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    Home»Podcast»Tai Chi, Machine Tools, and ALS, with Greg Knight-EP 240
    Podcast

    Tai Chi, Machine Tools, and ALS, with Greg Knight-EP 240

    Noah GraffBy Noah GraffApril 8, 2025Updated:April 8, 20255 Comments3 Mins Read
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    Greg Knight at PMTS 2025
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    Born with no intention of becoming a machinist, Greg Knight says he was drafted into “indentured servitude” at age 16 when his father started a Brown & Sharpe machine shop in their garage. Despite his initial distaste for manual labor, fate had other plans for the psychology, philosophy, religion, and sociology major.
    I ran into Greg at PMTS 2025 in Cleveland last week, working in the Absolute Machine Tools booth despite being retired for several years after being diagnosed with ALS. I’ve always found Greg fascinating and fun to talk to since we met 20 years ago at my first PMPA event in San Antonio. As you can tell from this episode title, we’re going to unpack a lot of intriguing topics in this interview.

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    Interview Highlights

    When Gregs father’s health declined, Greg’s mother pleaded with her only child to help run the family business. What began as temporary assistance evolved into a 20-year career. His father’s shop, which remarkably turned a profit from its first year, eventually expanded from primarily Brown & Sharp machines to include CNC lathes and mills while maintaining its identity as a screw machine house.

    Greg’s expertise with Brown & Sharpe machines caught the attention of American Adaptive Machine Technology (AMT), who sought his insights while developing ServoCam technology—a modernization that brought CNC capabilities to traditional Brown and Sharpe machines. Greg eventually joined AMT to lead this innovation, selling his shop at his mother’s behest. The ServoCam technology, which initially cost about $15,000 per upgrade in 1998, eventually evolved to complete machine rebuilds priced at $150,000.

    Greg later formed connections with Taiwanese manufacturer Lico, bringing their full CNC screw machines to the American market. His industry journey concluded at Absolute Machine Tools, where he ran their production turning division for eight years.

    In 2019, Greg was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease). Initially told he had 3-5 years to live, he now believes he has a slower-progressing variant that might give him 10-12 years. The disease has affected his right arm’s functionality and is beginning to impact his back and legs, requiring adaptations in daily activities.

    Greg has practiced Tai Chi for over 40 years, approaching it as both a martial art and philosophical practice. Fortunately he has always embraced the finesse-oriented approach rather than relying on his natural size and strength, explaining that he thought, “Someday I’m going to be old and infirm and that strength is going to fail me. This stuff will work forever.”

    Greg continues to practice Tai Chi despite his condition, using it to stay active and mobile. His pragmatic approach to life’s challenges emerges clearly, telling me: “It is what it is. So now what are you going to do with it?” Rather than dwelling on limitations, Greg adapts and continues moving forward. He is still the fun, and fascinating guy I met at the PMPA management update when I was 25.

    Question: What events transpired to lead you to your career?

    This summary was assisted by claude.ai.

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    Noah Graff

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    5 Comments

    1. Miles Free on April 8, 2025 1:56 pm

      Greg has been an inspiration to me as long as I have known him. His calm, pragmatic acceptance of whatever the situation at hand was my benchmark for dealing with intractable problems without wasting time, emotional or cognitive energy on “blow ups.”

      He was also one of PMPA’s most popular instructors at our National Technical Conferences and I remember him sharing some excellent shop math hacks to me when I took over Statistical and Financial Reporting duties at PMPA. His paper on the Power of Parallel is one of my favorites.

      But I have memories of early morning Tai Chi on the beach with Greg at a couple of Annual or Update meetings where I realized that I was NOT in the same league. Greg is truly a MASTER at what he chooses to devote his attention to. And that has been one of the real values that he brings. Calmness. Mastery. Purpose. Truly inspiring!

      • Noah Graff on April 10, 2025 1:57 pm

        He is!

        More than ever!

    2. Peter Frow on April 9, 2025 2:07 am

      I’m interested in the Browne & Sharp to Servo-cam to Lico screw machine progression.
      Take a look at this CNC Screw machine as a vastly cheaper alternative to the Lico.
      http://www.faslathe.com

      Peter Frow

      • Noah Graff on April 10, 2025 1:57 pm

        Hi Peter!

        Would you like me to introduce you to Greg? He might have feedback for you.

        Seems like you machine is interesting. Just difficult that it’s in South Africa.

    3. Maggie Patel on April 16, 2025 12:18 pm

      I was on ALS/MND Treatment for Lou Gehrig’s disease from Uine Health Centre for 6 months. The treatment relieved symptoms significantly, even better than the medications I was given. Reach them at uine healthcentre . co m

    Graff Pinkert

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