117. 12,000 Work Orders a Year: Managing Growth with Systems That Work
About this episode
Barry Russell discusses the growth of Low Country Aerospace and the importance of systems and leadership in managing that growth.
From shadowboxing aerospace tool kits with a CO2 laser to running thousands of work orders annually across machining, sheet metal, and waterjet operations, Low Country Aerospace has grown by embracing systems, trust, and relentless customer focus. In this episode of Machine Shop Mastery, Paul Van Metre sits down with founder Barry Russell to unpack the unconventional path that transformed a small support-services company into a fast-growing aerospace manufacturing operation. Barry shares how saying "yes" to customer needs opened entirely new business opportunities, even when he had little idea how to execute them at first. From buying his first laser and imaging machine to eventually investing in CNC machining centers and waterjets, the company's growth was fueled by relationships, adaptability, and a willingness to figure things out along the way. But as the business scaled, Barry learned that growth without systems can quickly become chaos. One of the most powerful themes in this conversation is leadership transformation. Barry opens up about the difficult process of letting go, trusting his leadership team, and shifting from working in the business to working on it. With…
People in this episode
Host: Paul Van Metre
Guest: Barry Russell
Topics covered
- growth management
- aerospace manufacturing
- leadership transformation
- customer focus
- system implementation
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Low Country Aerospace
More episodes of Machine Shop Mastery
- 125. Benefits, Benefits and More Benefits of Lean, with Andrew Henry
- 124. Teamwork, Love, and Lean: The Leadership Philosophy Behind Altek's Success
- 123. A Daughter's Promise: Preserving Bedard Machine Through One of Life's Hardest Challenges
- 122. How Borg Design Built a 50-Machine Defense Manufacturing Powerhouse
- 121. Playing the Long Game in Machining with Chris Welch from Swissomation
- 120. From Startup to Seven Figures: Kenny Williams' Manufacturing Playbook
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Machine Shop Mastery podcast page.