Working in the machining industry I hear the term “lean manufacturing” mentioned a lot. But what does the word “lean” really mean in this context? And how do you implement it in your company? To help me clarify these questions, I interviewed Matthew Rassi, founder of Twenty Helping Hands. He’s a lean manufacturing consultant who has been working in the manufacturing industry for over two decades. Matthew says that the first step for a company to adopt lean manufacturing is to bring all of its people together to exchange ideas, from the CEO to the person sweeping floors. In his…
Author: Noah Graff
In honor of this weekend’s PMPA National Technical Conference, we’re resharing a podcast we did last year with Elliott May, engineer at BME in Port Huron, Michigan. BME builds original custom attachments for cam multi-spindles. They also rebuild Acme-Gridley screw machines. Elliott and I talked about a lot of fascinating things in this interview. How to keep old mechanical beasts relevant, getting young people into machining, and what it’s like to work closely everyday with your dad—who’s also the boss. Listen on your favorite podcast app using pod.link. . View the podcast on our YouTube Channel. Follow us…
I’m dealing with a customer right now who seems interested in some CNC machines Graff-Pinkert has for sale. They told me they needed this type of machine ASAP! And these machines are RARE! They even said they had a big job for the machines already and they are on the “verge of pulling the trigger any day now.” But then they stopped returning my phone calls. They’re ghosting me, and my crock brain is getting the best of me. I know these kinds of scenarios have happened to most of you listening to this, either in your professional life or…
On this week’s classic episode of Swarfcast, we’re talking about preventing fires inside of machinery. Our guest is Mike Campo, Midwest Regional Sales Manager with Firetrace International, makers of fire suppression systems and solutions. Fire suppression systems keep businesses, people and equipment safe by automatically detecting and suppressing fires in high-risk equipment, like CNC machines, vehicles and wind turbines. Mike says that machine tools are most at risk for fires when running oil based coolant while unattended. Suppression systems aim to hold back the fire, helping to mitigate the damage and allowing time for emergency personnel to respond. Scroll down…
Our guest on today’s show, Howard Sheldon, grew up working in his family’s third generation precision turning company. He planned to eventually take over the business from his father, but unfortunately succession didn’t happen the way he had hoped. Howard left his family company in his mid-30s, and 10 years ago started his own Swiss turning company, Sheldon Precision Engineering Ltd. Howard turned out to be a natural entrepreneur, and he has built a thriving business that gives him the lifestyle he wants. Starting a business from scratch gave Howard the opportunity to create his ideal company and run it…
It seems that today’s younger generations of workers, such as millennials, want to understand why they are instructed to do their jobs in a certain way more than their predecessors. Many of today’s employees are not content to just follow orders and take home a check. They want to feel invested in their work, they want it to mean something. So we are featuring this classic Swarfcast episode. ********** Our guest on the podcast today is Reid Leland, founder and President of LeanWerks, a precision machining job shop in Ogden, Utah. Lean Works operates using open-book management, which means the…
In the last year, our used machinery company, Graff-Pinkert, has been successfully growing our business brokering division. This podcast and Today’s Machining World have played a huge part in our marketing. They have established us as thought leaders in the machining industry, and that is bringing in customers. It only took 24 years of writing and six years of podcasting. Today’s podcast discusses this concept–how creating a podcast and media like it are a powerful way for a B2B company to promote itself. *********** Our guest on today’s podcast is Joe Sullivan, founder of Gorilla 76, a successful industrial marketing…
Today’s episode is Part II of our interview with Roger Duffy, owner of F&F Machine Products. In Part I we touched on Roger’s natural entrepreneurial instinct and how he loves to push himself to get out of his comfort zone. In this episode, we’re delving further into Roger’s business adventures and philosophies. He believes in a theory he calls the “Goldfish Bowl Syndrome,” which he observed in the growth of his own business. He says a business can be like a little goldfish in a small fish bowl that gets transferred to a large aquarium and quadruples in size when…
How many times has something happened to you that really sucked but then eventually turned out to be a good thing or even a great thing that happened for you? Today, I’m going to tell you a story about when a big machinery deal went to hell and then how its failure led to an amazing turn of events—a way better result than if things had gone the way they were supposed to go. You know. Serendipity. We’re going to explore how good things can come out of bad things, so the next time when something seemingly bad happens to…
Recently, we have seen a growing number of mergers and acquisitions in the manufacturing space. After these deals are finalized there’s a lot of uncertainty for the employees caught in the middle of reorganization. Our guest on the podcast today is Jennifer Fondrevay. Jennifer is a best selling author and the Founder of Day1 Ready, a consultancy that advises companies on how to prepare for challenges that result from changes in the workplace. This interview will be helpful for anybody dealing uncertainty in their work environment. You can also view the podcast in video form on our YouTube Channel. …