r/manufacturing

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Hey, I currently own a barbershop and I’m looking to start my own grooming product line. I’m trying to find a white label manufacturer that already makes products like hair styling clay/pomade and hair gel, where I can put my own branding and logo on the packaging. I’m looking to start with a smaller initial order and grow from there if everything goes well.

We are a contract manufacturer for aerospace and defense. I’m trying to build out a “fool proof” system to catch all customer specs, po requirements, and drawing requirements. We do this pretty well now but it relies on a lot of tribal knowledge on a customer by customer basis.

How do others here handle these processes?

I’m working on building a stand alone spec library. Approved specs are entered with their spec code, a description, where those specs flow down, and word for word verbiage for the flow down.

Then for each order for our flight critical customers, account manager makes a new spec review excel doc and types in the spec codes listed on the PO. Everything auto populates from the library, any new specs are flagged.

Then engineering adds any drawing specs, then reviews and adds any new specs to the library. Once everything is entered it spits out a printable flow down sheet for job steps and the inspection form. Engineering and quality then reference those forms when creating the job and inspection form.

It feels overkill. But at the same time, how can an account manager know what specs are a concern, what specs have been previously approved, which ones are new, etc? How can engineering be consistent with flow down verbiage and knowing what goes on the job and what’s just best practice?

I feel like this excel version will get bloated quickly. Are any of you doing something like this within your erp or another software?

We're sourcing a few dozen engineered spring supports for a unit expansion, and the lead times we've been hearing are all over the place. Some suppliers are quoting a fairly quick turnaround, while others are giving much longer timelines for what appears to be a similar scope.

Our biggest concern is choosing a supplier based on an aggressive delivery date, only to have that date start slipping once the order is placed. At that point, even a good price doesn't mean much if the supports don't show up when we need them. We've received a few different quotes and are looking beyond the numbers to compare schedules, communication, and overall reliability. One of the quotes we're considering is from PT&P.

Curious what others are seeing on lead times right now and how the usual suppliers have been to work with lately. Any recent experience would be helpful.

Are there books out there that look at ERP in ETO environments? If not; should there be?

The company I work has sold a LOT of our new products, and thus we are going through significant growing pains. Design engineering is 5x the size it was 3 years ago, but every other group has only grown by 1-3x. We don't have any quality inspectors or engineers yet, despite having a quality manager. Technicians do QA on most finished assemblies but that ussually catches electrical/function issues and not build quality and cosmetic issues. Guidance or sources on what is a considered standard layout for large companies would be appreciated.

Looking to Start an Online Women’s Clothing Business — Need Guidance
I’m planning to start a new online women’s clothing business and I’m looking for someone who can help me set it up from scratch.
Ideally, someone with knowledge of online marketplaces and experience with platforms like Myntra, Amazon, Flipkart, Ajio, Nykaa, etc., and any useful industry connections.
If you can help or know someone who can guide me, please DM me.
Any support or leads would be really appreciated.

I see this a lot when buyers are looking for factories in Vietnam. Manufacturers aren’t sitting there waiting for someone to give them an order.

They’re looking for customers that can give them consistent, long-term work and keep their factory running. They’ll reject plenty of projects if they don’t see the value or don’t think the business is sustainable.

So if you send a vague enquiry, ask for a catalogue, or give them little information about your business, don’t be surprised if you get no response.

The factory is assessing you just as much as you’re assessing them.

They need to understand your positioning, your potential volumes, and whether there’s a realistic long-term opportunity.

So prepare enough detail before reaching out.

I work in an office in a manufacturing facility. Not the main office, but an office more directly connected to the plant. Our office gets a lot of humidity during the summer, so much that papers we have on the dry erase board or in a folder pocket on the wall get curled. A/C doesn’t cut it enough unless it’s cranked to meat locker levels. Our electronics have also been not functioning properly (coworkers extended monitors not working) since the heavy rain we have had this past week.

Today, Monday, I walk in at 7 am to find mold growing on my wireless keyboard that stays in office. Not mildew. Full on fuzzy mold right in the middle of my keyboard. I put it to the side and used my laptop keyboard for the short term until I could find a spare wired one. I mentioned the mold to my coworker, who mentioned it to the supervisor, to mention in the morning meeting with staff. My coworker was on the call. She said “oh good, he mentioned it.” Then, “they’re laughing it off.”

Like wtf? How is mold a laughing matter? My other coworker, who transferred from another department, relayed he had a mold issue in his old department and was sick for months before anyone did anything about it.

The safety manager is away, the plant manager is away. I somehow was able to get my keyboard replaced quickly, but no one in the right places seems to care about mold in an office. I’m sure if it were in the plant it would be a huge issue, but who cares about the office help?

Since the two most important people at the site are away (plant manager and safety manager), who should I contact to address this issue? Corporate? Government agency? We just want a dehumidifier and no one at our site is taking us seriously.

Prospective first time business owner in his 20s. I’m looking to own and operate a manufacturing business long term, ideally in aerospace or related sector.

However I have a few questions:

a) where do I buy such a business. Are online websites like BizBuySell trustworthy enough?
b) what criteria are relevant to consider when buying a manufacturing business? Where do I learn the industry standard practices?
c) once acquired, how does one go about expanding the business and finding clients?

Thanks a lot. Mainly concerned with an and b.

I understand that running a business can be stressful but I think it’s very cool and am willing to do whatever it takes to succeed.

We do contract injection molding, 30 people, mostly housewares with a bit of automotive trim. I'v been running on the general liability policy we have had since 2014 and honestly nobody looked at it closely until a new customer sent through a vendor agreement that wants product liability called out separately with its own limit.

My agent says our GL "includes products", the customer's procurement says that is not the same thing as a product liability limit, and they want it shown as its own line on the certificate.

Someone here has to have been through this, is that a real distinction or is procurement being difficult, and what does the coverage run for a shop this size?

I sell candles online and I need better packaging. My current plain boxes look unprofessional. I want something with my logo on it. I looked at a few companies but the prices are high and the minimum orders are huge.

Anyone know a place that does small runs and decent prices? I need about 100-200 boxes to start. I do not want to break the bank but I want the packaging to look good.

Hi,

I am looking for a bag manufacturer, we want to take our designs to next level, hence looking for someone who can ace it with finesse.

Hey all. looking for advice from anyone who’s imported small electrical appliances (specifically water-related, food-contact items) into the UK/EU and had to sort out compliance.

Quick context: I’m evaluating bringing in a countertop appliance from a Chinese manufacturer. I engaged a UK compliance provider to help get it UKCA/CE marked, WEEE registered, and food-contact compliant. They were vague and generic about what reports or level of detail I actually needed from the supplier post review of initial reports (ie this is not sufficient) and when I asked for a summary of next steps, the answer was basically “more money required,” with no call even offered to walk through it. So I’ve paused that and am looking for a better alternative, ideally someone recommended by people who’ve actually done this.

Specific questions:

**•**	If a factory gives you a CE/RoHS-type test report, how do you actually verify whether it’s sufficient or what’s missing?  
**•**	How normal is a lot of back-and-forth with an Alibaba-type supplier to get the right documentation — is that just part of the process, or a sign the supplier isn’t set up for compliant export?  
**•**	My understanding is CE marking (and similar) is largely self-certify/self-declare rather than third-party approved but is there a common 80/20 that most legit firms actually do (which tests, which docs) to reasonably cover themselves without going overboard on cost/scope?  
**•**	Any recommended UK-based labs or consultants for food-contact material testing (plastics/materials touching drinking water)?  
**•**	Realistic timeline and cost range for getting a small appliance fully UKCA/CE + WEEE compliant from scratch?  
**•**	Anyone hit issues with customs or retail platforms flagging missing certs even after doing the paperwork?

Not looking for a compliance firm to DM me a sales pitch genuinely trying to learn from people who’ve done this themselves or run a small import business. Happy to share what I find once I’m through it too.

Recycled content requirements are arriving across packaging and vehicles, and the direction of travel is obvious enough that we are trying to get ahead of it rather than react. What I did not expect was how much of the problem is a process control problem rather than a sourcing problem.

Virgin polymer arrives with a datasheet you can basically trust. Recycled feedstock, particularly post-consumer, arrives with a spread. Melt flow index drifts lot to lot, contamination shows up as inclusions or colour shift, and mechanical properties come in lower and with wider scatter than the equivalent virgin grade. We ran a trial at 30 percent PCR in a structural housing and the impact numbers were fine on average and unacceptable at the bottom of the distribution.

So you either overdesign the part to survive the worst lot, which adds wall thickness and material and quietly cancels a chunk of the environmental benefit, or you tighten incoming inspection to a level that most of our recycled suppliers cannot economically support.

The counterargument I keep hearing, and it is not a stupid one, is that the variability only improves if demand forces it to. Mandates create the volume that funds better sorting and better reprocessing, and in ten years the spread narrows. Fair enough, but that is a ten year argument and my product ships next year.

How are people actually handling this on the floor? Are you tightening incoming spec, overdesigning, blending recycled with virgin to buy back consistency, or restricting recycled content to non-structural parts and taking the hit on the number?

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for some guidance on how to improve my technical preparation for Industrial Engineering interviews.

I have a Master’s in Industrial Engineering and around 4+ years of experience in automotive manufacturing. My background includes areas like material flow, PFEP, facility/warehouse layouts, time studies, line balancing, capacity planning, Lean/continuous improvement, inventory management, new program launches, ERP/WMS, and cross-functional improvement projects.

My resume seems to be doing reasonably well because I regularly get recruiter calls and make it through the initial interviews. My problem is that I often get rejected during the final round, panel interview, or interview loop.

Because of that, I’m starting to think my weakness may be the depth of my technical knowledge, especially when interviewers start digging into Industrial Engineering concepts or giving scenario-based questions.

I’m trying to systematically strengthen topics such as:

• Takt time, cycle time, throughput, utilization, and capacity
• Bottleneck analysis and line balancing
• Time studies, standard time, MOST/MODAPTS, and labor standards
• OEE and equipment loss analysis
• Lean, Kaizen, VSM, Standard Work, A3, PDCA, 5S, etc.
• Root cause analysis, 5 Why, Fishbone, Pareto, 8D, FMEA/PFMEA
• Material flow, PFEP, Kanban, JIT, supermarkets, and line-side presentation
• Warehouse design, slotting, replenishment, and inventory optimization
• Capacity and labor modeling
• AutoCAD for factory/warehouse layouts
• Excel for IE analysis and modeling
• SAP/ERP/WMS fundamentals
• Power BI and SQL
• Eventually simulation tools such as FlexSim/AnyLogic

My question for experienced Industrial Engineers is: where would you recommend actually learning these skills at an interview-ready/practical level?

Are there any books, university courses, YouTube channels, websites, case studies, software exercises, or certification programs that you found genuinely useful?

I’m especially interested in hearing from people working in automotive, manufacturing, distribution/warehousing, material flow, logistics engineering, or continuous improvement.

Also, if you interview Industrial Engineers: what technical weaknesses do you commonly see in candidates who look good on paper but struggle in the final interview?

I’d really appreciate any advice on what to study and, more importantly, how to practice it so I can actually use the knowledge during interviews rather than just memorize definitions.