The real Chaos Theory!

[cvhanh20 1,052]

Well not many of you know the Chaos story, sooooooo here it goes. My start: I officially started in the machining trade 26 years ago, after taking two years of metal shop class, and being the school’s free machinist, I decided to stretch my legs and move to Calf. at the ripe age of 17yrs. old. In the early eighties jobs where very hard to come by and being 17 didn't make it any easier! My first machine shop interview was at a Pasadena shop that manufactured Hi-Tech components for the Gov, there stood around 30 journeymen waiting for their shot, my bother said I didn't stand a chance, but I knew better, not being cocky but when you're good at something you know it, right! I got that job no problem, loved that job, great guys, all twice my age or older and they treated me like family, I was one of them at 17. With a heavy heart I left that shop to join another shop back in Evansville. This was a smaller shop and its manufacturing was totally different from anything I had ever been involved in, this was a high production shop. Started at the bottom, and I mean the bottom! Someone’s going down: Young, ambitious, full of ideas and cock strong in my abilities, I rammed heads with the foreman. This guy was nothing like the foreman at the last shop, it didn't matter how much respect I showed this new foreman, he was an asshole and flat had it out for me, this was his major down fall. I was mid 18 at the time and with a will of steel, I turned my full focus on this guy. It wasn't just me that couldn't stand this tool, just about everyone there had issues with him and his ways of running things. I believed in equal treatment to all, not just your buddies; that shit doesn’t fly with me! A few of the journeyman approached me about challenging him for shop foreman, none of them wanted to go toe to toe with him in fear of losing their job. I went to the shop owner and laid down my offer, that I could run the shop better, cheaper, faster, and in six months he would see a major return over the other guy. Well at the age of 19 I was now foreman over 17 journeyman, and the other guy, that thought he could treat everyone like shit, I helped him move on and find a new home, I really didn't like having to let him go, after all he was so nice to me, I loved it! It was good bye and don't let the door hit you on that big dumb ass of yours! I along with a great bunch of guys took that small company and in five short years and made it 10 times the size it was when I was hired in. I forgot to mention the old foreman had hired a shitload of his family that couldn't machine anything, they also found new homes. The in between: Because I had the abilities to manage floor people, I was always given the old story from upper management, either you’re with them or you’re with us, well my loyalty was always with the hard working men on the floor, hell I was one of the hard working men on the floor! But this came at a cost, every time I started a new job, it seemed like the next company found new ways to exploit my talents, and hammer on me if I wouldn’t conform to their mistreatment of the slaves. So I drifted from company to company:

Aero Space Machine Shop- part of the family

Production Screw Machine Shop – Foreman, Hero

Hydraulic Machine Shop -Slave

Large Industrial Machine Shop –Shift Leader

Job Shop -Foreman

Prototyping Machine Shop - Foreman

Deluxe Machining Co. – Co Owner, definitely Slave

Large Electric Motor Manufacture – Foreman, slave- god what a prison

1st. Machine Builder Job –Lead Machine Builder, loved this place!

2nd. Machine Builder Job – Lead Machine Builder, Slave, walked out, but now they slave for me

3rd. Machine Builder Job – Third shift Plant Superintendent - walked out, laughed all the way out the door

Manufacture of proprietary plastic equipment components – Company Manager, one man army

I’ve searched for a business with the same values I have, and guess what I found that company “Chaos” after 25 years of looking.

Chaosssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss Hell yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! – but still a slave

The Wraithmaker encounter: Four years ago I was working for a local automation machinery manufacture as a machine builder and tool maker, that’s where I met the hated Wingies; you know them as AA, formally Wraithmaker . I had been employed for about a year, when I seen two brothers pushing their box in the machine shop, they were sharing a box, this is really seen as sad in my trade, people work hard to have their own tools, so when you see shit like that it pisses guys off that have paid out of pocket and have all the tools required. Those two brothers turned out to be Mike Jr., and David. David was a pretty smart and talented little guy, just young and in my opinion in the wrong family! I don’t think Mike Jr. made it two months there and he was gone, David on the other hand was holding his ground as a machinist and got along with everyone pretty well. Later that year I was asked to form a third shift, I agreed as long as I could pick my people and run it the way I seen fit, management agreed. I decided to bring young Winge along with me, he was a good kid and a hard worker, never had any problems out of him at all, this was my over all experience with David. Anyways management broke our agreement and started playing games with my shift, so I walked out and never looked back! A week later I get this call from a guy who owned a small company and was looking for someone to run it for him because it was tanking. So I go and check the place out and guess who’s working there, Mike Jr. and he was totally over whelmed and completely lost, the place was way back logged with work and he was the only guy on the floor, it was a mess. Apparently the owner had pissed everyone off so they left and the only person with any info from the others that had left was, Mike Jr.! Yeah like a dumb ass I took the job, I should have let Mike Jr. go straight away but had no idea what kind of person he was, since I didn’t get to know him at the other company, and with his brother being such a hard worker. Anyway I decided to keep him on, but removed him from any real machining task, as I took those on myself until the company was stable enough to hire people for that, which never happened, so I was basically doing everything, running the office, quotes, jobbing out work, setups, cad drawings, cam programs, man the list went on and on, oh and the fucking cold calling, I hate cold calling sales!!! Anyways once I realized the owner wasn’t going to hire more people to take the load off me, I started putting more task on Mike Jr. but it just cost me every time. Finally I had enough and told the owner it’s time to let him go, well he had already told the owner about their drum project and promised the owner the work if he kept him. So the owner invested 40k, against my warning him and received a return of about 1.6k great return, nice! Needless to say Mike Jr. was gone after that, Mike Sr. was the downfall for these boys IMO. Anyways the company tanked just the same, too many loses and with everything going to China our plastics industry doesn’t stand a chance.

The Birth of Total CHAOS: Two years ago I returned from Christmas leave, the owner of that small company called me into his office, we sat down, I knew why I was there, it was the end of a very miserable journey. The company tanked, my job gone, in the dead of winter. I looked him straight in the eyes and offered him 3000.00 a month to take over the small CNC machine shop. I had 4200.00 to start with, that’s it and I needed that to live on, I rolled the dice and started renting his little shop, within six months I had to roll the dice again, with a potential banned threat I got a personal loan and got my first extrusions, they where expensive because I went with a U.S. company. A year into renting that little shop I realized I was spending myself blind in equipment repairs, on someone else’s equipment, equipment I didn’t own. So this time last year I rolled the dice once again, took advantage of this shitty economy and relocated Chaos to a much larger and new facility, remember I was renting all my machines. I come here to this location 10 months ago without equipment, any! Now we have Two Kitamura machining Centers, one CNC mill, and full machine shop for maintenance and tooling, a full weld dept with mig, tig and spot welding and a secondary production area for our rails, a state of the art shipping room and clean room for assembly, a loading dock, two fork trucks, five workers. Oh yeah, and the birth of some new products and another totally new company “Stomp Drive” with three new products of its own. So how did we acquire so equipment, so fast, easy, I started a short term used equipment company this last winner, we went around buying and selling used equipment and kept what we needed, then shut down that company. So here we are now, tomorrow the arrival of a Mori-Seiki CNC chucker. This should allow us to bring those 10rd. drums to market. Who knows where we’ll be next year, but if it’s within my ability, we’ll be bring the world some really cool shit.

[Superhawk138 202]

Awesome story Cameron. Congrats on your hard work and being at the level you are at now.

[DrGonZo 157]

I'm happy things worked out the way they did for you Congrats. I cant wait to see what you have in store for us. Will your drum accommodate 3" shells? Have you ever thought about making a shorty vertical fore-grip? I definitely wouldn't hate to see one of those...

Keep up the AWESOME work!

[superA 289]

Way to go dude.

[westonsecurity 6]

This is a no bullshit comment, That story makes me want to pay full price for anything I buy from Chaos. Just knowing how much you spent on tools ect, and the chances you took, makes me want to help you recoupe your money faster. I started the same way. I'm now looking for my own building, I want to own the bricks as the saying goes.

Edited July 14, 2010 by WESTONSECURITY

[sgmgsg9 6]

Cameron I found this a inspirational read. Thanks a lot man. (I'm sending a link to this to my younger brother) We've been thinking about going in to business for our selves.

[6500rpm 670]

That's a great story Cameron, you should sticky it in your section if you haven't. Tony Rumore also had a great one I got him to post a few years ago, great to see success stories from humble beginnings. I also remember Bvamp introducing you to the forum and you initially catching some crap due to your prior association w/ the AA guys. I think I made a comment about the quality of your product in the end would make or break your reputation- good to see you've more than proven yourself. Glad you stuck it out. Glad to be a return customer. Alway good to hear about an American machine shop success story with so, so, much going oversea's. Getting those jobs back where they belong is the only thing that will ultimately save our economy.

[Cobra 76 two 2,677]

Hard work + Dedication = WIN! Keep up the good work Cameron and congrats on the Stompin expansion!

 

[tsawy93 19]

Great story!! Who's going to play you when the movie comes out? Sounds like a part only YOU could play. I feel like Chris Matthews listening to an Obama speech... a warm tingling feeling going up my leg. Thanks for sharing.

Congratulations...

[MT Predator 2,294]

Great story Cameron, Congrats on everything and good luck in future endeavors. Thanks for sharing your story.

[BobAsh 582]

 

But seriously, congrats on making a success out of nothing; it's truly the American way.

[whitetrashrn 74]

Keep up the great work. I bought a few things from you and everything was right on the money.. I also was in on your NRA give away. Thanks a bunch..

You are "THE MAN" in my book.. Best wishes..

[cvhanh20 1,052]

Thanks guys.

[vbrtrmn 167]

Damn, great story! This is truly the reason to buy American parts, when you can!

[cvhanh20 1,052]

That's a great story Cameron, you should sticky it in your section if you haven't. Tony Rumore also had a great one I got him to post a few years ago, great to see success stories from humble beginnings. I also remember Bvamp introducing you to the forum and you initially catching some crap due to your prior association w/ the AA guys. I think I made a comment about the quality of your product in the end would make or break your reputation- good to see you've more than proven yourself. Glad you stuck it out. Glad to be a return customer. Alway good to hear about an American machine shop success story with so, so, much going oversea's. Getting those jobs back where they belong is the only thing that will ultimately save our economy.

Yeah Ben went to bat for me, he wanted to see that things were set straight.

[BronCobraJet 80]

I have to tell you, that that is a cool story! I hope nothing but good luck and success for you. I kinda wanted one of those Porky Pine things, but thought that they were a little cheesy, and finally bought one when you had them on clearance. As soon as I recieved it, I was amazed at the quality! I just kept thinking that this was one ingenius piece of artwork. It was NOT the cheap quality crap like comes from off shore, it was a precise, machined, heavy piece of equipment. Way better than I expected, and I'm proud to have it on my shotty now. Not mall ninja in any sense of the word. Mall ninja means cheap shoddy shit, to me. And this is definately not that at all. Then when I read your back story on why and how you made it (people more scared od needles than being shot) it all made perfect sense. Good Luck Cameron, and I hope to do more business with you soon. Thanks!