Shop Owners Unfiltered: Finding Work, Quoting Jobs & Staying Profitable | 48

Shop Owners Unfiltered: Finding Work, Quoting Jobs & Staying Profitable | 48

From The Impractical Machinists by Practical Machinist

April 28, 2026 · 1h 0m · Season 2 · Episode 48

About this episode

A panel discussion on the challenges of running a machine shop, including work acquisition and job quoting.

Owning a machine shop sounds great… until you’re chasing work, quoting jobs at midnight, dealing with problem customers, and trying to stay profitable while keeping the lights on. Recorded live as a panel session during a Kennametal open house event, Brad from Marvel Machining, Ian from Lakewood Machine & Tool, and Luke from Progressive Turnings / Crusader Machining sit down for a real conversation about the ups and downs of running a shop. They talk about finding work, quoting jobs, wh...

People in this episode

Guests: Brad, Ian, Luke

Topics covered

  • machine shop ownership
  • quoting jobs
  • finding work
  • profitability
  • customer relations

Keywords

  • machine shop
  • quoting jobs
  • profitability
  • customer issues
  • work acquisition

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Marvel Machining, Lakewood Machine & Tool, Progressive Turnings, Crusader Machining, Kennametal

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