Machine Shop Mastery

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...

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...

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...

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...

After more than 300 conversations across Machine Shop Mastery, MakingChips, and Manufacturing Transformed , I wrote a book. It's called Precision Manufacturing, Precision Business , and I keep saying "we" wrote it...

I sat down with Randy Swan, who started a Swiss machining shop at 60 after a 34 year career working for other people. Five years in, RPM is growing more than 60 percent a year. Ask Randy what's behind that number and he...

I sat down with Chris Beck, the founder of Innovative 3D Manufacturing in Franklin, Indiana, and the line that stuck with me was simple. Everything he owns is leveraged into this company. That is what skin in the game...

Some businesses have a founding story. HFW Industries has an 80-year one, and it starts in a World War II foundry. I sat down with Jack Watson, the fourth generation to work in his family's business in Buffalo. HFW does...

Most of us in the machining world have thought about it at least once. What if I stopped quoting other people's parts and built something of my own? For a lot of shop owners that idea stays stuck in the someday pile...

This one's a first for me. In over a hundred episodes I've never had someone from a public company on Machine Shop Mastery, and Randy Altschuler from Xometry turned out to be exactly the kind of guest I hoped he'd be...

Most shops chase the big order. Andrew Henry built Henry Holsters by doing the opposite, and it's hard to argue with the results. I sat down with Andrew for what turns into a masterclass on running lean without ever...

Most machine shop owners will talk your ear off about spindles and tolerances. Ask Mike Marzetta what makes Altek work and he says the word love . Not as a slogan. As the actual thing holding a 200-person advanced...

Most family shops don't get a clean handoff. Somebody gets sick, the calendar moves faster than the plan, and one person has to decide whether to step in or let the doors close. That's the story Christy Subia lived at...

Most shop owners who hit 50 employees, steady profit, and a fourth generation coming up behind them would be tempted to coast. Andrew Borg decided to double down instead. Not because he has to, he's quick to say the...

Almost every shop owner I talk to wants to grow. Far fewer build something that can survive a real downturn. That's the thread running through my whole conversation with Chris Welch of Swissomation, and it's why I...