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?

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

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?

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!

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?