Damn. It’s already 2025? I was just getting used to the idea that it was 2024.Today, Lloyd and I are reflecting on what worked and didn’t work in our used machinery business and our personal lives over the last year. We’re also discussing our intentions and predictions for the new year.Will we sell more old multi-sp...

We had an inquiry last Monday on an expensive CNC turning center from a machinery broker based in Chicago but representing a Chinese firm.Thinking of a potential profit if we sold it, I asked Noah to quote the machine. His response was, “Dad, we can’t sell it to them. We are at war.”I immediately knew he was correct...

I have chosen to continue to lead Graff-Pinkert thanks to the brilliant efforts of Noah and Rex who have decided to continue to work with me and challenge my ideas without mocking me. Buying, selling, and brokering used machine tools and working as an intermediary...

Have you ever wondered how a used machinery dealer like myself approaches buying secondhand equipment?About a month ago, I did my first LinkedIn live talk and featured that subject. I focused the talk on my techniques for communicating with sellers and equipment experts.I believe the majority of people these days le...

You may have noticed that I often talk about friction on this podcast.That’s because everyone has to fight friction in business—and there is A LOT of friction in the manufacturing business.Friction from time consuming stuff. Friction from stuff being too hard to figure out. Friction from stuff we’re not qualified to...

Why would anybody buy a CNC multi-spindle for $2 million? Or $3 million for that matter?My guest on today’s podcast, Richard Kingsbury, has the answer. Richard is Managing Director of the Kingsbury Engineering Division, England’s INDEX distributor.In this interview, Richard gives a history lesson of screw machining....

I’ve interviewed a lot of interesting business coaches for this podcast, and all the coaches had one thing in common. They focused on coaching a company’s owner or management, rather than working with everyone at the company.But my guest on today’s show, Tim Drinkwater, founder of Accurate Machine Products in Janesv...

Who would have thunk it a few years ago? The robot boom that many people thought would grow and grow and displace millions of workers has ebbed.Certainly robots have proved their worth with some jobs in manufacturing. The dull task of loading and unloading parts is perfect for robots, but now many of those jobs have...

This week on Swarfcast, we’ve been thinking a lot about some of the exciting tech that we saw last month at IMTS. One thing that always stands out to us are the robots. As our recent podcasts have touched on the topic of AI, we thought it would be fitting to reshare an interview we did with George Konidaris, co-foun...

I encounter a lot of friction in my work. Too many obstacles get in the way of me doing the things I need to do and the things I like to do.I know all of you out there have friction in your work too, and if you’re in the manufacturing business you likely encounter friction when you have to achieve the necessary qual...