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Swarfcast

Swarfcast

Von: Today's Machining World
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 Noah Graff, used machine tool dealer and editor of Today’s Machining World, interviews machining company owners, equipment gurus, and experts with insight to help and entertain people working in the machining field. We discuss topics such as how to find quality employees, customer acquisition, negotiation, and the best CNC equipment options for specific jobs. Management & Leadership Ökonomie
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  • Learning, Teaching, Owning, with Federico Veneziano-EP 259

    Learning, Teaching, Owning, with Federico Veneziano-EP 259
    Feb 17 2026
    At 12, he was cutting metal in northern Italy. By 21, he was teaching DMG’s own technicians how to use their machines. At 47, he owns the whole company he first walked into just to set up a machine. Federico Veneziano is the owner of BoldX Industries and an old friend of mine. His story requires two episodes. This is part one: the serendipity, the winding path through shops and countries and setbacks. Part two, we will get into what he’s building now. But first, this is how he got here. 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 Teaching the Experts Federico grew up about 60 miles northwest of Milan in a small town called Omegna. He started working in a machine shop at 12 years old. By his early twenties, he had developed deep expertise on Siemens controls, particularly the 840D. When DMG sent technicians to train him on a new machine, they were still new on the control themselves. He ended up helping them. That information got back to DMG headquarters, and they offered him a job. He traveled the world servicing CNC machines. Eventually he proposed an ambitious plan: working three years in the U.S., two years in Germany, three years in China. They agreed. He arrived in the US on August 4, 2004. His English wasn’t great, nobody had booked him a hotel, and he didn’t have a credit card. The first day was rough but he figured it out. The Job That Changed Everything One of Federico’s first projects was at American Micro in Batavia, Ohio. The company had been founded in 1957 by a Swiss immigrant. He spent a year there setting up a GMC 35, then Gildemeister’s CNC multi-spindle, for a fuel connector job that required gun drilling on a multi-spindle. It had never been done before. The project required developing new spindles and tooling just to make the part work. During that year, he built relationships with the team. When things went wrong with DMG around Christmas 2005, he walked away. He had no plan. It was ten days before the holiday. Then American Micro called. He joined as a process engineer and spent the next two decades working through every department: quality, supply chain, sales, engineering. He became close with the owners, particularly René, one of the founding family’s sons. He bought in as a minority owner, eventually reaching about 14%. He kept that ownership quiet for years. Most people at the company didn’t even know. From Rock Bottom to Owner Then everything hit at once. René passed away. Federico’s father passed within a couple of months. Personal problems piled on. By his own words, it was rock bottom. American Micro was second-generation family owned with no clear succession plan. Federico had tried to buy the company twice before. This time, he decided it was now or never. How does someone go from 14% to sole owner of a company doing $20-25 million in revenue? Federico says it was an amicable transaction where he leveraged multiple things he’d built over the years. He doesn’t go into every detail. But somehow the deal got done. In part two, we’ll get into what he’s building now. BoldX Industries has 125 employees, and Federico says they’re forecasting significant growth. He’s also got a book trilogy coming out. But that’s the next chapter. This one is about how he got here. Question: What twist of fate brought you to your current career?
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    51 Min.
  • Making Engineers Love Manufacturing, With Andrew Schiller-EP 258

    Making Engineers Love Manufacturing, With Andrew Schiller-EP 258
    Feb 2 2026
    What happens when a mechanical engineering instructor actually comes from industry—not academia? My guest on today’s podcast is Andrew Schiller from Utah Tech, who spent six years at Caterpillar and GE, and studied theology at seminary, before landing in the classroom. He’s teaching students to think like business owners—understanding costs, not just making parts. But more than that, his students aren’t just learning to push buttons, they’re falling in love with creating things that actually matter. ************* 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 Andrew’s Story Andrew’s path to teaching wasn’t planned. He grew up around his dad’s model-making shop in Chicago, spending countless hours around mills and lathes. “He’s a professional model maker and has a shop,” Andrew told me, describing how that hands-on foundation shaped his interest in making things. After studying mechanical engineering at Valparaiso University, he spent six years at Caterpillar managing technical relationships with suppliers making starters and alternators. He visited manufacturing facilities, did failure analysis, and worked with product groups across the company. Then life took an unexpected turn. “We went to Louisville, Kentucky. I started studying for a master’s degree in theology and worldview,” Andrew explained. While studying Greek and theology at seminary, he worked at GE Appliances on their FirstBuild team, designing products like the Forge Clear Ice Maker. He was juggling full-time graduate studies, 20-25 hours of work, and renovating a house. It was a pace that proved unsustainable with a young family. The path to teaching at Utah Tech happened through pure serendipity. “I literally typed in engineering jobs in St. George, Utah,” Andrew said about a random search while planning a Zion National Park vacation. “The very first thing that came up was the description of the job that I do now.” What He Teaches His modern machining course teaches students to understand manufacturing from a business perspective. “We’re going to teach about machining processes, not as a craft project that you could do in your garage, but as if you were running a business with a bunch of people and had to make money with a very expensive asset that’s a machine.” “I really realized there is a huge need in the industry for a different kind of education about machining. It’s not a crash course for machinists. It’s a science and business course for engineers.” The program operates on a shoestring budget. Andrew has $160 per student for the entire semester. But that constraint hasn’t stopped him from creating something unique. Students learn hands-on machining while thinking strategically about the business implications of their decisions. “I love having new conversations with people in the industry. It’s how I learn. It’s how I keep our curriculum relevant,” Andrew said. He stays connected to real manufacturing needs by constantly talking with industry professionals. His Purpose Andrew discovered something companies have been telling him consistently: “We need people who they’re not just bodies, but they’re passionate about this industry.” Traditional engineering programs weren’t addressing this gap. His goal goes beyond teaching technical skills. As Andrew puts it, he’s passionate about machining and thinks “it’s cool,” but what really drives him is inspiring that same enthusiasm in students. The companies he talks with are “very excited” about what Utah Tech is doing differently. At 35, with three kids and working 60-65 hours a week, Andrew has found his calling in bridging the gap between academic theory and manufacturing reality. He’s not just producing more engineers. He’s creating people who genuinely care about the industry and understand what it takes to succeed in it. Question: Who was one of your best teachers? Why?
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    51 Min.
  • Is 2025 the End of Cam Screw Machines? EP 257 (Reupload)

    Is 2025 the End of Cam Screw Machines? EP 257 (Reupload)
    Jan 28 2026
    Is an Acme-Gridley the mink coat of machine tools? A well made product that still does a great job, but nobody wants another one. In 2025? No. Not yet. On today’s podcast, Lloyd and I talk about our used machinery business over the last year. We saw one customer drop 20 million for five INDEXs to replace every cam screw machine in their shop. At the same time we sold machines to a multinational automotive supplier who is buying hundreds of Davenport screw machines—many older than me—I’m 45 by the way. ************* 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 The Mink Coat Discovery This Thanksgiving, while going through my mother’s closet, my dad found her 40-year-old mink coat in perfect condition. Once worth $10,000, ChatGPT now values it at maybe $250 to a dealer. The discovery sparked an uncomfortable comparison to the cam screw machines in our stock. “Of course, mink means Acmes to me because Acmes helped pay for the mink,” Lloyd reflects. “These are very functional, valuable machines that were running good parts where we bought them and we feel they have value, however… we have to doubt ourselves.” He poses the question that haunts our business: “Let’s say it is 1-5/8” RB-8 Acme. How much money could somebody potentially make on that machine over the course of one year?” He figures $25,000 to $50,000, maybe more with the right job. “We would sell that machine in that price range. Yet we find no buyers. From an economic standpoint, to me that makes no sense.” A Brutal Year The machinery dealing business has been tough this year. While many of our customers’ businesses remained steady, indecision paralyzed buying decisions—particularly around tariffs. “One of the polls I did on LinkedIn asked if indecision because of tariffs caused them to not buy equipment this year.” Fifty percent said that was one reason why they had not bought equipment. And I will never forget this year’s deal from hell. ”We bought a machine in Germany, sold it to a company in the United States, and then BOOM—tariff. We went from an amazing deal to… I’m amazed we didn’t lose money.” I hate tariffs for a lot of reasons. This one was extra personal. The $20 Million Paradox The market presents striking contradictions. One of our customers recently got rid of 30 cam screw machines, selling them for “$2,000, $3,000, $4,000, $5,000 a piece,” then spent over $3 million each on INDEX CNC multi-spindles—$20 million total to replace their entire shop floor. “I was shocked,” Lloyd admits. “The question was, are they that much better than a 1” Acme?” I explain the economics: “They make an entirely different kind of part. They make a part that you could make a dollar from where you make 10 cents from an Acme part. Or they’re making $10 on that part, and on the Acme, they were making a quarter.” The new machines can handle medical parts, complex geometries—the kinds of high-margin work that justifies the investment. The Davenport Bet Meanwhile, another customer is betting the opposite way, buying hundreds of Davenports for facilities in Mexico and China. Today’s Davenports have a similar design to their original one from 115 years ago. The company is buying so many they’ve ordered Davenport’s entire production capacity for new machines while simultaneously buying used ones. Good ones, bad ones, anything they can find to rebuild. “There are many uses for small parts as bushings or as inserts or pins,” Lloyd explains. “And if you’re catering to a world market… they’re saying to themselves, we want to tremendously expand our capacity because we believe there is a market there and people have abandoned this market.” The China Question Lloyd sees a broader pattern: “The Chinese appear to be able to make good product, not maybe the quality of product being made in the United States or in Europe, but close to it at a fraction of the price.” He worries about Chinese companies producing chips “90 to 95% as good” as NVIDIA’s but selling for 30% less. “They’re able to make an electric car now in China and sell it in the Chinese market for under $10,000, and they’re selling them now in Germany for as low as $16,000.” “In my mind, we’re in a war with China—an economic war.” Gratitude We end where we began—with gratitude. “I get the privilege of working with you,” Lloyd tells me. And I tell him that I have a gratitude list every day in the morning, and he’s on it. Readers, ...
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    49 Min.
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