Curious how this works at different manufacturing companies, especially places doing aerospace or other work with customer approved suppliers.

Say you make the part in house, but it needs anodizing, heat treat, plating, NDT, grinding, etc. from an outside processor.

If it's one of your normal vendors, I assume it's pretty straightforward. But what happens when you need a process your usual vendors can't do, they're backed up, or the customer/spec requires an approved source you don't normally use?

Who actually handles figuring out where the parts can go?

Is purchasing searching through customer approved supplier lists and Nadcap? Does quality handle it? Do you have all of your approved processors already set up in your ERP? Or is it more of a "we've been doing this for 20 years and Bob knows who to call" situation?

And once you find someone, how much work is involved in actually verifying they're approved for the specific requirement, getting a quote, getting them set up as a vendor, and keeping track of certs and everything else?

I went down a rabbit hole after a job interview with a smaller firm asking about my experience with this (I have none). Looking at some aerospace approved processor lists and it seems like this could get messy pretty fast. I'm curious if that's actually true in practice, or if most companies already have a pretty simple system for dealing with it.

I'm an ops manager at a manufacturing company and it feels like we spend way too much time chasing updates from purchasing, inventory, production, and finance before we can actually make a decision. We've gotten better since moving to a more connected ERP, but I'm curious if this is just part of manufacturing now or if other companies have found a better way.
What's been the biggest improvement for your team when it comes to visibility across departments?

So I wanted to understand on how different products are being passing on checks of different categories and inspection. Has most of the things are automated or its still most of the manual intervention.

Spoke with my friends working in some manufacturing claiming that most of the process has been manual only as of now so wanted to know on wider perspective is it same across all the different industries and is their any bottlenecks to the process and things can be made much less worrisome.

Hi pros! I’m trying to get something similar to this made and am stumped. Their import records are private so I can’t see the manufacturer (I checked on ImportYeti).

Injection molding shops have said this is too thick to be injection molding and that it might be compression molding?

Link to the product: https://www.target.com/p/mini-glam-hello-kitty-38-friends-lipgloss-pompompurin-yellow/-/A-95042664

I am looking at getting labels for food packaging soon and I am stuck on this issue with cooking oil, some of the packages will have oil around them during filling and handling and I keep seeing labels peel from the edges or lift after they get greasy, I have been checking options from aa labels, bluepoint labels and barcode warehouse while looking at different label types, but I am still confused because the labels are called waterproof and the problem shows up when oil gets on the package, so I am not sure if the issue is with the label material or the adhesive holding it in place, has anyone used labels from any of these places for oily packaging and what usually causes the peeling ?

I’m looking for a production partner for some resin castings. We make about 100 or so castings a year. Located in eastern US.

We are casting with a clear urethane resin that is heat cured at 150F. The castings are about 10-20 lbs. each

Any recommendations?

Received a decent offer from Honeywell on MRO side. Currently a manufacturing engineer at different MRO shop. Heard mix things about HW however where I am now has very little room for growth and opportunity to promote internally. Interested in others experiences.

Hi all,

I am an undergraduate physics major, and I have a question relating to a research project I am starting on. I need a custom part to connect to a ventilator system (it's for a gas sensor I am designing), and I landed on polyether ether ketone (PEEK) due to its physical and chemical properties. I was wondering how I might go about getting my design constructed?

I read about CNC machining and 3D printing, and I am just looking for general advice. The PEEK chamber I am designing will need to be sealed into a closed loop and will ideally have very smooth inner surfaces, since I want to minimize surface interactions with the hyperpolarized gas I am flowing through it.

Sorry if this is the wrong subreddit for this, and thanks for any advice!

Hello everyone, My wife has to take some psychometric tests as part of the hiring process for a job in leather goods manufacturing. I’d like to find some practice tests so she can really prepare before taking the actual exam. I’ve searched online and on YouTube, but I’m only finding generic tests that aren't necessarily specific to the leather goods industry. I realize the tests might be the same across different trades, but I’d love to find something that closely matches the difficulty level and question style of an actual leather goods recruitment test. It would be great if someone could help me out! Thanks.

Maintenance, automation, controls, HMI/SCADA, troubleshooting, commissioning, and generally making equipment and processes actually work?

I am a student at a community college and studying a fairly broad degree that will cover industrial wiring, motor controls, automation, instrumentation, digital logic, software, robotics and more. I also have extensive experience in the software engineering field. I have about a year to figure out exactly what I want to do after school. I grew up working on cars and have flipped houses, so I know how to turn a wrench and do blue collar work. I trust people I trust, and I trust science and processes, however I do not trust capitalism. I do not want to work any place that will push me or others to put profits over safety.

I know at the end of the day, I am the only one responsible for me, but I feel like if the entire management and company take it seriously and promote a non toxic and safe culture, then there is a sort of safety net, especially when everyone is looking out for everyone else.

Is there any industry / company / sector / niche / role that is considered or known to be more safe, as in safety culture, proper procedures and protocols or just a general sense to be super safe and do things correctly? Anyone have any examples or anecdotal or factual evidence? Are system integrators more safe? OEMs? Etc.

I'm developing a consumer product and looking for a domestic manufacturing partner. The part is a circular o-ring approximately 3" ID with a 0.25" cross section and an intentionally irregular/faceted surface. I have production-ready STEP files and am currently prototyping.

I'm open to different manufacturing processes and would particularly welcome DFM input on the most practical and economical way to produce the part at scale.

I'm interested in several materials, including brass, aluminum, stainless steel, copper, and especially titanium.

Surface quality is particularly important because the finished product needs to achieve a high-polish/mirror or near-mirror finish while retaining the intentional faceted geometry. Ideally, I'm looking for a partner capable of both manufacturing and finishing the parts, although I'm open to handling finishing separately if necessary.

Initial quantities would be low for validation, with the goal of scaling into recurring batches of approximately 50-500+ pieces. I'm specifically looking for parts manufactured in the United States.

If you own or work with a U.S. manufacturer that might be a good fit, or have a shop you'd recommend, I'd love names or referrals. I'm happy to send STEP files privately for DFM review and quoting.

Seeking a US based manufacturer (3 roll mill) to purchase custom cosmetic pigment blends. Specifically, carmine powder in castor oil dispersions, MOQs 5-10kg.

I need a bunch of 5 inch long aluminum tubes bead blasted before anodizing. Does anyone have any leads on a place, preferably in Los Angeles, that could do that? I have a place that can anodize, but if there's a place that can do both, even better. Worst case I would be willing to ship the parts somewhere in the US. I'm surprised how difficult it is to find someone local to do that.

Honda Motor Co. is expected to build the next-generation Acura MDX along with two new flagship crossovers at a new U.S. assembly plant, a person briefed on the plans told Automotive News.

The Japanese automaker is in the final stages of negotiations for an up-to-$2.5 billion hybrid vehicle assembly plant in the United States, with Ohio the clear front-runner, according to a Sept. 24 report by Japanese publication Nikkei.

[Gift link] https://www.autonews.com/honda/an-honda-new-ohio-factory-to-build-next-gen-mdx-two-flagship-crossovers-0924/?utm_id=gfta-ur-260924&share-code=ZATNWVAFAFBKBIQDWSGMF7WO6A&user_id=4613038&customer_secondary_source=an_articleGifting

The planned factory — Honda’s sixth in the U.S. and eighth across North America — is expected to have an annual capacity of about 250,000 vehicles and be located in Central Ohio, near Honda’s existing Marysville and East Liberty assembly plants and established supplier base, the person said. The new facility would raise Honda’s overall North American production capacity by roughly 10 percent, to about 2 million units annually.

Production of the next-generation MDX crossover is targeted for the third quarter of 2030, with first-year volume projected at about 60,000 units.

The new MDX is expected to share a platform and be built alongside a three-row flagship crossover positioned above the Pilot, with U.S. production set to begin in the first quarter of 2032.

An Acura version, internally labeled the ‘Acura XL’, is scheduled to start production in September 2029. 

I work for an electrical connectivity manufacturer in Shanghai, and we regularly meet overseas customers at industrial exhibitions.

I’m curious how engineers, panel builders, distributors, and purchasing teams outside China currently view attending trade shows here.

Would you consider travelling to China for an industrial automation or electrical exhibition? If not, what is the main barrier—travel time, language, visa arrangements, uncertainty about exhibitors, or simply not enough technical value?

If you did attend, what would make the trip worthwhile?

\- Seeing new products before they reach overseas markets

\- Comparing multiple manufacturers and technologies in one place

\- Live demonstrations and technical discussions with engineers

\- Visiting factories before or after the exhibition

\- Evaluating manufacturing capability, quality control, and testing facilities

\- Discussing customization, ODM, or private-label projects

\- Meeting existing suppliers and identifying alternative sources

I also wonder whether international visitors prefer large general industrial exhibitions or smaller, specialized events focused on areas such as industrial connectivity, control panels, robotics, power distribution, or machine building.

From your perspective:

1. Which Chinese industrial exhibitions are already worth attending?

2. Would a coordinated exhibition visit plus factory tour make the trip more attractive?

3. What technical information should exhibitors provide before you decide to visit their booth?

4. Are overseas exhibitions still more useful, even when many of the exhibitors and products originate in China?

5. Do trade shows still influence supplier selection, or has online research largely replaced them?

This is not an invitation or sales promotion. I’m genuinely interested in understanding what would persuade international industrial professionals to attend exhibitions in China—and what usually keeps them away.

Hello I’ve just started manufacturing engineering and I’m a few weeks behind so I’m just wondering if you’d would have any text books people could recommend for reference I’m going a btech in the UK.

We installed a new equipment recently and incurred some problems during commissioning. The representative from the manufacturer seemed to just ‘listen’ to the machine and fix things.

I’ve noticed this with experienced operators as well who seem to understand the machines and fix issues intuitively.

Is there a way to document these scenarios so it can be transferred to new employees/over shifts?

Considering the busy work environment, I don’t think expecting them to document everything is realistic but it’s also very important, especially in continuous operations. So I’m wondering if there are any solutions/workarounds we can implement for better experience and knowledge transfer.