113. Inside a Defense Shop's Lights-Out Automation Build

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What do you do when your entire business model collapses almost overnight? For Sven Klatt and the team at Vineburg Machining, the answer wasn’t to retreat—it was to reinvent. After losing their three largest customers to overseas outsourcing in the early 2000s, the company made a bold decision: walk away from high-volume commodity work and rebuild from the ground up around complex, high-mix machining that couldn’t easily leave the U.S.

That transformation didn’t just change what they made—it changed how they thought. From investing in CNC technology to embracing five-axis machining, Vineburg steadily evolved into a shop capable of tackling highly technical aerospace and defense work. But even with three shifts running, Sven kept running into the same frustrating reality: too many machines sitting idle when people weren’t there to run them.

Instead of accepting that limitation, he decided to solve it. What started as a rough sketch for a better pallet system turned into a fully functional in-house automation solution—one designed specifically for high-mix environments, tight shop footprints, and real-world machinist workflows. After years of testing, breaking, and refining, that internal tool became something much bigger.

In this episode, Sven shares the full journey—from survival-driven reinvention to building a lights-out automation system that now powers their shop and has entered the market through a strategic partnership. Along the way, he reveals hard-earned lessons on risk-taking, continuous improvement, workforce challenges, and what it really takes to maximize spindle uptime without burning out your team.

You will want to hear this episode if you are interested in…

(3:11) Sven’s journey to Vineburg and the shop’s high-volume origins
(8:06) Investing in five-axis machining and unlocking new growth
(11:17) Running three shifts and maximizing shop flexibility
(14:02) The problem: idle machines and limited labor capacity
(16:24) From failed purchase to building a custom solution in-house
(19:52) Prototyping, testing, and proving the system in production
(21:06) Using automation to extend machining hours and increase uptime
(23:19) Check out the Hennig WorkFlow pallet automation system
(24:10) Winning work through value, capability, and risk-taking
(28:01) Standardizing production and improving customer partnerships
(30:14) Designing the system: footprint, capacity, and simplicity
(37:21) Making the system operator-friendly with intuitive controls
(39:38) Head to the DN Solutions Manufacturing Without Limits event
(40:36) The impact of the pallet system on Vineburg Machining
(42:12) Tooling, process control, and making lights-out reliable
(47:30) Scaling automation to reduce reliance on night shifts
(49:59) Get a free report of opportunities in your industry from FacturMFG.com/chips
(53:28) Partnering with Hennig to bring the product to market
(56:26) The breakthrough moment and realizing its full potential
(58:48) A shop could pay off the system within the first year
(1:01:11) Lessons learned: testing, delegation, and stepping out of the bottleneck