Making Sparks

In this episode, I sit down with Mark Hoper, senior vice president of the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association, one of the five partners behind FABTECH. Mark's been doing this since 1989, back when FABTECH wasn't even an every-year event and a couple hundred exhibitors fit into Rosemont. Today he's the person every problem eventually lands on for a show with 1,400 exhibitors, 35,000 attendees, and just about every union you can think of working the floor. As he put it, the buck stops with him.

We caught Mark two weeks out from FABTECH 2026 in Las Vegas, the show's first trip back to Vegas in a decade. He walks me through how a host city actually gets picked, why Formula One bumped FABTECH out of Vegas in 2024, and why Texas, for all the fabrication happening there, doesn't have a convention center big enough to hold the show.

Then we get into the bigger story, which is demand. One FMA member walked into a call with his biggest customer, a company building racks for Meta's data centers, and walked out with 50% more business in a single afternoon. Data centers, power generation, aerospace, and defense are pulling hard on fab shop capacity, and Mark thinks we're still in the early innings.

If you're going to FABTECH this year, or still deciding whether it's worth the trip, you'll walk away knowing where the demand is coming from, what to make of the new AI pavilion, and how to get the most out of the education sessions and free panels. And if you're not going, you'll still get a clear read on where the forming and fabricating industry is headed into 2027.

• (0:00) What you'll find in FABTECH's education sessions
• (1:03) Meet Mark Hoper, the person every FABTECH problem lands on
• (1:43) The 18-month planning cycle behind 1,400 exhibitors and 35,000 attendees
• (3:31) How FABTECH picks a host city and why Las Vegas draws the West
• (7:08) Why Formula One bumped FABTECH out of Las Vegas in 2024
• (13:01) The rotation: Chicago in odd years, Orlando and Las Vegas in even years
• (14:49) Why there's no convention center in Texas big enough for FABTECH
• (16:36) Increase spindle uptime without adding headcount with the Hennig Workflow
• (19:13) FABTECH Canada, FABTECH Mexico, and why regional shows matter
• (20:44) Why trade show conversations have a longer half-life than anything else
• (23:31) Data centers, energy, and aerospace driving demand west of the Rockies
• (25:23) The FMA member whose business grew 50% in one afternoon
• (26:18) Gabe from Factur on the go-to-market hierarchy for shops
• (31:54) Maxed out your network? How Factur can help you build your sales pipeline
• (33:39) How a capacity crunch shuffles work and brings new buyers to the show
• (35:46) Why Mark thinks we're in the early innings of the data center build-out
• (37:59) From Rosemont in 1989 to a million square feet in Chicago in 2027
• (41:13) Inside the new AI pavilion and how to size up AI exhibitors
• (44:26) Make every spindle hour count with Kennametal tooling
• (47:18) Education sessions, free panels, and keynotes at FABTECH 2026

• FABTECH 2026
• Hennig Workflow
• Factur
• Kennametal

• FMA: Fabricators & Manufacturers Association
• LinkedIn

In this episode, I sit down with Mike Payne, owner of Hill Manufacturing and a familiar voice across the MakingChips Network, where he co-hosts MakingChips and hosts By the Numbers. Mike spent his early career in private equity and investment banking before buying Hill, and he's bought five more shops since. What I didn't realize until we talked is that Hill was a welding and fabrication business first, with machining built around it.

That's where the story gets good. During due diligence, the previous owner told Mike that if she were sticking around, she'd get rid of the machine shop and go all welding and fabrication. He did the opposite. He saw spindle hours sitting idle, kept the machine shop, and set out to turn two companies, two cultures, and two sets of expectations into one.

We get into what that actually took. Two charts of accounts. One ISO-certified side and one that wasn't. Welders who told him, "We don't scrap things." Fast forward nine years and the whole operation just earned AS9100 under a single quality management system. Along the way, an hourly welder named Corey became the operations manager across every shop in the portfolio.

Mike also gives us a simple lens for every decision: run your business like you're ready to sell it tomorrow. Whatever you do should move one of two numbers, your EBITDA or the multiple it gets valued at. If you run a fab shop that got pulled into machining, or you're trying to get welders and machinists working toward the same standard, you'll walk away with a clear picture of how to build the systems, use your data, and grow a business your people want to grow with.

• (0:00) The previous owner's advice: get rid of the machine shop and go all welding and fabrication
• (1:28) From private equity and investment banking to shop owner and By the Numbers host
• (2:56) Why you should run your business like you're prepared to sell it at any time
• (3:24) The two numbers that matter: EBITDA and the multiple
• (6:03) What's your biggest headache? How CLA helps manufacturers grow their top and bottom line
• (7:14) Hill's history and a business that ran 60 to 65% welding and fabrication
• (8:33) High precision welding: machined parts welded, then machined back into tolerance
• (11:14) Turning down work they can't get out of the building
• (12:40) Gabe from Factur on maxing out existing customers, plants, and referrals first
• (15:31) LinkedIn, email, phone, paid ads, and trade shows in the go-to-market hierarchy
• (18:08) Maxed out your network? How Factur can help you build your sales pipeline
• (21:04) Why Mike kept the machine shop and went after unused spindle hours
• (23:02) Two companies, two charts of accounts, and only one side ISO certified
• (24:46) "The weld shop could never be ISO certified" and the road to AS9100
• (26:23) Corey's path from hourly welder to operations manager across the portfolio
• (28:29) Rolling out ProShop ERP and the welders who said "we don't scrap things"
• (31:15) Take your shop to the next level with DN Solutions
• (32:44) Getting routing knowledge out of welders' heads and into the data
• (34:47) Why quality is still harder on the weld side and how a laser scanning arm helps
• (36:33) The curtain between the shops and why machinists and welders are different people
• (39:57) Burned by recruiters? Find your next leader with Hire MFG Leaders
• (42:05) Why your experience is cumulative, not a limit
• (43:19) Mike's why for growth: creating opportunities for his people

• CLA
• Factur
• DN Solutions
• Hire MFG Leaders

• Buy The Numbers Podcast
• LinkedIn

I sat down this week with Randy Charles, a metallurgist who's spent his whole career watching the steel industry reinvent itself, and he's not done yet.

Randy graduated as a metallurgist from the University of Pittsburgh and started out at a plate mill at Bethlehem Steel's Sparrows Point. From there he jumped to Nucor's Crawfordsville plant right as the industry was arguing over whether compact strip production, a brand new way to make flat rolled steel, would ever actually work. He was living proof that it did. He went on to help start up one of the first Steckel mills in the South down in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and after the pandemic he founded his own company, Greenway Steel, to help manufacturers make sense of something the industry still can't agree on: what counts as green steel.

That's what makes this conversation worth your time even if you've never thought twice about where your steel comes from. Steelmaking is somewhere around eight or nine percent of global carbon emissions, and that number is starting to show up in places you wouldn't expect: tariff policy, state emissions laws, and the contracts big equipment makers sign with their suppliers. If you're running a laser or a press brake and buying coil or plate, some of this is already headed your way.

We get into why steel tariffs actually exist and what happens to that logic once you factor in carbon, what California's new emissions reporting laws mean for anyone selling into that state, and why companies like Microsoft and Meta are suddenly buying more steel than they ever have, mostly to build data centers. Randy also walks through why there's still no single agreed definition of green steel, and who actually gets to decide what that word means for your business.

Stick around for the part about converting from CO2 to fiber lasers too. Randy's seen that ROI story play out from the utility side, and it's a good one.

• (0:00) Catching up before IMTS 2026 and the DN Solutions machine giveaway
• (1:47) Randy Charles of Greenway Steel joins to talk steel, sustainability, and tariffs
• (2:07) Randy's path from Bethlehem Steel metallurgist to Nucor's pioneering CSP mills and the South's first Steckel mill
• (5:16) Founding Greenway Steel after Nucor, and getting pulled into the green steel movement
• (6:26) Building a carbon-tracking pilot in Google Sheets that caught Mobius Risk Group's attention
• (6:52) Why steelmaking is roughly eight to nine percent of global emissions, and how that flows down to your fab shop
• (8:12) Eagle's inline power and gas meter on its lasers, and Greenway's energy-monitoring partner Guidewheel
• (9:49) Structuring equipment deals around sustainability commitments, and the ROI story behind converting from CO2 to fiber lasers
• (12:42) Mapping carbon footprint all the way down a tier-one automotive supply chain
• (14:06) Why you need to check out Elevate, powered by AMT and Women in Manufacturing, at IMTS 2026
• (14:48) California's SB-253 and SB-261, and what Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions reporting actually means
• (16:15) The EU's CBAM and CSRD, and the real reason behind carbon border taxes
• (17:52) Why hyperscalers like Microsoft and Meta are suddenly the biggest new buyers of steel
• (18:59) Meta's deal with Electra, Microsoft's with Stegra, and how Environmental Attribute Certificates work
• (21:48) A 10 to 20 times jump in steel demand from data centers, and what it means for mill investment
• (23:19) Why there's no single definition of green steel, and who actually gets to decide
• (26:06) Take your shop to the next level with DN Solutions
• (27:17) Certification standards trying to define green steel: the Global Steel Climate Council and ResponsibleSteel
• (29:33) Why tariffs exist in steel, from 232s and 301s to the new PROVE IT Act and a possible foreign pollution fee
• (34:11) Digital material passports, blockchain, and the end of anonymous steel
• (36:03) Kennametal's Next Level Shop at IMTS 2026, featuring motorsports legend Carey Hart
• (38:31) Greenway's next bets: a biocarbon operation in Alabama, plus why energy diversification beats betting on one winner like hydrogen

• Eagle Lasers
• Take your shop to the next level with DN Solutions
• Enter to win a free CNC machine at the MakingChips Giveaway
• Brooke Takes Over MakingSparks #67
• Elevate Conference IMTS 2026
• Kennametal

• Greenway Steel
• LinkedIn: Randy Charles

I'm filling in for Brendon this week, and I decided to dig into the topic I probably know better than anyone on this team: shop culture. Not the stuff that shows up on a quote or a spec sheet, but the stuff that decides whether your best people stick around and whether your shop floor actually runs without you standing over it.

Joining me is Jason Davis, CEO of D&D Enterprises, a CNC machine shop that just turned 50 years old and is now three generations deep. His team runs 50 people through aerospace, firearms, defense, marine, and industrial work, and he's also a co-host of our sister show, The Manufacturing Blueprint.

We get into why Jason hires for culture and character before he ever looks at a resume, what actually happens in an employee's first few months that decides whether they stay, and why the size of a mistake matters less than whether someone owns it. We also talk about the gap between generations on the shop floor, and how leaders earn trust instead of demanding it.

If you've ever felt like your shop survives on a couple of heroes instead of a system, this one's for you. I bring some of my own perspective into it too, from coaching youth volleyball to being one of the few women on a shop floor, because it turns out the lessons translate a lot more directly than you'd think.

• (0:00) Filling in for Brendon, I dig into shop culture with Jason Davis, CEO of D&D Enterprises and co-host of The Manufacturing Blueprint
• (2:13) Inside D&D: 50 years in business, three generations deep, and 50 people running aerospace, firearms, defense, marine, and industrial work
• (3:07) Why Jason hires for culture and character first, and will wait months for the right fit instead of filling a seat
• (4:47) Skipping formal apprenticeships in favor of a hyper-selective, relationship-driven hiring process
• (8:14) Win a fully tooled DN Solutions SDM4100 CNC machine, plus an IMTS scavenger hunt for extra entries
• (9:14) What actually happens in an employee's first few months that decides whether they stay
• (10:11) The real cost of a mistake, and why taking ownership matters more than the dollar amount
• (12:16) My volleyball coaching rule: I'll always take coachable over talented
• (12:51) Earning respect across generations instead of demanding it
• (12:51) The 40-to-130-parts story: coaching a young operator instead of just correcting him
• (16:07) Take your shop to the next level with DN Solutions
• (18:42) Why humility beats experience, and how D&D gets tribal knowledge out of people's heads with ProShop
• (18:42) The instant-gratification problem, and why shrinking attention spans are making shop training harder
• (23:51) Why being alone with your own thoughts makes you a stronger leader
• (25:44) Breaking through the "how was your weekend" small talk to actually get real with people
• (26:45) Why I refuse to be a complainer, and how being open about my own struggles gives other people permission to be honest too
• (31:16) Losing a major customer to China overnight, and staying steady as a leader when the business takes a hit
• (31:16) Why you need to join us at IMTS, September 14-19 in Chicago
• (31:16) What Jason had to unlearn as a young, hands-off leader, and why he still resets on the production floor himself
• (38:42) My own leadership path, from running a gym team at 19 to starting over at the bottom in the union
• (39:32) What it's like earning respect as a woman in a male-dominated shop
• (39:57) Knowing when to hold your ground and when to let it go, plus the father-in-law wisdom that ties it all together

• Eagle Lasers
• Take your shop to the next level with DN Solutions
• Enter to win a free CNC machine at the MakingChips Giveaway
• Why you need to join us at IMTS 2026
• ProShop ERP
• HireMFGLeaders

• LinkedIn: Jason Davis
• LinkedIn: Manufacturing Blueprint Podcast

This week I sat down with Brooke Laing, who's just joined the MakingChips team full time as our new Content and Community Developer. You're going to be hearing a lot more from her.

Brooke didn't come up through marketing school. She spent five years boots on the ground, working as a fitter and welder on job sites, before she ever touched a content calendar. She built a following doing something nobody else in the trades was doing: showing what the job actually looks like, day to day. One 15-second clip she posted on a break, without thinking twice about it, ended up with 600,000 views by the time she got to her car that afternoon. That's the kind of story that makes you want to chase virality, and it's also exactly the trap she warns against.

So we spent this episode on a question I ask myself all the time: what are manufacturers actually getting wrong about content marketing? We break down what belongs on TikTok versus Instagram versus LinkedIn, why an unfinished or abandoned company page can hurt you more than having no page at all, and why every platform, at the end of the day, is just competing for your screen time.

We also get into the parts nobody talks about: how fast you need to respond to an inbound message, why your shop is competing with Amazon's delivery speed whether that's fair or not, and what I personally look for, right down to how clean the shop floor looks in a photo, when I'm evaluating whether a company is worth doing business with.

If you've ever wondered whether your shop's LinkedIn page is helping or hurting you, or you just want to understand why marketing feels so much harder than it should, this one's for you.

• (0:01) Welcoming Brooke Laing, MakingChips' newest full-time team member
• (0:27) Brooke's path: five years on job sites, Sisterhood of Trades, and her own podcast
• (1:11) The big question for this episode: what manufacturers get wrong about content marketing
• (1:21) Why cold calls and cold email don't cut it anymore
• (3:30) Brooke's edge: she markets to tradespeople because she used to be one
• (4:07) Knowing your audience by generation, and why that decides your channels
• (5:31) The clips nobody expects to blow up, including Brooke's own 600,000-view TikTok
• (9:35) The platform cheat sheet: TikTok for behind-the-scenes, Instagram for the portfolio, LinkedIn for credentials
• (12:16) Every platform is really just competing for your screen time
• (14:22) Why chasing every platform is a losing bet, and why authenticity beats over-produced content
• (17:25) How Brooke onboards a new shop: auditing the site and socials, then building four content pillars
• (18:31) The content pillars that show up again and again for fabricators
• (20:10) Why people check you out online before they ever call, and why responding to inbound fast matters
• (22:41) The Amazon effect: manufacturers are competing with next-day delivery expectations whether they like it or not
• (27:09) Why a half-finished page hurts your brand more than having no page at all
• (28:41) LinkedIn rewards consistency and punishes breaks, and the scheduling trick most shops skip
• (35:16) The real ROI of turning one show into five pieces of content, and Brooke's new job editing the episode she's a guest on
• (38:03) What success actually looks like: impressions, then engagement, then followers
• (42:19) Why Facebook is the wrong platform for manufacturers, and the account-ban story that proves it
• (45:01) When content marketing turns into real RFQs, why manufacturing is a local business, and why niching down matters
• (50:02) What Brendon actually looks for when he evaluates a shop's digital presence

• HireMFGLeaders
• IMTS 2026
• Kennametal

• Connect with Brooke on LinkedIn

This week I sat down with Nico McTague, a soon-to-be welder up in Toronto who's about to finish an eight-month intensive program and walk straight into her first welding job. What makes her story worth your time isn't just where she's headed, it's where she came from.

Nico spent years in healthcare caring for people with special needs, a career she loved until burnout, and the addiction that came with trying to cope with it, forced a hard reset. A family friend offered to get her into a steel mill. She walked in expecting to hate it. Instead she fell in love with the noise, the heat, the cranes, and watching molten metal turn into beams and rebar. That was the spark. A few weeks later she took the leap into welding school and never looked back.

We get into what it actually takes to break into the trades. Treating school like a job. Starting your job search before you graduate. Keeping your certifications current. And the one habit Nico credits for finishing all her certs while the rest of her cohort was still catching up: she isn't afraid to ask questions. If you've ever been the only person in the room who looks like you, or you've ever managed someone who was, this conversation will land.

We also dig into something I care a lot about, which is how we grow this industry. Nico wants to mentor women into welding and make the trades a place people can actually see themselves in. We talk about representation, the missing off ramp from school into skilled work, and why getting kids tinkering at nine or ten matters more than we admit. The demand is staggering and the tent needs to get bigger.

Whether you run a shop that's hiring, you're thinking about a career change of your own, or you just want a reminder that people-first beats spec-sheet talk, this one's for you.

• (0:00) Making the trades a place women can see themselves in
• (1:00) I welcome Nico McTague, a soon-to-be welder in Toronto
• (2:42) Healthcare, a hard reset, and her experience in a steel mill
• (6:36) Three weeks to decide: taking the leap into welding school
• (8:00) Take your shop high-end with DN Solutions
• (9:14) A five-person winter cohort and using a small class to her advantage
• (11:48) What she wants in a first role: room to grow and a place that welcomes women
• (14:00) Dial in your workholding with SMW Autoblok
• (14:42) Treating trade school like a job, including the call when you can't show
• (16:44) Getting certified and starting the job hunt early
• (18:05) Why detail-oriented women are a manufacturer's secret weapon
• (19:26) The habit that changed everything: not being afraid to ask questions
• (21:11) A shout-out to Gabby, the instructor who meets everyone where they are
• (22:26) Get real answers on your website with Navu
• (23:39) Nico's mission: mentoring more women into the trades
• (25:15) The representation gap, the demand crunch, and getting kids into trades early
• (29:01) Why Nico is incredibly grateful for the lessons life has dealt her

• DN Solutions
• SMW Autoblok
• Navu
• Manufacturing Pathways Consortium
• Shonali Ditz on MakingSparks

• Connect with Nico on LinkedIn

In this episode, I sit down with Emme Hughes, the 23-year-old owner of EH Metalworks in Enid, Oklahoma. She runs a woman-owned custom job shop that does laser cutting, plasma cutting, tube bending, and fabrication in aluminum and stainless. What struck me is that she has been around metal fabrication her entire life. Her Paw Paw taught her to TIG weld when she was six years old, and by 18 she was running her own plasma table and hiring her first employees.

Emme's story starts in her Paw Paw's shop. He spent more than 50 years in fabrication, ran an ASME code shop, and did work for refineries and grain companies across Oklahoma. She grew up welding beside him, racing sprint cars on the dirt track behind the shop, and soaking up everything he knew. When she got out of high school, she taught herself to run the plasma table, posted her work on Facebook, and watched the orders take off fast enough that she had to start hiring people at 19.

Now she's working to grow out of the small business boot camp phase, where you take whatever comes in the door, and into steady, repeatable manufacturing. That's why she chased her Oklahoma DOT certification and is finishing a federal woman-owned certification. Her thinking is sharp for any shop owner to hear: chase the work people need, not just the work people want. The custom signs and railings make great social posts, but the mandatory, unglamorous jobs are what pay the bills.

We also get into the harder parts of building a business young, from learning to lead men twice her age at 18 to setting boundaries between friendship and work. And we talk about the bittersweet thread running through all of it, the mentor who made it possible. Emme lost her Paw Paw about a year ago, and he was coaching her from the shop right up to the end.

If you're running a job shop, or thinking about starting one, there's a lot here to take away: how to build durable demand, how to grow into leadership, and why Emme's real goal isn't size for its own sake. As she puts it, she wants to build something big, not for her, but for the people she can employ.

What's Covered in this Episode

• (0:57) Introducing Emme Hughes of EH Metalworks in Enid, Oklahoma
• (2:36) Emme on running a woman-owned custom job shop: laser, plasma, mandrel tube bending, aluminum and stainless
• (5:48) Chasing needs over wants, and why she pursued Oklahoma DOT certification for steady work
• (6:50) Building the business on the unglamorous, mandatory jobs, not just the custom pieces
• (7:32) How she got here: her Paw Paw's 50-year fabrication career and ASME code shop
• (8:52) Learning to TIG weld at six (and the trust that made it possible)
• (13:12) Take your shop to the next level with ProShop ERP and invest in yourself first
• (14:48) Diving into her work on micro sprint cars and the dirt track
• (19:18) Her first hires at 18 and 19 when the Facebook orders blew up
• (21:19) Learning to lead and the hard line between friendship and business
• (25:32) Her Paw Paw's integral role in her life and business
• (28:56) Burned by recruiters who don't get manufacturing? Meet Hire MFG Leaders
• (29:25) Turning the corner: a USDA grant, mentor Jodi Harris, and her first laser
• (31:03) How big does she want to go? Not for her, but for the people
• (33:23) A head-scratcher job: resizing gas-plant rings and water-jetting silicone gaskets
• (35:58) The print governs all: do the job and skip the second-guessing
• (36:48) Invest in your leadership at Elevate during IMTS 2026, powered by AMT and Women in Manufacturing
• (37:40) Meeting her fiance and sparking a local powder coating business
• (40:12) Why it all comes back to people and relationships

• ProShop ERP
• Hire MFG Leaders
• IMTS 2026 Elevate Conference

• EH Metalworks
• Connect with Emme on LinkedIn

In this episode, I sit down with Travis Mitchell, a full-time creator who has built a flat-sheet fiber laser, tube laser, metal 3D printer, CNC equipment, and more from his garage. Travis did not come from a machine-building background. He started in graphic design, got hooked on 3D printing, and followed that curiosity all the way into building machines most people would assume require an OEM, a factory, and a much larger budget.

We dig into what it actually takes to design a DIY fiber laser: starting with the controller, finding compatible components, decoding manuals, studying commercial machines, and iterating through the countless variables that make laser cutting work. Assist gas, focus height, cutting recipes, capacitive sensing, motion control, and support documentation all become part of the puzzle.

But this conversation is about more than one guy's wildly ambitious garage. It is about what happens as serious manufacturing capability becomes cheaper, smaller, and more accessible. Travis built his first fiber laser for around $15,000. Now, compact air-cooled machines with real cutting capability are entering the market at similar price points, ready to be delivered instead of assembled piece by piece.

For job shops, fabricators, and makers alike, the question is changing. It is no longer just, "Can I get this capability?" It is, "Should I build it, buy it, or rethink what my shop can do?" That gap between industrial equipment and accessible technology is shrinking, and Travis is building right in the middle of it.

• (0:00) The capability you can buy or build keeps getting cheaper and more accessible
• (1:05) Meet Travis Mitchell, the creator building fab machines in his garage
• (3:35) From graphic design burnout to 3D printing to DIY machine building
• (7:50) Why accessible tech and working technology stacks are manufacturing's future
• (8:53) How Travis concepts a machine: start at the brain, then build around it
• (11:20) Take your shop to the next level with DN Solutions
• (12:33) Shopping by user manual instead of spec sheet
• (13:38) Using ChatGPT and Gemini to digest 100-page manuals (and the love-hate reality)
• (17:50) The first big project: a flat-sheet fiber laser nobody had built on camera
• (21:21) Why you need to join us at the IMTS Job Shops Workshop on September 15
• (22:16) Ordering from China and learning assist gas from a single internet photo
• (25:53) The love-hate with cheap Chinese parts versus true production machines
• (27:53) Building the DIY tube laser and solving the chuck and clamping problem
• (32:08) Tube laser capabilities, and designing around the cost of shipping material
• (34:54) How can ProShop ERP help you achieve on-time delivery?
• (36:24) Buying a prosumer Skyfire 1200W air-cooled fiber laser and how it compares to xTool and G-Weike
• (39:29) Lasers versus plasma, and why nobody wants a water jet in their garage
• (41:13) The CO2 Galvo build, made with his own shop's machines
• (43:32) Why fiber lasers need a controller with capacitive height sensing
• (46:45) A new four-car garage and a plan to build a machine together

• Why you need to join us at IMTS 2026!
• Eagle Lasers
• DN Solutions
• ProShop ERP
• SendCutSend

• YouTube: Travis Mitchell (DIY Fiber Laser)

Fiber lasers have completely changed what's possible in metal fabrication, but here's the part nobody puts on the brochure: speed alone doesn't make a shop profitable. In this episode I'm joined by Mike Peterson, owner of Critical Laser and Spire Ranges, for an honest conversation about what it actually takes to run a successful laser cutting and sheet metal business in 2026.

Mike's story goes all the way back to 1992, when Critical Laser brought one of the first lasers into Utah, a 1,600-watt Mitsubishi CO2 machine that felt more like magic than manufacturing. Since then he's watched the industry move from slow CO2 cutting to high-powered fiber that can turn an hour-long job into a 15-minute run. But as Mike explains, that kind of speed creates a whole new set of problems around labor, material flow, pricing, training, and capacity.

What I appreciated most is that we didn't just geek out on machine specs. We got into ownership lessons, family business dynamics, the pricing mistakes that quietly bleed a shop dry, and the danger of making decisions based on revenue instead of profit. Mike shares how simply understanding his own numbers helped Critical Laser double its net margin without buying a single new machine.

We also dug into the big question a lot of manufacturers eventually face: when does it actually make sense to bring laser cutting in-house? Mike's answer might sting a little, but it's the kind of honest advice that can save a business from buying an expensive problem wrapped in a shiny enclosure.

If you're outsourcing fabrication, thinking about buying your first laser, or just trying to figure out where your shop is really making money, this one is packed with sparks worth catching.

• (0:00) Switching from 3,500W CO2 to 10,000W fiber cut sheet time from 70 minutes to 15 minutes
• (1:06) Introducing Mike Peterson and Critical Laser and Spire Ranges
• (7:11) The ownership evolution: from 5 original owners to Mike becoming the sole owner
• (9:46) Here's why you need to join us at IMTS 2026!
• (10:39) The danger of equal ownership: Why a single decision-maker matters for banking, equipment purchases, and major operational moves
• (14:14) The impact of taking over the books and updating customer pricing
• (18:12) How fiber lasers changed labor: CO2 needed one operator per machine; fiber requires a team just to unload
• (22:41) Pierce-to-pierce time: why shuttle time matters as much as cut speed when pricing a job
• (24:24) Beam-on time goals: Critical Laser targets 80-85% laser utilization across every 10-hour shift
• (25:30) Daily standup tactical meeting: 15 minutes every morning assigning every team member to specific work centers
• (27:14) Training young hires with formalized machine certifications, checklists, and hands-on tests
• (31:25) Hire MFG Leaders
• (33:40) Certification-based pay: each machine adds $0.25/hr; full certification can stack $10-12/hr in raises
• (36:10) Spire Ranges: gun range equipment manufacturing acquired March 2020; government, commercial, and private work
• (40:10) The $1M outsourcing threshold: do not buy your own laser unless you are already spending that with your vendor
• (45:56) The window well neighbor: why you shouldn't buy a cheap laser
• (48:53) Fiber laser maintenance is costly, which most people don't know
• (51:35) Why experienced laser buyers qualify on service first and machine specs second
• (54:57) Gross revenue vs. net margin and the Inconel job that crushed their cash flow
• (58:31) Why Critical Laser explains hourly rates and overhead to the whole team
• (59:29) Factur
• (1:00:34) How Spire and Critical are growing with government contracts and local relationships
• (1:07:18) Mike's philosophy of running a shop where everyone works with each other

• Why you need to join us at IMTS 2026!
• BySoft
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• SendCutSend and the Future of Manufacturing
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What if the biggest challenge in manufacturing isn't technology, but timing? In this episode of MakingSparks, host Brendon DiVincenzo sits down with Shonali Ditz, co-founder and executive director of SparkShop, to explore a powerful idea: we're trying to solve a talent pipeline problem far too late.

Shonali's journey from engineering student to nonprofit founder started with a realization that many in the industry share—there simply aren't enough people entering manufacturing and engineering. But instead of focusing on recruiting at the college or job level, she and her team went upstream… all the way to elementary school. What they've built is a hands-on, curiosity-driven approach that introduces kids to engineering before they ever decide what they "are" or "aren't" good at.

This conversation goes beyond STEM buzzwords and into something more fundamental: identity. How do kids see themselves? Do they believe they can solve problems, build things, or think like engineers? Through real-world examples, classroom stories, and practical insights, this episode reveals how early exposure, hands-on learning, and reframing failure can unlock entirely new pathways into manufacturing.

For shop owners, leaders, and anyone concerned about the future workforce, this episode is a wake-up call—and a blueprint. Because if you want more skilled people in your shop tomorrow, you may need to start inspiring them when they're ten years old today.

• (0:00) Building resilience, teamwork, and emotional skills through hands-on learning
• (1:17) The challenge of explaining manufacturing to kids
• (2:11) Shonali's background and discovering hands-on engineering through Formula SAE
• (5:18) Why you need to join us at IMTS 2026!
• (6:11) Realizing the talent pipeline problem and the origin of SparkShop
• (9:50) Making manufacturing engaging and relatable for young minds
• (13:30) Different motivations that draw people into making and problem-solving
• (16:21) Labor shortages, limiting beliefs, and the need to rethink hiring barriers
• (20:10) The evolution of modern manufacturing and workforce expectations
• (22:00) Why we love using SMW Autoblok for workholding
• (22:43) Inside the SparkShop model: hands-on, teacher-led STEM curriculum
• (25:41) Learning through failure and building confidence with early exposure
• (29:46) Connecting manufacturing to the real world students see every day
• (34:11) Why you need to listen to the Lights Out podcast
• (34:36) Teacher feedback and increased engagement from all types of students
• (36:38) Developing teamwork, empathy, and problem-solving skills
• (39:24) Long-term impact and expanding the pipeline through high school internships
• (42:41) Preparing the next generation for workplace expectations
• (43:57) Bridging the gap between industry and young talent

• Why you need to join us at IMTS 2026!
• Why we love using SMW Autoblok for workholding
• Why you need to listen to the Lights Out podcast
• Reach out to [email protected] to get involved

• Connect on LinkedIn
• EAGLE Lasers

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