In this episode, we explore the remarkable journey of American Flexible Products with their dynamic CEO, Carla Mathiason. Discover the pivotal moment in 2008 when the company embraced full employee ownership through an ESOP, unraveling the inner workings of share allocation and valuation.

Our guest today is Noah Graff, a third-generation, worldwide used machinery dealer at Graff-Pinkert & Co., and a self-described treasure hunter based outside of Chicago. Noah also hosts the popular podcast, "Swarfcast.”

In this episode, we introduce a mysterious guest who is currently navigating the complex process of acquiring a job shop. To protect their identity due to ongoing employment, our guest remains anonymous, but their experiences and wisdom are anything but hidden. Our guest initially set out to find a small shop, but soon expanded their search to larger ventures.

Len Morrissey is back again to discuss current trends in the banking world. Len spent many years as a loan officer at several Boston-area banks, before joining Jay at RAPID Manufacturing as the CFO. Most recently, Len co-founded and now runs a business loan underwriting practice: Morrissey Metcalfe and Associates.

In this episode, Bill Berrien, owner and CEO of Pindel Global Precision and Liberty Precision, shares his first-hand experience implementing the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC).

In this episode of The Pricing Series, Jay Jacobs and Jeff Gorman are joined by Justin Quinn: President at Focused on Machining. Justin is a previous guest on the show and long-time customer of Paperless Parts. Earlier this year at Paperless Parts' first-ever user conference, POWER 2023, Justin sat in on a presentation Jeff gave on the platform's Advanced Analytics. Lightbulbs went off, and Justin laid out his vision for a Pipeline Report. Jeff built the report for Justin, and within just a couple of weeks, Justin was able to make better decisions that drove his win rate up by 5%.

How are 3D printed sand molds and cores changing the metal casting industry? Brandon Lamoncha is the Director of Additive Manufacturing at Humtown: an organization first established by Brandon's grandfather as a pattern shop in 1959 that has since grown to become the industry’s first conventional sand core and mold manufacturer to commercialize 3D sand printing.

Jay sits down with Jesse Casto: owner of BetterCNC in Plano, TX. Spinning out of a legacy of machining, Jesse founded BetterCNC in 2021 on a mission to operate a new kind of machine shop; one that strives for continual improvement and never settles (hence the name "Better" CNC, and not "Best" CNC).

Mark Barglof is the President and owner of Kinetic Technologies, LLC: a design and fabrication shop just north of Algona, IA. After serving in the military and earning the U.S. Army Ranger Tab, Mark shifted career paths and dove into the world of manufacturing (he grew up the son of a job shop owner, so it wasn't his first rodeo).

Rafal Gliwiak, owner at Pro Fabricating Machining and Welding, joins us on this episode. Rafal’s journey embodies the entrepreneurial spirit in America. He shares how he got started, obstacles to growth and how he's learning and improving every day.

Lance Thrailkill is the third-generation owner and CEO of All Metals Fabricating located outside Dallas, Texas. All Metals vision statement is serving people with excellence and a goal of becoming the most automated shop in the world. Lance dives into all that they do for their employees and how the employees reciprocate.

In this episode, Jeff and Jay revisit the theme of seasonality in custom manufacturing. As manufacturing tends to trend busier this time of year Jeff and Jay explore strategies to use pricing to manage demand.

Jeff and Jay sit down with Nick Mosey of Moseys Production Machinist in Anaheim, California. Nick and Jay had a conversation a few weeks back about how to reduce accounts receivables, and after some great discussion, we agreed to have Nick come on the podcast so that some of his other questions could be captured for you. We touch upon a wide variety of topics, including how to prioritize payables, why you should always have a line of credit at a bank, even if you don't use it, and if you do, how to use it. How pricing algorithms can be designed to automatically adjust pricing for new prospects, why profits are essential for growth, and lots more.

James Fitch is the Vice President of Engineering at Nu-Way Industries, Inc., a leader in designing and fabricating precision metal products serving many industries worldwide. With a manufacturing career spanning five decades, James oversees Estimating, the Product Development Group, the Manufacturing Engineering Group, and the Prototype Shop from Nu-Way’s headquarters in Des Plaines, Illinois.  In this episode Jay and Jim sit down to dive deeper into his article "Six Tips for Facilitating Digital Transformation in Manufacturing" published in Paperless Parts Blog: In the Shop. Here we get a chance to riff and go deep on what is truly a passionate subject for Jim and one that he's thought about over his decades in manufacturing.

Jeff and Jay sit down and chat about how a shop might plan for 2023. Jeff shares what he has heard shops say about the previous year and how they can use this reflection to set goals and aspirations for the new year!

In this episode we dive in to how we see shops handling the dramatic fluctuations in material pricing. What are their strategies and how does automated quoting make them easier to implement.

We are speaking with Kevin Heins of KLH Industries located in Germantown, Wisconsin. KLH Industries was recently recognized as a Modern Machine Shop Top Shop in the business strategies and performance category. This is a follow up to a great article that was written about them and their implemenation of a company operating system.

Ashleigh Wehrle of Area Tool & Manufacturing joins us to speak openly about her experience of taking over the shop after losing her father unexpectedly in 2011. Ashleigh's family did not not have a succession plan in place and she shares her experience and lessons learned.

Scott Duncan of F&M Tool and Die joins us to ask Jay and Jeff some questions on growing his business. Jeff and Jay met several years ago through the Entreprenuers Organization. Jay, Jeff and Scott chat strategy about raising EBITDA, why you would want a high profit margin and how to achieve it.

One of the repercussions of US manufacturing moving offshore, particularly to China, is that we've weakened our industrial base, or in other words, we have lessened our ability to manufacture the equipment we need to defend ourselves. We explore this topic in more depth with Alex Gray, author of the Wall Street Journal Article America’s Industrial Base Isn’t Ready for War With China.