8. Buy the Shop Now or Go Work in One First?

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Tom Brown came back for round two, and this time we tackled the question that could change everything: Should he buy a machine shop now, or go work in one first?

He has his eye on a highly certified, 40-person shop serving prime customers, but buying it means taking on serious financial and operational risk. We break down what actually matters before signing: quality systems, tribal knowledge, employee retention, training, customer health, and whether the business can survive losing key people.

I also challenged Tom on his lack of technical experience and shared a cautionary story about a shop that unraveled after one critical employee left.

I wasn’t trying to talk him out of buying a shop. I wanted to see if he could be talked out of it.

He didn’t budge. That’s why I think he’s got a shot.

What’s Covered in this Episode

• (1:08) Why Tom sees trade shows as his fastest way to add value
• (2:15) Cobots versus caged robots
• (3:53) Manufacturers reps, veteran owned status, and the ISO 9001 and AS9100 wall to climb
• (6:01) Quality management versus quality control (and why customers care about your systems)
• (7:40) Why you need to check out the Hennig Workflow Automation System
• (8:31) How much capital you can raise decides everything about the deal you get
• (10:38) Family culture, and why I’m considering slowing our growth rate
• (11:15) The SBA caps manufacturing loans (and where to cap your spend)
• (15:53) Why I would rather make parts than run the business
• (18:24) What happens to guys who retire and stop
• (19:49) Why the shop runs on teaching, not on yelling
• (21:42) Can you succeed in this without coming up as a machinist?
• (22:48) Head to the IMTS Industrial AI Conference, Wednesday, September 16
• (23:38) The reshoring debate: tariffs, raw material, and the supply chain we never built
• (26:50) Local labor rates, global competition, and why no other trade has to do this
• (28:23) Venture capital is all over manufacturing: here’s why
• (29:40) My job is to make you wonder if you’re doing the right thing 
• (33:36) Create inspection plans without manual data entry with Ground Control
• (34:16) Tribal knowledge, why we haven’t been back to the moon, and going paperless
• (35:55) The indicators that actually matter: turnover, training, days to pay, bankable customers
• (37:45) The stamping shop that lost one key employee and went out of business
• (39:10) De-risking the buy, building redundancy, and being first in and last out

Resources Mentioned

• Hennig Workflow Automation System
• IMTS Industrial AI Conference
• Ground Control
• ProShop ERP
• MakingChips Machine Shop MBA
• The Goal by Eliyahu Goldratt

Connect with Tom Brown

• Connect with Tom Brown on LinkedIn