About this episode

Mike Adkins discusses the challenges and strategies of growing a 100-year-old precision manufacturer during a pandemic.

What does it take to buy a 100-year-old precision manufacturer in the middle of a pandemic — and grow it? Mike Adkins, Owner and Principal of Performance Results Plus (PRP) in Columbus, Ohio, joins host MFG TMW to talk about stepping into an established operation and immediately expanding its reach. PRP’s core business is hydrological instrumentation — the precision equipment that measures flowing water for municipalities, agricultural districts, universities, and government agencies. Their customer list includes the U.S. Geological Survey, the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Air Force Research Lab at Wright-Patterson, and Yellowstone National Park, with a growing global footprint stretching from South Korea to Chile. In this episode, Mike walks us through what precision manufacturing actually looks like on the shop floor — more than 10,000 machined parts produced across steel, aluminum, copper, brass, and plastics — and explains why low-volume, high-precision production is a fundamentally different discipline than high-volume manufacturing. He also shares how lean principles drive growth, not just cost reduction, and how he’s extending that philosophy to other small…

People in this episode

Host: MFG TMW

Guest: Mike Adkins

Topics covered

• precision manufacturing
• business growth
• lean principles
• supply chain challenges
• manufacturing operations

Keywords

• precision manufacturing
• hydrological instrumentation
• lean principles
• supply chain volatility
• workforce pipelines
• high-precision production
• low-volume manufacturing

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Performance Results Plus, U.S. Geological Survey, Tennessee Valley Authority, Air Force Research Lab

Places: Wright-Patterson, Yellowstone National Park, Columbus, Ohio, South Korea, Chile

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