Machine Shop Mastery

Plenty of shops machine parts to a tenth and then run the business on guesswork. Sebastian Montalvo is building M3 Aerospace the other way, with the same precision behind the desk as on the floor, and three years in, that's exactly why they're growing as fast as they are. I'll be honest, this one got to me. He's running a shop that behaves like it's been around for twenty years with a hundred people on the floor, and there are thirteen of them. Every step of the workflow went up on a whiteboard with one question attached to it: where can this go wrong, and what do we put in place so it doesn't? People told him he was exaggerating. He kept going anyway. We got into the practical side of it too. How he used Xometry to buy himself immediate demand while he learned the market, then deliberately diversified off it. Why he made compliance the North Star instead of an afterthought, and what it took to earn AS9100, ISO, ITAR, and CMMC without hiring a consultant to do it for him. How he's hiring in a city most people overlook, and why paying above the local average is a strategy and not a cost. The cash flow conversation is worth the listen on its own. He's turned down large RFQs, not because the shop couldn't make the parts, but because he couldn't float a bill of materials that size and then wait months to get paid. If you've ever had to say no to work you were fully capable of doing, you already know how that feels. And then there's the part I didn't expect. His mom opens the door to every new unit they take on. His dad is there at five in the morning, after three years without a day off. When I asked Sebastian what keeps him going, he didn't say revenue or contracts. He said his parents. I've talked to a lot of shop owners on this show. This one I'll be thinking about for a while. What's Covered in this Episode (0:00) Sebastian on tracking the reshoring shift and getting certified before the demand arrived (1:03) Why this conversation with Sebastian Montalvo of M3 Aerospace has me choked up (3:09) Going all in with his father while starting a part time MBA at Berkeley (5:17) Two CNCs under a tent to 10,000 square feet, 15 machines, and AS9100, ISO, ITAR, and CMMC (5:49) Immigrating from Ciudad Juarez at 10, and a father who ran side businesses after teaching all day (8:16) Grow your top and bottom line with CliftonLarsonAllen (CLA) (9:07) Why he never claims to be a machinist, and who gives a brand new shop work (10:15) Buying immediate demand through Xometry, then deliberately diversifying off it (12:53) Why aerospace and defense (and making compliance the North Star from day one) (14:27) Earning AS9100 and ISO without a consultant and mapping every workflow risk on a whiteboard (18:00) Why running the business deserves the same precision as running the parts (19:24) Why you need to talk to Verdant Commercial Capital to finance your equipment (21:48) The banks that said no, and the $90,000 job that tied up machines for eight weeks (23:08) Growing the team: maquiladora experience, trade schools, and paying above the local average (27:42) UTEP, the technical colleges, and the 250 acre advanced manufacturing district breaking ground (32:56) Getting a cage code, bidding through DLA, and the city consultants who scrape opportunities for free (38:35) Navu: Get reliable and accurate answers in real time (39:47) Set aside invitations from primes (and the first bid he and his dad built over Christmas) (42:04) Why cash flow, not capability, caps growth, and what supplier net terms changed (45:37) How Sebastian learned estimating and pricing for profitability  (48:40) Moving his desk onto the shop floor and telling the team why he wants the data (51:13) Machine sensors, the spindle time gap, and discovering what packaging actually costs (55:47) Sebastian's most memorable experience building M3 with his parents (59:44) The real story behind the name M3 Aerospace Resources Mentioned CLA Verdant Commercial Capital Navu Xometry SAM.gov Precision Manufacturing, Precision Business by Paul Van Metre Connect with Sebastian Montalvo M3 Aerospace Sebastian Montalvo on X Sebastian Montalvo on LinkedIn [email protected]

Gavin Giguere went from zero to a running machine shop in a matter of months. A conversation with a childhood friend about wanting his own shop, an LLC filed two weeks later, then five weeks of gutting and renovating a building while two new machines landed on the floor. His first order shipped on time, and so has every order since. What I wanted out of this conversation was the whole startup sequence, not the highlight reel. Gavin joined the NTMA before he had machines. He had five committed customers and letters of intent before he had machines. He ran an ERP from day one because he didn't want to backtrack out of spreadsheets later. He wrote a quality manual and an employee handbook before he had a payroll to apply them to. Most first time owners build those systems after the pain shows up. Gavin built them first. There's a buying side to the story too. A Facebook Marketplace trip that was supposed to be one Bridgeport ended with eight machines, and the tooling and inspection gear in that deal has been worth more to him day to day than the iron. If you're running a small shop, there's a real lesson in there about what the stuff you've accumulated over the years is actually worth, and what happens to it if you never write it down. The startup story doesn't end when the doors open. Gavin would hire two people today if he could find them. He's been at it for two months, on LinkedIn, on Indeed, with his partner helping, offering full benefits, and he's already had a candidate accept an offer and then take a counter from their current employer. Meanwhile he's running both machines himself, quoting at night and on Saturdays, and turning away work he can win but can't produce. He thinks he could double revenue if he could staff up. What's Covered in this Episode (0:00) Gavin would hire two people today if he could find them (3:53) How the NTMA brought us together and why joining was Gavin's first move (4:38) Picking trade school in eighth grade and getting the town to pay for it (6:27) Gavin's career trajectory from running manual mills to Director of Operations and Business Development (15:53) Why you can't sleep on the Hennig WorkFlow Automation System (16:44) How Gavin turns tooling reps and vendors into actual relationships (19:21) Launching a machine shop and buying his first two machines (23:37) Why we created (and why you should use) Hire MFG Leaders (24:06) Gutting the building and getting machines on the floor in five weeks (25:50) A Facebook Marketplace Bridgeport that turned into eight machines (26:48) Why the tooling and inspection gear beat the iron in that deal (28:30) The thousands of small shops that are worth nothing without their owner (30:20) Mike Payne's lesson on itemizing every asset in your shop (32:02) Why we love SMW Autoblok workholding products  (33:16) Building the Reign Manufacturing name in public on LinkedIn (36:29) Using AI for business planning, billing rates, and an employee handbook (37:57) Getting machines running, setting up automation, and fulfilling orders (41:24) Running an ERP from day one instead of spreadsheets (42:24) Splitting the day between running the business and running parts (45:24) Two months of recruiting, one counter offer, and still no hire (49:18) Turning away work and what a robot arm or two hires would unlock Resources Mentioned Hennig Workflow Automation System Hire MFG Leaders SMW Autoblok Reign Manufacturing NTMA Connect with Gavin Giguere Reign Manufacturing Connect on LinkedIn Gavin Giguere by email: [email protected]

Assa Gill didn't grow up dreaming about owning a machine shop. He came to Canada from a small village in Punjab, discovered CNC machining through a college course, and spent nearly nine years developing his skills on the shop floor. But the idea of building something of his own never went away. That idea became real when Assa bought his first CNC mill—before he had a building, a customer, or even a registered business. He started running jobs during evenings and weekends, gradually built a reputation, and eventually left his full-time job to focus on Rise Machine Works. Today, the shop has four CNC machines, an automated saw, its first full-time employee, and more growth on the horizon. But rapid growth came at a cost. After a year of long days and trying to handle everything himself, Assa realized that working harder wasn't going to build the company he wanted. Reading The E-Myth Revisited helped him begin documenting processes, defining roles, delegating work, and creating a business that wouldn't always depend entirely on him. In this episode, Assa shares the realities of starting with limited resources, earning customers through relationships and quick turnarounds, protecting cash flow, and building systems early. We also discuss the major opportunity that could take Rise into its next stage—and why machining ability alone isn't enough to create a sustainable machine shop. What's Covered in this Episode (0:00) Why the cheapest quote never keeps a customer, and what does (1:39) Assa Gill's story: From a village in Punjab to rural Manitoba (5:50) Nine years at a local manufacturer, running programming and two departments (8:25) Learn how DN Solutions can take your shop to the next level (9:38) Starting his own shop: buying a machine and getting his first customers (14:24) Quitting the day job, going from one machine to five, and making his first hire (16:58) The MakingChips machine giveaway with DN Solutions and Kennametal (17:43) Finding customers in a town of 600, and the LinkedIn message that turned into a contract (19:49) Dropping everything when a customer's line is down: why relationships outlast price (22:21) Adding two DN Solutions lathes at six months, then an Okuma mill as a backup (25:37) Running four CNCs off a 400 amp phase converter and outgrowing the building (26:12) Ground Control: automated workflows for aerospace and defense manufacturers (26:53) Reading The E-Myth in year one, and building the franchise prototype early (29:40) Acquiring a 20 year old cylinder manufacturer with two business partners (30:54) Why 15,000 square feet at 25K a month didn't pencil out (33:25) The shop owner who told him to read The E-Myth—and the call three years later (37:10) How an org chart sets a vision instead of just a reporting structure (39:33) Strategies from my book: "Precision Manufacturing, Precision Business."  (40:58) Managing growth, guarding cashflow, and the 20 hour days he doesn't want back (41:52) The biggest challenges that Assa's worked through and overcome (47:00) Assa's message to anyone sitting on the idea of starting a shop Resources Mentioned Rise Machine Works DN Solutions MakingChips Machine Giveaway Kennametal IMTS Ground Control The E-Myth Precision Manufacturing, Precision Business by Paul Van Metre Connect with Assa Gill Rise Machine Works [email protected]

Alex Fitzgerald got the keys to his first factory on January 6, 2025. Eighteen months later Isembard has 14 factories across the US, the UK, France and Germany, just under 100 people, and a business model nobody in this industry has run at scale. Ten of those factories he doesn't own. They belong to franchisees. The franchise piece is the part I keep turning over. Before he started, Alex went through the McDonald's franchisee process himself, worked in a restaurant, got all the way to an interview with the chief restaurant officer for the UK. He doesn't look at McDonald's and see a burger business. He sees heat treatment and assembly, run to the same SOPs in every location, for a customer who knows exactly what he's getting. That's the bet. Build the systems once, then hand them to people who own their own shops. I gave a talk at the Top Shops Conference back in 2017 arguing something close to this. Even if you never open a second location, run your shop as if there's one a thousand miles away that you'll never visit. If it only works because you're standing in it, it doesn't really work. Most shops fail that test, and Alex named the reason. Too much of the business lives in the owner's head. We get into the practical side too. How he found his first four people, why he spends about half his week hunting for the next one, the hiring process that ends with a candidate standing in front of the entire company, how work gets funneled across 14 sites, and the two setbacks that actually hurt, an AS9100D audit and a machine crash. You may never franchise your shop. But the systems thinking here is 10% worth the hour. What's Covered in this Episode (0:00) Learn more about Alex Fitzgerald and his journey to Isembard (4:24) What Isembard makes in 14 factories (and the franchise model behind the growth) (7:39) The two books that made him care about manufacturing and the manual mill course that sealed it (9:56) The MakingChips machine giveaway with DN Solutions and Kennametal (10:41) Sourcing locations, hiring great people, and finding customers (14:57) Sean in Exeter, from a LinkedIn DM to a live factory in under 90 days (17:09) Justin, the Green Beret who ran a Chick-fil-A, and the first US factory in Dallas Fort Worth (18:52) The two kinds of franchisee, new builds and conversions, and what they screen for (21:55) Take your shop to the next level with DN Solutions + automation (23:07) Building a business development team that goes and gets demand instead of waiting for it (26:39) How the SOPs got written, and making the happy path the only path (28:16) My 2017 Top Shops talk on shop franchising, and why consistency is the product (29:46) The real problem with most shops—everything lives in the owner's head (32:16) How they've been able to hire 100 people in 18 months (35:41) Kennametal's Next Level Shop at IMTS 2026 (37:13) Narrowing down machines to purchase versus work they're winning (38:31) The two setbacks that stuck: The AS9100D audit and the machine crashes (40:58) Map the employee journey like a customer journey—including the way people leave (44:21) How Alex funded this franchising venture with investors (45:54) How work gets funneled across the network and what a franchisee does with overflow (48:00) The franchisee conference Alex launched for training  (50:09) Vibe coded internal tools and hiring software people from outside manufacturing Resources Mentioned Isembard MakingChips Machine Giveaway DN Solutions Kennametal IMTS Freedom's Forge Material World by Ed Conway The E-Myth Manufacturing Technology Centre Connect with Alexander Fitzgerald Isembard Connect on LinkedIn Mention mastery2026 for an exclusive discount

Wil Jorgensen started a machine shop at 22 with a $4,000 screw machine he found on Craigslist. He's 26 now, running Evolution CNC in Wenatchee, Washington, with seven people and a pallet automated 5-axis machine that runs close to around the clock. What makes this conversation worth your time isn't the growth curve though. It's how he thinks. Wil and his team wrote a four page manifesto before they made the big bets. Not a business plan, an emotional document about what would make betting their careers on this thing feel worthwhile. Then they bought a Matsuura MAM72 35 with 32 pallets when they had almost no money in the bank, overdrew the account by $4,000 to close it, and gave themselves about 30 days to make it work. It worked. Bookings went from $252,000 in 2024 to $1.1 million in 2025, and they're pushing toward $2 million this year. His advice on automation is blunt. Don't wait until you think you can afford it. The smaller the shop, the more automation you should have. The part that stuck with me most is the promise Wil makes to everyone he hires. He will not be angry. He spent a stretch of his early twenties running on anger and determination, and then decided he didn't have time for it. If one of his guys scraps $25,000 in parts and Wil stays calm, nobody else in the building gets to be angry either. That one decision shapes how the whole shop operates. There's a lot in here about buying machines you can't afford, cutting loose customers who don't pay, and getting out of your own people's way. If you're early in building a shop, or you're still touching everything yourself, this one will land. What's Covered in this Episode (0:00) The one promise Wil makes to everyone who works for him, he will not be angry (2:56) Evolution CNC today, and how a job at L.E. Wilson at 17 led to screw machines at Pacific Aerospace (5:33) The $4,000 Craigslist Citizen L16 that started the shop in December 2022 (6:29) Buying Evolution from his mentor Leonard, and working six months for free to do it (8:55) Cutting ties with every customer who didn't pay on time, and keeping the one who did (9:27) Hiring his old boss Ted Keyes, then Dale Siegel and Gerard McGlashan (11:39) IMTS Job Shops Workshop and Networking Reception on September 15 (12:16) Committing to 5-axis and automation before anyone on the team had seen a 5-axis machine (14:09) Todd Newhouse at Selway, and the Matsuura MAM 72-35 that was wildly out of their wheelhouse (15:38) Nobody checked whether the machine would fit through the door until the day before delivery (16:10) Going from a comfortable $2,000 Haas payment to one that could end the company (18:40) Cutting chips before the trainer arrived, and shipping a 100 piece order the week after (19:30) Why one Matsuura carries 60 to 70 percent of throughput across four machines (20:51) Running the Matsuura around the clock, with five hours of downtime over a full weekend (22:05) No credit line, running on cash, and 30 days of runway if the machine didn't work (23:34) Overdrawing the bank account by $4,000, and the four page manifesto behind the bet (27:25) Bookings from $252,000 in 2024 to $1.1 million in 2025, and the push toward $2 million (27:25) Hennig Workflow Automation System (31:51) Why he'd still start with an automated Haas if he were doing it over today (34:11) Turning down work, and the 30 inch ring he ran on a VF4 with the doors removed (38:35) The MakingChips machine giveaway with DN Solutions and Kennametal (41:55) George McCorley and Ty Neff, and trading a drill jig for installing airlines in Illinois (47:22) Everything I touch is bad, and learning to get out of his own team's way (56:44) The shift from running on anger to deciding he didn't have time for it (57:58) Why Gerard pushed him to stop working weekends, and what didn't break when he did Resources Mentioned IMTS Hennig Workflow Automation System MakingChips Machine Giveaway Matsuura USA Mastercam Renishaw REVO Lights Out podcast Connect with Wil Jorgensen Connect on LinkedIn Evolution CNC