11th Annual Top Shops Benchmarking Program Opens with New Features
For 2021, Modern Machine Shop’s Top Shops, the annual benchmarking program for CNC machine shops, is open year-round and includes a new sourcing platform.
Jenny Rush
Managing Editor, Modern Machine Shop
Standardization Leans the Way to High-Mix Automation
An increasingly digitalized, lean manufacturing process begins with a common selection of cutting tools and five-axis machining fixtures.
All Top Shops Are Winners
Standing out in one category is not enough to earn a spot among the highest-performing CNC machining businesses.
When Machining Lights Out Leaves Nothing Out
A Top Shops honors program winner strives to ensure every part crosses paths with a robot, cobot or pallet changer.
Benchmarking Becomes a Call to Action
A means of measuring performance evolves into a tool for catalyzing change as Modern Machine Shop’s Top Shops program matures.
Adaptive Technology Opens CNC Shop Opportunities
VR goggles integrated with a camera give a legally blind young woman 20/20 vision and the chance to be a machine shop’s second-shift quality control lead.
Top-Tier Culture Keeps Top Shop Staffed
Interpersonal harmony, personal accountability, peace of mind, and an inner drive to improve help this shop compete in a tight market for CNC machining talent.
IMTS spark: Drivers of Revenue and Profit Margin at Top Shops
Gardner Business Media's Chief Data Officer Steve Kline shares insights and trends from over a decade of the Top Shops benchmarking program.
Jenny Rush
Managing Editor, Modern Machine Shop
Modern Machine Shop Announces 2020 Top Shops Honorees
Honors Program winners have been announced for Modern Machine Shop’s annual Top Shops benchmarking program in the categories of machining technology, shopfloor practices, business strategies and human resources.
ERP Leads CNC Machine Shop to Adopt a Paperless Initiative
Enterprise resource planning software is not only enabling Chapter 2 to better manage its range of capabilities, but also to help it go paperless.
CNC Machine Shop Reaps Benefits of Hiring an IT Person
A database guru combined off-the-shelf technology with an elaborate proprietary shop management software to drive efficiency throughout all areas of a machine shop.
Keeping Good Habits Takes Constant Attention
Living a culture of continuous improvement, relying on data and maintaining a strong machine lineup help this valve manufacturer stay fit.
Outside-In: Why This CNC Machine Shop is Adding Finishing Processes
Since being announced as a Top Shop in 2014, Complexus Medical has steadily grown while bringing some previously outsourced processes in-house for lower manufacturing costs and faster lead times.
Team Thinking Helps Donson Machine with Nickel Alloy Ventilator Part Production
This shop has taken unusual steps to draw on its strengths as a well-equipped machining facility with a skilled workforce to match.
Machine Shop Scale-Up Mirrors Past Success
An aerospace manufacturer doubles down on a subset of work and a knack for turning shopfloor problem solving into marketable new products.
Matt Danford
Senior Editor, Modern Machine Shop
For This CNC Machine Shop, Growth is Both Wonderful and Hard
JD Machine’s sales have nearly doubled since 2013 when it was a Top Shops winner. Developing a workforce to support that growth is a challenge the shop is meeting head-on.
Top Shops Benchmarking Survey Deadline Extended
CNC machine shops now have until February 17 to complete the online survey and score a free report of its findings.
Top Shops Then and Now
Altech Machining was a Top Shops winner in our inaugural benchmarking survey in 2011. So what’s the shop up to now?
Capital Spending Survey Projects 5% Decline in Machine Tool Buying for 2020, but Spending Level Still Above Average
Machine tool buying is predicted to be down but still strong. Job shop spending is predicted to be 10% above its five-year average.
What Makes a Top Shop Profitable?
The data from Gardner Intelligence's Top Shops survey can show us how technology and management tools relate to earnings and profit in machine shops. Register for this webinar to learn about some of the specific findings from the survey.
Top Shops Share Their Top Technology
In this video taken at the 2019 Top Shops Conference, the year’s four Honors Program winners describe how they’ve each benefited from a new addition to their business.
Machining Suppliers of the Future Will Be Both Bigger and Smaller
When we look for Top Shops in the years to come, what will we find? Through acquisition they’ll scale up and with technology they’ll scale down.
Peter Zelinski
Editor-in-Chief, Modern Machine Shop
The Tie Between Technology and People
Top Shops data analysis shows that investment in employees more directly correlates to profit margin than investment in equipment. Still, careful consideration of new technology matters.
An Alternative Method to Pay for New CNC Machines
Financing might be a more attractive option to using conventional bank loans or cash on hand to purchase new CNC capital equipment as one industry expert explains.
Millennials Talk About Managing Millennials
At a past Top Shops Workshop, three of the four Top Shops Honors Program winners that year were millennials. They described their approach to managing people of their generation and creating an enticing, accommodating workplace for them.
Top Shops Conference Concludes on Themes of Communication and Connectivity
Strengthening employee relationships and data-driven manufacturing were highlights of the event.
Why Do Top Shops Use Tool Presetters?
Looking at the data from Gardner Intelligence’s Top Shops survey, we can see patterns that show why high-performing shops tend to use tool presetters.
Modern Machine Shop Covers Top Shops
The speakers at this year’s Top Shops Conference have faced business challenges just like you. Before heading to the show, read stories we’ve written about them in past issues of Modern Machine Shop.
