Wildland firefighter turned aerospace shop owner.

In this episode of Capacity, Sunny Han sits down with Rhys Anderson, Founder & CEO at Method MFG in Austin, Texas, to unpack how he’s built a high-mix, high-requirement aerospace machine shop around systems, communication, and careful technology bets.

Rhys shares:

• How a childhood in a Montana sewer and fab business led to a love for making things

• What thousands of hours on wild land fires taught him about checklists and communication

• The story of buying and rebuilding an enormous used CNC machine with no prior experience

• Lessons from early business partnerships and planning the “exit” on day one

• Method MFG’s path into aerospace and operating as if they were AS9100 from the start

• Why front-end quoting and reading quality clauses deeply is so critical

• How he avoids single points of failure by cross-training machinists on everything—even the nicest five-axis machines

• Using data on machine performance, floor space, and automation cells to decide what stays and what goes

• Constantly trialing CAM, ERP, and automation tools while refusing to be trapped by sunk costs

• His view on robotics and AI as a way to let machinists do more interesting, higher-level work

If you lead a machine shop or sheet metal fabrication business and you’re thinking about quality, scalability, and modern workflows, Rhys’s story offers a grounded look at what it takes to evolve without losing control.

Connect with Rhys & Method MFG

Method MFG: https://www.methodmfg.com/

Rhys on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rhys-andersen-austintx/

Learn more about Fulcrum at https://fulcrumpro.com

Follow Capacity for more conversations with manufacturers who are pushing toward more dynamic, agile shops.