Latest Makingchips Podcast Episodes

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How to Adapt CNC Training for the Next Generation of Manufacturing Leaders - Part 1, 412

Making Chips Podcast for Manufacturing Leaders - June 14, 2024 17:00 - 34 minutes ★★★★★ - 82 ratings
How do we train the next generation of manufacturing leaders so employers are ready to hire them immediately? Do students still need to learn manual machinery? Or do employers only want skilled CNC machinists?  These are just a few questions we dissect in this conversation with special guest a...

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MakingSparks: Women in Welding, 411

Making Chips Podcast for Manufacturing Leaders - June 07, 2024 19:00 - 38 minutes ★★★★★ - 82 ratings
Did you know that only about 6% of welders are women? Women bring a much-needed perspective and expertise to the table. So how do we get more women in welding? NIX has actively been trying to recruit, hire, and retain more women.  In this episode of MakingSparks, we sit down with Tori Guzman a...

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MFG News Special: Where are We at with the Reshoring Initiative? 410

Making Chips Podcast for Manufacturing Leaders - May 31, 2024 17:00 - 44 minutes ★★★★★ - 82 ratings
Where is the United States with reshoring initiatives? Do we still have huge vulnerabilities in our supply chain(s) that need to be addressed? If we continue to reshore manufacturing, will companies remain competitive?  Reshoring impacts supply chains. Reshoring brings more jobs and opportunit...

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Lights Out: A Samurai's Journey to Automation, 409

Making Chips Podcast for Manufacturing Leaders - May 24, 2024 20:00 - 46 minutes ★★★★★ - 82 ratings
Can small shops begin to automate their processes? Where do they start with automation? In this episode of MakingChips, the CNC Samurai, Steve Courchane, returns to share his passion for automation. He lays out his 3M process and how it changes the way you view automation. Because if you’re not ...

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How Can Manufacturing Leaders Measure Their Customer Relationships? 408

Making Chips Podcast for Manufacturing Leaders - May 18, 2024 17:00 - 33 minutes ★★★★★ - 82 ratings
Whether you’re a small business or a growing enterprise, you need to seek out new customers and build relationships with them while pushing them through your sales pipeline. The reality is that you have to make more sales to grow your business.  You need a way to track and measure your progres...

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MakingSparks: Why Numbers are Important for Your Manufacturing Business | Mike Payne Part 2, 407

Making Chips Podcast for Manufacturing Leaders - May 10, 2024 17:00 - 41 minutes ★★★★★ - 82 ratings
You need to know the “numbers” in your business. Every business owner needs to know that they’re making enough to pay their employees, make and deliver their products, and grow the business. That’s just good business. Non-financial metrics are important, too. A successful business has to focus...

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MakingSparks: Oklahoma Meets Indiana - A Manufacturing Chat with Mike Payne Part 1, 406

Making Chips Podcast for Manufacturing Leaders - May 03, 2024 19:00 - 37 minutes ★★★★★ - 82 ratings
Mike Payne has spent the last 20+ years deeply entrenched in the M&A process with dozens of companies throughout Oklahoma. Early in his career, he realized he loved the world of manufacturing. He also learned that he enjoyed operating a business. He was just waiting for the right opportunity to ...

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Should You Use a Recruiter to Find Your Next Manufacturing Leader? 405

Making Chips Podcast for Manufacturing Leaders - April 26, 2024 17:00 - 46 minutes ★★★★★ - 82 ratings
Are you the type of manufacturing leader who prefers to do everything yourself? You learn and innovate as you go, right? We’ve learned from experience: There is an art and a science to recruiting. I’ve muddled through using LinkedIn Recruiter to make some hires. And while it’s a great tool, it c...

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The Journey from Scan to CAD to Part at Hill Manufacturing, 404

Making Chips Podcast for Manufacturing Leaders - April 19, 2024 17:00 - 33 minutes ★★★★★ - 82 ratings
My shop has been restoring a 1959 Ford F10. When we decided to recreate a digital dash for the truck, we decided to ask the LinkedIn world for help. That’s when I met Ira Laughy with rapid3D.  Rapid3D exists to solve complex measurement challenges to empower confident decision-making. We scann...

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Are You Putting Too Much Trust in Your Supply Chain? 403

Making Chips Podcast for Manufacturing Leaders - April 12, 2024 17:00 - 38 minutes ★★★★★ - 82 ratings
How important is building relationships and trust with your vendors? When you do have established relationships, are you placing too much trust in them? How do you balance being business savvy and trusting?  Mark McCormack is known for saying “All things being equal, people will do business wi...

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How Businesses Can Collaborate with Technical Education, 402

Making Chips Podcast for Manufacturing Leaders - April 02, 2024 17:00 - 37 minutes ★★★★★ - 82 ratings
What are the benefits of working closely with a local career & technical education center? You can have a huge impact on the local community, education system, and businesses. If you partner with a local technical center, it could have a far-reaching impact—and it just might help you recruit the...

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SZN1: Should Women Entrepreneurs Choose the Manufacturing Industry? 401

Making Chips Podcast for Manufacturing Leaders - March 29, 2024 17:00 - 40 minutes ★★★★★ - 82 ratings
POV: You’re a woman with an entrepreneurial edge. You want to start a business. Why not consider the manufacturing industry? There are only 6,431 women-owned manufacturing businesses in the United States (representing just 2% of all manufacturing companies). 20% of them are minority-owned. This ...

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Lights Out: How to Prioritize Flexibility when You Invest in Automation, 400

Making Chips Podcast for Manufacturing Leaders - March 22, 2024 17:00 - 36 minutes ★★★★★ - 82 ratings
POV: You’ve decided to start the process of implementing automation in your machine shop—but it isn’t as easy as flipping a switch. It’s a process that consists of failing forward and learning from every mistake. Tom Schroeder—the Executive Vice President at PBC Linear—joins us in this episode o...

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Do We Need More Manufacturing Entrepreneurs? 399

Making Chips Podcast for Manufacturing Leaders - March 12, 2024 17:00 - 43 minutes ★★★★★ - 82 ratings
There are around 17,000 contract manufacturing job shops in the US. That sounds pretty great, right? The truth is that growth is down 16% since 2008. Now, more than ever, we need new entrepreneurs in the manufacturing industry. Matthew Nix, Paul Van Metre, Drew Crowe, and Mike Payne join me in t...

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MakingSparks: Staying Connected through Your Front Line Leaders Part 2, 398

Making Chips Podcast for Manufacturing Leaders - March 05, 2024 18:00 - 29 minutes ★★★★★ - 82 ratings
How can leadership remain connected to what’s happening on the shop floor? At Nix, we’ve found a creative way to bridge a gap that many businesses experience. We’ve implemented a program that allows our front line to address problems and propose solutions so that their everyday real-world proble...

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MakingSparks: Growing Shop Floor Front Line Leaders Part 1, 397

Making Chips Podcast for Manufacturing Leaders - February 27, 2024 18:00 - 27 minutes ★★★★★ - 82 ratings
How do we recruit more young talent to fabrication? How do we navigate rapid growth balanced with training and development? How do we help develop young talent into our future leaders? These are just a few questions we wrestle with in this episode of MakingSparks with special guests Dakota Hunt ...

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MakingSparks: Manufacturing Precision and Processes with BWXT GM Nate Foote, 396

Making Chips Podcast for Manufacturing Leaders - February 20, 2024 18:00 - 38 minutes ★★★★★ - 82 ratings
BWXT Mount Vernon produces components for naval nuclear reactors, used in submarines and aircraft carriers. Their sprawling facility is home to CNC machine tools and sophisticated welding and heat-treating equipment. In this episode of MakingSparks, General Manager Nate Foote shares more about t...

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MakingSparks: How Technology Drives Innovation on the Other Side of Metalworking Nation, 395

Making Chips Podcast for Manufacturing Leaders - February 13, 2024 18:00 - 44 minutes ★★★★★ - 82 ratings
What are the pros and cons of plasma cutters vs. water jets vs. lasers? How does cutting with nitrogen differ from cutting with oxygen? How is technology driving innovation in fabrication? R.J. Reed and Brendon DiVincenzo join us in this episode of MakingSparks to cover all things lasers and fab...

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An Important Update on Jason Zenger and the Leadership Lessons We Learned from It, 394

Making Chips Podcast for Manufacturing Leaders - February 06, 2024 18:00 - 36 minutes ★★★★★ - 82 ratings
On December 7th, 2023, Jason had a heart attack, the type well-known as the “widow-maker.” Miraculously, Jason survived. Then he survived a heart transplant. January 19th, 2024, he went home. Jason beat the odds. In this episode of MakingChips, we’ll share Jason’s miraculous story. We’ll also sh...

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MakingSparks: Expanding and Transitioning a Family Business in Manufacturing with Joe Patterson, 393

Making Chips Podcast for Manufacturing Leaders - January 30, 2024 18:00 - 44 minutes ★★★★★ - 82 ratings
Every family business that’s growing and expanding runs into some challenges. From navigating tough conversations with family to determining a centralized versus decentralized model, there are numerous things to consider. Joe Patterson’s family business overcame the challenges that came their wa...

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MakingSparks: Embracing the Family Aspect of Business with Tad Dickel Part 2, 392

Making Chips Podcast for Manufacturing Leaders - January 23, 2024 18:00 - 34 minutes ★★★★★ - 82 ratings
communication with your family? How do you foster open communication in difficult conversations?  Running a family business is full of unique challenges—and successes—that many other businesses don’t have to think about. But navigating those challenges doesn’t have to be difficult. Tad Dickel ...

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MakingSparks: Navigating a Family Business in Manufacturing with Tad Dickel Part 1, 391

Making Chips Podcast for Manufacturing Leaders - January 16, 2024 18:00 - 30 minutes ★★★★★ - 82 ratings
Nix Companies is a fifth-generation family business in an industry that's predominantly privately held and family-owned. Family-owned businesses are the fabric of our economy. Today’s guest on MakingSparks, Tad Dickel, is a Leadership & Strategy Consultant with a special interest in family-owned...

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SZN1: Manufacturing Fuels Grit with Drew Crowe and Andy Mueller Part 2, 390

Making Chips Podcast for Manufacturing Leaders - January 09, 2024 18:00 - 22 minutes ★★★★★ - 82 ratings
Cutting tool manufacturers have to remain on the cutting edge. If you do so, it’s possible to stay competitive. We know that a solid education and training for new talent is the best first step. But you also have to learn to embrace grit to make it through. We cover what else is important to rem...

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SZN1: Manufacturing Fuels Grit with Drew Crowe and Andy Mueller Part 1, 389

Making Chips Podcast for Manufacturing Leaders - January 02, 2024 18:00 - 49 minutes ★★★★★ - 82 ratings
Andy Mueller is a seasoned vet in manufacturing, one of the real OGs. I’ve leaned on him for advice and support throughout the years because he’s been through the seasons and weathered the storms. Andy was able to step in and teach my students things that I couldn’t with my limited resources. Th...

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SZN1: Manufacturing Fuels Gratitude with Drew Crowe and Kyle Stoff, 388

Making Chips Podcast for Manufacturing Leaders - December 26, 2023 18:00 - 50 minutes ★★★★★ - 82 ratings
Kyle Stoff spent his high school years doing parkour and making butterfly knives by hand. By the end of his Junior Year in high school, he’d decided he wanted to get into manufacturing to perfect his knife-making process. He skipped his Senior Year and dove into a full-time program at Ranken, be...

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SZN1: Manufacturing Fuels Greatness with Drew Crowe and Dan Borders Part II, 387

Making Chips Podcast for Manufacturing Leaders - December 19, 2023 18:00 - 29 minutes ★★★★★ - 82 ratings
Do you express gratitude for your team members? Do they know their work is appreciated? Do you help guide them through their career so they can continue to learn and improve? Too many shops overwork good employees because they achieve excellence. That’s a mistake. It’s one of many reasons machin...

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SZN1: Manufacturing Fuels Greatness with Drew Crowe and Dan Borders, 386

Making Chips Podcast for Manufacturing Leaders - December 12, 2023 18:00 - 43 minutes ★★★★★ - 82 ratings
How can we attract the next generation to machining? How can small shops attract and retain talent? How can we fuel greatness? In this episode of MakingChips, guest host Drew “The MFG” Crowe—the force behind the American Manufacturing Renaissance—brings on Dan Borders with Edge Technologies to s...

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How Can the Golden Rule be Applied in Business? with Mike Ruge, 385

Making Chips Podcast for Manufacturing Leaders - December 05, 2023 18:00 - 42 minutes ★★★★★ - 82 ratings
What separates successful shops from unsuccessful ones? The people. As a leader, taking care of your people is paramount. So how do you manage and lead your people better? By following the Golden Rule. How do you apply the “Golden Rule” in business? Mike Ruge—the Integrator and Experience Direct...

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BOTCHED! How Manufacturing Leaders can Avoid the Horror Story of a Failed ERP Implementation, 384

Making Chips Podcast for Manufacturing Leaders - November 29, 2023 18:00 - 40 minutes ★★★★★ - 82 ratings
How do you select the right ERP for your business? What should the implementation process look like? What are some mistakes you must absolutely avoid making? In this episode of MakingChips, Paul Van Metre shares some of the lessons he’s learned from failed ERP implementations. Because if you’re ...

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Why Manufacturing Leaders Should Invest in Video to Tell their Story and Build Their Brand, 383

Making Chips Podcast for Manufacturing Leaders - November 22, 2023 18:00 - 33 minutes ★★★★★ - 82 ratings
Why do you need to create video content, both for recruiting team members and bringing in new business? How do you get started when you don’t have the budget to hire a production company? Casey Voelker and Matthew Nix share what you can do to kickstart video marketing for your shop—and why it’s ...

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