Turbo Machining offers its customers unique, precision service

By JOHN BARTIMOLE

Special to Olean Times Herald | November 29, 2025

(Editor’s note: This is the eighth and final feature in a series spotlighting the businesses making up the 2025 Laine Business Accelerator cohort. The businesses will be highlighted at the 2025 Community Showcase, which starts at 6 p.m. Dec. 9 in the Cutco Theater on Jamestown Community College’s Cattaraugus County Campus in Olean.)

ALLEGANY — “Be yourself,” Oscar Wilde once wrote. “Everyone else is taken.”

A version of that philosophy is crucial to what makes Turbo Machining, located in Allegany  in the former Kmart Plaza, unique — and successful.

“The items that everyone else can make, we don’t touch,” Brian Rodman, president of Turbo Machining, said. “What we produce are products that quite literally, no one else can match. And that is our edge.”

And that’s precisely why Turbo Machining is breaking new ground with projects in government contracting, high-pressure sealing and high-velocity oil and gas equipment.

“In addition to our global and government clients, we do a lot of business locally,” Rodman said. “In fact, our top two customers are local and we are proud of building these partnerships right here in Western New York. More regionally, we do a lot with the world-class equipment manufacturers Keller Technology in Buffalo and High Pressure Equipment in Erie (Pa.).”

Overall, the company manufactures high-precision, industrial-machined components for the oil and gas, custom machinery and heavy equipment industries, among others.

“Simply, we have machines that others don’t,” Rodman said. “We are proud of our industry-leading turnaround times and our 100% on-time performance. Our five-axis machining technology allows us to supply precise milling and turning solutions.”

Rodman admits to being so devoted to the business that he spends “12-16 hours a day here,” he said. “And I do not mind doing any chore to help the business. In fact, the nickname for me at the shop is CEO/janitor, because I am often seen sweeping the floor here. We like to keep the shop pristine.”

The company has six full-time and two part-time employees, “and every single one is a shareholder,” he said. “They all have a stake in our success because it becomes their success. When we are tight to a deadline, I do not even have to ask people to work overtime or come in on weekends, if necessary. They just do it.”

Rodman is proud of the company’s five core values that drive its success: “1. We are one Turbo team; 2. continuous improvement culture; 3. advanced machining technology; 4. exceed quality expectations; 5. world-class customer service.”

Those values did not just appear. Rodman and his partner spent two years working on a business plan for Turbo Machining, with help, he said, from the Southwest Region Small Business Development Center at Jamestown Community College.

Part of the company’s commitment is to the community, too. He serves on the Board of Directors for Dream It/Do it and by volunteering in support of Leadership Cattaraugus.

Additionally, the company reads books about friendship in area schools and donates time and money to children’s sporting events and the Soap Box Derby.

The shop has spent significant funding on state-of-the-art equipment for manufacturing and testing its products, and in software that enables seamless design, simulation, and programming for its products that directly tie to its CNC machines.

Machine shops, he said, are slowly disappearing. “In 2024 alone, we went to eight auctions where machine shops were shutting down,” Rodman said. “Why were they shutting down? Many of the were third generation shops that simply did not do enough to keep up with technology to make them distinct from other shops.”

Rodman said the highlight of his experience with the Laine Business Accelerator is the “generosity of the world-class presenters who are willing to share their knowledge and experiences with us. It has been amazing…it has been a business-changing experience for us.”

So, Turbo Machining continues to “be itself” — and be successful.