For the fiftieth episode of Swarfcast we are playing clips from some of our favorite past podcasts. Scroll Down to Listen to the Podcast Highlights include: (3:06) From episode 1, Lloyd talks about his decision to go into the family machinery business. He also talks about his working relationship with his father and his father’s cousin Aaron Pinkert. (7:37) From episode 15, George Breiwa, founder of DynoVap, talks about his proprietary vaporizer that does not rely on an external electrical source. He discusses manufacturing his product using CNC Swiss screw machines. (11:10) From episode 10, John Griner, owner of Griner…
Author: Noah Graff
On today’s podcast we interview Sebastien Schmitt, North American Robotics Division Manager of Stäubli, a prominent robot producer from Switzerland. Sebastien explains how Stäubli focuses on building robots to help produce smaller automative components for car interiors and parts under the hood rather than assembling large car bodies like some of its competitors. Scroll down to listen to the podcast. Sebastien also discusses Stäubli’s TX2 Robot, a model which can be used in a collaborative or a standard industrial mode, plus the importance of working with robot integrators who are specialized in their specific fields in order to get the…
Bo Burlingham has spent much of his career writing about the lives of entrepreneurs. I recently interviewed him at his home in the rustic hills of Oakland, California. Scroll Down to Listen to the Podcast We talked about the need to plan for a strong and successful conclusion to a business career, as described in his recent book, Finish Big. Bo discussed seven factors that characterized owners who had happy exits: (10:55) You must know who you are, what you want and why. (11:44) You have to build a sellable business—a business that you could sell when you wanted, to…
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 models have frames constructed of high quality American Chromoly steel. Zak lamented to us that he couldn’t find many companies in the U.S. to supply parts for wheels and other bike components. We told him we would take on the mission personally to find him some. Scroll down to listen to the podcast. Zak hales from Calgary, Canada, where he had success in the bar business…
Today’s podcast is part two of an interview we did with Bruno Schmitter, CEO and COO of Hydromat USA. When Bruno came to America in 1979, his competition was National Acme and New Britain Multi-Spindles. Today he says his competition is mainly CNC Swiss and 5-axis Turning Centers. Bruno argues that having one machine that can do many operations at a time is a better option than having multiple machines which require more space, more people and more tooling. Scroll Down to Listen To The Podcast. In the interview we also discussed Hydromat’s diversification into selling bar loaders and the…
Today’s podcast is part one of a two part interview we did with Bruno Schmitter, CEO and COO of Hydromat USA. In 1979 at the age of 25, Bruno came to St. Louis to sell and popularize the previously unknown transfer machine in North America. Bruno told us that at a young age growing up in Switzerland his father began encouraging him to go into the machine tool business. He also discussed his first years in the United States when he traveled the country convincing multi-spindle screw machine shops to use Hydromats. Scroll down to listen to the podcast below.…
Today’s podcast is part 2 of an interview we did with John Habe IV, President of Metal Seal Precision, a machining company based in Mentor, Ohio. Listen to the podcast on the player below. Over the last several years John has grown Metal Seal Precision both organically and through major acquisitions. According to John, growing through acquisitions can be financially rewarding but does not come easily. John discussed the difficulty in buying companies, which often have emotionally attached owners. He also talked about how he calculates the buy price of a company. He looks at cashflow, often called EBITDA in…
Today’s podcast is part 1 of a two part interview we did with John Habe IV of Metal Seal Corporation, a machining company based in Mentor, Ohio. Scroll down to listen to the podcast. John and his two brothers own Metal Seal and several other machining companies, along with some granite countertop firms. He told us that since they purchased their father’s machining business in 1999 they have built their enterprise into one doing over $100 million in sales per year. In the interview John discussed how Metal Seal dealt with a catastrophic fire in 2014, as well as his…
In Throwback Thursday fashion, Lloyd and Noah are out of town this week, so we’re sharing one of our favorite podcasts from the past. Be sure to listen in and weigh in on the new question below. In December, we interviewed John Saunders, founder of Saunders Machine Works and the creator of the NYC CNC YouTube channel. John is an innovative entrepreneur who lives and breathes CNC machining. When he was 24 he had an idea to sell an automatically resetting steel target for practicing firearms, but he had no engineering background, no CAD experience and no machining experience. After working on a prototype…
In today’s podcast I was interviewed about a book I am writing which documents a year in which I have met at least one new person every day. I started 364 days ago when I met a guy named Tommy, working the bar at a restaurant in Chicago called the Blue Door Farm Stand. Listen to the Podcast on the player below. Over this year I estimate I have met 450 to 500 strangers. I have met people on the street, a ton of Uber drivers, and folks from all over the world. I have even been forced to call…