122. How Borg Design Built a 50-Machine Defense Manufacturing Powerhouse

122. How Borg Design Built a 50-Machine Defense Manufacturing Powerhouse

June 24, 2026 · 1h 7m · Episode 122

About this episode

Andrew Borg discusses how Borg Design is leveraging automation and strategic hiring to grow their defense manufacturing business.

Most shop owners who hit 50 employees, steady profit, and a fourth generation coming up behind them would be tempted to coast. Andrew Borg decided to double down instead. Not because he has to, he's quick to say the shop is profitable right where it is, but because he wants to build something that outlasts him. A big part of that answer is automation. Borg Design runs a fleet of cobots that load parts and pallets around the clock, and Andrew's goal is to double sales while only growing headcount by about half. We get into how they keep machines running 80 to 95 percent of the time over a seven day week, why the hard part isn't building the system but figuring out what it does when a tool breaks at midnight, and how six full-time mechanical engineers fit inside a machine shop. We also dig into CMMC. Borg Design earned its Level 2 certification this year, and Andrew is refreshingly honest about the cost, the false starts with vendors, and the one employee who basically read the entire standard and wrote their package. He shares why the inbound calls from primes only started showing up after they were certified, and the sub-tier problem that still keeps him up at night. Then there's…

People in this episode

Host: Paul Van Metre

Guest: Andrew Borg

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Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Borg Design, CMMC

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