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“King Richard” is a movie about Venus and Serena’s dad, Richard Williams. I remember watching their rise in tennis and was fascinated by this movie that followed their path to success. Their father was a large driving force behind their successful careers. So in this unique episode of MakingChips, we talk about 7 takeaways from King Richard and how they can be applied to the manufacturing world....

5S is a methodology that I decided to implement when Carr Machine & Tool moved to a new location. We were meticulous about each decision we made so that we could create a clean and safe work environment to lead to increased productivity. The 5 S’s consist of sort, set in order, shine, standardize, and sustain.  In this episode of MakingChips, I share how we implemented 5S in our shop. Our process...

There’s so much wisdom my generation needs to extract from our older colleagues before they retire. Many young people in this industry are naive because it takes time and experience to master a trade. I don’t want someone to retire and still have lingering questions I wished I would’ve asked. That’s why we NEED to document the wisdom of our elders. So how do I extract wisdom from my colleagues...

How do gaming, programming, and the world of a machinist look intersect? In this episode of MakingChips, Steve Courchane—the CNC Samurai—shares his “origin story,” talks about how programming and gaming are aligned, and how to apply gamification to machining to motivate employees. Because if your employees aren’t making chips, you aren’t making money! BAM. 

If your business has been slow-growing or stagnant, can you ramp up your growth? Matthew Nix would know—he’s grown his family business by a 100x multiple and spent seven straight years on the Inc. 5000 list. But how do you grow from a small mom-and-pop shop to an acquisition and growth machine? In this episode of MakingChips, Matthew shares how they’ve scaled their business with a three-prong...

Today’s episode of MakingChips is recorded at a special LIVE Tri-State Manufacturing Alliance (TSMA) event in conjunction with the Evansville Regional Economic Partnership. We are joined by three amazing panelists: Leah Curry: The President at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indiana David Conner: The CFO at Anchor Industries in Evansville, IN Matthew Nix: President at Nix Companies in Poseyville, IN

We’re on a five-hour drive to a speaking event for the Tri-State Tooling and Manufacturing Association (TSMA) so we thought, why not do an episode on the importance of travel for manufacturing leaders? In this special episode of MakingChips, we cover the benefits of travel, the potential downsides, and how to use your time wisely when you’re on the road. Welcome to MakingTrips. 

What do you do when an employee resigns? How do you handle their departure in a dignified way? What do you do when you have to let someone go? You have to handle each scenario differently—and sometimes gingerly. So in this episode of MakingChips, we walk through navigating the exit process. Paul Van Metre joins us to share how ProShop ERP can make the transition easier. 

What do you expect from your employees? Do you expect them to think like an owner? Or just clock in and get their work done? Are they compensated for your expectations? In this episode of MakingChips, we’ll cover the bonus incentive plan I’ve structured for my core team. I’ll share the goals of the program, how to determine what behaviors to incentivize, what the reward(s) will be, and an easy...

MakingChips is NOT a cult of personality. We want MakingChips to be about the Metalworking nation. We want to interview you. We want to talk about your problems and how to solve them. We hope we equip, inspire—and sometimes entertain—you. With that being said, some BIG changes are coming. What will the future of MakingChips hold? Listen to this episode to hear our game-changing update for the...

Your people are the most important part of your business. If they’re not, they should be. When you hire someone, it’s always with the hope that they’ll become a long-term part of the family, right? So you need to cultivate a workplace culture they want to stay and thrive in. So in this episode of Making Chips, we’ll share nine simple tactics that you can implement immediately to transform your...

What are the things you HATE about meetings? Moving into 2022, would you like to have better, more productive meetings that don’t waste time and actually get things done? The MakingChips team is discussing the issue on this episode based on a book Nick read recently, called, “Death By Meeting.” Learn 3 steps you can take to make your meetings powerful for 2022.