The Job Shop Show

In this episode of The Pricing Series, Jay Jacobs and Jeff Gorman are joined by Justin Quinn: President at Focused on Machining. Justin is a previous guest on the show and long-time customer of Paperless Parts. Earlier this year at Paperless Parts' first-ever user conference, POWER 2023, Justin sat in on a presentation Jeff gave on the platform's Advanced Analytics. Lightbulbs went off, and Justin laid out his vision for a Pipeline Report. Jeff built the report for Justin, and within just a couple of weeks, Justin was able to make better decisions that drove his win rate up by 5%. Listen as Justin shares why this Pipeline Report was so valuable and everything he walked away with as a result of the event that he wants to impart to others. Resources

How are 3D printed sand molds and cores changing the metal casting industry? Brandon Lamoncha is the Director of Additive Manufacturing at Humtown: an organization first established by Brandon's grandfather as a pattern shop in 1959 that has since grown to become the industry’s first conventional sand core and mold manufacturer to commercialize 3D sand printing. Humtown offers both conventional manufacturing (Humtown Products) and 3D printing (Humtown Additive), and they're consistently taking their knowledge of being a successful production shop to find unique ways to succeed with new technology. In this episode, Brandon shares his story of getting started in the business, how technology helps him successfully work remotely, tips for safe global shipping, the benefits of 3D printing over conventional methods, how Humtown optimizes their processes for efficiency, how they've dialed in their tolerances, and more. To learn more, visit www.humtown.com.

Jay sits down with Jesse Casto: owner of BetterCNC in Plano, TX. Spinning out of a legacy of machining, Jesse founded BetterCNC in 2021 on a mission to operate a new kind of machine shop; one that strives for continual improvement and never settles (hence the name "Better" CNC, and not "Best" CNC). In his conversation with Jay, Jesse shares how to get started with cash is a constraint, how he successfully uses tabbing as a machining methodology, and tons of other cool tips and tricks you may not have thought of that makes him more efficient and helps his shop grow. When it comes to the new generation of manufacturers, Jesse is leading the pack. If you're interested in learning more about continual improvement, efficiency, entrepreneurship, or innovation, you won't want to miss this. To learn more about BetterCNC, visit www.bettercnc.com. Contact BetterCNC 1909 Platinum Street Garland, TX 75042 972-836-8422

Mark Barglof is the President and owner of Kinetic Technologies, LLC: a design and fabrication shop just north of Algona, IA. After serving in the military and earning the U.S. Army Ranger Tab, Mark shifted career paths and dove into the world of manufacturing (he grew up the son of a job shop owner, so it wasn't his first rodeo). In this episode, Mark talks to Jay about what drove him to co-found SmartAg: the company that created the first commercially available aftermarket kit to turn a tractor into a fully autonomous vehicle. Mark also shares how Kinetic has evolved over the years, which technologies and people have been integral in their success, and how integrating robots and cobots can not only help drive quality and efficiency, but creative freedom and employee retention. If you're looking to learn more about entrepreneurship, Industry 4.0, and new ways to improve your shop, this episode is a must-listen. Episode Links: Click here to see Mark's welding cobot in actionRead Mark's article on robotic automation for Paperless Parts' blog, In the Shop

Rafal Gliwiak Owner at Pro Fabricating Machining and Welding joins us on this episode. Rafals journey embodies the entreprenurial spirit in America. He shares how he got started, obstacles to growth and how he's learning and improving everyday.

Lance Thrailkill is the third generation owner and CEO of All Metals Fabricating located outside Dallas, Texas. All Metals vision statement is serving people with excellence and a goal of becoming the most automated shop in the world. Lance dives into all that they do for their employees and how the employees reciprocate. How it started day one with Lance's grandfather and has continued and expanded through today. Lance goes into detail how they have put into words what All Metals is all about; vision statement, purpose, core values, and how these words are embedded in the fabric of the company. He gives details and stories on exactly what they do. If you are looking for ways to put your people first, so they then naturally put your customers first then this is a must listen.

In this episode, Jeff and Jay revisit the theme of seasonality in custom manufacturing. As manufacturing tends to trend busier this time of year Jeff and Jay explore strategies to use pricing to manage demand.

Jeff and Jay sit down with Nick Mosey of Moseys Production Machinist in Anaheim, California. Nick and Jay had a conversation a few weeks back about how to reduce accounts receivables, and after some great discussion, we agreed to have Nick come on the podcast so that some of his other questions could be captured for you. We touch upon a really wide variety of topics, including how to prioritize payables, why you should always have a line of credit at a bank, even if you don't use it, and if you do, how to use it. How pricing algorithms can be designed to automatically adjust pricing for new prospects, why profits are essential for growth, and lots more.

James Fitch is the Vice President of Engineering at Nu-Way Industries, Inc., a leader in designing and fabricating precision metal products serving many industries worldwide. With a manufacturing career spanning five decades, James oversees Estimating, the Product Development Group, the Manufacturing Engineering Group, and the Prototype Shop from Nu-Way’s headquarters in Des Plaines, Illinois. In this episode Jay and Jim sit down to dive deeper into his article "Six Tips for Facilitating Digital Transformation in Manufacturing" published in Paperless Parts Blog: In the Shop. Here we get a chance to riff and go deep on what is truly a passionate subject for Jim and one that he's thought about over his decades in manufacturing.

Happy New Year! Jeff and Jay sit down and chat about how a shop might plan for 2023. Jeff shares what he has heard shops say about the previous year and how they can use this reflection to set goals and aspirations for the new year!

In this episode we dive in to how we see shops handling the dramatic fluctuations in material pricing. What are their strategies and how does automated quoting make them easier to implement.

We are speaking with Kevin Heins of KLH Industries located in Germantown, Wisconsin. KLH Industries was recently recognized as a Modern Machine Shop Top Shop in the business strategies and performance category. This is a follow up to a great article that was written about them and their implemenation of a company operating system.

Ashleigh Wehrle of Area Tool & Manufacturing joins us to speak openly about her experience of taking over the shop after losing her father unexpectedly in 2011. Ashleigh's family did not not have a succession plan in place and she shares her experience and lessons learned.

Scott Duncan of F&M Tool and Die joins us to ask Jay and Jeff some questions on growing his business. Jeff and Jay met several years ago through the Entreprenuers Organization. Jay, Jeff and Scott chat strategy about raising EBITDA, why you would want a high profit margin and how to achieve it.

Alex Gray, author of the Wall Street Journal Article America’s Industrial Base Isn’t Ready for War With China joins us on this special episode.

Today's guest is Zack Fennell of Ameritex Machine & Fabrication outside of Hosuton, Texas. Ameritex is an industry leader in advanced metal fabrication. We get into detail about how Ameritex made the strategic decision to change equipment suppliers and how they approached doing so from both an organizational and financial angle. We also touch on other areas of technology that have made a positive impact on their business.

Jeff and Jay get into what information can be interrogated from a 3D CAD model. How to input it automatically into quoting software and then how it can be used for design for manufacturability feedback during the quoting process based upon the parameters of manufacturability. Jay built a company around using 3D data to quote and manufacture parts, and this episode will give you a glimpse of how 3D CAD model geometry speeds quoting, and dramatically reduces errors.

Jay and Jeff take a deep dive into Analytics; data derived primarily from quoting activities. For those quoting in excel or an ERP system it may be difficult to extract information such as win rate. One of the advantages of estimating software is that all this data comes for free and very little effort is neccessary to generate reports. Jeff and Jay get into some of the ways reports can be sliced and diced both out of the box and how you can customize for your shop.

Jeff shares his experience at his first trip to IMTS (International Manufacturing Technology Show). It was also Paperless Parts first time exhibiting at the show. Jeff shares with us many common questions he recieved at the booth as well as some of the cool products and companies he saw while walking the show.

Brian and Jason Korbelik of Precision Parts Fast join us on this episode. Precision Parts Fast has implemented many concepts and recommendations we've discussed on prior episodes. They are winning more work than ever and have lots of questions on how to automate estimating even more through the use of Paperless Parts. We captured it all for you. We get into pricing levers, part type categorization, and shop rates. Why complex parts can be the devil; throwing away your calculator; managing expectations and even chat about credit cards. These guys are smart, hungry, and growing fast.