Our guest on today’s show, Howard Sheldon, grew up working in his family’s third generation precision turning company. He planned to eventually take over the business from his father, but unfortunately succession didn’t happen the way he had hoped.
Howard left his family company in his mid-30s, and 10 years ago started his own Swiss turning company, Sheldon Precision Engineering Ltd.
Howard turned out to be a natural entrepreneur, and he has built a thriving business that gives him the lifestyle he wants.
Starting a business from scratch gave Howard the opportunity to create his ideal company and run it the way he envisions, instead of being constrained by the ways of a business that had been around for half a century.
If you’re currently working in a family business or you’re dreaming about founding your own manufacturing company that YOU can run the way YOU want to, I recommend you have a listen.
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Interview HighlightsInterview Howard Sheldon grew up working at his father’s screw machine job shop, which his grandfather had originally started in 1948 as the Wembley Screw Company in London.
Howard’s father eventually bought the business from his grandfather after a messy situation in which his grandfather had tried to sell the company behind his father’s back. There was contention over ownership and equity that caused strain in the family relationship. Howard’s father had even started another machining company in secret around the time of the turbulent succession.
Growing up, Howard worked summers and holidays at his father’s shop. After graduating from college, he came on full time. He started in the maintenance department to get exposure to all areas of the operation. The first machine he ran was a Wickman multi-spindle that he nearly crashed his first time running it.
Howard’s dream was to eventually take over the family business from his father. However, as he got older and wanted more responsibility, he kept “banging into” his father who didn’t want to cede control. Howard likens his father’s demanding management style to a combination of Alan Sugar and Gordon Ramsay’s brash business personalities.
Howard says his father didn’t think he had the tenacity to really run the company long-term. This took a toll on his confidence in his own abilities, despite the tremendous manufacturing knowledge he had gained by coming up through the ranks of the family machining business.
Eventually, Howard left his father’s company to pursue other career paths. He started a private tutoring franchise but realized after a year the business did not have great upside.
Then he landed a job as an applications engineer for cutting tools manufacturer Iscar. While servicing manufacturers’ tooling needs, Howard realized he had deep technical expertise to offer. He also observed that the business owners he called on were “regular people” who had just decided to take the entrepreneurial leap. This restored his confidence that he could successfully run his own machine shop.
In 2014, at age 37, Howard started his own CNC turning shop, Sheldon Precision Engineering, with one used Citizen A32 Swiss lathe in a 1,000 square-foot building. Over the next 10 years, Howard grew Sheldon Precision, reinvesting profits into more Citizens and Miyanos.
Howard is currently implementing systems at his company such as the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) to establish a clear vision and organizational structure for scaling responsibly. He wants the business to be able to run independently from him as much as possible.
He recently changed the workweek for his seven employees to a 38-hour week over four days. (In England, the standard work week for manufacturing is a four and half days.) I asked him if his people request to work overtime, and he said they never have because they value their time with their families. Howard also has set a goal for himself that he will be able to work a four-hour workweek by the time he turns 50.
Howard told me, “You’ve got to make your business work for you. If your business is a pain in the ass, and you’ve got to slog your guts out each week, it’s not working for you. You’ve got to let go of the shop floor eventually. Get people to do it. And then you can work on the business and get it working for you.”
Despite his difficult relationship with his father, Howard says he has tremendous gratitude for the knowledge of business and manufacturing he learned from him. He knows he would not have created the successful company he has today had it not been for working at his father’s company and then leaving it.
Eventually, Howard’s father visited Sheldon Precision Engineering. He was extremely proud of the business his son built, and their relationship flourished.
Escaping Your Comfort Zone with Lean Manufacturing, Matthew Rassi-EP 216
Innovating New Attachments for Screw Machines, with Elliott May—EP 143
Ghosted by a Customer, What Do You Do?—EP 215
How to Prevent Fires in Your Machine Tools with Mike Campo-EP 98
The Benefits of a Manufacturing Business Sharing Financials with its Employees, with Reid Leland-EP 132
Supplying Medical Parts Directly to Hospitals, with Thadd Mellott-EP 213
How to Market a Manufacturing Business by Becoming a Thought Leader, with Joe Sullivan-EP 137
Breaking Your Machining Business Out of Its Goldfish Bowl, Roger Duffy (Part II)-EP 212
How to Turn a Business Failure Into an Opportunity—Seeking Serendipity EP 211
How Do You Manage Employees When a Company is Acquired? With Jennifer Fondrevay—EP 175
Growing a Thriving Shop by Creating Chaos and then Organizing it, Roger Duffy (Part I)-EP 210
Change, Fear, and Screw Machines–EP 209
Becoming the Machining Doctor, with Erez Speiser- EP 208
3D Printing Houses With Robots, Jonathan Ladouceur-EP 48
Precision Machining Class in Session, with Jerod Dailey-EP 207
Selling Real Cow Bone to Machine Bone Screws! With Mary and Jim Rickert -EP 105
Hard Lessons We Learned in the Machining World in 2023–EP 206
Manufacturing in Israel, With Patrice Zamor–EP 45
Meeting People Project: My Fellow Treasure Hunter, Steve–EP 205
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