Business

Making Sparks

by Brendon DiVincenzo

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Latest episodes

Inside FABTECH 2026: Why the Show Is Back in Vegas and How the Data Center Boom Is Reshaping Fab Shops

October 21, 2026 · 50 min

In this episode, I sit down with Mark Hoper, senior vice president of the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association, one of the five partners behind FABTECH. Mark's been doing this since 1989, back when FABTECH wasn't even an every-year…
Run Your Shop Like You're Selling It: How One Owner United Welding and Machining Under One Quality System

October 7, 2026 · 47 min

In this episode, I sit down with Mike Payne, owner of Hill Manufacturing and a familiar voice across the MakingChips Network, where he co-hosts MakingChips and hosts By the Numbers. Mike spent his early career in private equity and…
What 'Green Steel' Really Means: The Hidden Economics of Tariffs, Carbon, and the Data Center Boom

September 9, 2026 · 47 min

I sat down this week with Randy Charles, a metallurgist who's spent his whole career watching the steel industry reinvent itself, and he's not done yet. Randy graduated as a metallurgist from the University of Pittsburgh and started out…
The Culture Playbook for Keeping Good People

August 26, 2026 · 42 min

I'm filling in for Brendon this week, and I decided to dig into the topic I probably know better than anyone on this team: shop culture. Not the stuff that shows up on a quote or a spec sheet, but the stuff that decides whether your best…
The Content Marketing Mistakes Costing Manufacturers RFQs

August 12, 2026 · 51 min

This week I sat down with Brooke Laing, who's just joined the MakingChips team full time as our new Content and Community Developer. You're going to be hearing a lot more from her. Brooke didn't come up through marketing school. She spent…

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From Healthcare to Welding: One Woman's Path Into the Trades

July 29, 2026 · 32 min

This week I sat down with Nico McTague, a soon-to-be welder up in Toronto who's about to finish an eight-month intensive program and walk straight into her first welding job. What makes her story worth your time isn't just where she's…
From Dirt Track to Job Shop: How a 23-Year-Old Sprint Car Racer Built a Woman-Owned Fab Business

July 15, 2026 · 43 min

In this episode, I sit down with Emme Hughes, the 23-year-old owner of EH Metalworks in Enid, Oklahoma. She runs a woman-owned custom job shop that does laser cutting, plasma cutting, tube bending, and fabrication in aluminum and…
He Built a Fiber Laser in His Garage. What does that Means for Fabrication?

July 1, 2026 · 50 min

In this episode, I sit down with Travis Mitchell, a full-time creator who has built a flat-sheet fiber laser, tube laser, metal 3D printer, CNC equipment, and more from his garage. Travis did not come from a machine-building background. He…
Should You Really Buy That Laser? The Hidden Math Behind Modern Fabrication

June 17, 2026 · 1 hr 8 min

Fiber lasers have completely changed what's possible in metal fabrication, but here's the part nobody puts on the brochure: speed alone doesn't make a shop profitable. In this episode I'm joined by Mike Peterson, owner of Critical Laser…
From Curiosity to Career: How SparkShop is Building the Next Generation of Makers

May 6, 2026 · 49 min

What if the biggest challenge in manufacturing isn't technology, but timing? In this episode of MakingSparks, host Brendon DiVincenzo sits down with Shonali Ditz, co-founder and executive director of SparkShop, to explore a powerful idea…
Passing the Torch: The Next Chapter of MakingSparks

April 22, 2026 · 40 min

Change in manufacturing rarely comes quietly—and neither does progress. In this special episode of MakingSparks, longtime hosts Matthew Nix and Casey Velker take a moment to reflect, rewind, and ultimately pass the mic to the next voice of…
The Hard Truth About Pricing Your Work

March 25, 2026 · 41 min

In this episode, hosts Matthew and Casey sit down with Codie Aljets, owner and artist behind Sage Country Customs, to talk about the realities of building a business around custom metal art. Codie shares how he turned his passion for…

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About the show

Matthew Nix and I, Casey Voelker, are here to speak to the welding and fabrication industry. And just like MakingChips, we want to equip and inspire while attracting the next generation. Everyone will have some takeaways from MakingSparks.