Manufacturing Transformed: Real Shops, Real Stories

63. Prepared + Persistent: How Coastal Machine Broke Into Aerospace & Defense

I sat down with Kody Guidry of Coastal Machine & Supply for a conversation that was both fun and really meaningful. I've known Kody and the Coastal team for years now, an

62. Replacing Chaos With Visibility: How D&D Enterprises Improved Scheduling and On-Time Delivery

I sat down with Jason Davis of D&D Enterprises for a conversation about what happens when a shop replaces constant schedule chasing with real visibility. D&D is a 50-year

61. From Amish Roots to CNC Success: Phil Miller's Star Machine Story

I sat down with Phil Miller of Star Machine for a conversation that really captures what makes this industry so special. Phil's story starts long before CNC machining, ba

60. From a Farm Hangar to 285,000 Square Feet: The Incredible Flying S Growth Story

I've known the team at Flying S for close to nine years now, and every time I reconnect with them, I'm amazed by how much they've grown. What started in a farm hangar in

59. 12,000 Work Orders a Year: How Low Country Aerospace Scaled Without the Chaos

How does a 38-person aerospace shop process thousands of work orders a year without letting paperwork, handoffs, and daily firefighting take over? I sat down with Hunter

58. They Built 3,000+ Horsepower Drivetrains—Now They're Chasing Aerospace

In this episode of Manufacturing Transformed, I sat down with Brock Graves from Quick Drive Racing, a small family-owned business building incredibly high-end drivetrain

57. From Race Engines to Defense Manufacturing: Roush Yates' Next Chapter

I've been looking forward to this conversation for a long time. Roush Yates Manufacturing Solutions has been a ProShop customer since late 2018, and in a lot of ways, our

56. ProShop as the Operating System - Archer Precision

Every once in a while, I record an episode that sticks with me long after the microphones are turned off. This was one of those conversations. I sat down with Alex Maze

55. Inside Rise Industries: From One-Man Shop to $1.5M Medical & Aerospace Supplier

What happens when you leave a stable career, bet on yourself, and commit to building a shop the right way from day one? In this episode of Manufacturing Transformed, Ch

54: Breaking the $3M Ceiling: How Pivot Manufacturing Unlocked Its Next Phase

What does it actually take to break through the $3M ceiling in a machine shop? For many manufacturers, that plateau isn't about lack of opportunity. It's about systems, s

53. He Bet his Life Savings on Buying an Aerospace Job Shop: Andrew Crook with Dynamic Fabrication

What happens when you bet everything on a struggling job shop… and then decide to completely rebuild how it operates from the inside out? That's exactly what Andrew Cro

52: From Guesswork to Scaling: The Systems Shift Powering Mahler Machining's Next Chapter

In this episode of Manufacturing Transformed, we head to British Columbia to explore how Mahler Machining is replacing spreadsheets, paper travelers, and tribal knowledge

51: Turning Legacy Processes into Lean Systems: The Lafarge & Egge Transformation Story

In this episode of Manufacturing Transformed, I sit down with Bryan from Lafarge & Egge to talk about what real operational transformation looks like inside a highly spec

50. Cultivating a Continuous Improvement Culture

For most manufacturing founders, the early years mean fighting fires, working late nights, and inheriting old ways of working. But what if you could skip the legacy heada

49. Modernizing a High-Mix Machine Shop Lessons From DieCraft's Transformation

For many job shops, the "perfect storm" looks like this: Your legacy ERP software is becoming obsolete due to Windows updates, and your two most senior employees, holding

48. Huge Parts, Huge Success: Craig Lange of Lange Machine & Tool

Some shops measure parts in millimeters. Lange Machine and Tool measures them in tons, up to 80,000 pounds, to be exact. But running a shop that handles massive mining

47. Small Headcount - High Discipline: Building Success with Garrett from Elemental Design + Machinery

Most machine shop startups are defined by hustle, long hours, and organized chaos. But when Garrett Wolfford founded Elemental Design + Machinery in January 2024, he had

46: Scaling a Machine Shop Without Losing Control with Wesley of B&W Machine Works

In this episode, I chat with Wesley Traumbauer of B&W Machine works. We examine what happens when a manufacturing business grows faster than the systems supporting it. As

45: Eliminating Chaos: How Ferrera Tooling Streamlined Scheduling, Quality, and Traceability

When Cody Joy joined Ferrera Tooling Company in 2020, the shop was growing rapidly but struggling with chaotic systems. Scheduling relied on a single Google Sheet, paper

44: Massive Transformation with David Pannell of Faircloth Machine

Faircloth Machine Shop's journey is one of remarkable transformation. Founded in the late 1960s as a manual machining operation, it was modernized under David Pannell, wh