For 35 years, @heinz_skip has been pushing to elevate the Equipment Manager position. Winner of the @GCSAA's Edwin Budding award, Skip shares the valuable lessons he’s learned throughout his career. @SIPGrinders1902 Presents: The Daily Grind Episode 4 - Henry “Skip” Heinz, CTEM

Ever wondered why we started grinding bedknives parallel to the pivot bolts 14 YEARS AGO at @SIPGrinders1902? Grab a🍺& I'll tell you: In 2010, @JPsTurf wanted a "faster, accurate, and repeatable method for mounting bedknives." So, @MarkPilgerSIP designed the Pin Alignment System. Because Mark uses a pallet system in our Ideal 6000 (that he designed in 2008), he can update the pallet to ANYTHING HE WANTS, at any time, without having to change the carriage or the entire grinder. Any update he makes, he also designs to be backward compatible. Anyone can buy the new technology & put it on their older machine. So, it was incredibly easy for Mark to design exactly what John wanted: While it was incredibly fast, Mark & John quickly realized there were a LOT more benefits to this method. Mainly: it allowed the user to grind their front face (the cutline) parallel to the pivot bolts, which also made the cutline parallel to the centerline of the reel (unless the frame was twisted - a topic for another day): Jump to June 12, 2012 and we find Mark at @TheToroCompany in Bloomington, MN. He was checking on the set of SIP grinders they had at headquarters, for Toro U. While there, a Toro engineer mentioned that the TOP FACE of a knife that Mark ground was "out of parallel to the pivot bolts by 6 thou." At the time, Mark's 6000 used what he called a "Bottom Support Pallet." Simply put, it allowed you to grind the top face of your knife parallel to the bottom of the bedbar (a game changer, in 2008). The top face was parallel to the bar, but not to the pivot bolts, like the front face was. SO, for 2 days while he was driving back to Tampa from Minnesota, Mark thought about how & why it made a LOT of sense to grind BOTH FACES parallel to the pivot bolts. 2 months later? The V-Pallet was drawn up. 6 months later and the first one was sold in January 2013: Mark went through a few versions over the next few years: everything was blue, except the machined surfaces; there were holes in the cold-rolled steel blocks, to make it lightweight; and the calibration system was in the front of the support bar, then to the back. On top of all that, he designed a V-Support Upgrade Kit for our old 1000 bedknife grinder - a grinder that hasn't been in production since 2008! Let's say you own a 1000 bedknife grinder from 1998. You can grind parallel to the pivot bolts. Mark once told me, "We don't abandon the old machines, period." By 2019, he had the latest version of the V-Pallet: For 36 years, under @MarkPilgerSIP's ownership, @SIPGrinders1902 has been changing how we look at cutting units. For the past 14 years, by grinding bedknives (AND bedbars) parallel to the pivot bolts, we've completely exposed the cutting unit for what it is: lines and circles. Come see us in Booth 5717 at the @GCSAAConference so we can show you those lines and circles. #CutlineIsKing, baby.

@SIPGrinders1902 Presents: The Daily Grind - Ep. 3 - Kayla Kipp After her time in the Air Force, @kipp_kayla found the golf industry & she hasn’t looked back. With the mindset of “One team, one fight,” Kayla became the first female to achieve Certified Turf Equipment Manager.

Can't wait to read this from @GCIMagazineGuy! AAC is where I learned everything I know, thanks to Yoda (@JPsTurf).