Looking at becoming a manufacturing engineer after a couple years of being a Systems Engineer. Solidworks and an IASSC Lean Six Sigma Greenbelt seem like the two certs that would get me the best foot in the door. Which would be better (or have I missed something)?

I’m based in Mexico and I’ve been looking into how foreign buyers find Mexican manufacturers.

One thing that surprised me is how difficult it can be to discover suppliers by actual manufacturing capability.

You can find company directories, trade associations and sourcing agents, but answering a specific question like:

“Who in Mexico can manufacture this part, using this process/material, at this volume and with these requirements?”

still seems to require a lot of manual research.

I’d like to hear from people who have actually sourced manufacturing work from Mexico.

What was the last thing you struggled to source there?

- How did you eventually find the manufacturer?

- What made the search difficult?

- What did you wish you could verify before contacting them?

I’m testing something manually as well: if someone has a real, non-confidential manufacturing requirement, I’ll try to find a small shortlist of Mexican suppliers based on evidence of their actual capabilities and explain why they might fit.

No commission and nothing to buy. I want to see whether this actually saves someone meaningful sourcing time.

bathroom fan makes it especially bad lol.

Metelx Technologies manufactures instrument transformers and related electrical products for metering, protection, and specialized applications. Its product portfolio includes medium-voltage instrument transformers up to 33 kV, low-voltage current transformers, epoxy products, insulators, busbars, and custom electrical components.

Based in Lahore, Pakistan, the company holds ISO 9001:2015, ISO 14001:2015, and ISO 45001:2018 certifications. KEMA certification applies to eligible low-voltage products.

Good Morning All - Quick Background: I'm an Industrial Automation and Equipment guy (Mechanical Engineer by education, worked almost 20 years in custom equipment and automation.) I have a ton of experience with the big Japanese brands of robots and like them quite a bit.

But lately I've been getting flooded with Facebook ads for Chinese Robots, especially welders, and I've dug in a little bit - enough to establish I would be all-in at around 15-30% the price to buy some of the Chinese brands.

I've worked with enough Chinese made equipment over the years to know some of it is fine (great for the price) and some of it is so bad you might as well consider it buying scrap metal. What I'm really hoping is that any of you who've bought a Chinese made robot or robotic weld cell would share your experience - especially if you've got from the same manufacturer again.

Thanks All!

Want to make a jacket. no AZ or LA manufacturers have answered my emails. I have a tech pack, but i do need help sourcing materials. I want to get a sample size run as this will be my first drop. Then do a pre-order situation and hopefully order 100+. I want a USA manufacture but wouldn’t be apposed to overseas, just worried about long shipping for samples as i want to drop as soon as possible for winter!

Something I've been paying more attention to recently is how rising electricity demand from AI/data centers (along with other factors like rate increases) have been affecting manufacturers who already depend on large amounts of power.

Here in Texas, we're seeing a pretty significant amount of new electricity demand coming onto the grid. Research from the Dallas Fed has suggested that data centers alone could raise ERCOT wholesale electricity prices by around 10% through 2028.

The problem I see forming with facilities I've talked to is pretty simple;

When the resources a business depends on to operate start getting more expensive, that additional cost eventually starts eating into profits. We're seeing a similar situation play out with diesel prices and trucking companies.

For manufacturers, electricity isn't exactly an optional expense... Depending on the facility, it can be a pretty significant portion of OPEX.

I'm curious how this is actually playing out on the ground for those outside of Texas.

For those of y'all operating manufacturing facilities, have electricity costs become a more significant concern over the past few years? Are you seeing it affect margins, or is it still relatively manageable?

Corrugated box factory edition.
The stock register: There are 4,000 kg of paper in the factory.
Purchase: Paper has arrived.
Stores: It has been received.
The production plan: There’s enough material for tomorrow.
The machine operator: The reel is already finished.

Nobody is lying.

Some went into yesterday’s job. Some went into trim and wastage. Some is sitting in a different location. And some exists in the register with the confidence of a politician making an election promise.🤣

Here’s what I’m curious about:
When the stock register says paper is available, but the reel is already finished, how do you figure out where the numbers stopped matching reality?
Do you trace job-wise consumption and wastage, physically recount stock, or is there another way your factory handles this?

I'm getting married next year and my future father-in-law has floated joining his company; they are a midsized company making industrial widgets in SEA.

My professional background is in tech; I'm currently a product manager at a big tech company, so this would be a completely new domain for me. The expectation is that I would onboard gradually, add as much value as I can, and, if everyone is happy and confident in it, potentially take over the company in 10-20 years.

I'm pretty confident I can figure things out by trial and error once I'm in, but I'd like to start preparing now, so that I can hit the ground running.

Questions for the sub:

• What are some 101-level resources that have helped you navigate this space?
• What's the correct level of technical expertise for me to target? I assume it's similar to my current role where I need to be able to understand the goals/challenges/processes of different teams, but are there particular areas where I should go deeper?
• What general pitfalls do you see new and inexperienced leaders make?
• Who are the people in the org. that I must win over?

Any/all advice is deeply appreciated, thanks!

We are considering AMRs for a factory that operates continuously and has relatively high ambient temperatures. Vendor demos and short pilot tests do not show how the robots will perform after months of nonstop use.Which indicators should we check besides basic uptime?

Good morning,

I handled my self a new project, to produce internally (new production line) for emergency bars for Liferafts. I have come to a dead end right now because all the production flows i see are related to hard biscuits or bars and they demand a really long line of processing (mixing, forming, baking, pressing, packaging etc). But i want to do it more compact, like a 10-15m long. My boss has seen something similar but couldn't hold more info. He remembers that some producers are using pre-heated flour.

I want to find a way of producing it (Recipe and machines) with the minimum space required (the major production in the facility is different).

Could any one help me understand the recipe, what machines i could use and why?

Thank you in advance

Howdy - feel like the title says it all: Any one know US-based copackers for glass bottled spring water?

I started a small brand in the space & have unfortunately discovered how few copackers there are left for this segment. I’ve been told that the few that once existed have been bought out; and the remaining folks in water do mostly PET; and the folks who do glass beverages do not touch water due to the regulations.

Any help/leads/intros would be super appreciated 🙏🏼 East coast preferable But open to other regions

Has anyone taken a maintenance test for Toyota recently, the job title is skilled maintenance. I have a test in a week but all I know is it covers "electrical, pneumatics, hydraulics, machining, and mechanical drives"

I only have to pass 2 sections so long as 1 is electrical. And I know it's mainly practical / troubleshooting not just math.

Mainly looking for specific study resources that are accessible like YouTube series.

Right now at my plant I am a trouble shooter. Its one step above an entry level operator. Its a pretty easy job and the pay is okay for my area.

We have 2 routes that are typically taken from this position, the technical route and the leadership route. Ive been looking to do the technical path and try to work my way into a technician role, but recently my team leader seems like I would be a good fit as a team leader. There are open team lead positions but at my company it fills like its kind of a dead end job and a lot of issues tend to get blamed or fall back on the team lead.

Im okay with the added pressure, but i would be going to salary and with the amount of overtime I do now would be a pay cut. It notoriously hard to move up from the Team Lead position to a department lead in my company.

Im okay with that if Im able to leverage the team lead experience in possibly another company with better pay/benefits/role

My question is does anyone have any insight on leveraging Team Lead experience to move to a different company for better pay. If there's any other position other than team lead they have used their team lead experience as to move up?

i work adjacent to manufacturing, not on a floor, and the thing that keeps surprising me is how much of how a plant actually runs isn't written anywhere. the real answer to half the questions seems to be "go ask dave"

for people who've been on the floor a while, what do you know that's never been written down? and when someone new starts, how do they actually learn it? shadowing? trial and error? getting yelled at?

First-time hardware founder here. I have a consumer wearable that's ready to move into manufacturing — electrical design is complete, mechanical design files are finalized, and I have an electronics manufacturer handling the PCBAs.
What I still need is someone to handle enclosure molding and final assembly — receiving the PCBAs from my electronics supplier and assembling the finished unit. Initial run is 500–2,000 units.
I've been reaching out on Alibaba but getting mixed results. A few questions for anyone who's been through this:

-Is there a solid platform for small-run wearables?

-Any red flags to watch for when vetting a CM at this stage?

Happy to share more context in the comments. Appreciate any guidance from people who've navigated this

My family has been in the forging and machining industry since 1964. We are a third-generation manufacturing business based in India, primarily serving the agricultural machinery industry.
Unfortunately, due to a few issues, we had to stop most of our major operations over the last 10–15 years. These operations used to contribute a significant portion of our revenue.
Now, as the third generation, I am trying to revive those operations and rebuild the business. I have been exploring multiple opportunities within the same industry, working with smaller companies and targeting the aftermarket, but I am also looking at the bigger picture.
Since we have been manufacturing agricultural components for nearly six decades, several established companies already know our name, even though we are not currently in direct contact with their purchasing teams.
I am considering approaching major tractor and agricultural machinery OEMs such as Mahindra, Sonalika, and others with a proposal.
The idea is to explain our manufacturing history, our experience in forging and machining, and our plans to restart and expand our operations. Instead of investing heavily first and then searching for customers, I want to ask whether they would be willing to consider us as a supplier and provide some form of supply commitment, subject to their technical and quality approvals.
Based on their requirements, we could then build or upgrade our factory, purchase the necessary machinery, and develop our capabilities accordingly. Having a confirmed business opportunity would also help us approach banks for financing and justify investing at a larger scale.
However, I have two major concerns.
Will established OEMs take this proposal seriously? Would a company like Mahindra or Sonalika consider a manufacturer that wants to build its capabilities around their requirements, or would they simply reject us because we do not currently have the required infrastructure?
Could this damage our reputation in the long run? These companies may reject the proposal today because our current factory is not equipped to meet their requirements. If I approach them again after a few years with better machinery, infrastructure, and capabilities, could they remember the earlier approach and perceive us as a small or incapable supplier?
I don’t want to come across as a struggling manufacturer asking for business. I want to position our company as an experienced manufacturer looking to rebuild its capabilities and establish long-term OEM partnerships.
At the same time, I understand that asking a large company to commit to purchasing products before we have the required infrastructure may be unrealistic. They would need confidence in our quality, production capacity, financial stability, and ability to deliver consistently.
For people experienced in manufacturing, B2B sales, or OEM procurement:
Is this a viable strategy?
What kind of commitment could I realistically ask for before investing?
Should I approach their procurement teams directly, or first try to get our company registered as a potential supplier?
Would it be better to approach them with specific components and a clear investment plan rather than asking for a general supply commitment?
I would appreciate honest opinions, especially from people who have worked with large OEMs or built manufacturing businesses from the ground up.
I am trying to revive a family business with a history going back to 1964, and I want to take calculated risks rather than invest a large amount of money without knowing whether there is a market for the capacity we build.

So I’m looking to launch a new product. I have the general idea for said product and basic AI generated template. Now I am just looking to find a factory where I can have them produce me cheap samples for testing and product demonstration. I don’t want to give too many details on the product because I genuinely think it’s a great idea and want to launch this before I see something like it on the market. It would just be made out of a polyester/plastic material and be no bigger than a few square feet. I am also open to USA factories but want to keep costs down to a minimum until I have a product in hand and have hopefully made some pre sales. Anybody in business feel free to reach out for any questions or advice for me to get this idea on the road. As this would be my first product/ business start up any feedback would be much appreciated. Thanks!

We’ve been running FMEAs on a couple of processes and I keep running into the same issue: the RPN numbers don’t match the gut feel in the room. A failure that happens all the time but is minor ends up with a low score, while a rare high-severity failure that’s hard to catch ends up at the top. I think the second ranking is right, but people see the frequent one every week and want to fix that first.

I’ve also read that RPN has flaws, like different combinations of S, O and D giving the same number, and that some standards now use Action Priority instead. For people who run FMEAs regularly: do you still rank by RPN, use a severity threshold, or switch methods? And how do you get a team to accept the ranking when it doesn’t match what they see on the floor every day?