Author: Noah Graff
On today’s podcast, we talk about how you can apply the artistic side of your brain to solve engineering challenges. Our guest is aerospace engineer, Dr. Onome Scott-Emuakpor, founder of Hyphen Innovations, a firm that develops new advanced aerospace components for the Department of Defense and other clients. Onome’s family immigrated from Nigeria to Lansing, Michigan, before he was born. In high school, he was an average student but excelled in fine arts classes. In college, he played Division I basketball at Wright State. While at Wright State, Onome realized he had a passion for engineering. Today, he says one…
With the latest news that unemployment is at its lowest in 54 years, we thought it was important to post this favorite episode about how to hire the employee who fits correctly for a specific position. Our guest on the podcast today is Brian Balasia, CEO and Co-Founder of TalentEi, a company that produces a software platform that matches employers and job seekers across a variety of sectors. Brian says the platform enables companies to hire superior people, more quickly, and at a better price than traditional hiring methods such as job descriptions and resumes. Scroll down to read more…
As machinery dealers, we are constantly evaluating when we should trust the people we are attempting to work with. Fortunately, the United States has a solid legal system that keeps people straight for the most part, and we live in a culture with relative social trust, despite our ever-growing divisiveness. Social psychology studies have shown that people naturally default to trusting each other, and for better or worse, I consider myself one of those instinctual trusters. Most of the people we make machinery deals with don’t try to screw us over, and through the years, Graff-Pinkert has dealt with only…
One of my favorite machinery dealers we work with is from Brazil. He specializes in sending machine tools to South America. A used machinery deal is usually a challenge to close—even if a customer says they need it. Even if it’s an excellent machine that’s rare on the used market, at a good price, it is hard to close a used machinery deal. But selling a machine to Brazil from the United States adds extra challenges. The customers usually can’t inspect the machine in person, and the Brazilian government charges more than 30% import tax on used machinery brought into…
On today’s show, Lloyd Graff and I are discussing our observations of the machining industry in 2022 and our instincts about where the industry is headed in the coming year. As used machinery dealers at Graff-Pinkert, we saw trends in 2022 such as reshoring, the resurgence of old school cam screw machines, and a growing number of machining businesses that soon may be for sale. We think these trends will accelerate in 2023, and we hope this conversation will uncover some opportunities that your business can take advantage of in the coming year. Listen with the player at the bottom…
During my career as a used machinery dealer, I’ve met many successful companies in the machining business who have no social media presence and don’t even have a website. Surprisingly they use some of the most advanced equipment and have more customers than they need. Today we’re pulling out a favorite podcast episode about a company just like that. I interviewed Jay Sauder, owner of Sauder Machine in Plymouth, Ohio. Sauder makes a variety of precision components such as casings for mechanical pocket watches and wheel cylinders for horse drawn buggies driven by Amish people. Sauder Machine has no sales…
On today’s podcast I interviewed Trevor Blondeel, the founder of Operations Kickstart and the host of the podcast, Mindfulness Manufacturing. Trevor uses mindfulness techniques to coach manufacturing executives so they can better lead their companies. The idea is that if his clients become more conscious of their feelings and their current behavior, it will inspire sustainable change in how they work with others and lead. If you’re interested in the topics of coaching and understanding yourself better I think you will like this episode. You can also view the podcast in video form on our YouTube Channel. Follow…
Today we are starting a new podcast show and blog on the Today’s Machining World Podcast Network called “Seeking Serendipity.” Click the following links to listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Google Podcasts. As our regular readers and listeners know, we talk a lot about serendipity in Today’s Machining World and on Swarfcast. Serendipity is the concept of being in the right place at the right time. Some people call it being lucky, a Spanish customer of Graff-Pinkert once translated it as “destino.” But why produce a blog and a podcast about serendipity for a media outlet directed at the…
On this podcast I spoke with James Persenaire, a district manager at FANUC America Corporation. James gave insight into the strengths and weaknesses of collaborative robots and how Fanuc’s collaborative robots differ from competitors such as Universal Robot. He also addressed misconceptions about traditional robots that they are expensive and dangerous. He emphasized that the integration of the robot is the primary factor in both its cost and safety. We ran this episode back in 2019 (Ep. 38), but it seems to be even more relevant to people in manufacturing in 2023, as people are embracing more AI technology and…