Is 2025 the End of Cam Screw Machines? EP 257
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

The Senator Who Came Back
John Fetterman, Senator from Pennsylvania, is 6’8”, bald, wears a Carhartt hoodie and long shorts around the Capitol. He looks like a beaten-up wrestler from

Rare Earths Aren’t Rare, with Julie Klinger-Ep. 254
“Rare earths aren’t actually rare, nor are they earths,” Julie Klinger told me. Julie is an associate professor at UW Madison and literally wrote the

Shippers Dumped Thousands of Workers, We Dumped UPS
UPS, Amazon, and FedEx are all fully engaged in their annual employee purge. UPS says it is cutting 48,000 jobs in 2025–34,000 in management and

Ep. 129 – Recruiting Long Term Shop Employees, with Bill Cox (Part 2)
In part 1 of my interview with Bill Cox, owner of Cox Manufacturing in San Antonio, Texas, Bill talked about the power of his company’s

Ep. 128 – Building a Great Apprenticeship Program, with Bill Cox
Unlike the majority of machining companies right now, struggling to find enough skilled people to fulfill demand, Cox Manufacturing in San Antonio, Texas, boasts a

Wonderfully Old School
I am writing this blog longhand because words flow better for me straight from my brain to the paper. Very old school. Today I ordered

