Swarfblog

Rocky Road and Licorice

Rivian Corporation began as a scrappy startup in 2009. Volkswagen has spent decades failing to understand American car buyers. Now they’re betting $5.86 billion that Rocky Road and Licorice actually do mix. The electric vehicle maker, started as an enthusiast-run firm by an entrepreneur, R.J. Scaringe, with money from family

Read More »

Is America Great Now?

I lean left politically and come from a family of Democrats, but most of my extended family are conservatives. I grew up with my father’s

Read More »

Selling Out

I have been studying the process of buying and selling machining businesses for the past year. Companies have approached me to advise them on what

Read More »

Refugee Flavor

At the beginning of September I spent some time traveling in Europe in search of lucrative machine tools, good salsa dancing and inspiration for an

Read More »

Phone Call to the Dead

This American Life on NPR routinely does amazing stories on radio. The program, hosted by Ira Glass, recently had this piece that really struck me.

Read More »

Pig in a Pipe

If 2012 and 2014 IMTS shows were about the arrival of 3D printing, 2016 was the year of the robot. It seemed like everybody was

Read More »

The Cubs of Casablanca

The Chicago Cubs, my favorite team, and Casablanca, one of my all-time favorite movies, share so many common threads. One could say they are cut

Read More »