Buying Your Next Machine? Make the Automation Math Work | Ep. 543

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

A new machine can open the door to different work, greater capacity, and your shop’s next stage of growth. But buying it is only part of the equation. Who’s going to run it? How many hours will it actually produce? And have you considered what automation could make possible?

Recorded at IMTS 2026, this episode brings Mark Christopher, Product Sales Manager for Automation at DN Solutions, into the conversation about making equipment investments that make sense.

We get into pallet systems, workholding, and the small details that can bring a lights-out plan to a dead stop. There’s a story about an overnight run that went sideways, a shop that discovered how little it was using its automation, and a surprisingly tough sell: convincing experienced machinists that slowing down might help them produce more.

We also explore buying machines with future automation in mind, where AI could take machine tools next, and what becomes possible when skilled people have better tools. Mark wraps up with his journey from a $9-an-hour tech-school graduate to applications engineering and automation leadership—including the job interview he nearly talked himself out of.

Whether you need a capability you don’t have or more production from the equipment you already own, the goal is the same: make the investment match the need—and have a plan to put it to work.

What’s Covered in this Episode

• (0:00) Live from IMTS 2026 with Mark Christopher of DN Solutions
• (1:47) The new PS7 100, a seven pallet system priced under a hundred grand
• (4:13) Why drones took over the conversation at this year’s show
• (5:36) Drones machined, printed, and assembled on the IMTS floor
• (7:31) Bigger horizontal pallets, five axis growth, and what customers are actually buying
• (8:57) Prismatic fixtures, more clamping stations, and the morning harvest
• (10:35) How do you know you’re ready to automate?
• (11:47) Increase your spindle uptime without adding headcount with Hennig Workflow
• (12:38) The robot cell, the forgotten chip hopper, and a floor covered in chips
• (15:09) OEE without the jargon, and why performance is the most overhyped number
• (20:51) Take your shop to the next level with DN Solutions
• (22:02) Inside the machine giveaway and what’s actually in the package
• (24:16) Last year’s winner is already on his third machine
• (25:30) Buy it automation ready, because ten grand now beats a hundred grand later
• (27:33) Nobody should be a doorman, pay people to run three or four machines
• (29:30) Gabe from Factur on the go to market steps most shops skip
• (35:38) Nothing is better than the relationships built at IMTS
• (38:01) Dissecting the future of AI in manufacturing
• (44:50) Give buyers real answers on your website with Navu
• (46:02) Mark’s path from tech school and a nine dollar an hour job to automation sales

Resources Mentioned

• Hennig Workflow
• Factur
• Navu
• Kennametal
• IMTS

Connect with Mark Christopher

• DN Solutions
• Connect on LinkedIn

Connect with MakingChips

• Website
• On Facebook
• On LinkedIn
• On Instagram
• On Twitter
• On YouTube