Carlos Fernandes of ACP | Capacity Ep. 19

Описание: In this Capacity episode, Sunny visits ACP (Formely ACP Waterjet - west of Boston) to talk with founder Carlos Fernandes about starting a shop in a recession with no manufacturing background, scaling through smart risk, building instant quoting and e-commerce, wiring systems together with APIs, and creating a culture where AI and automation add jobs by boosting throughput.

Carlos shares the early grind (phones, faxes, midnight runs), an amicable founder split, sequencing capabilities (press brake → lasers → machining), when equipment bets don’t pay off, and why “days, not weeks” is the north star for customer experience.

Listen if you care about: job shop scaling, waterjet & laser cutting, quoting speed, SOPs, leadership, and the practical side of AI on the shop floor.

ACP Waterjet: https://acpwaterjet.com

Chapters:
00:00 Introduction to ACP Waterjet
00:36 Starting a shop with no manufacturing background
02:10 Launching during the 2008 recession
02:36 Getting first customers
04:29 Early grind, partnerships, roles & family support
06:52 Splitting the partnership
09:15 Going full-time & learning sales/marketing
11:08 Growing pains: hiring, SOPs, and expensive lessons
15:16 Expanding capabilities: press brake, lasers & tech adoption
18:50 Risk, missed bets, and building customer trust
21:57 Envisioning innovations in business
24:39 Instant quoting, e-commerce, and hybrid model
29:37 What’s next: welding, combo machines & automation
33:23 AI, culture, and scaling leadership
39:20 Future growth goals & sales team strategy
42:04 Immigrant journey and the “American Dream”

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