Today’s guest on the show is Paul Huber, CEO of COMEX, in Monroe Connecticut. Paul is a machinery dealer specializing in cam Swiss automatics. That’s cam Swiss, not CNC. I’m talking about Bechlers, Stroms and Escomatics, not Citizens.
Paul is 84, but proudly says feels like he is 60 as he raises his 17-year-old son.
He has been working on screw machines for over 67 years, starting as an apprentice in Switzerland.
In college, one of my favorite elective classes was bowling—I took it twice. Maybe you poo poo the idea of taking bowling at an expensive institution like the University of Wisconsin, but that was the class where I learned about the powerful science of “pin action.”
To the bowling novices out there, do you ever wonder why the good bowlers throw those huge curve balls down the lane, rather than just throwing it straight down the middle? Pin action.
How do you know what to charge for your product?
How do you negotiate with customers and leave the least money on the table? And not just for one transaction but for the long run?
On today’s episode, Part II of our interview with Jay Jacobs, we discuss strategies that you can use the next time you ask yourself, “What should I charge for my manufactured parts?”
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.
We will get an auto strike tomorrow.
How do I know? Do I have a plant at the negotiating table? Have I bugged Shawn Fain’s phone (head of UAW)?
No, no, no.
But my gut tells me that the Union is aching to punch their company bosses in the gut. It’s just been too long to live under the guise of harmony as the truckers, pilots, and dockworkers have shown the world their power.
The money differences while, they seem big on paper, will be compromised because labor costs for Union and non-Union auto workers will ultimately be within reach of each other.
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.
Josh Hacko is a fourth generation watchmaker. He says he was born into his vocation, but in reality his work is truly his own.
Josh is Technical Director of two sister companies, NH Micro and Nicholas Hacko Watchmaker, which manufactures high-end wrist watches in Sydney, Australia, that can cost tens of thousands of dollars.
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.
Editor’s Note: This podcast was recorded in Spring of 2022. Tyler has now been retired for over 2 years, and Noah is the proud father of a 1 year old.
In early 2022, Tyler Jarosz sent me an email to ask if Graff-Pinkert would be interested in a used little parts washer he no longer needed in his machine shop. He found out about Graff-Pinkert from listening to Swarfcast, which I’m proud to say is the only podcast he has ever listened to.
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.