Last week, I heard a story about an old customer of Graff-Pinkert who lost three key machinists because a shop down the street was paying more. It led me to make a post on Linkedin, asking if machinists and setup people were paid enough to attract young people to the machining field. On the whole, commenters vented ...

For years, Graff-Pinkert has tried to convince customers who use 6-spindle Acme-Gridley or New Britain automatic screw machines that they would benefit from running Wickmans instead. Before I go any further with this spiel, I want to add that I have never run production, so I’m sure there are reasons why Wickmans ar...

Sometimes machining companies tell Graff-Pinkert they have long running, lucrative jobs supplying parts to the D.O.D., and it always has seemed a little mysterious to me. What are these parts they are supplying to the government? How does a company get to become a supplier to the D.O.D.?Is supplying parts to the U.S...

On today’s episode, we’re shaking things up. We’re playing an episode from a podcast I guested on, the Business Growth on Purpose podcast with Jose Palomino.One of the topics we focused on in the interview was how I discover new leads and opportunities in our used machinery business by using strategies that create s...

I followed a Tesla Model S driving home last night. Attractive blue sedan, even in the Chicago gloom.I have not personally seen any other makes of electric vehicles other than a rivian pickup, which looked like it had never been driven on the streets of Chi-town. I know Ford has sold some Mustangs, and GM sold some ...

On today’s podcast, we talk about how you can apply the artistic side of your brain to solve engineering challenges.Our guest is aerospace engineer, Dr. Onome Scott-Emuakpor, founder of Hyphen Innovations, a firm that develops new advanced aerospace components for the Department of Defense and other clients. Onome’s...

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 ...

Spinner is a German CNC machine tool brand that’s been around for 73 years. The company sold 1,200 CNC mills turning centers, and automation systems in Europe last year, yet in the United States, a large amount of people in the machining industry have never even heard of them.At the 2023 Precision Machining Technolo...

On today’s show we’re talking about what you do if your business’s growth becomes stagnant or even stops all together.Our guest is Jose Palomino, host of the Business Growth on Purpose podcast and founder and CEO of Value Prop, a consultancy that gives established B2B companies strategies to jump start growth when i...

The question seems as obvious as the sun in the sky. Our company can make more money if we can find skilled workers to run our machines. Where are they? What if that is the wrong question? What if there were a dozen questions and the simple, straightforward one was leading you into a brick wall? What if a better que...