Making Chips Podcast for Manufacturing Leaders

Most shop owners have stood in front of a shiny new machine and felt the pull. Buy it, and the work will come. Tim Drinkwater of Accurate Machine Products has lived both sides of that bet, the one that nearly buried him and the one that showed up as a free machining center.
This conversation sits right where two of our current series meet: Gen CNC, where we talk to founders who started young, and our workforce development series. Tim started his shop in a garage in 2007, and he's blunt about how a young founder should spend those first dollars. Cash is worth more than tools you don't need. Customers come before capability. And sometimes buying an existing shop beats building one from scratch.
We also get into the mistake that can quietly kill a shop. Tim bought a brand new lathe for a firearms customer who never signed a contract and then walked away. Mike shares the flip side he keeps running into, walking through shops with gorgeous, idle equipment bought on a customer's promise that never turned into a purchase order. One of those build-outs is the reason a whole company ended up for sale.
Then there's the fun part. Tim won a DN Solutions SVM 4100 in the DN and Kennametal giveaway, put it to work on challenging tool steel parts, and liked it enough to go buy a second one. There's another machine giveaway coming at IMTS this year, and you can get in on it at makingchips.com/giveaway.
The back half is all about people. When applicants dried up, Tim went straight to the high schools, joined the Craftsman with Character program, and stopped using the word machinist because most students have no idea what it means. It's the same thing we keep coming back to on this show. The parts matter, but the people are what carry a shop into the next generation.
What's Covered in this Episode
(0:00) A machine giveaway teaser, and why Tim's story matters
(1:31) Starting Accurate Machine Products in a garage in 2007
(3:22) What the shop makes, from jet ski parts to finish packaging
(4:43) Advice for young founders: cash beats tools you don't need
(8:00) eBay machines and the leap to the first brand new machine
(9:16) A new lathe, a firearms customer, and no contract to back it up
(11:31) Beautiful equipment gathering dust: the shop that went up for sale
(13:51) Take your shop high-end with DN Solutions
(15:02) Winning a DN Solutions SVM 4100 in the DN and Kennametal giveaway
(16:45) Turning the win into S7 tool steel work and a 4+1 upgrade
(17:57) Buying a second SVM 4100 and standardizing on one control
(20:21) Dial in your workholding with SMW Autoblok
(21:10) DN service put to the test: the contactor gremlin
(23:18) From zero applicants to working with the youngest generation
(24:56) Youth apprenticeships and rebranding machinist to precision metal cutting
(28:38) Rhett's story: four years, his own key, and a CMMC future
(30:38) The industry needs accountants and coders, not just machinists
(33:53) Invest in your leadership at Elevate during IMTS 2026
(34:45) Getting your crew and local students to IMTS
(40:39) MakingChips at IMTS 2026: find us in the AME/Hennig booth
Resources Mentioned
DN Solutions
Kennametal
SMW Autoblok
Dave Hataj with Craftsman with Character
Elevate powered by AMT (IMTS 2026)
IMTS
MakingChips Machine Giveaway
Connect with Tim Drinkwater
Accurate Machine Products
Tim Drinkwater on LinkedIn
Tim@ampcnc.com
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AI is going to be everywhere at IMTS this September, and if you walk the floor without a filter, it'll make your head spin. So we brought in someone whose whole job is helping manufacturers tell the real thing from the marketing fluff.
Ryan Kelly, VP of Technology at AMT, joins us to break the noise into something usable. He walks through a simple way to sort every AI claim you'll see into three layers: the hyperscalers and cloud platforms laying the foundation, the AI native tools that couldn't have existed a few years ago, and the embedded AI features showing up as new buttons in the CAD, CAM, and ERP systems you already run.
Then we get into physical AI, the part that actually matters for a machine shop. It's the loop that takes information from the physical world, lets an AI reason on it, and sends a decision back to the machine or the robot in close to real time. Nick's tool load monitoring, Paul's native machine monitoring in ProShop, Mike's managing 60 jobs a day by exception, they're all versions of the same idea. The catch is data. If the grammar of your data isn't good enough, the AI will hand you an answer you can't trust.
Ryan also previews what AMT is building at the show: a new Industrial AI Arena with 32 exhibitors, a one day Industrial AI Conference focused on the factory floor instead of TED-talk futurism, and an Emerging Technology Center where, alongside Oak Ridge National Lab, they'll be making and flying drones right off the line. Three quadcopter models, a fresh one every couple of minutes, with the ability to change the design on a dime and ramp right back into production.
Whether you're already wired up or still getting your data in order, there's something at IMTS for wherever you are on the journey. Take stock of your readiness before you go, bring your real problems to the vendors, and you'll come home with something you can use on Monday. That's making chips.
 
What's Covered in this Episode
(0:00) Drones that fly themselves right off the assembly line
(2:11) Ryan's back: the tariff comment that drew hundreds of responses
(4:40) Boost spindle uptime without adding headcount with the Hennig Workflow
(5:40) Meet Ryan Kelly of AMT, and why this year feels like AI-MTS
(7:16) A filter for the floor: the three layers of AI at IMTS
(11:42) Turn AI buzzwords into outcomes at the Industrial AI Conference at IMTS
(12:30) How to shop for AI: bring your problem, not your intimidation
(13:58) Inside the new Industrial AI Arena: 32 exhibitors and the ETC
(17:15) Know your AI readiness before you walk the floor
(19:41) Why it's worth seeing tech you're not ready for yet
(21:37) Two frameworks: the data-to-application stack and the part lifecycle
(23:13) Automation everywhere, and what physical AI actually means
(27:14) The human body metaphor: sensors, feedback loops, and real-time decisions
(31:52) The real challenge isn't robots, it's the data and its semantics
(33:40) ProShop's machine monitoring: what people say vs what machines say
(37:52) Reach true high end machining with DN Solutions
(39:03) The two dangerous extremes: blindly trusting AI vs writing it off
(40:48) Managing by exception: AI flags the few jobs that need you
(42:44) Reflexive factories and capturing shop floor knowledge for AI
(47:35) Inside the ETC: making and flying drones live with Oak Ridge National Lab
(53:50) Register at IMTS.com and find us live in the Hennig booth (339133)
Resources Mentioned
Hennig Workflow Automation System
DN Solutions
Register for IMTS 2026 (September 14-19, Chicago)
Connect with Ryan Kelly
Connect with Ryan on LinkedIn
AMT, The Association for Manufacturing Technology
IMTS
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Getting laid off twice early in your career could make you crave stability. It did the opposite for Brian Balthasar. After two rounds of corporate layoffs, he decided that starting his own machine shop was the safer bet.
This is another one of our Gen CNC conversations. Brian founded Balthasar Industries in 2022, and he just bought his first building in North Tonawanda, New York. We walk through the leap: buying a mill and a lathe before he had customers, learning that the sales cycle can run a year or more, and finding out how fast the costs that have nothing to do with machines pile up.
Some of the most useful parts are about money. The SBA 7(a) loan that got him started, the tooling and support gear that blew past every budget, and why his original business plan turned out to be 10 to 20 percent right. We add the rule every shop owner learns eventually: plan on it costing twice as much and taking twice as long, then pressure test that plan against the worst case.
We also get into growing past a one person shop, standardizing on DN Solutions, and building a tech stack in the right order, with connectivity first. Brian shares the CAM path that let him run a shop knowing only basic G code, and where he wants to take the business next, from complex turning and mill turn work to the optics, aerospace, and defense jobs around Buffalo.
Underneath all of it is an idea we keep circling back to. Growth is a calculated risk. You run the numbers, decide how much risk you can live with, and then, as Brian puts it, burn the boats and go. There's also a DN Solutions machine giveaway coming at IMTS this year, and you can sign up at makingchips.com/giveaway.
What's Covered in this Episode
(1:57) Learn more about Brian Balthasar and his journey in manufacturing
(4:56) Why starting a shop felt less risky than another corporate job
(6:22) Take your shop high-end with DN Solutions
(7:35) Buying machines, hunting for customers, and learning sales
(10:41) The startup costs nobody budgets for
(15:04) Plan on twice as long and twice as much, then pressure test it
(16:11) Boost spindle uptime with the Hennig workflow automation system
(17:03) Buying the building and adding a third machine
(18:33) Financing gear and getting a line of credit before you need it
(21:09) Win a DN Solutions SVM 4100 at IMTS 2026
(22:37) The SAE effect and the community that shapes young founders
(26:19) Growing past a one person shop and protecting your balance
(27:48) Invest in yourself first with ProShop ERP
(29:24) Building the tech stack in the right order, connectivity first
(34:19) The CAM journey and running a shop on basic G code
(36:06) Where the equipment is headed and a wild GM grinder story
(39:34) Positioning for optics, aerospace, defense, and AS9100
(44:36) Closing advice: decide your risk threshold and burn the boats
Resources Mentioned
DN Solutions
Hennig Workflow Automation
ProShop ERP
IMTS
Bryce Barnes: The Tech Stack Advantage
Connect with Brian Balthasar
Balthasar Industries
Balthasar Industries on LinkedIn
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Most machine shops judge a good day by spindle time. If the machines are cutting, we're making money. If they're sitting still, something must be wrong.
But what if keeping capacity open for the right customer is actually part of the product?
That question kicks off our conversation with strategist Kaihan Krippendorff, who we met at MFG 2026 in Fort Lauderdale. Kaihan's big idea is that value is moving closer to the moment and place where it is needed. For machine shops, that means reshoring, faster turnaround, stocked material, flexible capacity, automation, and being the supplier customers call when a problem cannot wait.
We talk about why customers are rarely just buying a part. They are buying uptime, speed, confidence, and the ability to avoid a production nightmare. That shift changes how a shop should think about pricing, customer relationships, and where it can create value beyond the machine.
We also get practical about what this could look like on the shop floor: having material ready, showing available capacity online, and recognizing when a $200 part becomes a $2,000 solution because the customer needs it immediately.
The future may not belong to the biggest shop or the cheapest shop. It may belong to the shops that understand urgency, move quickly, and become harder for customers to replace.
Because it is not the big that eat the small.
It is the fast that eat the slow.
What's Covered in this Episode
(1:06) Recapping MFG 2026 and welcoming Kaihan Krippendorff
(2:02) Kaihan's two worlds: strategy thought leadership and the Outthinker think tank
(4:02) The game is changing, and proximity is the new playbook
(5:15) Reshoring, the end of globalization, and the rising cost of distance
(6:39) Take your shop high-end with DN Solutions
(7:52) "Jobs to be done": sell the outcome, not the part
(11:21) Storch Magnetics: one lobbyist out-sold the whole sales team
(12:26) Tooling vending machines and the $8 stadium water bottle
(14:06) The weekend rush job: a $200 part worth $2,000 by Monday
(15:52) Distributed 3D printing, zero marginal cost, and selling uptime
(18:32) A 2026 prediction: AI gets arms and legs
(21:04) Reinvest in yourself first with ProShop ERP
(22:43) Coca-Cola Freestyle: create the value after demand shows up
(24:57) Low Country Aerospace and buying raw material smarter
(27:25) Sell results, not atoms: the Uber and Domino's lesson
(29:04) Putting open capacity online and a distributed network of shops
(32:08) Connecting directly to customers and ProCNC's 2004 head start
(35:36) Why categories are powerful and time splicing for quick response
(37:15) Stop getting burned by recruiters: Use Hire MFG Leaders
(38:29) Segmenting customers by who values speed most
(42:09) Riches in the niches and the rise of the mega factories
(44:48) What a typical shop can do now: the nine Ps checklist
Resources Mentioned
DN Solutions
ProShop ERP
Hire MFG Leaders
SendCutSend
Arbill
Storch Magnetics
Quickparts 3D Printing
Low Country Aerospace
The End of the World Is Just the Beginning
Fast Formulator
Connect with Kaihan Krippendorff
Connect on LinkedIn
Kaihan.net
Outthinker
Proximity by Kaihan Krippendorff
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Everybody in manufacturing knows the skills gap is real. Far fewer people are doing anything about it. That tension runs through this entire conversation, and it's why we're glad to have Kyra Tillman back on the show as part of our workforce development series.
Kyra runs BTM Industries, a small job shop in Woodstock, Illinois, and she's a driving force behind the Manufacturing Pathways Consortium, a group of more than a hundred McHenry County manufacturers, every local high school, and dozens of community partners who decided to grow their own talent instead of fighting over the same shrinking pool. 
The numbers back it up. This year 186 students applied for the summer internship program and 85 got placed, with grant funding covering 85 percent of their wages.
We get into the parts most people skip. How do you actually build an internship that works when your team is already slammed? Why do so many shops still say they don't have time for an inexperienced kid? And how did this group push back on a new Illinois foreign language requirement that would have gutted high school manufacturing programs, and win?
There's a bigger idea underneath all of it. The shortage isn't only a skills gap, it's an opportunity gap. Most students have no idea these careers exist, and the fix isn't complicated. Open your doors, bring kids in, and let them try the work. Whether you run a shop, sit on a school board, or just want to see your community thrive, this one's a blueprint you can copy.
What's Covered in this Episode
(0:00) Why workforce development gets its own series, and welcoming Kyra back
(1:56) Kyra's path to owning BTM Industries, a third-generation Woodstock job shop
(4:13) MPC: 100+ manufacturers, every local high school, one focus: the talent pipeline
(5:59) Why it works: stop playing the victim and do something about it
(8:48) Inside the summer internship program: 186 applied, only 85 placed
(10:53) Building a real intern plan instead of winging it
(15:16) It's a manufacturing experience, not a polished college internship
(16:15) CLA: helping manufacturers find millions in savings and revenue
(17:23) Nick's intern Peter and the value of learning what you don't want
(20:00) Why this program is oversubscribed when others can't fill seats
(22:40) The funding model: grants cover 85 percent of intern wages
(25:16) Saving CTE programs from Illinois's new foreign language requirement
(27:45) IMTS Job Shops Workshop and Networking Reception, September 15
(28:39) Putting machined parts on guidance counselors' desks
(32:46) Connecting with students who don't yet know what they like
(35:00) It's an opportunity gap as much as a skills gap, so open your doors
(36:42) Scaling means hiring beyond the shop floor, from coders to accountants
(40:09) Why we love the quality of SMW Autoblok workholding
(41:36) The results so far: 400+ interns, 46 now working in manufacturing
(44:00) Help solve the problem: Let's get more manufacturers involved
(47:15) How to replicate this: start with your local schools
(49:30) Summer events, the Rockford party, and an IMTS kickoff
Resources Mentioned
Manufacturing Pathways Consortium
CLA
IMTS
SMW Autoblok
Connect with Kyra Tillman
Manufacturing Pathways Consortium
BTM Industries
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