Graff-Pinkert - Screw Machines, Hydromats, CNCs

Imagine a sheet metal prototype shop that was so fast and reliable it never turned down a job if it were physically possible to complete and the customers were willing to pay the price. 

My guest today, Jay Jacobs, built his former company RAPID from a team of five to over 300. Before being acquired by a publicly traded company for a price he couldn’t refuse, RAPID was manufacturing over 30,000 unique part numbers annually, 24-7-365 days a year.

Nine years ago, I traveled to Sweden to see some old Wickman multi-spindle screw machines for sale at one of the country’s largest automotive suppliers. The machines were ok, but we decided not to buy them.

This podcast has been going for five years now, and those people who listen to it frequently might be tired of the Graff-Pinkert ad at the beginning of the show. I was tired of it, so I finally created a new ad.

For people who are listening to this show for the first time, I’m a used machine tool dealer with a family business called Graff-Pinkert. We specialize in selling equipment for the precision machining industry.

Seems like right now every podcast is doing an interview centered around artificial intelligence. 

But I waited until I found the right story, one that was truly relevant to our audience in the machining world.

Today’s guest on the podcast, George Konidaris, is the cofounder of the startup, Realtime Robotics. He is also a professor of Computer Science and the director of the Intelligent Robot Lab at Brown University.