This week on Swarfcast, we’ve been thinking a lot about some of the exciting tech that we saw last month at IMTS. One thing that always stands out to us are the robots. As our recent podcasts have touched on the topic of AI, we thought it would be fitting to reshare an interview we did with George Konidaris, co-founder of Realtime Robotics. A new podcast is on its way soon, but in the meantime we hope you enjoy this one again.

Seems like right now every podcast is doing an interview centered around artificial intelligence.

But I waited until I found the right story, one that was truly relevant to our audience in the machining world.

Today’s guest on the podcast, George Konidaris, is the cofounder of the startup, Realtime Robotics. He is also a professor of Computer Science and the director of the Intelligent Robot Lab at Brown University.

Right now, programming a robot arm to perform a repetitive task typically requires a robot integrator to program where every joint of a robot should go. It’s a ridiculous and tedious process.

But with Realtime Robotics’ AI technology, you can instruct a robot to do a task and you don’t have to tell it a zillion steps explaining HOW to do the task.

                                  

 

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Interview Highlights

Noah Graff: Explain your company, Realtime Robotics.

George Konidaris: Realtime Robotics is a company that does real-time robot motion planning. We focus on how a robot can automatically generate its own motion. Typically a robot integrator programs every aspect of a robot’s motion in order to accomplish a repetitive task. This means deciding where every joint of a robot arm should go. With our system, you can tell the robot where it needs to put its business end. This is where I would like you to weld, or I would like you to pick up the object over there. We compute the rest of the motion for you.

Graff: How do you control the robots?

Konidaris: The majority of our installations are programmed using a PLC. It used to be that you would have to set every joint on the robot to a specific value.

Now instead, you can send much higher level commands to the PLC.

Graff: So it takes less training than using a typical robot controller?

It takes less training and less effort. We can reduce PLC programs that are often hundreds of statements long to single digit statements in many cases. You get out better efficiency, and we make sure there are no collisions. You don’t have to run what you’ve programmed and eyeball it to make sure it doesn’t collide.

Graff: This can integrate with all different brands?

Konidaris: Yes, we think of robot arms the way most people think of printers, which is that they’re all peripherals. Our job is to provide drivers for those peripherals. To you, they should look just the same because they have similar functionality. You don’t have to go learn the programming language associated with one robot brand. You just plug it in.

Graff: It sounds a little like ChatGPT in that it does a lot of the tedious work for you.

Konidaris:  I think the analogy is very apt. One way that I would think about the difference though is that ChatGPT is a top down of intelligence to start with language, which is very high level, and symbolic and abstract.

But what’s interesting about robots and what’s interesting specifically about robots and AI is that is not yet where the challenges are. The challenges are much lower level. Just moving through space, just doing perception, just generating motion.

We’ve automated so much stuff because we’ve had to deal with the fact that robots are so physically stupid.

Graff: It seems like this technology might take away value from cobots a little bit.

Konidaris: One way to think about cobots is they have two distinguishing features. One is that they’re very easy for a person to program by manipulating the robot. The other one is that cobots are safe to have around people.

One way to think about how that’s been done is they’re light and weak and compliant. By “weak” I mean it’s not going to knock your head off if it hits you.

(Cobots) are not as fast, they’re not as precise. In many industries where you really need throughput, you can’t apply a cobot because it just doesn’t have the performance that you need. What we’re hoping to do is to substitute a different technical solution. The robot is not going to hit stuff because it knows how to not hit stuff.

Graff: These robots, even with their intelligence, still require a professional integrator?

Konidaris: (Yes), the integrator is doing a couple things.

They’re designing your work cell for a performance characteristic or a meter specification. That’s a mechanical engineering skill that requires a professional. Also, they’re choosing components like the end of arm toolkit, the particular conveyor belt, and the PLC. They are integrating those into the work cell and writing the logic that controls them.

But then the third thing that (integrators) often have to do is spend a lot of time hand designing the robot motion. In particular, if there are multiple robots in the work cell, they need to try and coordinate the multi-robot motion ahead of time so that nothing ever collides.

And that’s where the real talent comes. We’ve looked at use cases where it takes 13 weeks of engineering just to get the multi-robot coordination right. We can drop it to one (week) because in our case, that last part, you just plug the robots into the same box and they never hit each other.

Graff: Mostly your product is used in automotive plants?

Konidaris: Yes, that’s right. They have severe throughput constraints.

In many cases, the cost of a single robot isn’t anywhere near the cost of extra cycle time, so they’re happy to pay to add extra robots.

I think a typical statistic we saw is adding a single robot only gets you an extra 25% of throughput speed up—as opposed to the 100% theoretical, which no one ever gets. But with our system you can see more like 75%.

So you can get much more of the win using the extra robot because they can pass pretty close to each other and they’re mutually cognizant of that.

Question: How have you used robots in your machine shop? Or, how would you like to use them?

The post Robots that Know Where to Go, With George Konidaris–EP 193 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

I encounter a lot of friction in my work. Too many obstacles get in the way of me doing the things I need to do and the things I like to do.

I know all of you out there have friction in your work too, and if you’re in the manufacturing business you likely encounter friction when you have to achieve the necessary quality to be ISO certified.

Today’s guest on the show, Adam Marsh, has a company called Ledge Inc. that guides manufacturers through the ISO certification process.

Getting ISO certification can be an overwhelming undertaking, but like so many challenging and complicated tasks, if you just have the right guide at your side to lead you through, it’s not nearly as difficult as it first seems.

Reducing friction is Adam’s specialty. In addition to talking about quality, we talked about how he reduces friction in hiring new employees, creating a skilled manufacturing workforce, and even figuring out what to make for dinner.

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Interview Highlights

Ledge Incorporated

Noah Graff: Give me a brief overview of what your company does.

Adam Marsh: We help manufacturers meet quality management system requirements. If someone has ISO 9001, we help them manage and achieve those certifications. We also help them implement new quality systems.

I’ve been doing this since 2011, supporting my father who started in 1987. We have a team of 11 serving about 250 companies across the country. Our target is small to medium manufacturers who struggle with this. They might not have the internal knowledge to meet customer requirements, especially when selling to major OEMs.

Noah: What are the main sectors? It’s not just machining, right?

Adam: We work with a lot of machining companies, but also medical device, environmental certification like ISO 14,001, aerospace, injection molding – you name it. We also have a food safety division with experts in that field.

Noah: ISO has always seemed complicated and intimidating to me, with all these numbers.

Adam: We don’t make it easy. We have so many abbreviations that if you’re not in the industry, it can be hard.

I don’t feel like quality people have historically done a great job of helping manufacturers simplify this. That’s what my company does – we take complicated standards and turn them into something you can actually deliver day-to-day.

When I see a 10-person machine shop with a hundred-page quality manual, I want to throw it out the window and start over. It’s too complicated.

They’ll never follow or keep up with it. The idea is to say what you do and do what you say. If you say too much, you make it really hard on yourself.

Facilitating Apprenticeships

Noah: You mentioned one of the associations you belong to has an apprenticeship connection, so companies don’t have to have their own personal apprenticeship program.

Adam: I’m past president of our local manufacturers association, called the Manufacturers Association of South Central Pennsylvania.

Manufacturing wages have really gone up. It’s a great alternative to college at this point, but our schools are filled. Our local tech school is full; they’re turning kids away. So we built this alternative where we’re able to teach classes and embrace that old apprenticeship model. People work at the company during the day, take classes at night at our Manufacturers Association facility. After a two or four-year apprenticeship, they’re able to get state papers and we sponsor.

Noah: How does that compare to an apprenticeship created by a certain company?

Adam: You have to build your own program and get it approved by the state. It takes years, and the state doesn’t work particularly quickly. To attract young talent, they all want education and a pathway forward. Our association has those apprenticeships already built, and companies can essentially jump onto our program.

Environmental Regulations

Noah: I see environmental regulations as a complicated issue. What do you think about the complaints that when Democrats are in power, regulations get ridiculous?

Adam: I haven’t seen as much on the federal side environmentally that is hurting our customers. I’ve seen more problems on the local side, often related to water systems.

Our approach is to ask: do you even understand what your compliance requirements are? Because many don’t.

It’s not that they don’t want to do the right thing. They would be okay doing the right thing, but they don’t even know what the right thing is. And they’re afraid to ask questions for fear of being fined.

Using LinkedIn to Find Customers

Noah: We met on LinkedIn. You often have one on one conversations with several people in a week?

Adam: Yeah, I have a decent LinkedIn following. I reach out and they reach out to me. I get a lot of work from LinkedIn, people looking for ISO support. 

I focus on good content if I’m going to post anything. I don’t do the “post a day” thing, but I try to connect with people. If they’re in quality or manufacturing, I’m absolutely up for connecting.

Noah: Yeah. Well, you knew where I was going with this.

Adam: It’s going to end up with something. You did the podcast on serendipity, right? I look back at how I’ve grown my business, and it’s a lot of that. We put ourselves out there to meet people. I have a new customer in Ohio who sent me a very cryptic message on LinkedIn. I said, “Sure, I’ll jump on a call.” And now I’ve got a new project.

Advice for Manufacturers

Noah: Do you have any final advice for people with manufacturing companies or people in quality?

Adam: The factory of the future is the real deal, and we have to embrace it now. Whether that’s Industry 4.0 – we have to get out of our own way and start using technology to remain competitive. I love it on the maintenance side – predictive maintenance. Can we start putting sensors on things to know when they’re going to go bad?

We just spoke to my team today. I told everyone to get an account for whichever AI they want to work with. I just want them messing with it and figuring out how it can help in the day-to-day, because that’s going to make our team strong. Some use ChatGPT. One of my teammates said today he’s using Copilot. We’re all kind of all over the place. I want to know what works out there.

Question: What processes give you the biggest headaches as a manufacturer?

Transcript was aided by claude.ai

The post ISO Without the Headache, Adam Marsh-EP 227 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

If you have not already listened to Part I, you can find it here.

After serving in the Navy SEALs for nine years, Bill Berrien retired from the military in 1999, ready for a new chapter in his life. He attended Harvard business school where there were six other SEALs in his class.

After graduating from Harvard, Bill worked as a Six Sigma Blackbelt at General Electric Health Care, which brought him to the Milwaukee area in 2002. Rather than climb the ladder at a large corporation, Bill’s ambition was to eventually acquire his own business. 

Scroll down to read more and listen to the podcast. Or listen on your phone with Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite app.  You can also view the podcast in video form on our YouTube Channel.    

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Main Points

Preparing to Acquire a Business 

After working at G.E., Bill worked in private equity in the health care field to gain experience and earn the capital needed to purchase a company. Bill often advises people starting their careers to take a similar path to his. First, get a job at a large established company like G.E. that has opportunities to get training and exposure to different areas. This can help people figure out their interests and strengths, which may pay off in future endeavors. He says that today, running Pindel, he uses a lot of the principles he learned at G.E., such as root causing, critical thinking, and numbers orientation.

After he finished working in venture capital, Bill spent a year searching for the ideal business to purchase. He looked at around 120 potential companies, about 75% of which were related to manufacturing. In the end, he chose Pindel, a successful 75-year-old family company in precision machining with about 80 employees. He liked the company’s customer base and ownership, and he saw areas in the business that he believed he could improve and grow. 

Bill’s Start at Pindel

Bill says when he first came to Pindel he didn’t have a set game plan. He had no prior experience in precision machining, so the first thing he did was take the time to learn the business from the company’s former owner, Mark Pindel, who stayed on several years. 

Bill believes he gained some respect and trust from the company’s employees because he was a former Navy SEAL. He jokes that he did not tell anybody he went to Harvard, and some people at the company might find that out for the first time if they listen to this podcast.

Evolution of Equipment at Pindel

When Bill purchased Pindel it was primarily comprised of good old Acme-Gridley multi-spindles and some CNC equipment for doing secondary operations. Bill has kept the Acmes going, but he has also gotten big into Swiss, so he can run complex parts complete for the aerospace and medical industries. He has kept the company’s production in the medium volume range, with runs of 1,000 to 1,000,000 pieces.

There were only three old, underutilized Swiss machines when Bill arrived at Pindel. He realized that the company was outsourcing its most complex parts and saw expanding the Swiss machining department as a way to bring more work in-house. The company bought new Tsugami Swiss machines to run formerly outsourced work, and there was still capacity leftover for more Swiss work. Many of the parts that had been blanked on multi-spindles and finished on CNCs could was put on the Tsugamis to machine parts complete. 

Pindel’s cam multi-spindles are still used for making parts for the industrial sector. What is noteworthy about the company’s multi-spindle department is that the average age of its operators is around 31, rather than the stereotypical multi-spindle operator age that is close to retirement.

A New Separate Company Specifically for CNC Machining

Bill has found that medical, aerospace, and defense customers prefer a “pure play” supplier for the CNC components. They don’t want a supplier that also runs Acme-Gridley parts. 

Meanwhile industrial customers don’t want costs associated with expensive CNC equipment that raises part prices. To solve this issue, Pindel incubated a new company called Liberty Precision dedicated to customers for CNC parts.

Military Parallels to Advanced Manufacturing

Since Bill bought Pindel 10 years ago, he has observed some similarities between advanced manufacturing and the Special Operations community. Both are composed of small, highly cohesive, trained teams enabled by advanced technology. They both strive to do outsized things—to punch above their weight. 

Under Bill Berrien, Pindel has taken a page from the military with its Pindel Professional Development program. The program has six levels of multi-spindle machinists and six levels of CNC machinists, four levels of quality technicians and four levels of industrial maintenance. Each level incorporates Tooling U classes, shop floor qualifications, and NIMS credentialing. Such a comprehensive training program allows the company to hire for attitude and train for skill. 

To encourage new recruits to choose the multi-spindle track versus the CNC track, the first three levels of multi-spindle machinists are paid more than the first three levels of CNC machinists.

I ended the interview, asking Bill one of my favorite questions, “When you think of happiness, what does that mean to you.”

Bill explained a scientific concept called “freudenfreude,” which means taking joy from other people’s good fortune. This is the opposite of the more well known concept, “Schadenfreude,” which means taking pleasure in other’s misfortunes. 

Bill takes pleasure from others around him succeeding.

Question: What did you learn in college that helped you in your manufacturing career?

The post How a Navy SEAL Runs a Machining Company, with Bill Berrien (Part II)—EP172 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

Bill Berrien has had an extraordinary professional journey.

He earned an MBA at Harvard, worked for General Electric and then in private equity. Ten years ago, he purchased Pindel Global Precision, a successful two-generation machining company near Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which he has modernized and grown over the past decade.

Oh, I forgot to mention, he was also a Navy SEAL officer for nine years.

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Main Points

Bill attended Princeton for undergrad, majoring in political science, and he was captain of the school’s water polo team. During college he had internships on Wall Street, but chose to follow up graduation by becoming an officer in the Navy SEALs in 1990. 

Bill chose to join the SEALs for the small team dynamic. He wanted to develop as a leader, and he liked the challenge. Only 21 out of 121 applicants in his SEAL class successfully passed, and his classmates nominated him for the Fire in the Gut honor.

Bill served as a SEAL for nine years, leading operations in South America and Bosnia. He explained to me that the ‘90s was a very different time to serve in the US military than post-9/11. It was a time of preparation for war, rather than constant fire fights. He says the US military is in a similar period right now, keeping itself sharp and preparing for future conflicts.

Bill says the US military is one of the best in the world because of its incredible problem-solving abilities and adaptability. Also, the US military is special for having an exceptional NCO Corps (non-commissioned officers).

The NCO Corps is made up of enlisted soldiers who have significant leadership duties in fighting units on the ground. A strong NCO Corps system has enabled enlisted soldiers to have more fulfilling military careers with potential for upward mobility. This has attracted more talented people to join the military. One criticism of the Russian army is that it lacks a good NCO Corps. No NCO Corps on the ground has led to poor organization on the battlefield and many high ranking Russian officers being killed in the line of duty.

Bill suggests that when the US military developed its NCO Corps in the ‘70s as it became an all-professional volunteer army, the advanced manufacturing field had a parallel development of its management units. Americans in manufacturing experienced a new type of upward mobility in their careers. 

However, in the ‘80s and ‘90s some of the potential for career growth in US manufacturing stalled as factories moved overseas and manufacturing education was removed from high schools. This trend seems to be reversing now, but Bill suggests that advanced manufacturing could learn from the US military’s NCO Corps system about how to create a path for manufacturing jobs to be sustainable professions.

Question: If you have been in the military, how did it prepare you for your current profession and civilian life?

The post How a Navy SEAL Runs a Machining Company, with Bill Berrien (Part I)–EP171 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

At IMTS 2024, I learned about the latest technology for CNC lathes, robots, and most notably 3D printing.

Stratasys was the first 3D printing company I visited at the show. I spoke with Foster Ferguson, Director of Aerospace, and Tom Leach, Commercial Leader at Stratasys, about 3D printing applications for automotive and space vehicles. Then I spoke with Evan Hochstein and Allison Harbaugh, Business Managers for the Stratasys Medical Team, about the capabilities of Stratasys 3D printers to replicate the feel and shape of body parts, which surgeons analyze before they operate on real human flesh.

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Main Points

Part 1: 3D Printing in Aerospace, Defense, and Automotive Industries

The first half of the podcast, I with Foster Ferguson Director of Aerospace, and Tom Leach, Commercial Leader, at Stratasys. We focused on 3D printing technologies and applications in aerospace, defense, and automotive industries.

Foster Ferguson and Tom Leach, with Noah Graff

They showed me the H350 printer, which uses Selective Absorption Fusion (SAF) technology for large-volume production. A Ford F-150 Roush Performance Raptor mounting bracket demonstrates the printer’s ability to compete with injection molding for complex parts.

They emphasized 3D printing’s advantages: reduced tooling costs, increased design freedom, and quick iterations without expensive modifications. Ferguson mentioned a 95% 3D-printed drone, suggesting potential for on-site production in deployed situations.

Recent advancements include the introduction of polypropylene as a printing material, developed with BASF (now A.M. Forward), expanding their potential customer base.

Notable applications we discussed include:

1.  A PolyJet-printed heart model that allows a surgeon to practice a complex procedure, saving a young girl’s life. (More detail in Part II of the interview)

2.  A space-worthy panel made from PECK-based material with carbon nanotubes, developed with Lockheed Martin. About 300 such parts are currently in the Orion spacecraft.

They emphasized:

1. 3D printing’s competitiveness with traditional manufacturing for high-volume production.

2. Cost savings and design flexibility compared to injection molding.

3. Applications across automotive, aerospace, defense, and medical industries.

4. Rapid advancement in materials and processes.

5. Potential for on-site, on-demand manufacturing in various scenarios.

 

Part II: 3D Printing Applications for the Medical Industry

My second interview with features Evan Hochstein and Allison Harbaugh, Business Managers for the Stratasys Medical Team. We discussed 3D printing applications in the medical industry.

We talked about Stratasys’ capabilities in creating anatomically accurate models using various plastics that mimic tissue and bone. These models, derived from CT or MRI scans, allow surgeons to practice procedures and test new products, potentially reducing risks during actual surgeries.

The interviewees clarified that while they don’t create living organs, they’re working on biocompatible materials for applications like cutting guides and braces. They mentioned a collaboration with CollPlant to develop 3D-printed breast implants for reconstruction after cancer.

Stratasys’ technology includes the Digital Anatomy Printer and the J5 MediJet, which can create detailed, multi-material, and multi-color models. They emphasized the importance of software in their workflow, mentioning partnerships with companies like Axial 3D and Materialize for FDA-cleared processes.

A notable example of their work includes creating a realistic heart model for a two-year-old patient with a congenital heart defect, which helped surgeons plan the procedure and explain it to the parents.

The interviewees also discussed the potential future of 3D printing in medicine, noting that while full organ printing isn’t currently possible, they’re focusing on patient safety and regulatory compliance in their developments.

Lastly, they mentioned their latest product, the Origin Two, a DLP (Direct Light Processing) printer that can create injection mold-like finishes, expanding their capabilities beyond their traditional PolyJet technology.

This summary was aided by claud.ai.

Question: If you attended IMTS 2024, which were your favorite exhibitors?

The post 3D Printing a Human Heart at IMTS–EP 226 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

Today’s podcast episode is the second half of our interview with Dr. Onome Scott-Emuakpor, the founder of Hyphen Innovations, a firm that develops low cost, damage resistant aerospace components.

When Onome does engineering research, he fuels his creativity by embracing resource constraints and what he calls the “fail fast” mentality. The fail fast mentality means you can look at failure during the problem solving process as a positive. If “failing” means you learn something that propels you forward the next time you try to solve the same problem, then it really isn’t a failure. It’s a success.

We also discussed Onome’s desire for more young African Americans to feel confident in their abilities to pursue degrees in engineering.

You can also view the podcast in video form on our YouTube Channel.

Listen with the player at the bottom of the page or at your favorite podcast app.

         

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Interview Summary

Noah Graff: What does the expression “failing fast” mean to you?

Dr. Onome Scott-Emuakpor: I ask myself, what will I learn when this happens? If I decide that what I’m going to learn is healthy, it’s not failure. It’s just a prediction. You go fast, you fail, you learn something, you make it better. You go fast again.

Graff: You told me previously that you often prefer to stay in the background and observe other people from a distance. Do you see this as a positive?

Scott-Emuakpor: I think it’s a positive. I like to pay attention to the way certain things play out in the background before I make a decision. Take this entrepreneurial journey that I’m on right now.

A lot of people would say, “I want to start a business.” And they jump right into it. In my case, I went through an entrepreneur opportunity program.

I shadowed a lot of people. I called a lot of people. I had a lot of mentors. I took a year, essentially a sabbatical, going through the Air Force, understanding all the intricacies, sitting in the background, and paying attention to how things are done before I actually said, all right, I’m ready to make a move and make a decision.

Graff: Do you often consciously see yourself as an artist?

Scott-Emuakpor: Yeah. Sometimes I [think], yeah, “I’m a fine arts guy.” You’re drawing something or you’re coming up with some creative idea. In high school, we had an assignment where we were given two dissimilar animals to figure out a way to draw them to create a new thing. Sometimes I apply this to a turbine engine.

If you look at a conventional turbine engine, you have a fuel nozzle and a turbine inlet nozzle. These are two separate pieces. How do you manufacture them so they’re the same piece and significantly reduce weight while improving the efficiency of a combustor?

That’s the exact same exercise. You’re looking at these two different things that are not together, and then you’re getting creative and you’re bringing them together. The only difference is that now I have to bring in physics to make it actually work.

Graff: Do you think many people label themselves as not creative, but they could be creative if they were taught to believe that they were.

Scott-Emuakpor:  I think that people just lack confidence because of their environment—not seeing yourself in somebody else. Not seeing your color in somebody else. Not seeing your personality trait in someone else. Not seeing your gender in somebody else.

When I was getting done with my PhD, one of the things that I wanted to do was become a professor. Not necessarily because I wanted to teach, but because I felt like there were a lot of young black people who didn’t believe that  becoming an engineer or getting a PhD while (still) being themselves was a thing.

One of my missions was, I want to be an engineer, but I’m going to keep my hair with long braids. I’m going to keep wearing baggy clothes and keep wearing jeans. I’m going to keep wearing Timberlands, and I’m going to teach classes.

And people, especially young black men, are going to see themselves in me and say, “I can be him.”

Question: What was your last failure that turned out to be a good thing in the end?

For more information about Hyphen Innovations go to https://www.hyphenmade.com/

The post Thinking Like an Artist to Solve Engineering Challenges, With Dr. Onome Scott-Emuakpor—Ep. 181 (Part II) first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

Noah is attending IMTS this week, so we are resharing one of our favorite podcasts from last year. This episode of Swarfcast was recorded in March of 2023. The second part is also available online here.

On today’s podcast, we talk about how you can apply the artistic side of your brain to solve engineering challenges.

Our guest is aerospace engineer, Dr. Onome Scott-Emuakpor, founder of Hyphen Innovations, a firm that develops new advanced aerospace components for the Department of Defense and other clients.

Onome’s family immigrated from Nigeria to Lansing, Michigan, before he was born. In high school, he was an average student but excelled in fine arts classes. In college, he played Division I basketball at Wright State.

While at Wright State, Onome realized he had a passion for engineering. Today, he says one of the keys to his success as an engineer is using the same type of creative approaches he embraced as a fine arts student.

Listen with the player at the bottom of the page or at your favorite podcast app.

      

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Interview Highlights

Noah Graff: Give me a quick explanation of your company, Hyphen Innovations.

Onome Scott-Emuakpor: With Hyphen Innovations we make aerospace parts. We make them lighter.  We make them stronger. We make them low cost, and we do that with unique out of the box design. And we use really intriguing advanced manufacturing methods.

Our main interest is turbine engines and turbine engine structures. The reason why we’re focused on the turbine engine is because we know that there’s still a lot of innovation. There’s still a lot of juice to squeeze out of that technology and improve the thrust to weight, so to speak, and do all that while also maintaining affordability with it.

Graff: You mentioned to me before that you were interested in fine arts when you were younger. What kind of art did you do growing up?

Scott-Emuakpor: I loved to sketch. Then in high school, there were classes that broadened (my) artistic capability. All of a sudden, I was painting, using watercolors, using colored pencils, painting with pastels, painting with oils. And it was like, this thing that I had been naturally good at as a kid just expanded through to all these other mediums. I was like, this is it. This is what I want to do. I wanna sit in one place, and paint or draw.

Graff: Did your parents expect you to do well in school? Were you in honors classes in high school?

Scott-Emuakpor: I was not (in honors classes). I don’t think I ever did homework in high school. I did homework five minutes before class, and that’s just because it wasn’t interesting. Math was kind of interesting, but it was interesting to me because I liked the challenge of seeing how well I could do on homework if I did [it] minutes before class.

I took the ACT, and I did terribly on it twice. I [scored] a 19. But on the math part, I got a 30-something.

I remember my dad (when I got to college), said “don’t put fine arts as your major. That’s not a major. I’m gonna go sleep on it and I’ll tell you what you should do.” And [he said] “I had a dream. You should put down engineering.”

It wasn’t until I actually started taking engineering classes that I thought, oh, this is kind of interesting. It wasn’t until I actually got a job that I was like, I now see where all the math is going. I now see where all the physics is going. I now see where all these classes are going.

Now all of a sudden you walk into a class and they say, “this is vibration.” And I’ve been working in a vibration lab, and I know what vibration is.

Graff:  So you finally got your PhD. You’ve done all this research, you’re a career academic in your mid-twenties, and then you said, what do I do with this?

Scott-Emuakpor: I still didn’t know what I wanted to do. So I got my postdoc position, which was through the Air Force, or the National Academies. I was working at the Air Force base (in Dayton, Ohio), the same place that I worked as an undergrad, and the same place that I did my graduate school research.

Graff: How do you feel about doing research?

Scott-Emuakpor: I love it. Research essentially allows me to engage in my creative side. It allows me to essentially do art with science and engineering.

When you think about art, it’s like you’re given a blank canvas to create something. You’re essentially creating something from nothing. Even when you’re taking a picture, you’re creating something from nothing. When you’re writing, you’re creating something from nothing.

Graff: How much are you leaning on other people’s research for your own research? How much are you inspired by it?

Scott-Emuakpor: I’m constantly looking at what other people are doing, and I’m constantly looking at what people are doing outside of my industry. Inspiration can come from anywhere. It can come from people arguing in a meeting while you’re sitting in the back. I just pay attention. I’m constantly thinking, I’m constantly thinking of how I’m going to solve the problem.

For more information about Hyphen Innovations go to https://www.hyphenmade.com.

Question: What type of fine arts classes did you take as a student.

The post Thinking Like an Artist to Solve Engineering Challenges, With Dr. Onome Scott-Emuakpor (Part I)—Ep. 180 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

Terry Iverson is a lifer in the machining industry. His grandfather sold machines for Hardinge over 100 years ago, and for 40 years he ran the Hardinge machinery distributor for the Midwest. 

Today Terry focuses his efforts on getting young people in America into manufacturing. He wrote two books directed at parents to open their eyes to manufacturing careers for their children.

His latest project is a machining camp called Camp CHAMP, in which middle school kids are mentored by high school kids running CNC machines.

Even though Terry is 20 years older than me, I feel like we really connect we talk. We’re both third generations in a family machine tool business. We’re both creatives, and we both love to reflect on serendipity in our lives.

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Link to Graff-Pinkert’s Acquisitions and Sales promotion!

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Main Points

Choosing a Trade in United States Vs. Europe

Terry Iverson: In Switzerland and Germany, they ask young people early in life to figure out what they’re passionate and skilled at doing. At like 14, 15 years old. 

Noah Graff: How does a 14 or 15 year old know what they’re meant to do?

Terry: Sometimes they do. In this country, internships are the answer. I write a lot about that because you don’t know what you’re passionate about or what you’re even good at unless you try it. It’s awesome if you could get an internship when you’re a teenager, that’s life-changing.

And if someone gets an internship in something and they say, “I hate this,” that’s not a bad thing. You just saved yourself potentially four years of college studying something that you should never study.

Noah: I think one of the great things about the United States is that we’re into trying different things.

Terry: There’s no question. But I think the biggest takeaway is that we need to spend more time empowering our young people, our children. What are they really good at? What are they skilled at? What are they passionate about? And allowing them the freedom to pursue something that they’ll spend a lot of time doing and presumably enjoy and do very well.

Camp CHAMP

Noah: Tell me how the CNC Machining Camp came about?

Terry: I did a camp. I actually picked up and shipped a CNC machine down to Florida at my expense. I set it up, programmed it, took an optical inspection system down with me, took a week off work and spent time with 10 high school young people and taught them about manufacturing.

What I realized is, not including the hard costs, just the cost of the machine tools, it was 10 grand. 

What it taught me is that this was not a sustainable role or path in terms of introducing manufacturing to young people.

So I decided to buy a couple custom-made tabletop CNC machines and have them programmed, and we set up making pens. The lathe turns the top and bottom segment of the pen. And then the mill, we take pieces of wood and mill out, almost like a router, the wood for a top and bottom case for the pen.

Then I came up with a concept to take these out into the field to inspire middle school students. It’s not educational because it’s not broad enough to be educational. It’s more inspirational and informative, introductory. IMEC, the MEP for Illinois, decided to give me a little bit of money to do five camps. We ended up doing six over about a six-month period. A camp is defined as a morning session and an afternoon.

We have six different stations: lathe, mill, CNC control, laser engraver, assembly station, inspection station, and a programmable rotary station. What we do is every 15 minutes, we take 24 young people, divide them into six groups, so there’s only four per group, and then we have a mentoring component. We have a high school CTE student mentor the middle school students.

The middle school students become the mentors later for the next group of middle school students. And the host can either be a technical college or an industry member. So you have a path from middle school to high school to technical college to industry. It’s a total path.

We did the first six camps, and now IMEC has come to me again and said to keep doing this, they’re going to fund us again.

One thing I left out is that out of every 24 young people that come, only one or two know anything about manufacturing. We ask them when they first arrive. At the end, you can tell just by the excitement that you see and what they’re learning. They go home with a pen with their name laser engraved on it, and they get a shirt with their school name and cool logos. 

There’s at least 10 that go home all excited about manufacturing. It plants a seed.

 

A Serendipitous Moment

Terry: I was having a tough time being the only sibling in our family to work at the company.

I went to a class at Harvard for a week. It was a strategic finance class.

I was really struggling, and I met a woman from Brazil that literally kind of said, “Get over yourself.” And I’m like, “What? I don’t even know you. What are you talking about?” She’s like,

“Going into your family business and being the chosen one to take it into the future is an honor, don’t you know? You were chosen for a reason and you should be privileged and honored that you were chosen. Quit whining and get over yourself. Just accept your destiny and just do it. Do what you’ve been destined to do.”

I was just so taken aback by her candor and her frankness. I was just like, “Well, obviously I needed that.”

Noah: And you were in the right mindset to receive it.

Terry: I’m always open. That’s why it happened.

Question: What are your ideas on how to get American kids interested in manufacturing careers? Transcript was generated with the assistance of claud.ai.

The post CNC Machining Camp, with Terry Iverson–EP 225 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

This podcast episode is the second part of our interview with Will Healy III about how to get the most out of trade shows, which we did before IMTS 2022. It’s a great time run the best of, as IMTS 2024 is coming Sept. 9!

We suggest you listen to Part I of the podcast before you tune into this one.

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Main Points

Participate and Follow Social Media Related to a Show

Will suggests announcing ahead of time on social media that you will be going to a trade show. Often this will lead to meeting up in person with new people, or reuniting with old contacts who you had not realized were going to the show. 

Will likes to post on social media about what he is seeing at trade shows, mainly on Linkedin, which can provide interesting ideas to other show goers about places to see that they didn’t know about.

This year, for the first time, IMTS has a new booth called the creators lounge, devoted to content creators and social media thought leaders where you can hear them speak. The thought leaders will also be going around the show creating a live stream.

Student Area at IMTS

Will suggests to check out a student area at IMTS, hidden on level 1 in the North building. There you can see students presenting projects related to machining. It also has many booths encouraging young people to go into the machining field. Robotics companies as well as firms such as MasterCam, Haas, Autodesk, and even NASA have booths there. 

Take Advantage of Conferences at Shows

Trade shows such as IMTS are packed with conferences for attendees who want to learn more about the latest machining technology and industry trends. Will is going to be presenting for two to three conferences and will be on the IMTS+ Main Stage as a panelist. 

The post How to Get the Most From a Trade Show, With Will Healy III (Part II)–EP 164 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

The 2024 IMTS International Manufacturing Technology Show coming up in two weeks in Chicago!

We did an awesome podcast two years ago about preparing for trade shows and IMTS in particular, so we will be rerunning both this week.

The following is a summary of our 2-part interview with Will Healy III. Will has been going to machining industry trade shows such as IMTS for a long time, as an exhibitor, a speaker, and attendee. I myself have been to quite a few trade shows over the years, including IMTS, and I have to say, I wish I had known a lot of the stuff covered in this interview back then, like how to plan your schedule before a show and the best strategies for networking. We even talked about how to stop a conversation if it is running too long.

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Main Points

Have a Plan Before the Show

If you go to a show like IMTS without a plan, you will walk a lot, you will not see as much as you want, and you will probably not see the things you needed to see.

There are four main exhibition areas at IMTS spanning three huge buildings in McCormick Place, which can be quite overwhelming for show goers. Will says when he goes to trade shows like IMTS, he wears gym shoes to traverse the show grounds, carrying dress shoes in a backpack if he has to work in a booth.

Will advises to study the IMTS map prior to the show to pick out the technologies you want to see, the companies you want to visit, and the people you want to talk to. Then plan a strategic rout.

Make Appointments with People You Want to Visit

Before a show it’s great to tell your venders that you’re going, so when you visit a booth they’re ready for you. If you don’t make appointments before the show, you can still swing by a booth and make an appointment to come by later.

Take advantage of networking events

After the show ends for the day, there are tons of networking events in the evenings put on by trade organizations and vendors. The show presents a rare opportunity to meet a lot of new people in your industry in person. Will says one philosophy he has when traveling for work is to “never eat alone” because there are tons of people from all over looking to connect with peers in their industry.

Tips for Interactions at Networking Events

Will says at events when he meets new people, he likes to write down their names in a notebook. He is not a fan of taking notes using smartphones because taking out phones creates disengagement in conversations. He also likes to follow up with most people he meets via email or social media after the show ends.

I also suggested that it would be good to have the calendly app ready on a smart phone to make appointments on the spot if you want to make sure to lock in a meeting post trade show.

Disengaging from Conversations

Will says it is important to be ready with some clever ways to end a conversation, so you don’t end up spending all of your limited time talking to only one person. Two of his go-to disengagement excuses, which enable him leave a conversation without lying, include having other appointments to get to and needing to go to the bathroom. He thinks people will be suspicious if you lie about having received a text message.

Question: Which booths or other events to you plan on checking out at this IMTS?

Will Healy III can be found on social media at the handle @willautomate

Go to Part II of this interview! 

The post How to Get the Most From a Trade Show, With Will Healy III (Part I)–EP 163 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.

Most of us don’t have a knack for pivoting.  We follow the standard curriculum, and we keep going forward when we get in a lane, whether we believe it’s the right direction or not. But for Michael Gimbel, my guest on today’s show, seeing setbacks as serendipity and then pivoting is a natural gift. Michael [...]

The post Pivoting to Manufacture a Product, with Michael Gimbel – EP 224 first appeared on Today’s Machining World.