At Graff-Pinkert, I’ve sold a lot of machine tools to successful entrepreneurs, including my guest on today’s show, Roger Duffy, owner of F&F Machine Products. But, just a few people like him really have stood out for their outward ballsiness in business. Roger says he loves being an entrepreneur because it allows him to take risks, to dive into the unknown, whether that means trying entirely new equipment or even starting new types of manufacturing businesses of which he has no previous experience. Today’s episode is the first of a two part interview in which we will talk about how…
Author: Noah Graff
Have you ever dreamed about combining your expertise and passions to become an entrepreneur? My guess on today’s podcast did just that. Erez Speiser is the creator of machiningdoctor.com, a site for professionals in the machining industry to get technical information to simplify their work. The site offers resources such as a sophisticated feeds and speeds calculator for six types of machining processes. It even contains a machining encyclopedia. Before creating Machining Doctor, Erez worked for cutting tools giant ISCAR for over 20 years and managed a Swiss machine shop. But serendipitous elements, namely a love of hiking in his…
As the housing market has slowed recently in our current economy, alternative types of construction such as 3D printing with concrete have become more and more relevant. It brought me back to a classic podcast episode we did a while back. The technology has advanced since we recorded this episode in 2019, but still you will be wowed. ******** Our guest on today’s Swarfcast is Jonathan Ladouceur, head of engineering at Twente Additive Manufacturing, a company specializing in architectural 3D printing. We met Jonathan last week when his company bought an ABB IRB 6700 track mounted robot from Graff-Pinkert. Rather…
My guest on today’s podcast, Jerod Dailey, could have been a mechanical engineer or even a doctor if he wanted to, but instead, he followed his passion and became a journeyman machinist right out of high school. Then he fell into a career 24 years ago, teaching precision machining to high schoolers at South Adams High School in Northeast Indiana, which happens to be the Number 1 machining region in the United States. Jerod’s classes sound fascinating and challenging. They usually ditch the text book to do hands-on projects like build a car engine from scratch using high-end CNC and…
Have you ever wondered if bone screws could actually be machined from real tissue? If that were possible, where could one get such bone? What animals would be safe enough? Here’s an old favorite episode. If you haven’t listened to it before, it is going to expand your mind. And you get to learn a thing or two about ranching! Today’s podcast is the first episode of our new season about companies related to medical manufacturing. Our guests are Jim and Mary Rickert, owners of Prather Ranch in Fall River Mills, California. Prather’s closed herd, in which no female cattle…
Happy New Year everybody! On today’s podcast, Lloyd Graff and I reflect on the ups and downs of machining world in 2023 and give our thoughts about what we might see 2024. As you would expect, we discuss a number of topics in addition to precision machining, such as the US’s unpredictable economy, anti-semitism, and my intention to bite off more than I think I can chew and then figure out how to it chew later. Listen on your favorite podcast app using pod.link, or: …
We originally published this episode in 2019. It was a better time in Israel’s history, before the country was savagely provoked to go to war to protect its existance. Israel is a country full of industry and world class innovative companies, such as the manufacturing company Ditron Precision. This interview contains insight on how Israel is so important to the world’s metal working industry as well as why the Jewish People need it as a Jewish Homeland. View the podcast our YouTube Channel. Listen on your favorite podcast app using pod.link, or: …
Today I’m debuting a new episode series under the Swarfcast umbrella that I’m going to put out every so often. From April 19, 2018, until April, 19, 2019, I spent an entire year meeting at least one stranger every day and documented everyone I met. Some days I met 10 people, other days I was lucky to have a short conversation with one person. After a few months, I decided I would write about the experience and create mini podcast episodes about the people I met. And five years later, I’m FINALLY getting around to doing the podcast. I call…
Have you considered whether your business is salable? My guest on today’s podcast says only a small fraction of companies have built an organization and leadership structure that makes them attractive to buyers. Damon Pistulka is founder of Exit Your Way, a firm that helps businesses sell their companies. What’s unique about Exit Your Way is that before it tries to sell a business, it helps the business’s owner increase their company’s value, often working with clients for three to five years. Then the company can net a much higher sale price and have a higher probability of actually completing…
A Bad Deal Wednesday, Graff-Pinkert hopefully finally buried a turd of a Swiss screw machine. You probably saw it over the years in our advertisements—a Tsugami B0205 II, Mfd. 2014, that we bought in an online auction for about $45K. The great investor, Charlie Munger, who died last week at 99, famously said, “If you mix raisins with turds, you still have turds.” Graff-Pinkert better have a lot more raisins in its stock to cancel out turds like this Tsugami. The biggest problem with the machine was that it was configured only to run blanked parts—not bar stock. We figured…