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My guest on today’s show is Kris Fugate, President of Revolution Machine Works, a prominent rotary transfer machine rebuilder, specializing in Hydromats. Hydromats can seem strange and overwhelming to those unfamiliar with them. Some say they their circular shape with 12 or 16 work stations reminds them of a UFO, and the machines can crank out complex turned parts like nothing else out there. ************* Listen on your favorite podcast app using pod.link.     .   View the podcast at the bottom of this post or on our YouTube Channel. Follow us on Social and never miss an update! Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/swarfcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/swarfcast/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/todays-machining-world Twitter: https://twitter.com/tmwswarfblog ************* Link to Graff-Pinkert’s Acquisitions and Sales promotion! ************* Interview Highlights How Rotary Transfers Work Kris started the interview explaining how rotary transfer machines, particularly Hydromats, function and why they are such unique productive machines. How is it possible that parts which require several multi-spindle screw machines, or have cycle times of 2 minutes on a CNC lathe, can run complete on a Hydromat in 20 seconds? Most Hydromats are configured in a rotary dial-like shape. Unlike on a screw machine, in which the bar of material rotates and the tools are stationary, on a Hydromat the bar remains stationary and the tools rotate. Each station (unit) of the transfer machine functions like a CNC lathe or CNC mill. Units can do work such as turning, threading, milling etc. Each station machines one operation and then transfers the part to the next station for the next operation.  Advantages of Hydromats over other Turning Machines Hydromats have individual feeds and speeds in each station, so they aren’t held captive to the slowest operation, such as on an Acme-Gridley or other traditional multi-spindle screw machine. They usually come equipped with an inverting unit, which removes a part from a collet, rotates it and places it back in the collet so it can be machined from the other side. This feature makes Hydromats ideal for machining double sided fittings.  Unlike a lot of other rotary transfer machines, which are set up with the stations vertically arranged in the trunnion style that resembles a Ferris wheel, most Hydromats are set up horizontally, more like a carousel. This enables modular units that can be easily swapped, making easy, quick changeovers.  Also, Hydromats are designed with a hirth ring coupling, which enables them to maintain tight tolerances part after part.  Revolution Machine Works Kris’s company, Revolution Machine Works, services and sells refurbished and rebuilt turnkey Hydromats, and also supplies Hydromat spare parts. They often do entire overhauls on the machines, stripping them down to the casting. They rebuild units, and equip the machines with new Fanuc controls. While the Hydromats that Revolution provides are the non-CNC hydraulic generation, the company sometimes equips the machines with individual CNC units made by the Italian rotary transfer machine company DM2. Revolution Machine Works also distributes new DM2 machines in the U.S. Hydromats are Tough Business Since I went into the used machinery business over a decade ago, I’ve spent a lot of time learning about Hydromat rotary transfer machines. I’ve traveled to Germany, Italy, Switzerland and Norway to find them because you can make a nice buck if you find the right customer. Still, it’s always seemed like we had to have 10 interested customers to sell one Hydromat. It can get frustrating watching the machines sit in the Graff-Pinkert warehouse for years. Why do customers hesitate to buy these machines that can crank out great parts by the millions. Perhaps its because they often cost a few hundred thousand dollars, and then a bunch more money to set up. Kris could relate to my experience. A rebuilt, turnkey Hydromat, has double or triple the price tag of one that Graff-Pinkert would sell, and the customers expect considerable service.  In the interview, Kris pointed out a lot of the other challenges Hydromat customers face. The machines take up a lot of floor space—perhaps large enough to fit three CNC machines. They require at least one expert to keep them running correctly, and it can take six months to a year to train a Hydromat operator. Kris says he and colleagues often joke that they picked the hardest way to make money. We both agreed that it’s much easier to sell a Hydromat to someone who already has them. They have units on the shelf, expertise, comfort, and enough work for the machines.  Yet Kris says his work is most rewarding when he is able to get a new client into the Hydromat business. A Hydromat can be a game changer for a company in the high volume parts business, yet a purchase comes with significant risk. Years ago, he ran Hydromats in his family’s machining company D & S Machine Pts. He says he can still remember how it felt when the company paid over a million dollars to buy its first new Hydromat, its biggest capital investment at the time. I can tell that being able to put himself in the shoes of his customers is helpful for Kris to sell machines, but more importantly, it’s clear that it gives him a sense of purpose. Question: Do you prefer to buy, used, rebuilt, or brand new machine tools?

Auctions are always on our mind at Graff-Pinkert. Since Internet bidding became ubiquitous in the last 15 years they’ve become more of a challenge for dealers like us to capitalize on. But sometimes you still can still find a hell of a deal. In today’s episode we’re going to discuss how. If you like this episode check out Part II! Today’s episode is Part I of a two part interview with Robert Levy, President of Robert Levy Associates. Robert has been an industrial auctioneer for 44 years and knows more about the auction business than anyone I’ve met. Auctions are fascinating and sometimes mysterious to me, so my goal in this interview was to get a glimpse into the head of a person masterminding these events. We first interviewed Robert back in 2018, our sixth podcast ever. After three and a half years and 139 episodes, it’s obvious that the used machinery market and the auction world have changed. Robert hasn’t been on the live auction stand in two years, that’s after over 40 previous years when he often averaged doing two live sales per week. Scroll down to read more and listen to the podcast. Or listen on your phone with Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite app.     Find us on Social: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/swarfcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/swarfcast/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/todays-machining-world/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/tmwswarfblog Main Points When I spoke to him last Friday, Robert had just finished a successful online-only sale of Duffin Manufacturing, in which he partnered with Miedema’s Orbitbid. The sale was a sign of the times. People bid from the comfort of their living rooms, rather than brave COVID-19 and Ohio in January. Multi-spindle New Britains and Acme-Gridleys sold for half the price of Winter thread rolling attachments. On other hand, two 10-year-old OKUMA CNC lathes and two late model Tsugamis brought over $500,000. Robert started the interview telling me about his father’s auction company, Norman Levy Associates, founded in 1951. Robert says his father, Norman, cleaned up the industrial auction business, which was marred by corruption. Norman wanted to create an auction experience where regular people had a chance at getting a bargain and where the auction process was considered a respectable way for legitimate companies to turn equipment into cash.  Robert and his brother went into the auction business in the ’80s and built the family’s company into a global enterprise. Robert admits that back in those days, auctions were often dominated by dealers, like my company, Graff-Pinkert, who knew where all the sales were and had more ability to travel then many endusers.  In the late ‘90s, with advent of the Internet, the auction world was turned on its head. Everyone with an eBay account considered themselves an auctioneer. People from all over the world suddenly could bid simultaneously on a sale in a remote corner of the earth. Endusers everywhere could be instantaneously notified when new interesting equipment went up for sale.  Also, the resources necessary to become an industrial auctioneer became more accessible in the last 15-20 years. This led to many used machine tool dealers starting their own auction companies. Robert and other auctioneers often have told me that used machinery dealers who are also auctioneers run into conflicts of interest during sales. He believes that when bidders know a dealer is behind a sale, they don’t feel like they have a fair chance to get good deals, so the sale suffers. I understand the theory, but as a dealer myself, I’ve often wondered if this is just a case of auctioneers trying to hold onto their turf. I understand the temptation of my peers to be both dealers and auctioneers. If Graff-Pinkert were to find a company that wanted to sell its assets and we had the resources to organize and advertise a sale, why would we want to give a piece of the action to someone else? Robert admitted to me that he could understand where I was coming from, and I will admit that Graff-Pinkert has been quite successful partnering with auctioneers, who have expertise, resources, and infrastructure that allow us to focus on what we do best. It’s beautiful to observe someone so passionate about their craft, like Robert. I can spot a little smile when he talks about being on the stand, where he lit up shops for over 40 years. He says he sees himself as a kind of engineer when he makes a deal with a client and then conducts the actual auction. The night before a sale, he walks the shop, scoping it out, so he will be ready when he needs to improvise, perhaps combining items or changing the order of lots if he needs to shift the momentum of bidding. Still, as much as he misses the stand, for the Duffin auction last week, Robert suggested to his client that the way to get the best return would be an online-only sale. What I found most interesting in this interview was how much purpose Robert says he has in his vocation. He told me several stories about how great he felt when helped good people maximize the value of their assets. Interestingly, he also talked about his desire to create fair opportunities for buyers. Balancing those two intentions seems like a difficult high wire act. Can an auctioneer really look out for both buyers and sellers?  You will have to tune into Part II of this podcast interview to judge for yourself. Question: What’s the best deal you ever got at an auction?

In honor of this weekend’s PMPA National Technical Conference, we’re resharing a podcast we did last year with Elliott May, engineer at BME in Port Huron, Michigan. BME builds original custom attachments for cam multi-spindles. They also rebuild Acme-Gridley screw machines. Elliott and I talked about a lot of fascinating things in this interview. How to keep old mechanical beasts relevant, getting young people into machining, and what it’s like to work closely everyday with your dad—who’s also the boss. Listen on your favorite podcast app using pod.link.     .   View the podcast on our YouTube Channel. Follow us on Social and never miss an update! Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/swarfcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/swarfcast/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/todays-machining-world Twitter: https://twitter.com/tmwswarfblog   ************* Link to Graff-Pinkert’s Acquisitions and Sales promotion! ************* Main Points Custom Attachments Elliott says that customers come to BME when they want to make a part on a cam screw machine but can’t figure out how to make it happen. The company offers an extensive line of proprietary attachments such air operated pickoff assemblies, rotary recess attachments, and synchronized slotting/milling attachments.  Elliott’s father, Brett, started BME 15 years ago. Nine years ago, Elliott started working at the company at age 14. His first job was cutting steel bars with a bandsaw. Later he worked in shipping and receiving, and then graduated to assembling attachments for multi-spindles. After studying engineering for a few years he began working in tandem with his father engineering attachments. Generally they are tasked with tweaking attachments already in their product line to suit the jobs of specific customers. A few times a year, they are called upon to engineer more novel devices, when a customer’s job calls for something special that they haven’t invented yet. Elliott says his father, Brett, is the “idea guy.” Brett analyzes what he wants to accomplish, then Elliott puts the idea down on paper (often CAD). They both are constantly putting their heads together to solve problems. It’s not uncommon for the two to stand at several whiteboards for long periods of time, brainstorming various drawings, trying to work out a solution. Elliott says they have a good chemistry at work, and over the years his role has changed as his knowledge and skills have grown. He admits that when he was younger and less experienced he may have been too overconfident in his ideas and he had to be put in his place. But nowadays, it sounds like he is genuinely challenging his dad in the engineering room. Acme Rebuilding  As a used machinery dealer myself, selling old cam multi-spindles, I grilled Elliott on a lot of the same questions we grapple with at Graff-Pinkert, our family business. I asked him if rebuilding old multi-spindles from the ground up, particularly Acmes, was a good business to be in. Graff-Pinkert still refurbishes some cam multi-spindles such as Wickmans and Davenports, but the work we do is much less comprehensive than that of BME. Also, we stay away from doing a lot of work on Acmes. The parts for Acmes can be very expensive, and the Acme rebuilding process is extremely labor intensive. For a rebuilt Acme, BME charges several hundred thousand dollars. The price depends a lot on what kind of turnkey the customer requires, if any. Elliott says the rebuilding and attachment businesses compliment each other. Often the rebuilt machines come equipped with BME’s proprietary attachments. He says he believes the cam multi-spindle business has a significant future because the machines are often still the best option for high volume jobs, assuming companies have the personnel to run them. Elliott May, Engineer at BME Young People in Machining  I asked Elliott why it’s a struggle to get young people to go into manufacturing and an even greater struggle to get them to run old multi-spindles. He says manufacturing has to shake off its bad reputation from the past, as having a top-down style of management that doesn’t care about the needs of employees. He suggests that if manufacturing employees could count on a clean, pleasant work environment, and felt supported and heard by management, more people would want to go into the field.  Working with His Dad I was very curious to get Elliott’s perspective about working closely with his father, as I also work with my father. I asked him if he felt like he was in a strange position as someone who is not the boss, but also not a normal employee either. It’s a position that I’ve often analyzed for over a decade.  Despite being only 23, Elliott says he has the advantage of having the longest tenure at BME of all its employees. He also says because of his experience and confidence in his ability, he earns the respect of his coworkers. I remarked to him during the interview that he often referred to his dad in the third person as “Brett,” rather than “my dad.” He says it’s a useful way to draw less attention to himself as the boss’s son, even if everybody knows he is. I personally have seldom used this strategy because referring to my dad as “Lloyd” just feels strange. But I admit that I sometimes refer to him as “the boss,” or some other euphemism, when I’m talking about him at work. It was Brett’s idea for me to ask Elliott to be on the podcast. I could genuinely feel his enthusiasm about the idea when he suggested it to me over the phone. I joked to him that it seemed like he was really “kvelling” about his son excelling in the business. He easily inferred the meaning of my Yiddish.  After interviewing both Brett and Elliott, it’s clear to me that both men share a passion for the nuts and bolts, and working together. Question: What’s something important you learned from your father?

As a machinery dealer, very often I hear customers lament that they can’t find good people to work in their machine shops. To this I say, perhaps they need to be more creative in hiring practices. Maybe they could offer better pay, more flexible hours, or some other benefits that competitors don’t provide. Or, maybe it’s time to have a more open mind to hiring groups who society often overlooks. On today’s podcast I interviewed Kathryn Shibelski. Kathryn is a second chance hiring advocate. Her firm, KES HR Consulting, works with companies who are considering hiring incarcerated or formerly incarcerated people. The job candidates have often been convicted for drug offenses, white collar crimes, sex crimes, and even murder.  Obviously, the idea of hiring people with criminal records could seem quite risky for a number of reasons, but according to Kathryn, second chance hires can thrive in the right work environment and even surpass the performance of employees with no criminal background. Listen with the player at the bottom of the page or at your favorite podcast app. Main Points Strengths of Formerly Incarcerated People In various areas around the United States there are programs in prisons that train inmates in trades such as machining.  Kathryn says formerly incarcerated people are often the most devoted, loyal employees. One reason for this is their gratitude for the opportunity just to have a job. Many ex-felons have few options for employment, so its extra important for them to hold onto their jobs, both for supporting themselves and to fulfill parole obligations.  Also, formerly incarcerated people often come into jobs with a unique set of skills. In prison people are forced to be resourceful. They have to solve daily practical problems using limited resources that people on the outside take for granted.   Other Reasons for Second Chance Hiring Companies who employ second chance hires can receive tax breaks through the work opportunity tax credit. Also, Federal bonding programs protect employers against losses caused by the fraudulent or dishonest acts of at-risk bonded employees. Finally, Kathryn encourages companies to hire second chance employees because it helps communities end a cycle of repeat offenses that often occur when people are released from prison.   Second Chance Hiring Obstacles One of Kathryn’s main services is helping companies with on-boarding second chance hires. Often formerly incarcerated people lack resources that many of us take for granted, such as a bank account, transportation to get to work, and a decent place to live. Companies who hire them have to be ready to help their new employees cope with these challenges. One of the greatest challenges for companies to successfully hire second chance employees is getting their current workforce to buy in. Kathryn is a proponent of employers keeping an open mind to people with all types of criminal backgrounds, but she says that every company needs to choose for themselves which candidates they feel comfortable working with. Everyone at a company has to be on board for second chance hiring, not just the top managers. Often at least one individual at a company has had a bad past experience with a certain type of offender, and this may cause it to rule out many candidates immediately. Another criterion companies need to consider is how long a candidate was incarcerated. People incarcerated for a decade or more often become institutionalized, making them prone to emotional issues. Kathryn admitted to me that even she has her own personal difficulties regarding certain types of offenders, but she still firmly believes that everyone deserves a second chance to turn their lives around.  When reasoning with people who are resistant to second chance hiring, Kathryn suggests to them to think about their own friends or relatives who have made past mistakes or had poor luck navigating the U.S. criminal system. Have they made it back successfully? To get in touch with Kathryn and learn more about her services, the best way is to go to her LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathrynshibelski/. Question: Would you consider hiring an ex-felon?

Our guest on today’s show is Steve Tamasi, owner and CEO of Boston Centerless, a distributor and manufacturer of ground bar stock. I asked Steve why there is such a shortage of raw materials for precision turning manufacturers and what companies can do to deal with this problem. We also talked about how the war in Ukraine is affecting metals prices. What is pig iron, anyway? Scroll down to read more and listen to the podcast. Or listen on your phone with Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite app. Main Points Boston Centerless Steve characterizes Boston Centerless as a value added distributor of precision bar materials, usually used in Swiss style screw machines. The company provides material for companies of all sizes from one employee to large OEMs. Boston Centerless provides bar for just about any material, but it specializes in stainless steel, titanium, aluminum, and red metals. The company even supplies plastic bars. A One Stop Shop for Material Steve says traditionally machining companies have bought material from a mill and then sent it to centerless grinding houses to be ground to their specifications. Boston Centerless has a different business model because it sources the ground material for customers. Customers don’t have to have negotiate with multiple mills to purchase their bars and don’t have to worry about quality control from several sources. The company secures and procures material and takes care of straightening, grinding, chamfering, cutting if necessary, heat treating, and non-destructive testing. Tamasi says Boston Centerless seeks to simplify customers’ workflow and guarantees the quality of the material. If customers have material issues they only need to call one party to solve their problems. History of Boston Centerless Steve’s father started a centerless grinding business in 1958 after immigrating from Italy in 1946. Eventually his customers started asking him if he could supply material, rather than just grinding the material they provided. This laid the foundation for Boston Centerless’s business model today. The company bought bars from a mill that were slightly oversized, which then were ground down to the manufacturers’ desired specs. In the 1960s and early 1970s manufacturers realized that if they ground the bars before machining, they could achieve much better tolerances. CNC Swiss machining emerged in the ‘70s. Steve joined his father in the business in the ‘80s after working for Agathon, a high-end grinder manufacturer from Switzerland. The Importance of High Quality Material Machining companies have to have both high quality material and it must be cut to the correct dimensional tolerances. Without both of these characteristics the quality of parts suffers. Steve says starting the machining process with quality ground bars can compensate for a lack of skilled labor or mediocre equipment. Why is there a material shortage? At the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, many of the major mills that produce high quality stainless steel and specialty metals let go of their most experienced people when demand fell. When demand later skyrocketed because manufacturers had gotten rid of excess inventory during the downturn, mills were caught off guard and unable to satisfy demand. They were called upon to produce more high quality material than in normal times but with fewer good people. Steve says it takes a long time to train people at the mills, and it is even difficult to attract unskilled labor right now. Constrained capacity is the reason for the material shortage, not a bottleneck at the ports. Right now, companies have to order certain materials 12-15 months out. Pre-pandemic material orders typically were six months out. Lead times are also being exacerbated by panic buying as companies want to insure they have material in the future, even when they don’t have the current work. Advice for Dealing with the Material Shortage Steve advises manufacturers to take a longer view of their businesses. They should communicate with customers that they need to project 12 months out. They also should go to suppliers to find out what their time frame is and then communicate that information with customers. Boston Centerless can suggest alternative materials to use if customers provide them characteristics of the materials they need. Its experience and vast network of mills gives Boston Centerless as a good a chance as any source to find a supplier because they know so many different suppliers. They also have the ability to do spot buys from multiple sources. Effects of the War in Ukraine on Material Supply Currently there is a world shortage of pig iron, an essential ingredient in steel production. Ukraine and Russia happen to be two of the world’s largest suppliers for the natural resource. Scrap metal is an alternative to pig iron, which is causing scrap prices rise. (According to Wikipedia, pig iron, also known as crude iron, gets its name because the traditional shape of the molds used for pig iron ingots is a branching structure formed in sand, with many individual ingots at right angles to a central channel or “runner.” They resemble a litter of piglets being nursed by a sow.) Many of the raw materials to make titanium comes from Russia. Nickel is another element abundant in Russia. It is important in stainless steel production and other alloys for machining. It is also a prime component for lithium ion batteries. Question: How are you dealing with the raw material shortage?

For today’s podcast, I decided it was a good time for us to reflect on our used machinery business so far in 2021. It’s been an interesting and profitable nine months for Graff-Pinkert, so we had plenty to talk about—enough to stretch it into a double episode. Also, I was having trouble finding a new guest I wanted to interview.  Scroll down to read more and listen to the podcast. Or listen on your phone with Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite app. Main Points Lloyd says the word “rebound” is the first thing that comes to his mind when he thinks about Graff-Pinkert’s business in 2021. In 2020, the pandemic threw a wrench into the used machine tool business, putting Graff-Pinkert in survival mode. The only constant work machining companies seemed to be doing was supplying parts for guns and ventilators. However, by September of 2020, most shops were off and running again. Yet still, they were often too indecisive to purchase many machine tools. The 2020 contested election, which concluded with an incoming Democratic president and congress, caused machining companies to remain uncertain about the future. Lloyd says Graff-Pinkert’s first quarter of 2021 started relatively slow, but the momentum of the business accelerated in February and March. In the second quarter, business was excellent, while in the third quarter it has softened a bit. Perhaps there is some new indecisiveness in the market due to the resurgence of Covid-19.   Noah questions Lloyd’s theory that Graff-Pinkert’s business success is directly connected to various market factors. He makes the case that a string of a few great machinery deals can make a fantastic month. He suggests that success is not reliant on all customers doing well, just the right ones doing well. However, Lloyd contends that confidence in the economy can tip indecisive customers one way or the other—if they will buy a machine or stand pat. Both agree they are often baffled when customers don’t purchase equipment that seems like a small investment with a huge upside. Lloyd says that Graff-Pinkert’s Wickman spare parts business has been weak in 2021 in comparison to its relative success in 2020. He theorizes that lately shops are replacing their multi-spindles with CNC Swiss machines because they don’t have the people to run the old equipment.  Noah points out that Graff-Pinkert has done well in 2021 selling older cam multi-spindles. However, the majority of those machines were sold to plants in Mexico that have the personnel to run them. Graff-Pinkert has also done well selling cam multi-spindles because most used machinery dealers are afraid to spec on them. Lloyd says he is willing to take a chance on old cam multi-spindles that he knows he might end up scrapping because he can purchase them with a modest investment. Lloyd and Noah have observed that more customers lately are choosing to buy new machines rather than used ones. They hypothesize this trend is due to the technical service and warrantees new machine tool builders provide. Noah asks Lloyd what excites him most about the used machinery business. Lloyd says that the challenge of making deals is the reason he went into the business and the reason he has stayed in the business a half century. He says he loves the way it is fueled by serendipity and connecting the dots to create deals. He also admits to enjoying the gambling aspects of the business, particularly placing contrarian bets on equipment others overlook. Both he and Noah say that one of their favorite parts of the business is getting to work alongside each other.  Question: Has your business followed a similar pattern this year to that of Graff-Pinkert?

Today’s show is the first episode in our new season about hiring and retaining good employees in machining companies. Our guest is Scott Eighmy, co-owner and CEO of American Turned Products, a medium-sized precision machining company in Erie, Pennsylvania. Scott says his company is struggling like many manufacturing businesses right now to hire new good employees, so he needs to get the most out of the people he already has. He says small acts of recognition and making employees feel heard is key to maintaining a happy and productive workforce. Scroll down to listen to the podcast. Or listen on your phone with Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite app. Key Takeaways From the Interview  Background of American Turned Products American Turned Products (ATP) employs a little under 100 people. It serves a variety of industries such as automotive, appliance, military, and hydraulics, primarily focusing on high volumes—jobs with quantities of hundreds of thousands or millions of parts. To produce the large quantities of precision turned parts the company has many EPIC CNC Hydromats and INDEX CNC multi-spindles. The the city of Erie and its surrounding areas supply ATP with a population of around 250,000 as a source for employees. Erie has a long history of heavy industry, its educational system is solid, and the cost of living is relatively low. A person can purchase a nice house there for $120,000.  Wages at ATP range from $12 per hour for new workers to $24+ on the higher end. Most of the hourly workers at the company start at the bottom and are trained in-house.  Today’s Difficult Labor Market Scott says the current tight labor market has been challenging for ATP. He says the precision machining business is hot right now, but potential workers don’t have enough incentive to get jobs while they can still receive the generous unemployment benefits brought about by the COVID-19 crisis. Scott says he hopes Pennsylvania will soon stop taking the government subsidies that fund the special unemployment benefits, as several other states have recently done.  In typical times, ATP finds new employees by using temp agencies, but right now there are no temps available. The company also tries to find new employees using social media such as Facebook and LinkedIn, but that has also not yielded great results. Culture of Employee Engagement Scott says the millennial employees at ATP often ask why they have to do certain things, rather than simply accepting orders. The company tries to show them respect by allowing employees to ask questions in meetings and giving them straight answers. For instance, if management asks employees to prepare equipment to be sold, sometimes people ask why the company is selling it. Then managers do their best to explain why the change is necessary.  ATP wants its hourly employees to understand the purpose of their work, so the company often sends them to visit customers. Also, when customers come to visit the company, shop employees give them the tour, rather than the managers. Scott says, “The more employees understand what is important to the customer, the better the product the customer receives.” Making Employees Feel Valued Scott says ATP’s management philosophy is to show its people it respects and values them. It’s not uncommon for the company to have small celebrations, like a pizza party for a team that succeeds in setting up a challenging part. He also says the company demonstrates how much it cares about its people by constantly emphasizing the importance of safety. Management has daily meetings with employees on every shift, and the first topic they go over are safety issues in the plant. In addition to preventing accidents, Scott says it demonstrates to employees that the company cares about their wellbeing. He says if you demonstrate to people that you care and show optimism, people will be loyal and do good work. Question: Do people at your company communicate well?

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 that they were not compensated what they felt they deserved working in the machining industry.  The post has 53 comments so far (I’m usually lucky to get one). The big question is, are manufacturing jobs in the United States, machining jobs in particular, attractive enough to fill the labor shortage that everyone continues to cry about? I thought back to one of my favorite podcast interviews, in which I spoke to Adam Wiltsie of Vanamatic, a 3-generation screw machine shop in Delphos, Ohio. In the interview, Adam told me that Vanamatic does not have a talent shortage and enjoys incredible employee retention, in part due to innovative recruitment strategies and flexible schedules.  I don’t know what the company pays its employees, but Adam told me that when business came roaring back after the Covid-19 dive in 2020, Vanamatic raised wages $5 for all employees. I spoke with Adam yesterday and he said that employee retention is even better than it was two years ago. Even if you’ve memorized this story already, I recommend you check out the original blog and listen to the podcast. They’re good even a second time around! Listen with the player at the bottom of the page or at your favorite podcast app.                                                                                                  View the podcast our YouTube Channel. Follow us on Social and never miss an update! Facebook: https://lnkd.in/dB_nzFzt Instagram: https://lnkd.in/dcxjzVyw Twitter: https://lnkd.in/dDyT-c9h Original Blog After Graff-Pinkert sold a second used Lico CNC lathe to Vanamatic, a 3-generation screw machine shop in Delphos, Ohio, I had a great conversation with Adam Wiltsie, the company’s Director of Operations. At that moment, I was quite envious of Adam—I was sitting at my desk in my office, while he was outside on a beautiful July Friday afternoon, waiting in line his local ice cream institution Dairy Hut. Adam gets out of the office on Friday afternoons. He gets to tailor his work schedule, and contrary to what one might assume, this is not just a perk for members of the company’s leadership team. Vanamatic allows a flexible work schedule for all its 103 employees. Adam says this is a key reason why the company has not been suffering from a shortage of skilled people, that so many other manufacturing companies often complain about. In fact, 103 employees is a record number for the company, which happens to be located in a town of 6,000 people. Vanamatic was founded in 1953 by Adam’s grandfather in Delphos, Ohio. Today, the company is run by a leadership team made up of Adam, his brothers Scott and Jared, Steve Schroeder and Dave Ricker. The company makes parts for a variety of sectors including automotive, aerospace, fluid power, agriculture, construction, fittings, and refrigeration. The majority of its machines are 8-Spindle VNA Conomatics— 1-5/8” and 2-5/8” capacity. For those unfamiliar with Conomatics, or “Cones” as they’re often called, think of an ACME-GRIDLEY but heavier and a larger tool zone. Adam says the company loves the machines because “they can push feed rates like no other.” Cones aren’t built anymore so Vanamatic has its own rebuilding program for the machines. The company also has CNC turning centers, a few other brands of multi-spindles, and 10 Lico CNC lathes—picture a sexy, beefed up 11-axis CNC Brown & Sharpe.  Adam is 42 years old, with three kids. He says having kids influenced his management style because it made him realize that every person works differently. Vanamatic’s management philosophy takes into account that all of the company’s employees have different requirements to bring out their peak performance and make them happy. Treating every individual employee uniquely bucks the traditional collective style of management in manufacturing companies, which Vanamatic had employed for the majority of the company’s life. Adam Wiltsie, Director of Operations of Vanamatic A while back, Adam and his brother Scott, head of Human Resources, implemented a management strategy called Start, Stop, Improve. Every year, they sit with each individual employee and ask them what they would start, stop or improve on a company level, a department level and an individual level. In the process, they learned that many people at the company desired a better work-life balance. They realized that by implementing flexible hours they could improve the lives of employees who prefer to be with their families at different times of day. Flexible hours could also accommodate employees who have hobbies or outside projects they want to pursue. For most of Vanamatic’s existence, the company had a standard work week for every employee, of four 10-hour days and one 8-hour day. Fifteen years ago, the collective model was thrown out. Currently, all shop employees, aside from primary production operators, have the choice to work between 35 to 50 hours per week. Primary production operators can work 45 to 60 hours per week. Employees have the right to work within those ranges at their discretion without approval from supervisors. Every two weeks, the company takes a look at what work needs to be done and maps out a plan. Shop workers manage schedules amongst themselves to get the necessary work completed. In the past, some of Vanamatic’s customers came to the company and demanded it implement a policy making its people work a minimum of 56 to 60 hours per week, but it refused to change its policy. Adam says loyal, happy, skilled employees are the essential element to keep the company successful, so it can’t afford to alienate or lose them. They take precedence over an annoyed customer. Vanamatic’s management philosophy was a lifesaver in May of 2020, when its business fell 50%. The company gave its employees the choice to work 0 to 50 hours per week. It even laid off employees if they volunteered to be and then helped them sign up for unemployment benefits. When work came roaring back later in 2020, Vanamatic needed to get all of its people back fast. Instead of complaining about unfair competition against government assistance money, the company raised wages $5 above what workers were previously earning. Employees came back and felt valued. Now they are fueling Vanamatic to set a record pace for the company in 2021. Question: Are machining jobs in the United States attractive enough to fill the labor shortage that everyone continues to cry about?

In part 1 of my interview with Bill Cox, owner of Cox Manufacturing in San Antonio, Texas, Bill talked about the power of his company’s robust apprenticeship program. But how does Cox Manufacturing get so many employee candidates, while most machining companies are dying to get any job applicants? Answer—the company has built a strategic recruiting program. Scroll down to read more and listen to the podcast. Or listen on your phone with Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite app. Some of the company’s strategies for finding new employees are simple common sense, such as keeping good records of everyone who has applied to the company, which Bill says some companies actually fail to do. Cox Manufacturing also posts a large company sign advertising jobs available, which is visible from the highway to grab the attention of potential employees. The company also likes to find new employees via referrals from current employees who often bring in job candidates who fit the company’s culture. It offers bonuses to employees when their referrals remain at the company for one month, six months, and a year. Several years ago, Bill became the founding chair of an organization of manufacturers in his area, called the Alliance for Technology Education in Applied Math and Science (ATEAMS). Initially, the organization sponsored tours for students to visit the area’s manufacturing companies with the hope it would attract them to working in the manufacturing industry. After a short time, the organization realized that instead of giving tours to students, it was more effective to give tours to local high school teachers who could then promote careers in manufacturing to the students. Prior to COVID-19, the program had become so popular it had a waiting list. Bill says most of the teachers have never been inside a manufacturing facility before, so they often are amazed when they get tours of state of the art shops like his. I asked Bill if guidance counselors also come on the tours. He said unfortunately most of them have not been receptive to promoting careers in manufacturing but he hopes that will change one day. Bill said one of his employees who surprised him the most was a middle-aged woman who prior to working at Cox Manufacturing had spent many years in the health care field. She started at the company deburring and inspecting parts but then applied to its apprenticeship program. He said the company was hesitant to hire her because in the past they have not had the most success hiring people trained in other fields, but she persisted, so the company gave her a shot. As an apprentice she excelled and progressed much faster than a lot of her younger male peers. In 90 days she was setting up CNC machines.  Bill remains wary of people already making good money in other careers who apply to work at his company. In the past, the company invested in several employees who stayed there a little while, but left when more lucrative opportunities became available. Cox Manufacturing has a policy of not admitting candidates to its apprenticeship program if they are fully trained in a field where they can make more money and jobs are available. The aerospace industry often has a lot of layoffs, so in the past, aircraft mechanics came to work at Cox Manufacturing but then left when their more lucrative previous jobs again became available. The company has had similar experiences with employees who previously worked in the oil industry.  Bill’s advice for manufacturing companies who want to build their workforce is to think about their long term future. He says companies should develop in-house training programs and start recruiting young people even when they don’t need new employees. They should not hire employees out of desperation who are not compatible with a long term success strategy. As I do with many guests, I asked Bill what he thinks of when hears the word “happiness.” He told me happiness means fulfilling one’s God given purpose, which is why when his company hires a person it tries to make sure the job is aligned with who they are and who they are designed to be. Question: How do you make sure employees stay long term?

Unlike the majority of machining companies right now, struggling to find enough skilled people to fulfill demand, Cox Manufacturing in San Antonio, Texas, boasts a continuous pipeline of new talent. In fact, Bill Cox, the company’s owner, says right now the company has a stack of applications for shop apprenticeships, of which he will pick an average of one for every 50 candidates. Cox Manufacturing specializes in producing high volumes of turned parts. I’ve been to his facility several times and can vouch that it’s a treasure trove of some of the best European multi-spindle screw machines, CNC Swiss, and CNC turning centers. The company churns out 1.5 million parts every week, supplying sectors such as aerospace, firearms, defense, automotive and trucking, medical devices, and electronics. Scroll down to read more and listen to the podcast. Or listen on your phone with Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite app. Bill’s father, William Cox Sr., started Cox Manufacturing 65 years ago. When he suffered a fatal heart attack when Bill was 12 years old, Bill’s mother took the lead of the company. After Bill attended college for a few years he came back to run the company with his mother. At that time the company had 18 employees, today, 45 years later, it has 185.  Twelve years ago, Cox Manufacturing put together an apprenticeship program that it registered with the Department of Labor. The program is made up of an education curriculum, much of it taken from the online platform Tooling U-SME, along with some proprietary content created by Cox Manufacturing. The other component of the apprenticeship program is “on the job training,” which today people prefer to call “on the job learning” or OJL. Cox Manufacturing’s apprenticeship program spans over three years. Each year the company maps out requirements for the OJL and academic components it chooses from courses offered by Tooling U-SME. The company has implemented software to closely track the apprentices’ skillset progress. Training coordinators and supervisors facilitate the training. Every time employees graduate from a year in the apprenticeship program they get a pay bump and a bonus week of vacation. Apprentices training to run CNC machines start at a wage of $15 per hour, while those training on cam multi-spindles start at $16 an hour. Bill says the company pays apprentices more money to learn cam multi-spindles because the machines are more complicated and less “sexy” than CNC machines. Even with the higher starting wage, it is a challenge for Cox Manufacturing to get people to choose the path of training on the cam machines. Bill says some people try to learn the cam machines but can’t get get the hang of them, yet then they try to work on CNC machines and excel. I asked Bill if the company likes to cross train people to run both cam and CNC machines. He said it is not the company’s normal policy. He likens running different types of machines to playing both the violin and the saxophone. But, he admits, anybody who can run a cam multi-spindle can run a CNC, just not always the opposite.   Apprentice candidates visit Cox Manufacturing three times before they are chosen for the apprenticeship program. They have to take a math test, which many people fail. It consists of 12 questions, including 2-place decimal addition and subtraction, along with three word problems. Candidates are also given an AcuMax Index personality profile to predict if they will work well in the company’s environment. Bill says in as few as 90 days apprentices can do basic setups on a 5-axis Swiss machine. They will know metrology, how to read blue prints, change tools, make offsets, and install tooling. However, 90 days is not enough time for apprentices to learn to set up cam multi-spindles because the machines have no computers to make automatic adjustments and have so many more moving parts.  Bill says that low wages is one contributing factor in young people not choosing manufacturing as a career, but the greatest reason for the shortage of skilled workers in manufacturing is that businesses haven’t invested enough in the development of their workforces. Question: Are cam screw machines sexy or ugly?

Today’s show is the first episode of a multi-part series about how machining companies acquire new work.  Our guest is Federico Veneziano, CFO and COO of American Micro Products Inc., a precision machining company in Batavia, Ohio. Federico says one his key strategies for getting new customers is proving to them his company will minimize the problems that are bound to occur in most manufacturing jobs. Scroll down to read more and listen to the podcast, or listen with Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts or your favorite app. Main Points Federico talks about how the selling process in the machining business has changed in the last few years. He says there are fewer face-to-face meetings now, but he still prefers the traditional human touch. (3:20) Federico gives an overview of American Micro. The company is located in Batavia, Ohio, just outside of Cincinnati, and it was founded in 1957. It mostly focuses on turning, but also does milling. It makes parts for the automotive, aerospace, and defense sectors, along with a little bit of industrial and medical. American Micro’s workforce fluctuates between 150 and 200 people. It has also had a factory in China since 2005, with around 100 employees. (4:20) Federico came to the United States in 2004, working for the machine tool builder DMG. He did technical support and service, process engineering, and sales, which gained him a lot of knowledge of machining companies and cultures around the world. He worked on American Micro’s Gildemeister GMC35 CNC multi-spindles, which eventually led to him coming to work there. (6:40) Federico hates to say it, but aerospace is one of American Micro’s most significant markets, so it has been hit hard by the current troubles of the commercial aerospace industry. The company has had success doing specialized automotive parts such as fuel diesel components and parts for steering pumps. Defense is becoming one of the company’s most important sectors. He says the medical industry has been harder to penetrate because it requires a company to have established contacts already in the business. (8:20) Federico says one of American Micro’s strategies is to stay in markets it already knows well so it can provide good service to customers. The company uses databases and other resources to find potential customers and then contacts them via phone or email. If a job seems like it has potential, the company tries to set up a meeting to do a presentation, where sales representatives talk about the added value American Micro can provide beyond just price. Federico says he tries to identify potential customers’ pains and then come up with solutions to their problems. He says this is the key to getting new jobs. (10:30) Federico reiterates that it’s important to make a value proposition beyond a good price per part. He says the constant emphasis today of customers choosing venders exclusively on the basis of price is diluting the value of manufacturing. He says price pressure causes work to go overseas, which creates new complications that sometimes make parts more expensive than if they were made in the United States. He says it worries him particularly when some sectors move overseas, such as aerospace and defense because a drop in quality could have dangerous ramifications. (13:30) Federico says meeting customers in person is important for American Micro to get to know them and understand the problems they are dealing with.(15:35) Federico says it’s important for salespeople to have a technical understanding of jobs so they can set realistic expectations for customers. He says in the past there may have been enough margin that even if suppliers couldn’t reach their promised results, they could still meet their customers needs, but that usually isn’t possible nowadays. (16:40) Federico says in China getting work is an entirely different process than in the United States. It usually consists of an online bidding process. However, he says that model doesn’t necessarily apply to American Micro because foreign companies in China usually do work for other foreign companies, not Chinese companies. This enables some personal relationships. He says payment processes are totally different in China than in the United States. (19:00) Federico discusses the negotiation process for machining jobs. He says the process depends on whether a product is ongoing and established or if it is a new product. If the product is already being produced by someone else, a buyer will either offer an expected target price or they will ask the supplier to propose a price first to see if they can get a better deal. Federico says he thinks it’s best if the customer starts out by giving their target price because if the target price is dramatically different from what a supplier can offer it will be a waste of time to try to make a deal. Also, he says if everyone is pushing as hard as they can to get the best price possible it will hurt the market as a whole. Every deal will become based on price, rather than important value added services and longterm relationships. He says it can be a problem when traditional salespeople do the negotiating because their commission might be their only concern. (20:20) Federico says American Micro uses manufacturer’s reps, but in a controlled framework that has been quite successful for the company. Its manufacturer’s rep has technical knowledge and has an intimate relationship with the company. American Micro has an exclusive agreement with its manufacturer’s rep, so for a specific service or part he can only represent American Micro, rather than working for several companies. He says the exclusive relationship is necessary, otherwise the rep will become a quoting house where he has the power to choose between several companies who gets a job. He says traditionally a manufacturer’s rep receives 3-5% commission for a supplier or customer. Even after the manufacturer’s rep makes an introduction, American Micro still has to make its pitch to a customer to get the work. He says to him it’s more difficult to get new work than get a new supplier (23:30) Noah asks if American Micro prefers to buy equipment before the company has work for it or wait to acquire the work first and fill the need with a machine. Federico says it’s great if you can get jobs for equipment a company already has. He says if American Micro buys a machine for a specific job, it needs firm long-term agreements in place to insure the work for the machine. However, he admits it can still be risky, so it’s important to have knowledgeable people making deals, increasing the likelihood jobs will be executed. He says 15-20 years ago, long-term agreements were less common than today. (29:30) Federico projects 2021 to a be a decent year for American Micro, but it’s important to the company that aerospace makes a comeback. Based on the company’s market research he thinks in August the sector will ramp up. For other sectors he is bullish. He was surprised that automotive was not hurt significantly by the pandemic in 2020. (31:30) Federico says he thinks small and medium manufacturers should collaborate more, rather than always fighting for work. He says constantly fighting for work causes a lot of jobs to be decided only by price, which hurts the quality of parts in the overall market. He says companies should instead divide up work based on each company’s strengths, rather than every company trying to hoard all the jobs. (32:40) Question: Do you prefer to buy a machine before you have any work for it, or buy equipment only when you have a job for it?

It seems that today’s younger generations of workers, such as millennials, want to understand why they are instructed to do their jobs in a certain way more than their predecessors. Many of today’s employees are not content to just follow orders and take home a check. They want to feel invested in their work, they want it to mean something.  So we are featuring this classic Swarfcast episode. ********** Our guest on the podcast today is Reid Leland, founder and President of LeanWerks, a precision machining job shop in Ogden, Utah. Lean Works operates using open-book management, which means the company shares its financial information with all its employees on a regular basis. Reid says this transparent management style makes its employees aware of how their performance impacts the company’s success. They feel accountable to not only work hard but more intelligently, in a way that benefits the company the most. Reid learned about the open-book management approach at his previous company, Setpoint Engineered Systems. It was popularized by entrepreneur Jack Stack, author of the best selling book The Great Game of Business. Scroll down to read more and listen to the podcast. Or listen on your phone with Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite app. Main Points Employees Must Understand the Company’s Financial Score All employees at LeanWerks are required to complete a rigorous training program in which they learn how to understand income statements, balance sheets, and cashflow.  The object is to teach employees the ultimate financial score of whether the company is winning or losing. Open-book management is intended to illuminate the strategies and practices that make a company profitable and eliminate waste. For instance, at LeanWerks, shop employees might look at how many parts are being scrapped on a job and then study the balance sheet to understand how much the scrap impacts profitability. After analyzing the data, they might adapt some practices—not because they are told to do so from upper management, but because they understand and believe in what they are doing. Flat Organization With No Hierarchy Open-book management is based on the tenet that the intelligence of the group is better than the intelligence of any one individual. It also proposes that if everyone at a company shares information, the company will make better decisions. LeanWerks has weekly huddles in which its people discuss what’s going on at the company, what they need to fix, and what will happen if things don’t change. The company’s 35 employees all have the power to influence its decisions. This is advantageous because people working in various departments can contribute valuable perspectives that an upper management team might overlook.  Reid says he likes that transparency eliminates hierarchy and makes everybody accountable, including him. He is OK with the fact that if he makes mistakes they are out in the open for people to see and call him on. During the interview, I grilled Reid repeatedly about the obstacles open-book management could create. I asked him if he runs into the problem of having too many cooks in the kitchen who have conflicting ideas about how to direct the business. Surprisingly, he says the company does not waste a lot of time bickering over decisions.  Reid Leland, Founder and President of LeanWerks Psychic Ownership Every month, LeanWerks’ employees have the potential to receive monthly bonuses if the company has turned a profit. This gives them extra incentive to make the company succeed, but Reid says the inclusion of employees in the decision making process is a more significant element in making them feel invested in the company’s success. Reid says that LeanWerks’ people feel stress when the company is having a hard time and feel good when the company is doing well. He is proud to say that these emotional swings don’t only fall to him and his wife, who also manages the company. He says that during three financial crises the company faced in 2009, 2015, and 2020, open-book management was instrumental in the company’s survival. All of the company’s people taking ownership and feeling accountable enabled it to endure. They were adept at taking difficult steps when necessary. In the past, some talented employees left LeanWerks because they didn’t want to participate in open-book management. One talented machinist who quit lamented to Reid that his job at LeanWerks was the one job he had in his life where he would go home and worry. Reid says he is ok with missing out on some talented people who are not a good fit for his company. Talented employees are not enough for him, he wants partners. Question: Would open-book management work for you? Why?

I love this classic episode because it emphasizes how having fun with your product (or service) and feeling free to experiment with it can lead to success and happiness. Mike Taylor inquired on a Tornos GT26 Swiss lathe Graff-Pinkert had for sale. He told me that for him the machine would be like buying a new motorcycle. If he bought it, he would spend months learning how to use it himself before expecting to make any money with it, and it would be a lot of fun. If Mike buys the machine it will be used to make screws that go into a KeyBar, the product he has been selling since 2013. A KeyBar is an organizer for keys and other tools that fold out in a style similar to that of a Swiss Army knife. Some of the tools available include a screw driver, blade, bottle opener, or even a comb. They’re often made of titanium, featuring distinct textures and colorful designs. Scroll down to read more and listen to the podcast. Or listen on your phone with Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite app.   Before he started KeyBar, Mike had been a chief engineer for several hotels in Georgia. He had a decent sized staff working under him and had to carry around a lot of keys that constantly jangled wherever he walked. The loud keys tipped off his slacking staff as he approached, so he always found them working diligently. His noisy key problem had be solved. Mike is a knife guy. He won a pumpkin carving contest by carving a pumpkin under water. He was awarded a prize of $6,000 worth of knives and a trip to BLADE Show, the largest knife show in the world. At the show he was exposed to new machines, processes, materials and tools. When he got home he was inspired to create the first KeyBar—a stealth weapon to solve the problem of his slacking staff. Mike started making KeyBars by hand for friends, but eventually they became so popular he started a business selling them. For several years, all of his components were outsourced, but gradually he brought the production process in-house, purchasing equipment such as a laser engraver, waterjet, and Haas VF4. Throughout our interview, Mike kept telling me how much he was constantly learning and how learning fueled his business. That day alone, he had experimented with machining carbon fiber composites and learned to use a new printer for making labels. Mike has a small but excellent staff at his company, who he trusts to handle most of the production and busy work. This frees him up to learn about new processes and play with the shop’s equipment. Often he enjoys making things other than KeyBars. He showed me a skateboard he fabricated out of a 3/8” thick titanium billet plate. The skateboard has a honeycombed design made with a waterjet. It features knurled and milled textures. It’s laser engraved, flame anodized and electro anodized. Mike plans to bring it trade shows to start conversations with skateboarding enthusiasts. He said producing the skateboard pushed the limits of the machine tools in his shop, which gave him important insight into their strengths and limitations.  In my first conversation with Mike I asked him if a letter opener tool was available in a KeyBar—there wasn’t one. He told me that after our conversation he was going create one that day. One week later, on the day of our interview, the KeyBar website was offering a 100% titanium letter opener dubbed “The Noah.” It has a fleur de lis thumb tab and is available in Polished Titanium, Anodized Bronze and Radiant Teal.  I wonder what fun stuff he will make when he finally gets to take a new Swiss machine for a spin. Question: What would you make if you had free time to play with the machines in your shop?

With the latest news that unemployment is at its lowest in 54 years, we thought it was important to post this favorite episode about how to hire the employee who fits correctly for a specific position. Our guest on the podcast today is Brian Balasia, CEO and Co-Founder of TalentEi, a company that produces a software platform that matches employers and job seekers across a variety of sectors. Brian says the platform enables companies to hire superior people, more quickly, and at a better price than traditional hiring methods such as job descriptions and resumes. Scroll down to read more and listen to the podcast. Or listen on your phone with Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite app.       Find us on Social: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/swarfcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/swarfcast/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/todays-machining-world/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/tmwswarfblog Main Points TalentEi’s software platform surveys hiring managers, asking them what they are looking for in a particular role. In addition to the obvious information like how many years of experience a candidate should have, the system asks managers questions about the day to day experience and the particular tasks the job requires. An example question would be asking if candidates are expected to learn things on their own, or if will they be receiving continuous coaching and instruction.  When people apply for jobs on an employer’s website or on sites such as Indeed, their contact information goes into TalenEi’s database. Then TalentEi contacts the candidates and asks them to answer a series of questions tailored specifically for that position. After collecting data from employers and candidates TalentEi’s software places applicants into the spots where it feels they have the best chance to succeed at a company. It has the power to pinpoint positions at a company that management may have overlooked. It can even find job openings at different facilities if the company has multiple locations.  Brian says there is a lot of waste in a traditional hiring system. TalentEi sets out to eliminate the waste using a system with common characteristics to the Toyota production model. He says contrary to what tons of employers are saying right now, there actually are a lot of good job candidates out there, but they are being overlooked or falling through the cracks when there are a high number of applicants.  Brian Balasia, CEO and Co-Founder of TalentEi One type of waste TalentEi tries to limit Brian calls queueing waste. It occurs when a company receives an abundance of job candidates. If a company has 100 spots and 200 applicants, it ends up choosing candidates in the order they apply, plugging them into arbitrary roles at the company simply because they are vacant. This type of hiring neglects to understand applicants’ strengths and needs, which results in placing them into jobs where they are not suited or they will not enjoy. Many people who could have been successful hires for a certain occupation turn out to be failures just because they were placed in the wrong shift. Queuing waste also occurs when good people are skipped over because they were so far at the back of the line of candidates they never got a chance to be evaluated.  Employer bias is another cause of hiring waste that TalentEi tries to limit. It occurs when hirers come in with preconceived notions about why a candidate would or would not be a good fit for a company. Brian talks about one manufacturing company that decided they only wanted candidates with “prior manufacturing experience.” The problem was that there are so many different types of manufacturing companies and so many types of jobs in manufacturing companies. Many of the people the company hired because of their past manufacturing experience ended up being poor fits for their positions. Meanwhile, many qualified candidates who didn’t have past experience in manufacturing but could have been great fits in the company were passed over. Brian says it’s not uncommon for an employer to decide against interviewing a candidate simply because they were worried they couldn’t pronounce the candidate’s name correctly. The hirer, already bombarded with resumes, picks someone else to interview because it was hard to differentiate among any of the resumes in the first place.  Brian says placing job candidates in positions they enjoy is a key goal for TalentEi. The company has found that when employees enjoy what they do, they do good work and don’t leave. The objective is to place people in jobs that fit their needs and strengths as well as satisfy the requirements of the companies that are hiring. The software takes into account things such as working hours, commute length, if the job requires social skills, if it requires patience to do one thing repeatedly. Brian says the key to his company’s success is that it attempts to treat applicants as individuals and people, rather than commodities. Question: Are live job interviews unnecessary in your experience?

Nobody knows how the current tragic war in Ukraine will play out, but I hope that those listening to the second half of our interview with Dr. Andrew R. Thomas will get a little bit of new insight into how the conflict fits into the world’s energy economy. Andrew is an author and business professor at University of Akron. In 2018, he published a book called American Shale Energy and the Global Economy. He also published a book in 2014 called Geopolitics, Development and National Security, Romania and Moldova at the Crossroads. His latest book coming out in 2022, is about the Panama Canal, The Canal of Panama and Globalization: Growth and Challenges in the 21st Century. Scroll down to read more and listen to the podcast. Or listen on your phone with Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite app. Find us on Social: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/swarfcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/swarfcast/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/todays-machining-world/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/tmwswarfblog Main Points Where Ukraine fits into the current situation of Europe [02:17] Andrew points out that the Russia has been at war with Ukraine for eight years, starting with invading Crimea. The rest of the world did very little in response, partly because United States was already in Afghanistan and Iraq. The US imposed a few sanctions to appease the media and try to demonstrate it was doing something, but Russia never faced real consequences for its actions from the US or Europe. People didn’t realize what had been happening until Russia ratcheted up the violence in the last few weeks. What the Ukraine-Russia Issue means for Global Energy [03:54] Andrew says the war in Ukraine is going to put a lot more unpredictability into the world’s energy system. When nations do not buy Russian energy in order to punish Putin, it dramatically alters global energy production, pricing, and availability. In the past the variable in the energy economy was energy suppliers who refused to sell, but in the current situation we have energy consumers saying they are not going to buy.  Andrew says that companies cannot instantly start mining more oil and gas. It will take several quarters to “turn the spigot on.” Canada Mining for Oil and Gas in the Tar Sands [08:17] Before fracking took off in the United States, the Canadians had figured out how to extract oil and natural gas from tar sands. Tar sands contain a lot of energy, but extracting it is a very intensive and costly process. When oil prices were shooting up in the early 21st Century, processing oil from the tar sands made more sense. The Environmental Aspects Mining Tar Sands [08:51] A key issue with mining in the tar sands is that if it’s not managed properly the environmental damage can be huge. This makes it an expensive process. It requires a massive amount land, water, and labor, and can produce a lot of residue. Because we have been living in an era, starting with the fracking revolution, where the price of energy has been pretty low, mining in tar sands has not been that attractive. But if oil stays consistently at $120-$150 a barrel, there is a good chance for investment and activity going in that direction. Is Putin “putting the Soviet Union back together?” [10:10] Putin cannot to put the Soviet Union back together because that would involve many other states that are now in European Union and NATO. Currently, Russia is faced with several ongoing crises. One is a demographic challenge. The life expectancy in Russia is low, and Russians are not having many children.  Putin is on the defensive. Russia has a lot of territories to defend. With the expansion of NATO and Romania joining the European Union, those organizations push right to the boundaries of Ukraine, which historically has been a buffer for Russia. Putin views NATO’s expansion near Russia’s borders as an offensive gesture. He does not want to see military bases and nuclear missiles pointed at Russia from such a close range. This fear is similar to what the United States felt when missiles were pointed at it from Cuba in 1962. [12:55] Belarus is playing a very important role in facilitating the invasion of Ukraine. Russian troops have used Belarus to enter into Ukrainian territory. Rather than a reconstruction of the Soviet Union we are witnessing an alliance network in Eastern Europe, made up of Belarus, Russia, Moldova, and parts of Ukraine. This is a reconstitution of some elements of the Soviet state as it existed in that portion of the Black Sea region. Timing of the Invasion [13:28] It seems as though Putin timed the recent invasion carefully. The United States will not have reconstituted its military following the wars of Afghanistan and Iraq until 2028, according to the latest DOD estimate. Europe doesn’t want to get into a conflict. The United States does not want to send American soldiers anywhere to fight. Also, Andrew says that he does not think Russia would have invaded if it did not have China’s blessing. Russia needs China’s help to withstand the sanctions from Europe and the US.  The Panama Canal [17:48] The Panama canal was originally built to avoid developing a 2-ocean fleet navy. Yet, within 25 years after World War Two, the canal was rendered useless because US had created a multi-ocean fleet navy, and its ships were too big to fit through it. Eventually, President Carter gave the canal back to a dictatorial government of Panama, which the country has done a brilliant job running. Panama has made more money with the canal in the last 20 years than the US did in the entire time it ran it.  In 2006, Panama decided to invest billions of dollars, about 15% of the country’s GDP, to expand the canal to handle larger ships. This timed well with the fracking revolution in the US. The US can now send ships transporting liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Europe and Asia through the expanded canal. The canal is also being used for transporting agricultural goods to Asia from Argentina and Brazil.  America is reluctant to send troops around the world  [21:09] The United States has become incredibly reluctant to intervene worldwide at a national level. Most people agree that the US exited Afghanistan poorly, but at the same time most Americans are still glad that we left.  The nations of the world are realizing that the United States is not going to be the policemen of the world anymore, that the American people do not have the stomach to send their soldiers and their treasure to fight in faraway places. The US is spending less money on its global military, from 60% 30 years ago at the end of the cold war to around 40% today. Other countries are increasing their spending on their own defense because they know the US is not going to defend them. Andrew thinks we’re going to enter back into a period that will be much more dangerous, unpredictable, and violent. Has the Green Energy Movement reached its peak ? [26:07] Andrew says the European Union admitted it was impractical to reach its goal to sustain itself without fossil fuels in the coming decades when it quietly reclassified natural gas as a “renewable” in January. Learn more about Dr. Andrew R. Thomas at https://andrewrthomas.us/ Question: Have you donated to help Ukraine? If so, how have you done it?