a minority owner, eventually reaching about 14%. He kept that ownership quiet for years. Most people at the company didn’t even know. From Rock Bottom to Owner Then everything hit at once. René passed away. Federico’s father passed within a couple of months. Personal problems piled on. By his own words, it was rock bottom. American Micro was second-generation family owned with no clear succession plan. Federico had tried to buy the company twice before. This time, he decided it was now or never. How does someone go from 14% to sole owner of a company doing $20-25 million in revenue? Federico says it was an amicable transaction where he leveraged multiple things he’d built over the years. He doesn’t go into every detail. But somehow the deal got done. In part two, we’ll get into what he’s building now. BoldX Industries has 125 employees, and Federico says they’re forecasting significant growth. He’s also got a book trilogy coming out. But that’s the next chapter. This one is about how he got here. Question: What twist of fate brought you to your current career?

    51 min

  5. FEB 2

    Making Engineers Love Manufacturing, With Andrew Schiller-EP 258

    What happens when a mechanical engineering instructor actually comes from industry—not academia? My guest on today’s podcast is Andrew Schiller from Utah Tech, who spent six years at Caterpillar and GE, and studied theology at seminary, before landing in the classroom. He’s teaching students to think like business owners—understanding costs, not just making parts. But more than that, his students aren’t just learning to push buttons, they’re falling in love with creating things that actually matter. ************* Listen on your favorite podcast app using pod.link.     .   View the podcast at the bottom of this post or on our YouTube Channel. Follow us on Social and never miss an update! Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/swarfcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/swarfcast/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/todays-machining-world Twitter: https://twitter.com/tmwswarfblog ************* Link to Graff-Pinkert’s Acquisitions and Sales promotion! ************* Interview Highlights Andrew’s Story Andrew’s path to teaching wasn’t planned. He grew up around his dad’s model-making shop in Chicago, spending countless hours around mills and lathes. “He’s a professional model maker and has a shop,” Andrew told me, describing how that hands-on foundation shaped his interest in making things. After studying mechanical engineering at Valparaiso University, he spent six years at Caterpillar managing technical relationships with suppliers making starters and alternators. He visited manufacturing facilities, did failure analysis, and worked with product groups across the company. Then life took an unexpected turn. “We went to Louisville, Kentucky. I started studying for a master’s degree in theology and worldview,” Andrew explained. While studying Greek and theology at seminary, he worked at GE Appliances on their FirstBuild team, designing products like the Forge Clear Ice Maker. He was juggling full-time graduate studies, 20-25 hours of work, and renovating a house. It was a pace that proved unsustainable with a young family. The path to teaching at Utah Tech happened through pure serendipity. “I literally typed in engineering jobs in St. George, Utah,” Andrew said about a random search while planning a Zion National Park vacation. “The very first thing that came up was the description of the job that I do now.”   What He Teaches His modern machining course teaches students to understand manufacturing from a business perspective. “We’re going to teach about machining processes, not as a craft project that you could do in your garage, but as if you were running a business with a bunch of people and had to make money with a very expensive asset that’s a machine.” “I really realized there is a huge need in the industry for a different kind of education about machining. It’s not a crash course for machinists. It’s a science and business course for engineers.” The program operates on a shoestring budget. Andrew has $160 per student for the entire semester. But that constraint hasn’t stopped him from creating something unique. Students learn hands-on machining while thinking strategically about the business implications of their decisions. “I love having new conversations with people in the industry. It’s how I learn. It’s how I keep our curriculum relevant,” Andrew said. He stays connected to real manufacturing needs by constantly talking with industry professionals. His Purpose Andrew discovered something companies have been telling him consistently: “We need people who they’re not just bodies, but they’re passionate about this industry.” Traditional engineering programs weren’t addressing this gap. His goal goes beyond teaching technical skills. As Andrew puts it, he’s passionate about machining and thinks “it’s cool,” but what really drives him is inspiring that same enthusiasm in students. The companies he talks with are “very excited” about what Utah Tech is doing differently. At 35, with three kids and working 60-65 hours a week, Andrew has found his calling in bridging the gap between academic theory and manufacturing reality. He’s not just producing more engineers. He’s creating people who genuinely care about the industry and understand what it takes to succeed in it. Question: Who was one of your best teachers? Why?

    51 min

  6. JAN 28

    Is 2025 the End of Cam Screw Machines? EP 257 (Reupload)

    Is an Acme-Gridley the mink coat of machine tools? A well made product that still does a great job, but nobody wants another one. In 2025? No. Not yet. On today’s podcast, Lloyd and I talk about our used machinery business over the last year. We saw one customer drop 20 million for five INDEXs to replace every cam screw machine in their shop. At the same time we sold machines to a multinational automotive supplier who is buying hundreds of Davenport screw machines—many older than me—I’m 45 by the way. ************* Listen on your favorite podcast app using pod.link.     .   View the podcast at the bottom of this post or on our YouTube Channel. Follow us on Social and never miss an update! Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/swarfcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/swarfcast/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/todays-machining-world Twitter: https://twitter.com/tmwswarfblog ************* Link to Graff-Pinkert’s Acquisitions and Sales promotion! ************* Interview Highlights The Mink Coat Discovery This Thanksgiving, while going through my mother’s closet, my dad found her 40-year-old mink coat in perfect condition. Once worth $10,000, ChatGPT now values it at maybe $250 to a dealer. The discovery sparked an uncomfortable comparison to the cam screw machines in our stock. “Of course, mink means Acmes to me because Acmes helped pay for the mink,” Lloyd reflects. “These are very functional, valuable machines that were running good parts where we bought them and we feel they have value, however… we have to doubt ourselves.” He poses the question that haunts our business: “Let’s say it is 1-5/8” RB-8 Acme. How much money could somebody potentially make on that machine over the course of one year?” He figures $25,000 to $50,000, maybe more with the right job. “We would sell that machine in that price range. Yet we find no buyers. From an economic standpoint, to me that makes no sense.” A Brutal Year The machinery dealing business has been tough this year. While many of our customers’ businesses remained steady, indecision paralyzed buying decisions—particularly around tariffs. “One of the polls I did on LinkedIn asked if indecision because of tariffs caused them to not buy equipment this year.” Fifty percent said that was one reason why they had not bought equipment. And I will never forget this year’s deal from hell. ”We bought a machine in Germany, sold it to a company in the United States, and then BOOM—tariff. We went from an amazing deal to… I’m amazed we didn’t lose money.” I hate tariffs for a lot of reasons. This one was extra personal. The $20 Million Paradox The market presents striking contradictions. One of our customers recently got rid of 30 cam screw machines, selling them for “$2,000, $3,000, $4,000, $5,000 a piece,” then spent over $3 million each on INDEX CNC multi-spindles—$20 million total to replace their entire shop floor. “I was shocked,” Lloyd admits. “The question was, are they that much better than a 1” Acme?” I explain the economics: “They make an entirely different kind of part. They make a part that you could make a dollar from where you make 10 cents from an Acme part. Or they’re making $10 on that part, and on the Acme, they were making a quarter.” The new machines can handle medical parts, complex geometries—the kinds of high-margin work that justifies the investment. The Davenport Bet Meanwhile, another customer is betting the opposite way, buying hundreds of Davenports for facilities in Mexico and China. Today’s Davenports have a similar design to their original one from 115 years ago. The company is buying so many they’ve ordered Davenport’s entire production capacity for new machines while simultaneously buying used ones. Good ones, bad ones, anything they can find to rebuild. “There are many uses for small parts as bushings or as inserts or pins,” Lloyd explains. “And if you’re catering to a world market… they’re saying to themselves, we want to tremendously expand our capacity because we believe there is a market there and people have abandoned this market.” The China Question Lloyd sees a broader pattern: “The Chinese appear to be able to make good product, not maybe the quality of product being made in the United States or in Europe, but close to it at a fraction of the price.” He worries about Chinese companies producing chips “90 to 95% as good” as NVIDIA’s but selling for 30% less. “They’re able to make an electric car now in China and sell it in the Chinese market for under $10,000, and they’re selling them now in Germany for as low as $16,000.” “In my mind, we’re in a war with China—an economic war.” Gratitude We end where we began—with gratitude. “I get the privilege of working with you,” Lloyd tells me. And I tell him that I have a gratitude list every day in the morning, and he’s on it. Readers, listeners out there—In an industry facing profound disruption, all I can say is adapt, keep picking up the phone and stay grateful. Even if you’re selling machines that might be the mink coats of manufacturing. Question: What machines did you purchase or get rid of in 2025?

    49 min

  7. JAN 28

    The Turnaround Formula, with Neil Lansing-EP 256 (Reupload)

    Today I’m talking to a guy who believes every company needs to be built to last—not just to flip. Neil Lansing is a turnaround specialist who left private equity to bet his own money on small, underperforming businesses. He’s taken companies from 18 employees to over 400. From $2 million to $40-50 million in revenue. And when everyone else was laying people off in 2008, he told his refrigeration company’s team: “We need more clients.” After transforming mom-and-pop service companies one after another, he found his final stop, Piedmont Machine & Manufacturing. At 67, he’s not looking for the next flip. He’s building something that will outlast him. ************* Listen on your favorite podcast app using pod.link.     .   View the podcast at the bottom of this post or on our YouTube Channel. Follow us on Social and never miss an update! Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/swarfcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/swarfcast/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/todays-machining-world Twitter: https://twitter.com/tmwswarfblog ************* Link to Graff-Pinkert’s Acquisitions and Sales promotion! ************* Interview Highlights The Journey from Satellites to Shop Floors Neil started as a satellite engineer at Hughes Aircraft, became a CFO of a publicly traded pharmaceutical company, then worked in private equity doing turnarounds and startups. But eventually he walked away from working with other people’s money to bet his own cash on small businesses. It wasn’t an easy mental shift. As he told me: “I remember the first time I did something. I was sitting there and I remember, now I’m not in corporate America, I’m not in these nice New York digs… I’m in some place where it’s like, my God, what did I get myself into?” But then he told himself: “Quit crying, figure it out, make it work.” The Five-Person Rule One of Neil’s key insights is his management structure. Nobody has more than five direct reports. Not supervisors, not managers, not even Neil as owner. This tight span of control is how he grew his refrigeration company from 10-18 people to over 400 in six years while maintaining quality and accountability. “Everyone has to do what we’re supposed to do,” he explains. “If we all do what we’re supposed to do and take the accountability of what we’re supposed to do, then it can work.” Growing When Others Retreat The 2008 financial crisis tested every business owner, but Neil’s response was counterintuitive. While the country was laying off 700,000 people a month, he gathered his top 10 guys and said: “We’ve just got to get more clients.” By Christmas, they were bringing in all new work. Then their existing clients–Target, Publix, Costco – suddenly needed massive expansions. Neil went from laying off 40-50 people to desperately hiring them back plus another 40-50 more. Why Manufacturing, Why Now After several successful turnarounds, Neil decided manufacturing would be his next chapter. He bought Piedmont Machine in Concord, North Carolina, seeing opportunity where others saw decline. The company does Swiss machining for smaller diameter work and can handle parts up to 30 inches in diameter—from roller bearing components for landing gear to automated door systems. He envisions growing his company to 80-100 employees, consolidating into a new 60-75,000 square foot facility, and implementing comprehensive training programs. The Grinder’s Legacy Neil calls himself a “grinder” – someone focused on day-to-day execution rather than just deal-making. His philosophy centers on personal responsibility: “If I don’t do what I’m supposed to do, then I can’t pay these people. And if I can’t pay these people, that means that we did it wrong.” What drives someone to keep grinding at 67? Neil says it’s about legacy, not money. “Everything I’ve done, it still works. It still runs. If I do something and it goes under or it stops being in existence, then I feel like that’s not a good legacy. That means I didn’t do it right.” Neil doesn’t know how to run a machine and doesn’t want to. He knows how to run a business with clear strategy, deep understanding of people, and balls, and he’s still betting big because that’s what real builders do.

    1h 6m

  8. JAN 21

    Running a CNC Swiss Medical Shop, with Shawn Gaskin

    Our guest on the podcast today is Shawn Gaskin, owner of Swiss Technologies of New England and Stone Medical in Plainville, Massachusetts. Shawn started Swiss Technologies over 20 years ago, with one L20 Citizen making parts out of sterling silver for Tiffany and Company. Over the years, his company has grown into a diversified shop, doing a significant amount of medical work. If you want to learn about the medical Swiss components business I recommend you check out this interview. Scroll down to read more and listen to the podcast. Or listen on your phone with Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite app.     Follow us on Social and never miss an update! Facebook: https://lnkd.in/dB_nzFzt Instagram: https://lnkd.in/dcxjzVyw Twitter: https://lnkd.in/dDyT-c9h Main Points After high school, Shawn worked for a friend of his dad’s who owned a jewelry factory. The company purchased a Citizen L20 Type V Swiss lathe to make parts out of sterling silver for Tiffany and Company, which went into items like key rings, pill boxes and whistles. Shawn characterizes machining sterling silver as across between machining aluminum and titanium. It produces chips like aluminum and the has the abrasiveness of titanium.  The jewelry company rented space for the Citizen in a nearby machine shop, where Shawn was tasked with learning to run it. After several years, Shawn’s boss gave him the opportunity to find more work for the Citizen, giving him a 15% commission on what he brought in. Eventually, Shawn started his own company, borrowing $40,000 from his parents and $80,000 from his former boss, who he then supplied parts for. He built Swiss Technologies starting with the original 1997 Citizen he had learned on.  Eventually, the jewelry job slowed down, so he was forced to find new work. He caught a huge break getting a job running parts that went into ATM machines. In a single purchase order, Swiss Technologies went from doing $450,000 in sales to $2.4 million. Unfortunately 60% of the company’s business came from one customer. In 2015, when the ATM machines got a new design, the work went to China, taking away 35% the company’s revenue. Shawn knew he needed to diversify, so he increased Swiss Technologies’ sales and marketing and obtained ISO 9001 certification, which increased the company’s customer opportunities. In 2018, the company obtained ISO 13485 certification for medical work. Shawn characterizes this big move into medical as an overhauling of the business. Medical Swiss Parts Business Swiss Technologies got its first medical job when a shop nearby had an overflow of work. Shawn says he realized medical work was a good place to be when he went from jobbing machines at $50-$60 per hour to $125-$150 per hour.  Shawn says Medical work is generally categorized as external or internal. External medical work signifies making parts for medical devices such as IV pumps or syringes, while internal medical work refers to implantables, parts that are put into the body, such as bone screws.  He says external medical work is lucrative, but internal medical work is generally more lucrative. Doing internal medical work requires significant investment, such as purchasing liability insurance. As a company doing $3.5 million in revenue with 17 employees, Shawn says he pays around $25,000 per year for insurance, and there are only four or five companies who offer the insurance.  Often medical customers want suppliers to have all of their processes in-house, such as anodizing, passivating, deburring, and laser marking. Swiss Technologies and Shawn’s other company Stone Medical don’t offer all of those services, which adds to the challenge of competing in the medical parts arena. Advice for companies wanting to get into Swiss Machining Shawn says “bigger is not always better” for a Swiss machining company. He thinks a company can be successful with three or four employees and four to six machines. He encourages ambitious people to not be afraid to start with one machine making parts in the garage because there is a lot of work out there for companies who have low overhead.  For companies trying to break into medical work, he recommends trying to get Tier 2 work to begin with. Shawn says if he could go back and time and do things differently at his business he would have trained his people better. When he was making high volume parts for ATM machines, the shop’s machines needed few change-overs, so his people didn’t develop their skills setting up new jobs. He says today he has the best crew the company has ever had. He makes a point of training his people to think independently by giving them time to struggle with problems in shop, even if it means machines are down sometimes. Shawn says he usually gets on the shop floor two and half to three hours a day. He says it’s good to show his employees he is with them in the trenches, to help them solve problems and for him to understand what is going on in the shop. But more than that, he is on the shop floor because of his passion for Swiss machining. He loves the equipment and the processes. He needs to get his hands covered in oil like he did when he started on his first L20, which is still in use today.  Question: What are your favorite type of parts to make?

    39 min
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4.8
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36 Ratings

About

Noah Graff, used machine tool dealer and editor of Today’s Machining World, interviews machining company owners, equipment gurus, and experts with insight to help and entertain people working in the machining field. We discuss topics such as how to find quality employees, customer acquisition, negotiation, and the best CNC equipment options for specific jobs.

Information

  • Creator
    Today's Machining World
  • Years Active
    2018 - 2026
  • Episodes
    268
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Show Website
    Swarfcast

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