Not meant to offend, just an honest observation/comment,

After having worked in various industries such as Tech, E-Commerce, Logistics, and now Manufacturing/Industry now since a few years, I personally get the sense that people involved in manufacturing - especially engineers/designers/technicians - tend to have very set views and thoughts, more so than I have come across in any other industry. Maybe it's just my impression and maybe this is because they are forced to think of repeatability/reliability. But I find this leads to a close minded attitude when it comes to innovative ideas, even those that are simple and that may be an improvement over the old. Many a times it seems that even simple ideas/thoughts barely outside the box are beyond imagination because the imagination itself seems forcefully limited to the box.

Does anyone else feel the same? Have you experienced otherwise?

I'm dealing with a titanium alloy project at work, and honestly, it's a bit of an awkward situation.

We realized we need some extra process control to get the parts right, which means higher costs on our side.

But the customer might need a lower price to move forward. So now I might have to bring my quote down while our actual costs are going up. Great timing lol.

The thing is, it's a new project, and I genuinely want to see it work out. I think it has potential.

I'd rather spend some time figuring out what we can improve on the engineering side than just give up on it because of the price. If we can help get the project off the ground, maybe it'll turn into a good long-term relationship.

But obviously, there's a limit. Cutting corners on quality isn't an option either.

How do you guys deal with situations like this?

Would you accept a smaller margin on the first order, try to work out some design or process changes, or just stick to your price?

Hey everyone, long story short, my background is in the video game development profession and my boss is wanting to do a merchandising startup for a niche market that we notice there are no merch clients currently involved and he wants me to head it up. Supply chain logistics from manufacturing to fulfilment always fascinated me and given the way the world is moving knowing physical goods feels like it would be a good endeavor to pursue. Luckily I have a family friend who has been doing manufacturing for 20 years of all different kinds of products willing to hook me up with factory connections and be a mentor in this business. I want to know as much as I can about the manufacturing side of things while he is mentoring me through reading and supplementary material. Any really good books that dives into stuff such as different fabrics for plushies, sourcing materials, negotiating with factories, etc. Anything helps!

Hi everyone! Does anyone know any reliable, affordable clothing manufacturers or wholesalers that can produce petite-sized jeans, joggers, hoodies and T-shirts?

I've been quoted £8,500 for 400 pieces (100 of each item), which is quite expensive for a small business just starting out.

Ideally, I'm looking for somewhere that can work with my own petite measurements, offer custom embroidery/sewing and has a quick turnaround time.

I'm UK-based but open to overseas manufacturers too!

Would really appreciate any recommendations, especially from people who have personally worked with them. Thank you!

Hi everyone!

I'm starting my own clothing brand and I'm currently considering working with a manufacturer called AKFA LTD (AKFA Premium Manufacturing).

Their website is https://akfa.co.uk and they have a UK office in Borehamwood, London, with manufacturing apparently based in Pakistan.

I've checked Companies House and they're registered as an active UK company. I've also spoken to one of their directors, who has been friendly and accommodating throughout the process.

However, I'm struggling to find any independent customer reviews or experiences online, which makes me slightly nervous as this would be my first large manufacturing order.

A few things about my experience so far:

- They've offered competitive prices after negotiating.

- They require a 50% deposit upfront and the remaining 50% before shipping.

- They've agreed to let me visit their UK office in person.

- They say their invoice acts as the agreement rather than requiring a separate signed contract.

- Their website mentions owning an overseas factory, although they've also discussed the risks of dealing with overseas factories.

I'm looking at spending approximately £3,800, so it's a significant investment for me.

Has anyone actually worked with AKFA LTD or heard anything about them? I'd particularly appreciate hearing from anyone who has placed a clothing manufacturing order with them.

Also, for anyone experienced with overseas clothing manufacturing, does this arrangement sound fairly standard? Would you be comfortable proceeding with a supplier who has a registered UK company and office but no easily identifiable independent reviews?

I'm not accusing them of anything, and they've been pleasant to deal with. I just want to do my due diligence before making such a big financial commitment.

Any advice or genuine experiences would be massively appreciated. Thank you!

Hey everyone, supply chain student here.

We spend a ton of time in class studying lean systems, automated scheduling, and perfect workflow charts, but every time I talk to someone who actually works in a plant, it sounds like real floors run mostly on edge cases, rush orders, and random workarounds.

I'm working on a project about operational friction, and I'd love to hear some real field perspectives instead of just reading case studies. what’s a process or daily task in your shop that’s still surprisingly manual or clunkylike stuff still tracked on whiteboards, clipboards, or messy Excel sheets? Or places where time constantly gets wasted outside of obvious machine breakdowns? Also curious how much critical stuff in your shop relies purely on "tribal knowledge" from one veteran worker who knows how to fix things when stuff goes sideways.

Would love to hear any daily annoyances or war stories from the floor. Thanks in advance!

I inherited spareparts manufacturing firm for aftermarket

VW stopped increment for all its workers , there exports are all time low

Chinese cars are flooded to the market with cheaper prices and more features

They have made more cars than demand

I saw there autoparts manufacturers are not being paid from past 8 months

Where is the world heading towards and how do I keep track of it

Please show some lights of expertise and experience.

Everyone in manufacturing likes to talk about the AI and automation boom, but after reading an article with a roundup of what plant managers actually think, the data tells a much more realistic story and it is the same story I keep seeing in manufacturing AI rollouts:

1. Pilots are everywhere; results are not A majority of U.S. manufacturers have experimented with AI or automation in some form. Wide scale adoption and a solid ROI are still the exception.
2. Knowledge transfer is the real use case as experienced people retire, AI can pull sensor data, SOPs, maintenance history and institutional knowledge into something a less experienced employee can use: shorter downtime, faster troubleshooting, more consistency. AI should support people, not remove them, less time mining data, more time driving improvements.
3. Precision beats AI everywhere: start where people lose time or complexity creates mistakes. Don't jump from "AI is exciting" to "AI everywhere." Tie the case to downtime, throughput, yield, scrap, maintenance cost, labor, quality or energy.
4. Projects die on fit, not models: nearly 90% of AI projects don't survive year one, usually because nobody figured out how to fit AI into how the plant actually works.

---

Article Here

If you run a plant or a line: are you success with AI Rollouts? Or are we still years away from something that has a real impact?

Why does 3M put their branding on everything they make. I know a lot of their business is B2B (Business to Business) I don’t get why the need to add their branding if a manufacturer uses one of their products. There has to be a thousand companies that manufacture the same things as 3M. from adhesive for sticky notes, to insulation for gloves / beanies. Surely 3M doesn’t need branding as they mainly rely on the business from other businesses. The only thing I can think of is if a customer sees 3M in quality products, the customer will think 3M is good and will buy more 3M cerated products. Even if 3M only have a small part in production of the final product .

I only kinda realised I’m might be on track for the answer in the last sentence. Let me know your thoughts!!

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 was trying to learn what OTD analysis is and hit a bit of an obstacle. There is a thing called OTD full lifecycle analysis and in there there are node analysis and order line analysis. Why should there be a node analysis when I can see current node in order line analysis, if I really want to check the node, Why can't I just filter it? I'm just so so confused.

Hi everyone, I’m looking to buy engineering blueprints and fabrication drawings for gold mining and mineral processing equipment. I’m particularly interested in:

- Hammer mills

- Wet pan

- Gold concentrators

- Ball mills

- shaking table

I’m looking for detailed designs with dimensions, material specifications, and assembly drawings that can be used to manufacture the equipment.

If you’re an engineer, designer, or manufacturer who sells these plans, please comment or DM me with examples of your work and pricing.

Thanks!

I wanted to manufacture plastic related products I know there will be demand for my products because they source these products from faraway places yet the demand is not fulfilled. I want to setup injection moiukding and mould and I have no clue where to start because none of the people in my circle do not have manufacturing setup, could someone point me in right direction

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.

Hello everyone,

I have been working with contract supplement manufacturers for a while now, both at the inquiry stage and on active projects. I would like to hear from companies and brands about their overall experience, because mine has been quite terrible, and I’m trying to understand whether this is simply how this industry works, or whether I’ve been getting into the wrong places.

At the inquiry stage, very few manufacturers have replied within a few days. Most have taken 5 to 10 days to answer a simple general inquiry. The replies were mostly brief, bone-dry, and disengaged, which gave me the impression that, unless you are an established brand with a large volume, the effort on their side is just not worth it, whether you are building a future relationship together or not, they didn't seem to care. Most of the times, I had to follow up repeatedly to get an answer to the most simple question, and the information that eventually came back was often incomplete, incorrect, and lacking real knowledge. Several of the representatives I spoke with also didn’t seem familiar with what a truly custom formula requires, which made it hard to have a productive conversation. Sometimes, I wish they would have just said "Hey, we don't want to deal with this. Bye." from the beginning rather than faking it for no reason.

Moving forward, once a project actually started, things did not improve and actually got worse in certain situations. I’ve dealt with several months of delays, long stretches of time without updates, and unacceptable mistakes on the manufacturer’s side that pushed timelines back even further. Mistakes happen and we all know this. A few weeks of delay are very reasonable, but a constant series of careless actions that jeopardized entire projects for several months is not acceptable. And the most frustrating thing is that, even if you are given an apology, their approach and their attitude never changed, so the same problems kept repeating onver and over. For critical issues, following up constantly, and being ignored and getting vague replies after several days is frustrating and appalling.

My feeling is that it really does not take much effort to answer a question, be proactive, and organized.

I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone who has been through this:

Is this the typical experience, or have you found manufacturers who communicate well and deliver on time?

How did you find them, and what did you look for when vetting them?

What early red flags have you learned to watch for?

For a custom formula, what should a capable manufacturer be able to tell you up front?

I am aware that some manufacturers stand by their word by writing it down in a contract - for example, "if we don't deliver the product by the agreed timeline, we pay you X dollars a day until we deliver..." - Is this common?

And if you’re a manufacturer that works differently, one that is responsive, knowledgeable about custom formulation, and willing to take a smaller brand seriously, I’d be glad to hear from you as well.

Thank you all for bearing with me, but I am very frustrated about this experience.

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!