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Business of Machining - Episode 40
214 Plays7 years ago
The car is kaput. Grimsmo makes due with his mic from home. If you've successfully changed the insert on a boring bar while holding your child, you might be a machinist. Time flies when life is good. Grimsmo reflects on obsession. When you say yes to the short term goal, are you short changing yourself? The path from point A to point B isn't a straight line, so of course it takes longer to get there. 3.14 times longer, to be exact. Grimsmo reveals a new, big goal. "I hope you have time to talk to me in two years!" - Saunders Saunders has what he describes as the BEST WEEK EVER. Who knew 3 pieces of software could make such an impact? Sound Switching Software What the heck is a nurdle? It's not just a recommendation from the American Dental Association. Take some advice from Tools of Titans and Stay Calm by clicking here. Remember: Slow is fast, Fast is smooth. Asana is the MVP for organizing projects. Think digital Pierson Boards! See the S&H Tour Video here. Fusion released FORM TOOLS! Click here to learn the trick. YOU'RE ON THE CLOCK. Frank discussion ensues about dealing with unexpected visitors when time is of the essence.
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Transcript
Significance of Episode 40
00:00:00
Speaker
Good morning and welcome to the Business of Machining, episode number 40. My name is John Saunders. Why does 40 sound significant?
Authenticity and Public Conversations
00:00:08
Speaker
It's not really a significant number. It just sounds like a lot.
00:00:13
Speaker
I was like, we're almost a year, then I was like, well, no, that's three more months, still a year or so, but nevertheless, I really, I really, I always look forward to talking to you on a Friday morning, but, and it's funny because I've always tried to think about the fact that this is now public, doesn't change the conversation, doesn't change the reality of it, the good highs, the lows, but nevertheless, I, if I can say this, I am even more enthusiastic because we do this now.
00:00:40
Speaker
Yes.
Listener Reactions and Publication Timing
00:00:41
Speaker
Yeah, it gives us not only accountability throughout the week, like in a weird way, I want to have an impressive week to tell you that I had an impressive week, but also just it's so nice to talk to you. Well, thank you, kind sir. No, it's cool. You hear from people, you hear people that
00:01:03
Speaker
Like when I meet, I think I said this before, but it's like, of course I listen to your podcast. It's just so strange. People on Instagram were already posting about something about it. It's cool.
00:01:13
Speaker
Anyways. Yeah.
Editing Efficiency and Outsourcing Possibilities
00:01:15
Speaker
Although one of my favorite things, there is a two week lag in the podcast from when we talk to when it comes public. And then some of our friends continue the conversation with us as if there's no time pass. Like Friday, we'll get a random text about something you and I talked about two weeks ago. Well, so that's funny because when we started, we had like a four week lag or three week. Now we're two, maybe we can, well,
00:01:36
Speaker
Two things. One, maybe we can drop it to one week. We've gotten into our rhythm pretty well. Or I'm actually trying to go lean on this because to be honest, it's taking us a lot of time to edit them. And so I'm thinking, why are we editing to add value?
00:01:52
Speaker
Not really. We don't rarely ever, once in a while, if we have a technical difficulty or somebody has to cough, we'll try to edit that out as a courtesy. But really, there should be no reason we can't hang up and just have this turn into a live pod. So that's on my task. And I'll probably kick it to Upwork because I started looking and asking friends who run podcasts. That's what I was asking you before we hit record this morning was,
00:02:19
Speaker
was, oh, we were trying to figure out the microphone noise background thing and how do you deal with the fact that we're in different cities and so forth.
Car Troubles and Routine Challenges
00:02:29
Speaker
Yeah, and there's always variables like this morning my car wouldn't start. Normally I go into the shop because I can control the noise level, I turn all the machines, the air compressor and everything off. But today, yeah, so past couple days, you know, you go to start the car and it just goes click.
00:02:47
Speaker
which I know from my car days means the starter is not, like the thing's engaging but it's not turning. Basically time for a new starter or rebuild. So I set it into the shop yesterday because I don't do that kind of work anymore. I'm too busy. But yes, they put in a remand starter and it started fine but it sounded kind of funny when it was starting and then this morning it cranks for a little bit. It just cranks and cranks and doesn't start and then I turned it off and the starter kept spinning.
00:03:17
Speaker
until the battery died. Whoa. So maybe it's a connector between the ignition and that's engaged. Yeah, I don't know. It's out of my hands now.
00:03:27
Speaker
So, I just got to wait for Eric to wake up and then he can jump me and then I'll take it to the shop and they'll fix it. Sorry. That stinks. That's fine. That
Balancing Work and Family Life
00:03:36
Speaker
stinks. Yeah. Right. So, we might have mild interruptions. My son said he wanted to see you this morning. That is a welcome interruption. It was funny. My wife has her busy week at work this week, so I had to go
00:03:51
Speaker
pick up the kids at five o'clock and I wasn't done working yesterday so I go pick up the kids and they're at two different daycares now because they're ages so and then I swing back by the shop so I've got Jane in my arms and William's walking around William loves the shop but we're running training classes so there's like four people that are still hanging out kind of the trainings over and I'm like oh hi sorry like it feels like weird but it was also it's super fun
00:04:15
Speaker
Yeah I mean it makes you real like yes I have a life as well right now. I successfully changed the insert on a boring bar while holding my daughter that is actually not that is not anything to do. No I can't imagine. How's your week then?
Innovation vs. Production Balance
00:04:32
Speaker
Week's been really good solid I can't believe it's Friday already. Yeah one of those really fast like it was just Monday.
00:04:41
Speaker
Good production. Production's been really good. So if I recall, last Friday you were focused on the new oranges, right? The tops? The new fixture tops, yep. And I made enough progress to be able to use it, but not fully use it. So I'm still using some of my old methods, but also the new one too. And the new one's awesome. I can't wait to have it finished.
00:05:05
Speaker
But it's do you devote a lot of time to finish it, or do you keep production going by keeping the old ways and kind of ease your way into it? So we need to keep production going. So that's kind of what I've been doing. But it shows me the inefficiencies in our old methods. Because I know the new way is going to be so good, so fast, so easy. I can't wait to talk about our week. But I continue to remind myself to stay nimble, meaning don't
00:05:34
Speaker
Be willing to scrap a fixture. Be willing to not build so much inventory that you're like, well, I want to make it different, but I need to get through this inventory first, something like that. I was thinking about that last night. I was debating whether to go back into the shop to do something real quick. I'm going to sit in here in my office.
00:05:54
Speaker
It's like a 10, 20 foot walk away. And then you just like close your eyes and you're like, I would rather have the information if I went back out to the shop, but I'm feeling lazy. But then you're like, forget about what it costs. You would rather have it. So shut up and go do it. I know it sounds silly, but it's like sometimes it's hard to make the right decision.
Focusing on Production Goals
00:06:13
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:06:15
Speaker
Yeah, no, something I wanted to talk to you about was I think a big part of our success to date has been our ability to get obsessed, like very, very obsessed about certain things. And I've certainly kept that throughout the years. And but now I'm realizing it's too easy for me to get obsessed about things that don't achieve my goals directly.
00:06:39
Speaker
like, if I have a project idea, I just I just need to cam it, right, you know, code it in fusion, see it, and then I'm happier. And then maybe I just need to make it real quick. And then I'm happier, but I get so obsessed about it. And then at the end, I'm kind of empty, hollow, like, did this get me closer to my big goals? No, but it was fun. And it's kind of stupid, right? So I have these big, gigantic goals that I want to achieve in a fairly short period of time. And
00:07:08
Speaker
I think I need to devote the next two months to production basically which will get me to where I want to be as opposed to exciting obsessive things like flashlights or things which are big picture things that need to happen but yeah I have an end of your goal that I'm desperate to hit and if I get too obsessed and distracted I won't hit it.
Financial Goals and Debt Management
00:07:29
Speaker
So that's your look I have the same problem because
00:07:32
Speaker
You just, it's not that you, instead of saying no to the exciting short-term flashy object, say yes to your bigger goal. You're not denying yourself the ability to do it. You just got to put it on the back burner. Right. Put on the right time schedule.
00:07:51
Speaker
And I have to be okay with that, right? Exactly. No, but you are absolutely right. It's kind of fun. I've been posting some old pictures back from the strike mark days when we got started with the first company and I was thinking about... I put up a very proud post saying...
00:08:10
Speaker
picturing me with this wooden prototype that I literally cobbled together in my parents' basement and how six years later it was being used by the US Military Army, State Department, you know, nuclear training facilities.
Breaking Down Big Goals
00:08:22
Speaker
And I was thinking, somebody, a couple people asked me like, hey, how did you get into the military sales or how did you get there? And it's funny because I get frustrated when I see posts like that from other people too. And I'm like, you're here, how did you get all the way here? So if you take a piece of paper,
00:08:38
Speaker
and you lay it down on your desk, and on the left-hand side, you draw a little dot, and that's where you are right now. And on the right-hand side, you draw another dot all the way across the piece of paper. And that's kind of like this dream goal of having sales or having an end with the military. It's like people just want to, and I'm the same way, you just want to say, somebody tell me how to draw that straight line all the way there. And the reality is what you do is you draw a dot a quarter of an inch to the right of your first dot.
00:09:04
Speaker
and you figure out that step and then you figure out the next step and that's important because you're gonna make mistakes and you can't have this like you don't get to big goals by you know you don't get to a million dollars a year in sales or ten million dollars a year in sales by thinking I want to do ten million you think about okay I need to do a thousand dollars today or whatever the number is you know you break it down and it's also important because you're gonna have setbacks and you're gonna change directions that line wasn't a straight line that line
00:09:32
Speaker
you know, zig zagged to different directions as we kind of figure out our path. Right. Which makes the path longer, you know, if you measure the ups and downs, right? It's longer than the straight distance. In fact, it actually comes out to exactly 3.14 times longer. The rule of mind. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So what are you, what are your big goals?
Motivation for Paying Off Debt
00:09:58
Speaker
Don't want to get into too many details because it's kind of personal.
00:10:02
Speaker
I want to be debt free by the end of the year. And we've got some consumer debt that we've been we've been pouring into the business over the past years. And it's just grown and accumulated. And it's you know, I don't want to say it's embarrassing, but I don't want it anymore. You know, I'm at the point where we can clear this off the table.
00:10:21
Speaker
And then the only debts left will be the machine payments, which I'm okay hanging on to. I don't feel the need to pay those off. But if I can get all the credit cards and everything else off the table, we're good to go, right? I will be super in a good position. Honestly, thank you for being willing to share that. If you take the two dots on the paper, it's the same thing.
00:10:43
Speaker
You can argue about whether it's good to be in debt. It doesn't matter. You have debt. So the question is, what's the next step? Well, the next, the first step is the attitude towards it. Are you okay with it? Are you going to add to more debt? Are you going to think it's okay to keep the debt you've got? Or are you going to get hungry about it and realize it's, I mean, this is a very personal thing. Some people will disagree with me or some people don't like the answer or the truth, but I think I commend you on the attitude. I really do.
00:11:13
Speaker
Good.
Philosophy of Good vs. Bad Debt
00:11:14
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it's been something I've kind of ignored and accepted for so many years. And then both talking to you because you're a big advocate of basically debt free. And then, you know, listening to some Dave Ramsey and talking to other experts and friends and everything like that. And it's not a position you want to be in long term, obviously.
00:11:34
Speaker
So it's the past six months or so as I've learned more about it and I've always kind of avoided like accounting finance It's never been a strong suit of me, but I've kind of I've learned a lot about it lately And it's it makes me sick. Yeah, you know yeah, no, it's it's the yeah here's the here's the single statement that tells me everything I need to know which is that somebody who's been in debt and
00:11:59
Speaker
and then earned their way out of it. I've never met somebody ever or heard about somebody ever who said, yeah, you know what? I'd go back into debt.
00:12:10
Speaker
Seriously, that's it. That's the end all be all. Look, I want to make sure I'm honest in how we represent who we are. I have debt. We have a mortgage on the building. I was comfortable with that for two reasons. One, I know real estate. That's what I used to do before I started all this. And number two, we got really, I don't want to say lucky because I've always been a big fan of that kind of, you know, you make your own luck, but I spent
00:12:33
Speaker
a bit of time looking around and found an off market building. It wasn't even for sale. I went to the family that owned it, petitioned them to see if they'd consider selling it, and it had a tenant in it. So yes, it's debt, but it's also, and I hesitate to talk about this because I think if you start rationalizing and justifying debt, you'll
00:12:51
Speaker
you'll accept that disease, you'll accept that it's okay, and oh, this time I'll do it. But this situation was pretty much a no-brainer. It was a good deal where I've got a long-term credit tenant, and that tenant provides income, which means, yeah, it's debt, but we have a 15-year mortgage, and we're making, every month I make, at a minimum, the actual amount you have to pay, obviously, but there've been a lot of months where I've done double payments, and so my goal is to get it paid off.
00:13:18
Speaker
I actually think we're going to get paid off in probably the next two years. Which is hugely impressive. And then life is good. Yeah, so. Holy cow, holy cow. The world is, John, you are, I hope we're doing this in two years because to see what, I hope you have time to talk to me in two years.
00:13:39
Speaker
Yeah, it'll be really interesting to do that. Yeah, I mean, I hate to rationalize good debt, but in my mind, there's kind of two or three categories. There's like real estate, there's machine payments, and then there's just credit card garbage. And that's where I'm at right now. I'm stuck with this credit card garbage that I want to eliminate.
00:14:00
Speaker
and I can be comfortable with the machine debts, and we can pay them off as we get more aggressive. You know, I'll be used to paying off the credit cards, or I'll be used to paying all this extra money, right? So just roll that into the machines, and that's good. So now that the rasks are done a couple months ago, we're getting into a good production flow. We have the cash flow to allocate to these kind of things, which is just fantastic. But we've just got to be super smart about how we move forward.
00:14:27
Speaker
And now that I've talked about it, I mean, this is my goal for the next two months, and it is technically possible, but only with a hundred percent commitment. You know, if I spend a third of my time playing with flashlights, which is a good long term decision, but it's not going to happen by Christmas, right? Yeah.
00:14:45
Speaker
So what's your advice to that?
Financing Early Business Ventures
00:14:47
Speaker
Obviously, barrel forward. Yeah, stay hungry. I mean, it's no secret that one of the ways I got started was I kept my day job. I wanted to finance my early business, which was the starter rifle target business that morphed into a camera mount business. I wanted to finance that by keeping my job. I wanted to have my cake and eat it too. I wanted a paycheck. I wanted benefits.
00:15:11
Speaker
entrepreneur who didn't want to risk at all. And so what that meant was I worked more. And to me, that was exactly what I wanted to do. I happened to have been in New York City. This sounds way more planned than it really was, but I happened to be in New York City, which I liked it, but I wasn't the kid who wanted to go out every night partying or clubbing or dancing or whatever. So I would get back from my job and just work. It was actually phenomenal. It's ironic to think you're in the busiest city in the world and it's your quiet haven because you kind of, in some respects, don't fit in.
00:15:41
Speaker
And so, but I bring that up to say that even though I had a job, I still was, not every day, but a lot of days, I packed my lunch at work and that was super weird. People were like, why are you doing this? We're out of college, we're making money, let's go get our $13 sandwiches. And I was like, guys, I had enough foresight to think,
00:16:06
Speaker
This could be really cool if I do, if I just, I act like I was, basically live below, make sure you keep your cost of living below what you actually make and life is good. It's planning for the future basically. Right. Yeah. Making the concessions necessary to succeed in the long term. Right. Yeah. As opposed to feeling like you're a baller when you're making, you know, a decent wage. Right. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Cool.
00:16:35
Speaker
They're good for you, dude. I can't wait to, yeah, awesome. No, I'm glad I got to talk about it, too, because you said some good things. It's just frustrating that we, this last thing, but...
Global Economy and Debt Pitfalls
00:16:46
Speaker
people make it so our country, our Western civilization, our global economy is unfortunately based on debt. I mean, to the actual point where if you want to get technical, our whole banking system is what's called fractional reserve banking, where the only reason our money supply even expands is the fact that banks can lend out $9 for every $10 they have of deposits, which is what creates this increased money supply when we broke off the gold standard. Hold on another story.
00:17:12
Speaker
For our economy to keep going, they need people to borrow money. So the trick to being not average is to let everyone else keep doing that while you don't. Yes, yes. I gotta share. We had the best week we've ever had, period.
00:17:33
Speaker
I love it. And you can tell with the Instagram posts, you seem very happy and excited and you're showing nostalgic stuff. That's funny. I didn't even think about that, but you're probably right. It actually was true from sales of products, which has been something that was my goal for this year. And I feel like we're just now getting into our groove with it. But really, it was two things. It was two pieces of software. You ready for this?
00:18:01
Speaker
Number one, I don't even remember what the name of
Productivity Tools and Workflow Enhancement
00:18:04
Speaker
it is. I'll put it in the description of the podcast. But I use these USB headsets that I'm wearing right now when I'm talking to you. The gamer ones, they're like 26 bucks. They do a microphone as well as the audio on your headsets. If you use Windows, it is easier to walk to Montana than it is to switch your audio from
00:18:28
Speaker
eighth inch mini jack output to USB headphone output, right? There's this software that just, I just Googled it. And of course it's not that hard once you spend the time on it, where you program a hotkey. So now on my keyboard, alt tilde automatically toggles my windows output sound from eighth inch normal speaker wire to my speakers over to my USB headset. The thing to the left of the one.
00:18:59
Speaker
No, I didn't know that, the little squiggly line. I think actually the squiggly line technically is called a nerdle, which is a term used in the toothpaste industry.
00:19:12
Speaker
I am not making this up. But I believe for something on there is called a tilde. I do not know. Interesting. It makes no much sense. Because I use my headphones, like if I'm going to watch a YouTube video while I'm eating my lunch, or if I'm going to listen to something to review some video footage, or I'm on this.
00:19:33
Speaker
And I just want to switch back and forth all the time. And it's now something I enjoy doing versus something where like, ugh, I got to open up sound and switch the default output device and close control panel. And actually, three pieces of software. Number two, I've been reading Tools of Titans, great book. And I am excited about this because I'm not that guy who I think you would typecast into this, but calm.com.
00:20:04
Speaker
I don't, I haven't really gotten into the actual meditation dialogue that you can go through. That's like five to 15 minutes where they're talking to you. But I just hit pause on that. And it's this serene picture of like, it looks honestly, it looks like Banff National Park, like this lake and mountains. And it's like just crazy.
00:20:24
Speaker
Creek noise, wilderness noise, and I just have it playing in the background. And John, it's just what I need. So you put the headphones on? Usually it's just speakers, just quietly. Sometimes it'll be at the headphones. Another great example, I can switch it back and forth if I need to.
00:20:44
Speaker
Yeah, it's awesome. It just just kind of just reminds me, you know, slow is fast, fast is smooth, or whatever, whatever that saying, right? The last piece of software, which is by far the structurally biggest is we started using Asana.
Effective Task Management with Asana
00:21:04
Speaker
OK, we talked about that briefly. AS, ANA, great news is it's free, at least at the level we're using it, which appears to be pretty significant. It's not like they free me and you into the pay version right away. So what is it? So what is it? It's going to be our version.
00:21:23
Speaker
This conversation is going to be so exciting with you over the next, as we figure this out. Asana is great. We also quickly, it's like the gateway drug to an ERP system. We'll come back to that, but it is kind of like our Pearson boards.
00:21:39
Speaker
So it's funny to say this because I feel like I'm about to say something bad about Jay Pearson, which is not what I meant. But the Pearson board don't work for us. They're not easy enough to be updated and they only exist in one place. And we're a big enough shop and now we've got six people here some days. I need something just for the fact that I'm on the move.
00:22:02
Speaker
And so I thought about wanting a Pearson board that was just a big touch screen. That would work because then you could have it mirrored in different locations and you could update it. Anybody could update it from different locations. Well, Asana basically is that.
00:22:14
Speaker
So we have, I'll do a video on it for the new nyccnt.com website, but we've got job shops, Wednesday Widget, Fusion Fridays, other videos, projects with Ed, which is like the Arduino stuff, and then shop work. So I'll give you the short highlights. For job shop, it lets me schedule jobs. So it lets me say what we're quoting, what we're caming up, what's ready to run, and then on the what's ready to run,
00:22:42
Speaker
Asana has just boxes and you just drag whichever box you want to the top. So that tells Jared, hey, this is what I need to run next. And would you primarily use it on your phone or on your computer and you and everybody else? Both. Doesn't matter, really.
00:22:58
Speaker
It doesn't matter. So we've got an app. We've got to open on computers. And then I'm going to put a computer out on the shop floor with a TV screen. That way, Noah and Zach aren't really in front of their computer most of the time for their job. They're out in the shop. So they'll have a computer that's a big, kind of like the SNH machine shop tour. So you can keep track of stuff. And you know what I used to do, John? I'd wake up in the morning and I'd want to do something on my list. So I would email it to myself.
00:23:28
Speaker
So you have this three-tiered event where you would email yourself, then you would get to the shop and you would receive the email, and then you would move the email task over into some to-do list or something else. That gets rid of all that.
00:23:39
Speaker
Yes, exactly. People now can move, like Julie can move projects into the JWS to review column, which tells me it's in my court to take a look at it. So it's saving unnecessary emails. And then the biggest thing is under shop work, we have a calendar that creates the events. So I can put all of our maintenance and shop work stuff, like whether it's mop the floor or check the air compressor oil or take out just any of that stuff.
00:24:09
Speaker
Every month we need to probe in our Renaissance. It takes like 14 seconds, not a big deal, but you should do it. And so now all that stuff, we talked about this before, we are now, we work for Asana. Nice. Do you find, because I kind of do this personally with myself with the Trello app, do you find that it can just become a giant to-do list of random things or are you doing a pretty good job of keeping it
Avoiding Overwhelming Task Lists
00:24:39
Speaker
You mean like does it get over, does it become worthless because you just dump stuff into it and never do it? Yeah, and I kind of find that that's what Trello is doing for me because it's a great brain dump and I get to put it all there, but I'm not doing it all. Great question. It's not my to-do list. I still keep, I'm holding up for John, my paper to-do list. And Asana is definitely something that's meant towards group or teamwork.
00:25:04
Speaker
So John, you have you, Eric and Barry, that's three people. If you were a solopreneur, would you need a sonnet? Maybe not, but I'll tell you, it's just what I tell people who are just getting started or they're thinking about a real business where they know it will grow or hope it will grow.
00:25:22
Speaker
Start creating an org chart and put all the responsibilities or positions that you would fictitiously hire if you were 10 times bigger. And your name is gonna go in each one of those spots for now, but it won't later. Yeah, and that's what the E-Myth book suggested. Right, right. Which is something I've been putting off, but I really need to do within our organization, because now we're a legit corporation, but it also feels kind of weird.
Importance of Business Structure
00:25:48
Speaker
I don't feel like a corporation, I'm just a guy making parts, but in actuality,
00:25:52
Speaker
We're a real business now, and we have real positions. And Barry is the CFO. One, because he's a 35-year accountant. But also, it's nice to be able to put him in this, like, this is your job title. You're the CFO, and you also do other stuff. Right. That's very cool.
00:26:07
Speaker
Yeah. So it has been it has been a breath of fresh air like it's amazing how quickly we have really embraced it and it helps with our workflow man. Yeah, just great.
Exploring ERP Systems
00:26:21
Speaker
I do have a request if anyone's listening who has experience with
00:26:26
Speaker
like machine shop or manufacturing, hardware, entrepreneurship, ERP, enterprise resource planning. We're looking at Odoo, and we're probably gonna look at, SAP has something called Business One that's for small business. I don't know if I wanna get into it right now on the podcast, but I'd love to hear from any viewers, especially on Odoo, which used to be, it was a spin out, let me look it up, because it was,
00:26:54
Speaker
I did get an email a couple weeks ago from somebody, from a company that has their own ERP software that asked us about it, but I haven't taken any action yet. I should forward that to you. Please do, yeah. Yeah, I will. It was a start out of open ERP, I think. So maybe we'll save it for next week to talk for about, since we talked about a lot of software already.
Need for High-Performance Computers
00:27:21
Speaker
that I am so fired up right now between the little, oh, and then like, I know you and I both bought computers this last few weeks, which was, I was just like, why did I wait so long? You know, it is, we should be buying Ferrari computers not because we want the glam, but because we're race car drivers and you need, this is your tool. Like I am, I need a computer that can respond, not one that is laggy. Yeah, I was at the computer store talking with the guy and I'm just like, I can't slow down.
00:27:49
Speaker
I cannot have a computer that slows me down. So yes, I'll pay a premium for that, but it's awesome. Awesome. What are you up to today?
Focusing on Production and Managing Distractions
00:28:01
Speaker
Today, more production. Gotta get back on the lathe. Yesterday I got obsessed about this little promise thing that I made to a guy, which is a custom one-off for our knives.
00:28:13
Speaker
And I did, I spent like three hours on it and I'm still not done. And I'm just going to have to tell the guy, I can't do it. I'm sorry. Like, we'll go back to the normal way. This is going to take another eight hours of my time and it's just stupid. I'm not charging any extra for it. It's just like, oh, I feel bad saying no, but it's dumb, right? Yeah. It was a mistake, I guess. Exactly.
00:28:38
Speaker
Right. Like I'm, I tend to be such a super nice, helpful guy. Like, yeah, we'll do that. You know, problem. No problem. No problem. But it really slows us down. Um, and that's not acceptable anymore. So yeah, so that's okay. So yeah, today, um, stop pins on the lathe, pivot screws on the lathe, um, knives, blades, handles.
00:28:58
Speaker
handles clips on the mill, things are good. And hopefully I can make a little bit of a dent on the new orange palette, get a bit more progress done on that. What's tricky, is it unexpected stuff or is it just you're doing a little bit at a time?
Developing New Fixture Palettes
00:29:12
Speaker
On the palette? Yeah, it's just a little bit at a time. Like if I had three hours to devote to it, I'd have it done probably.
00:29:22
Speaker
But yeah, there's a lot of details. I got to make clamps. I got to make, you know, I got to machine the top of the palette, the sides of the palette and all this stuff. I have all the metal, though, so I've got nothing really stopping me. Once you get you're still kind of working on the, quote unquote, first one. Yes. So if you needed to make five more, is it better? Oh, yeah. Easier, straightforward. OK. So you're kind of proving out. Yeah. Once I have proven out. Yeah. Yeah. I think the design is done. Almost done. I need to add the fixture pen.
00:29:51
Speaker
locations. But yeah, it's just coming up with a code. And I mean, I've done all the code before on the Rask palette, but that was almost a year and a half ago. So I transfer it over, I copy and paste all the CAM files, but it's still different. And you do things differently. You have some different tools now. And you know, it's not just plug and play. Yeah, no, totally another feeling there. But it's, and of course, I want to make it beautiful. And I want to do good surface finishes and all this ridiculous stuff. But
00:30:18
Speaker
It's cool. Isn't it funny how you can cam up a part, you know, and then six months later you're like, Oh, I'm going to reuse that cam for another part. And then you're like, I have no, I actually have no cognitive memory of what I was doing. Like, I know I adjusted these settings for some reason, but I have no, I cannot actually, like I've seen parts that we've made that people have sent us pictures of like years later. I have no memory of making them. I have zero memory. That's weird. Yeah.
00:30:44
Speaker
Yeah, or sometimes I'll do toolpaths, and I'm like, why did you do it like that? You should know better. And now I do. Today's Fusion Friday, which I guess will be two weeks delayed for everyone
Release of Fusion's New Form Tools
00:30:55
Speaker
else. I think it's...
00:30:56
Speaker
No, I'm sorry John. It's next week's fusion Friday. I lied because today was okay today was form tools fusion finally put out form tools good I tried to look into it yesterday, and I couldn't figure it out, so I'm looking forward to that video Which is why we put out a video. It's definitely yeah, it's definitely the greenest thing I've ever seen fusion put out. It's like wait. This is they seriously released this it seems very Green to be polite
00:31:21
Speaker
Okay, I'll just tell you I can show you the trick afterward but if you are if anyone's listening you're using fusion and you're trying to use something like 2d 2d contour to pick You want to pick like letters around? The chain around letters like the letter K and it only wants to pick one bracket of the K. Yeah
00:31:40
Speaker
If you click that one bracket that it's picking, and again, you don't want to go right click the other 72 little contour lines. If you click down and hold down with your left mouse, it'll pop open and it'll let you toggle between open and closed contour with the green check, green except in the red, no. If you just switch it to closed contour,
00:32:03
Speaker
A lot of times it will auto complete the selection. Well, if you go back and forth from open to close and then back to open. Yeah. I didn't know that. No, no, no. If you just it'll when you click on it once, it'll consider it an open contour. OK.
00:32:16
Speaker
So when you move it to close, it tries to close it. So it'll either close it in the Z plane, which is wrong, or it'll close it along your like XY plane, which is right. But even if it closes it in the wrong way, you just hover your mouse over some other parts portion of the K and it would usually, it will actually do it correctly. The little black line kind of traces its way around. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Try that. Yeah.
00:32:41
Speaker
Sweet. What do you update today? We are finally running steel fixture plates.
Resolving Out-of-Spec Material Issues
00:32:50
Speaker
I didn't think I got into this very much, but we had a pretty frustrating experience. You think given how long we've been doing this, we would both with fixture plates, but also just like dealing with vendors and materials and processes. You think you get better at it, you still get surprises. Long story short,
00:33:10
Speaker
We had material show up that was out of spec, and it was a long, frustrating conversation that got a little contentious. And it ends up that the supplier just did something different that they had never done before. And we had took a long time to figure out that they did that out. And it wasn't their fault, but it wasn't in the spec. So it's just, it's crummy. So spent a while getting that sorted back out. So now the pressure's on. We actually have three orders that are
00:33:37
Speaker
I mean a month behind. We should have shipped them a month ago and that kills me. The customer knows we've been communicating with them. One of them is to...
00:33:48
Speaker
One of them is to one of those companies that you just want to smile at. I want to wear their t-shirt. It's exciting. Awesome. So the one is actually on the machine right now, almost done. The other one I got to run today. Somebody asked for a drilling update. Were we talking about drilling the holes a long time ago, I guess? I don't remember.
00:34:12
Speaker
Yeah, I know like sometimes we talk off podcast about more detail, right? All right, but but I don't remember what Yeah, we drill
Improving Drilling Processes
00:34:22
Speaker
a lot of holes. The only thing I can think of is that we It's been on hold because we've been waiting for the new material on the steel side, but we're still using a solid carbide drill Okay, I think we are going to look at switching to the indexable Insert drill but the insert drills not like you think of like a lathe insert but the ones where the hole
00:34:42
Speaker
drill tip. It looks like you just took the end of a drill and chopped it off. I haven't ordered any of those yet because I've learned what we have works, it's just not as efficient as I'd like, but that's not the problem I'm trying to solve right now. The problem I'm trying to solve right now is making sure I've got a process with material and specs and tolerances. And then once we get caught up on orders and get this out the door, we'll start playing with that.
00:35:05
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, I've fallen into that same trap as well like it works. Let's just do it. This is the process. I don't want to throw a big monkey wrench into it yet, even if it's better. You know, production outflow, a process reliability is more important than the best new shiniest, most efficient thing, right? Yeah.
00:35:24
Speaker
Yeah, and you know, it's the, what is it, Kaizen or Kanban, one of those words that means continuous improvement, like, we're always going to be tweaking, so it's not as though I'm looking to, it's kind of weird, like you don't, because you think about getting things locked down and
00:35:43
Speaker
What does that mean? Because even a lockdown process, I'm always going to be looking at ways to do it differently or better. That's just who we are. Like some companies, I can't think of any examples, but you know, they make the same product the same way for years and years. And then the technology just gets old, but that's how we make the process. Whereas you and I were changing like daily, weekly, tweaking, updating, you know, like that's just who we are.
00:36:08
Speaker
We had a 787 pilot in our training class this week and it was really cool. Actually Air Canada pilot and I didn't really know I guess consciously that the 787 is the first plastic plane.
Boeing 787 Dreamliner Insights
00:36:26
Speaker
Really? Yeah, it's not an aluminum fuselage. It's literally composite, which solves this huge problem of the fact that when you pressurize aluminum to make the cabin pressure tolerable for the passengers, the aluminum joints between the rivets expand it out. I don't know the details, but temperature, altitude, blah, blah, blah. So that's why you can't pressurize a plane as much as they'd like to. With the 77, you can, which means
00:36:53
Speaker
jet lag is actually less. Really? Isn't that crazy? Wow. And it's lighter and more efficient. It's like a win-win-win all around, except if you're Alcoa. Yeah, exactly. That's cool. Yeah. How do you deal with
00:37:12
Speaker
What do you call it?
Managing Time with Visitors and Sales Reps
00:37:13
Speaker
You people coming by and distracting your schedule, you know, whether it's friends that need a tour. Sure. Okay. You know, you're a good friend. I'll give you a tour or customers that come by that just want to see stuff or vendors or, you know, tooling reps. Oh, like I've just, go ahead. Well, for, for my tooling rep when he comes by, I've started my stopwatch. We'll just start it, put it back on the table.
00:37:36
Speaker
That way we know that we've been talking for 25 minutes. That's the most passive-aggressive, un-Canadian thing I've ever heard you say in my life. Welcome to my shop. You're on the clock. Right. But it's real now. No, it's fair.
00:37:53
Speaker
Look, everyone's human. The people that come by that want a tour will give them a quick tour. It's probably quicker than they'd like. And some people are, I think, maybe surprised that it's not, hey, we're going to become best friends and hang out for two hours. But I'm also very polite. And then we move on.
00:38:12
Speaker
It's usually pretty obvious with me because people the phone is either ringing or people are pulling me different direction so I think people usually get it and to be honest on the more people don't get it the less sensitive I am to like there are some people out there who just who do not have a problem trying to take all your time into those people I.
00:38:32
Speaker
saying good riddance would be way too extreme. But it doesn't bother me. Tully reps I'm usually polite with and nice. But a lot of times, when we get XYZ carbide company that shows up, I'm just like, we have everything we are neat and happy with. Do you have something that, I mean, I'm pretty blunt, I guess. Do you have something that's different or unique? What's your sales pitch? And then it's like, thanks, happy to take a book. I'll consider it. Right. Yeah.
00:39:01
Speaker
Yeah, good. Yeah, it feels like our October has been filled with many friends, family, vendors, reps, just like all this time that gets eaten up into people coming by. And, you know, maybe that's just the game. Maybe that's just the business. Maybe we're taking
00:39:18
Speaker
accepting it too much. I enjoy doing it, but it's not work. And it kind of throws off the schedule. Especially with Eric, he's got a good daily routine with making knives. If he can get blades into the tumbler by two o'clock, then we can break for lunch, and then his schedule is good, he can finish knives by the end of the day. If he misses that, he misses a window, and then he has to finish the knives tomorrow, and then that throws off tomorrow.
00:39:44
Speaker
That's that's really important. I mean, look, when we have visitors, even I usually I'll usually say walk with me and I'll keep I mean, I'll just keep doing stuff or for the part of the machine. The parts need change. I'll do it. And look, I
00:39:59
Speaker
I can't tell you how much I dislike companies that are like, oh, we work on confidential stuff, so we're not gonna, you know, because it's just like, get off your, I mean, I know you people do, but you can phrase it nicely, but I will, if we have a customer stop by and there's something that we can't, like if we're working on a part that's just, I'm just like, unfortunately we can't, you know, just, you know, fortunately it's not gonna work out, or it doesn't work out right now. I've got to focus on something that has to get focused on. Right, right. Yeah, if you're busy, you're busy.
00:40:28
Speaker
It's this whole mentality, like I'm such a nice happy-go-lucky guy that I try to appease other people whenever possible. But a lot of times when you say no, they're like, okay. And I'm like, oh, that was easy. Yeah. Remember most of the places these guys are walking into are factories where they've got to deal with receptionists or trying to schedule meetings or signing in. And it's very different with us because we're still small.
00:40:54
Speaker
And the truth is I don't ever want to be so close-minded because most people have best of intentions. Most people want to help you or want to sell you something that can be a service or a value. I get annoyed with the sales reps that just think about themselves. We're doing a special on. Somebody who's like, we're selling Parleq tool holders. I'm not leaving Meritool. I have no relationship with Meritool other than being a happy customer. But there's zero chance you're ever going to sell me a Parleq, unless you can tell me something I don't know.
00:41:24
Speaker
I don't drop it. I get 90% of my end mills from Lakeshore Carbide but my local tool distributor is literally like three or four blocks down the road and I get a lot of random stuff from them and he comes by the other day and he comes by often which is great. He's a nice guy but he's like I'd still like to get your end mill business and I'm like I'm really happy ordering from Lakeshore and you don't stock stub tooling so there you go.
00:41:50
Speaker
Yeah, exactly, right. That's what, at the end of the day, flip this question around, put yourself in the shoes of a salesman, and in my opinion in life is you're always selling. You and I are selling our audience of this podcast on why this is a good use of their time.
00:42:08
Speaker
And this goes back to Dale Carnegie, how to win friends and influence people. You have to think about what you're doing for the other person. And when a sales guy is just thinking about the brand that he happens to rep or the stock that he happens to have on hand, you're not giving me a solution. Yep. Yep, it's all about solutions.
00:42:29
Speaker
But don't, I would be polite, but protective of your time, dude, especially as you're banging through the rest of this year. Yeah, two months, man. Dude, awesome. Yeah. Awesome. All right. I'm fired up. Back to work. Sounds good. I'll see you, bud. Take care. Have an awesome day. Bye. Bye.