Making Chips Podcast for Manufacturing Leaders

For every five people aging out of the skilled trades, only two are stepping in behind them. Manufacturers have spent years talking about that gap. Danville, Virginia, decided to build its way out of it.
In this episode, Jason Wells takes us inside the Accelerated Training in Defense Manufacturing program, where students with little or no industrial experience are prepared for careers in machining, welding, additive manufacturing, quality, and other critical trades—in just 16 weeks.
But this isn't a condensed version of a traditional classroom program. Students train eight hours a day across the same three shifts they may encounter in industry. They clock in, follow travelers, complete shift handoffs, practice 5S, and learn the habits shops expect before they ever reach the floor. They're taught G and M code instead of relying solely on conversational controls, while communication, documentation, and problem-solving are treated as seriously as technical ability.
Alan Pearce of Fasttech explains why this talent pipeline convinced him to build his company in Danville—and what happened after he began hiring its graduates. People who entered with no manufacturing background have become top-performing employees, shift supervisors, and, in some cases, are earning up to $50 an hour on shift.
This isn't just a conversation about filling open positions. It's a look at what workforce development could become when educators, manufacturers, and government stop working in separate silos—and build the talent pipeline together.
What's Covered in this Episode
(0:00) Jason's tour of ATDM: Accelerated Training in Defense Manufacturing
(2:16) How Danville rebuilt itself after tobacco, textiles, and furniture collapsed
(4:51) A Navy funded prototype program heading into its sixth year
(6:20) Alan Pearce on why FastTech located in Danville for the talent pool
(10:35) Grow your top and bottom line with CliftonLarsonAllen (CLA)
(11:45) Inside FastTech: wire arc and laser printing, then machining a finished part
(15:24) The Navy's Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence
(17:48) Reaching an underemployed labor pool with students from 47 states
(19:53) Why they still teach G and M code instead of conversational programming
(21:46) Soft skills, clock in and clock out, 5S, and shift handoffs built into the experience
(24:42) Get buyers real answers on your website with Navu
(25:54) The Institute as a convener of government, academia, and industry
(27:27) Graduates who became top scoring employees inside two years
(31:31) A graduation cycle every eight weeks instead of a semester calendar
(32:13) Retention through new technology and challenge, not just pay
(34:46) Why Alan turned down a veteran production manager
(36:14) The seven habits of highly effective workholding from SMW Autoblok
(36:58) Three shifts, aluminum Lego blocks, and 600 hours of training in 16 weeks
(40:58) Hybrid print and machine units now sitting on ships
(42:05) Split into the Sailors and Marines training and the valve body / twelve-parts-to-one
(47:28) Housing students locally and the after-hours cohort learning
(49:33) The down-select: aptitude testing, prerequisites, background check
(54:25) Word of mouth as their best recruiter
(59:10) What Alan tells shop owners about ATDM
Resources Mentioned
Build Submarines
CLA
Navu
SMW Autoblok
Connect with Jason Wells and Alan Pearce
Connect with Jason on LinkedIn
Connect with Alan on LinkedIn
ATDM
Institute for Advanced Learning and Research
Fastech
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Kennametal isn't showing up to IMTS with another wall of cutting tools. They're building a working custom motorcycle shop in the middle of the West Building—and they plan to cut chips, build a bike, and give that bike away before the show ends.
Kim Wilson, Global Director of Marketing Communications, and Matt Jacques, Global Brand and Creative Services Manager at Kennametal, join us for a look behind the curtain at what it takes to build an IMTS experience this ambitious. The concept started taking shape during IMTS 2024 and grew through collaborations with custom motorcycle builder Carey Hart, machinist Satya Krause, artist Taylor Schultz, and several Kennametal customers.
Inside the Next Level Shop, those customers will machine real components using Kennametal tooling—including parts destined for a customized Indian Sport Chief. Attendees can watch live demonstrations, bring application challenges directly to the Kennametal team, explore its digital machining capabilities, and enter to win the completed motorcycle.
But this episode isn't only about building an unforgettable booth. It's about replacing the traditional trade-show pitch with real conversations. Kim and Matt explain how Kennametal is training its team to begin with a manufacturer's challenges—not a product catalog—and help customers uncover opportunities around productivity, tool life, applications, and digital machining.
Visit Kennametal in Booth #431800 in the West Building, Level 3, to experience the Next Level Shop, see live machining demonstrations, and enter to win the custom Indian Sport Chief.
What's Covered in this Episode
(0:00) Nick's fifth baby is due the Tuesday of IMTS, and his attendance is still up for debate
(2:26) Kim Wilson and Matt Jacques on their roles (and the IMTS that doubled as Matt's first day)
(5:43) Metal Mania in 2024 and why Kennametal had to come back looking different
(7:20) How the Next Level Shop theme morphed into a full custom motorcycle build
(9:08) Taylor Schultz, Satya Krause, and Carey Hart putting their hands on the booth concept
(10:34) From giving away a machine in 2024 to giving away a bike built in the booth
(13:15) Win a fully tooled SVM 4100 from MakingChips, DN Solutions, and Kennametal
(14:02) A 100 by 60 booth, project sheets, and leaning hard on the EWI relationship
(16:49) An in house design team taking over all the creative for the first time
(17:47) Why so many IMTS booths run the same branding show after show
(19:23) Racks of tooling versus something a shop owner can stand and watch
(20:19) The 2024 lesson: cutting chips at a show takes about a year of prep
(21:19) Elevate, powered by AMT and Women in Manufacturing, during IMTS 2026
(22:12) Customer demos from Spire Motorsports, Purdue students, and Tim Drinkwater
(23:26) Partnership in practice: tooling up the mini tombstones in the Hennig booth
(26:04) Two huge giveaways happening on Friday the 18th
(28:45) A Monday announcement and a first to market additive technology launch
(29:44) Find Kennametal tooling at 14 different booths in the South Hall
(30:20) First timer advice: comfortable shoes, hydration, and map the show before you go
(33:04) Who trains the booth team and how the floor gets divided up between them
(35:35) Ask questions and be human, because nobody wants to be pitched at
(37:42) Take your shop to the next level with DN Solutions
(38:54) ProShop's booth staffed with 40 customer ambassadors
(41:48) Does a booth theme actually stick with a shop owner two years later?
(44:32) What they're most excited about, and what's keeping them up at night
Resources Mentioned
Kennametal
MakingChips Machine Giveaway
IMTS
Elevate at IMTS 2026
DN Solutions
ProShop ERP
Superfeet
Connect with Kim Wilson and Matt Jacques
Connect with Kim on LinkedIn
Connect with Matt on LinkedIn
Kennametal
Kennametal at IMTS 2026: Booth 431800, West Hall, Level 3
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Most machine shops start thinking seriously about workforce development when they already need someone. A machinist quits, capacity jumps, the backlog grows, and suddenly finding skilled people becomes an emergency.
MSP Manufacturing has taken a very different approach. Johnny Goode joins Paul and Brooke to explain how MSP has spent years building relationships with high schools, apprenticeship programs, students, parents, and the broader manufacturing community. Now, as the company experiences more than 50% revenue growth, that investment is starting to pay off.
We dig into ROI Uplands, a regional program connecting high school students with real employers, and what it actually looks like to bring 16- and 17-year-olds into a working machine shop. Can apprentices contribute meaningfully in an environment where quality, safety, and precision matter? How much training does it take? And what happens to your culture when young people become a regular part of the team?
We also get into the bigger problem facing manufacturing: many students and their parents still have no idea what these careers actually look like. Johnny, Paul, and Brooke talk about the earning potential hiding inside modern manufacturing, why exposure needs to start long before graduation, and what shops can do to help create the next generation of machinists instead of waiting for someone else to do it.
What's Covered in this Episode
(0:00) Why these apprentices hold themselves to a higher standard than anyone sets for them
(2:17) Reintroducing Johnny Goode and getting a snapshot of MSP Manufacturing
(4:11) 30 employees, six apprentices, and 50% revenue growth without adding bodies
(5:30) How ROI Uplands links nine counties of Indiana high schools to local employers
(7:51) Take your shop to the next level with DN Solutions
(9:05) Eagle Manufacturing and the student-run businesses taking real jobs from industry
(10:35) Interview day, the draft, and the state reimbursing half of apprentice wages
(11:55) A three-to-two tuition deal that sends students into the workforce with zero debt
(13:04) Brooke on steamfitting, welding, and the year of college she'd take back
(14:47) 500 applicants, 100 placements, and why Indiana is ahead of the curve
(16:14) What happens to culture when apprentices are the children of your employees
(17:57) Win a fully tooled SVM 4100 from MakingChips, DN Solutions, and Kennametal
(18:44) Why people apply to MSP when there are no job postings anywhere
(20:38) What MSP does to support their community
(21:40) The Band-Aid analogy: keep patching the wound or repair it
(23:42) What a day actually looks like for an apprentice on the floor
(26:09) What success looks like: Hiring for culture fit over subject matter expertise
(29:10) Why students are choosing manufacturing internships
(31:05) Countering the stigma that the trades are the fallback option
(33:42) The $180,000 setup programmer nobody talks about
(36:00) Reality-based AI for the factory floor at the IMTS Industrial AI Conference
(35:19) AI as a force multiplier, not a people replacer
(37:26) Why schools turn down free software, and what ProShop does instead
(42:12) Advisory boards, wait lists, and the tech school near Tulsa with no students
(45:33) Reaching third graders before anyone tells them what a machinist is
(50:07) What gives Johnny the most hope for the next generation
Resources Mentioned
ROI Uplands
Eagle Manufacturing (Brown County High School)
ProShop ERP
DN Solutions
Kennametal
Conexus Indiana
MakingChips Machine Giveaway
IMTS
IMTS Industrial AI Conference
Titans of CNC
Connect with Johnny Goode
Johnny Goode on LinkedIn
MSP Manufacturing
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A lot has changed since the last time we pulled up chairs around the Boring Bar. For our fourth edition, eight manufacturing leaders joined us in the MakingChips studio ahead of the IMTS pre-party to talk about where the industry is headed and, after a couple pours, where they think it should be headed.
AI takes over the conversation early. How fast is it really moving into manufacturing? What happens when it can quote jobs, write code, capture tribal knowledge, or help program a part? Where does the human still matter? And are we actually prepared for the power, infrastructure, workforce, and even educational questions that come with all of it?
Then we turn the question back on ourselves.
If you were starting a machine shop in 2026, knowing everything we know now, would you build it the same way? What would you invest in first? What kind of equipment would you buy? How would you think about automation, people, capacity, specialization, cash flow, and the growing list of incentives available to manufacturers?
Along the way, we get into what's driving demand right now, why data centers suddenly matter to machine shops, what manufacturers should be watching at IMTS, and whether the next generation of shops will look anything like the ones we grew up around.
As usual at the Boring Bar, there are strong opinions, questionable jokes, bourbon, gin, and a few detours we definitely didn't plan.
Pull up a chair.
What's Covered in this Episode
(0:00) The fourth edition of the Boring Bar, back in the MakingChips studio + introductions
(5:43) IMTS 2026 registration is running ahead of 2018, the largest show on record
(6:36) The IMTS pre-party, the rally car, and what the night is really for
(7:44) What's changed for everyone since the last Boring Bar
(9:27) Data centers: Are they the engine behind this year's growth?
(12:43) The 37 minute AI prompt that produced a consultant grade report
(13:30) Hallucinations, beach reads that did not exist, and why you verify
(18:39) Training on AI, where it's going, and why everyone needs to embrace it
(25:33) The stage zero most shops skip: Security, then application 
(26:48) How quoting has been compressed from days to minutes
(28:19) The IMTS Industrial AI Conference and the Industrial AI Arena
(29:28) The IMTS Job Shops Workshop and the AI for the job shop session
(30:36) ProShop goes AI first, plus native machine monitoring, AI quoting, and Chip
(33:21) Programming a part with AI after 30 years away from it
(37:00) Capturing tribal knowledge so each job teaches the next
(42:21) The machine tool giveaway with DN Solutions + Kennametal
(42:38) The big question: how would you start a machine shop today
(47:49) Invest in infrastructure first (digital and physical)
(55:25) What will be your guiding metrics? Availability, performance, and quality
(57:34) Run the shop lights out yourself, then replicate yourself with each hire
(1:04:05) Three business skills for a new shop: cash, capacity, and credits
(1:06:15) $3,500 per apprentice, plus the tax tools that arrived in July of 2025
(1:09:20) The Lights Out guest with a fab shop, a water plant, and a coal mine
(1:15:32) The comp sci grad who chose trade school over a job AI could take
(1:22:12) Generation CNC: teenagers buying their first machines
(1:23:34) Math as a barrier, and why we should not exclude kids
(1:26:48) The importance of Oscar Mike and Manufacturing Pathways
(1:28:45) Machine giveaway: DN Solutions, Kennametal, SMW Autblok, and Martin Trunnion Tables
Resources Mentioned
IMTS 2026
IMTS Industrial AI Conference
IMTS Student Summit
DN Solutions
Kennametal
ProShop ERP
SMW Autoblok
Hennig
CLA
AMT
The $3,500 Apprenticeship Incentive
Oscar Mike Foundation
Manufacturing Pathways Consortium
Connect with Our Guests
Connect with Larry on LinkedIn
Connect with Bonnie and MC
Connect with Jennifer
Connect with Mike
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Website traffic is falling across the board, and it's tempting to read that as a marketing problem. It usually isn't. AI summaries now answer the generic top of funnel questions people used to click into your site to answer, so the casual browsers never arrive. The visitors who do show up are the ones already deciding whether you're a fit.
That changes what a manufacturing website is for. A list of machines, materials, and certifications was fine when buyers were willing to dig. Now they want a specific answer to a specific question, and if your site makes them hunt for it, they'll go back to Google or ChatGPT and get an answer from a source you don't control.
We talk with John Greeley of Navu about what shops should actually do about it, and a lot of it isn't what you'd expect. Old content that used to sit harmlessly on your site is now working against you, because LLMs read your whole site at once and stop citing you when they find pages that disagree with each other. Less content with more depth beats the old habit of publishing a page for every possible search term.
The other half of this is labor. The questions landing in your info inbox are usually answered somewhere on your site already, and they're pulling SMEs and owners off the work that actually moves the business. John walks through a real buyer journey where the ninth question was a technical spec buried on page 193 of a PDF, and the tenth was how to talk to sales. Nobody on that team spent a minute on it until the lead was qualified.
Brooke also joins us in the host seat for the first time and gives the Gen Z read on all of it, which mostly comes down to letting people find what they need before anyone tries to sell them something.
What's Covered in this Episode
(0:00) Brooke steps into the host seat, and John introduces Navu
(6:38) Take your shop to the next level with DN Solutions
(7:50) What a single line of JavaScript can tell you about visitor behavior
(10:35) About 37% of users who eventually convert used the chat along the way
(11:42) Why traffic is down but conversions aren't
(13:26) How LLMs read your entire site at once and punish conflicting answers
(16:17) Less content, more depth, and a ruthless pruning habit
(17:35) Your site's unanswered questions as a canary in the coal mine
(20:14) What buyers actually asked Mike when Hill rebuilt its site
(22:15) Why the old pop up chatbots earned their bad reputation
(24:42) More than 60% of buyers now start their research in a chat interface
(26:16) Turning AI buzzwords into outcomes at the IMTS Industrial AI Conference
(27:04) Labor savings is how most customers justify the spend internally
(28:50) The landing page listings and a conversation about instant gratification
(32:12) Quote response time as the number one factor in winning or losing work
(35:13) The real user journey and the questions that you see
(38:30) Brooke on why her generation would rather research than call
(42:27) Salespeople querying the site mid call instead of chasing down an SME
(44:31) Kennametal's Next Level Shop at IMTS 2026
(45:34) Get started and build a custom demo at navu.co/makingchips
Resources Mentioned
DN Solutions
IMTS Industrial AI Conference, Wednesday September 16, South Building
Check out the Kennametal booth at IMTS 2026, the Next Level Shop, booth 431800 in the West Building, level 3
Connect with John Greeley
Email John Greeley: john@navu.co
Navu
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