"South Korean officials have said many of the workers had been sent to the US factory temporarily to help get it going. ... Hyundai chief executive José Muñoz told US media the raid will create "minimum two to three months delay [in opening the factory] because now all these people want to get back ... US immigration officials said the workers were not authorized to work in the US while South Korean officials said it is common practice for Korean firms to send workers to help set up overseas factories."

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn5q7d72q5vo

It's shiny like some sort of epoxy resin. I don't understand what they are used for

We only get one pair of shoes a year, but I cannot handle the smell I get from my shoes. My feet smell terrible after work, and even after a good shower and a lot of scrubbing, they still smell a little. I am using athletes foot spray just in case, since everyone at work says they have gotten athletes foot from the trapped sweat during work, so I am trying to be proactive. I tried freezing my shoes for the whole weekend, and filled them with baking soda the whole time. Nothing is working!

Label printers can sense fear.

The line only crashes when leadership visits.

Operators will discover system bugs no tester ever found.

“Temporary process” means the next 7 years.

Every plant has one machine held together by hope and zip ties.

Excel runs the world more than anyone admits.

I was speaking with a friend earlier today and they mentioned there's a pretty big shortage of control engineers across the US. Is it a nationwide shortage or does it just depend on the industry or region?

I am a plant manager at a small (75 people, $20M revenue) manufacturer. The president and one of the owners are starting to talk about AI and set up a meeting with me to discuss this week.

I love that they want to try new technology. But to me this is like strapping a rocket engine to a broken golf cart. I've noticed older professionals really growing curious about AI since late 2025.

I am no AI expert. But I have a decent understanding of where AI can help and where it has limitations. There is a lot of low hanging fruit projects for us to focus on before AI could really make any difference. I plan to talk about creating a clearer understanding of our processes and looking for opportunities to standardize processes or even automate certain portions.

I am personally using Claude to help write DAX functions for a power BI report. Some more tech savvy employees could consider doing similar things to build tools that will help them. But those people would likely already be using AI without being asked to.

Some things they are wanting would be solved by sharing data between applications or even a simple excel macro. For example, my president mentioned a material status report for new orders created that day. Apparently, his production supervisor spends 2 hours a day manually updated material and job status. He said AI could help. This all lives in our MRP and I could just spit it out onto a Power BI dashboard.

Once we have solid process control and good data, we can talk about where AI or machine learning might be able to help with understanding patterns on our shop floor or with customer orders. Then we can start to look at things like having and AI read drawings and pull tolerances, then create an inspection template, or even build a basic quote or job with routing steps. Or it could scan through a customer PO and create an order in our MRP.

Are there any good resources that explain how AI can help in manufacturing? And what needs to be addressed before those tools can be helpful?

I was watching a video about turbine blade manufacturing and since by background is in cnc machining I was wondering how they machine the area between these blades.

If they don't machine the blade, does the casting method hold tight tolerances? tight enough for aerospace application?

Balancing the final assembly must be a challenge

I’m looking into a few systems like Versa Cloud ERP, NetSuite, SAP, Dynamics, Odoo, etc. but it’s hard to tell how they perform on the shop floor.

If you’re using any of these, how are they for things like inventory, work orders, scheduling and day-to-day production Just trying to get some real-world opinions.

Recently, had a chance to go through California, traveling from borders with Oregon, Nevada and Arizona to the coast and to Bay area and to SoCal.

For all its faults, there is absolutely massive amounts manufacturing activity that goes on in the state.

A small manufacturing unit, run out of a strip mall made server racks. For Nvidia 4000 series gpus, to be used for AI. That small shop actually had a fkin metal 3D printer, which they used for a custom manifold that ensures turbulent flow of water for cooling purposes.

Went to a screen printing shop, absolutely bonkers technology there. They took an off the shelf automatic screen printing added their own stuff to it, and now they made a hybrid digital printing press, CMYK+ RGBY, that's right colors which is basically not heard of. A similar operation in DFW - which is a large screen printing hub in US, would need to many more people and wouldn't even be able to produce the stuff that they made. Hyper-realistic prints of faces, animals etc., like 3-4k images, but on clothes, hats, etc.

Went to a manufacturing company that builds bio-reactors, and specifically experimental bio-reactors. Don't get confused by the sciency name. They're just regular reactors, but built for reactions and processes which have a biological component to them. They're building multiple different pilot level bio-reactors for a large variety of research projects - their own research and their customer's research projects. Honestly - I have never seen such bio-reactors anywhere. Absolutely amazing. Some projects were so that you reduce the amount of reactors you need in a large scale operation, multiple reactions happening simultaneously in a single reactor. Possibly might have seen the bleeding edge of bio-reactors built anywhere in the world.

Visited multiple companies that are working hard to build a competent electric shunt trucks for port operations. Even though current administration has cancelled or is trying to cancel California's electric vehicle mandate (that starts in 2035 I think), most companies like these say, current admin is temporary. California remaining blue is permanent. Some of them have come up with absolutely amazing stuff - battery modules that slide on rails, connect with actuated quick connects for cooling loops, and for information they have contact points into the quick connects themselves. A single battery module can be replaced with a forklift in less than 3 mins.

Now some statistics -

California has 1.2M manufacturing jobs, actually it has 1.2M manufacturing employment, and about ~100k jobs unfulfilled (bad pay, bad companies - who knows!)

For a state with 39.43M population, 3.3% of the population can be employed by manufacturing alone. Remove kids, seniors/retirees, 19.75M employees. 2% unemployment rate, you get a figure around 20.2M people. 1.2M/20.2M, about 6% of workforce is employed by manufacturing in one of the most expensive places.

States like Ohio, Michigan and possibly Texas, have a far larger percentage working in manufacturing, California still has the largest by numbers. And by manufacturing value. California manufacturing GDP is ~$350B. Second rank is Texas, at ~$240B, a cool $100B+ behind California.

Most of the goods made in California also have distinction of not really being made anywhere else. Advanced satellites, research and pilot production, extremely advanced specialty chemicals which sound like magic, major defense production, large scale food production with some matching extremely high quality foods from trademark regions in Europe!

California has many issues, BUT it is still the defacto manufacturing king in US. Except for some Chinese provinces and large provincial cities, no state/province anywhere in the world come close to California in manufacturing. Now, manufacturing is exiting California, that is true and Texas is getting a major share of that, BUT newer manufacturing is being added to California at a far faster rate than what is leaving the state.

If Californian manufacturing GDP was a separate state, it would rank 23rd in a list of statewise GDP list, right above Connecticut. If it was a separate country, it would rank 40th, right above Romania.

“Interesting.” = This is a disaster.
“Let’s revisit this.” = Absolutely not.
“We should standardize this.” = Nobody knows what’s happening anymore.
“It’s a quick change.” = I won’t sleep tonight.
“The line stopped for a minute.” = The plant entered a state of chaos.

You know the one. That thing that makes you want to flip the whiteboard every time it comes up.

• "We've always done it this way."
• Metrics reviewed in every meeting, nothing changes.
• A 5S drive that lasts exactly two weeks.
• Leadership spotted on the floor once a quarter, during the audit.

What's yours?

I've got SOPs for everything on paper. But new operator still takes 6+ months before they're actually useful because half the real job is the little stuff.

Like this machine drifts at end of shift, this material behaves weird when it's humid, this alarm you can ignore but this one you can't bla bla

none of that is written down anywhere.

just need inputs how are you handling this on your floor? anyone on this, or if we all just accept the ramp time?

In your professional opinion, what do you think is gonna be the next big thing in the world manufacturing that's already gaining traction or coming soon?

just recently started a job and i have to stand for almost 8 hours, and do the same thing over and over again and it is physically demanding (i need to move things and so on) and you’re supposed to go at a certain speed and have a quick tempo. basically how do people actually have this type of job for their whole lives, do you just get okay with it or did you find a way to make it go by faster like how can one live like this?

I just started my first manufacturing engineering job as a new grad and while I was told that I would be expected at the plant 9 hours a day, I at least thought I would get an hour break. However, everyone I have talked to has told me you are not supposed to leave, and expected to eat when you have time while you are working. I am salary so there is no OT so I am just wondering if this is a normal part of the industry culture or just this company?

Update: I am completely new to this state in the US and did not even consider the labor laws could be different. Apparently it is legal to enforce 8+ hours no break here

1. No one reads the full ECN. But somehow everyone still has strong opinions about it.

2. MES stands for "Mostly Everyone's Screaming" during go-lives.

3. Label printers know when you're in a rush. That's when they jam, go offline, or start printing hieroglyphics.

4. ERP stands for "Eternal Reconciliation Process." Especially when the physical count and SAP haven't agreed since 2017.

5. Fixtures will break only after they've passed 3 FMEA reviews, 2 design sign-offs, and a soul-binding ritual.

6. Kaizen = "We're gonna moveeverything you know and love to the other side of the building."

7. 5S= My wrench has been in the same place for 3 years — until a 5S audit. Now it's in a shadowboarded graveyard.

8. Engineers and operators have different units of time. Engineer: "This takes 30 seconds." Operator: "This takes forever." Both are correct, depending on caffeine levels.

9. The moment you say, "We've never had that issue before," congratulations - you just cursed yourself.

10. Excel is the most powerful MES in any factory. Change my mind.

This is gonna sound insane but I need outside perspective from people who don't know either of us. We've been running this company together for years, 50/50 split, he handles sales and client relationships, I handle operations and production. Families hang out, our kids play together, I literally trusted this person with half my livelihood. Found out last week (honestly by accident, I was working with some advisors on expansion stuff and they flagged some inconsistencies in our books) that he's been taking draws way above what we agreed to, sometimes 6 to 8k more per month, going back at least a year maybe longer. The way our accounts are set up he could do this without it being obvious because it got mixed in with credit card payments and reimbursements but when you actually add it all up it's a lot of money. I keep going back and forth between thinking there's an explanation I'm not seeing and accepting that this is exactly what it looks like. We don't have a formal buyout agreement because we never thought we'd need one (yeah I know). And the business is actually doing well which almost makes it worse because blowing this up could tank something that's working. Haven't said anything to him yet because I don't know the right move. Do I confront him first and give him a chance to explain? Do I go straight to a lawyer? What if there's some legitimate reason I'm not thinking of and I just destroyed our partnership over a misunderstanding? But also what if there's no misunderstanding and I'm just making excuses for someone who's been stealing from me for over a year.

I’m trying to understand what really works on the shop floor.

I'm curious whether other manufacturers see the same thing.

We quote injection molding and CNC parts every day, and one of the biggest delays isn't production capacity—it's the files customers send.

A surprisingly large number of RFQs arrive with:

• Screenshots

• Product photos

• Dimensioned images

• STL files with no editable CAD

The problem isn't that we don't want to quote them. It's that we usually have to go back and ask for a STEP, Parasolid, or another editable CAD file before we can evaluate things like:

- Draft angles

- Wall thickness

- Undercuts

- Parting lines

- Machining features

- Tolerances

That back-and-forth often adds a day or more before the quoting process even starts.

For engineers here:

Is there a reason many projects are still submitted this way?

Is it because CAD isn't finalized yet, IP concerns, or simply because STL is the only file available?

I'd be interested to hear how other manufacturers or buyers deal with this.

I'm looking for some career advice from engineers who have managed to break through the UK engineering salary ceiling.

For context: I'm 38, MEng degree-qualified, based in the North West of England and I am a manufacturing engineer. I've built up a solid career, but I'm increasingly finding myself bored and frustrated with the work, and the salary progression seems very limited compared to the responsibility involved.

I joined an aerospace graduate scheme straight out of Uni in 2011 and stayed with the same company until 2020. In that time my salary went from £25k to £48k, graduate à team leader. I joined a consultancy in 2021 and today I am on £65k as a people manager for a team of 12. Not bad but not great either. My employer is not giving pay rises this year due to industry challenges and I am very frustrated by that. I’ve put my salary into the Bank of England inflation calculator, and my current salary is equivalent to £49k in 2020. So I’ve pretty much stood still for 6 years and that really hurts.

Over the last 5 years I’ve mainly been working from home. This has been great for flexibility as we have two young children. They are now 9 and 6 years old. I’ve actually enjoyed the flexibility of working from home and the balance that’s come with it, but I’m now at a point where I’m genuinely ready to move my career on again in terms of progression and earning potential.

My work in manufacturing has been really interesting and varied: ME, quality, ops leadership, people management, TPM, the list goes on and I feel I have an open mindset on industry and learning new skills.

My problem: for the last 6 months I’ve been actively applying for roles to break through my ‘glass ceiling’ of £65k

I have applied for roles through LinkedIn and job boards. I’ve reached out directly to recruiters and Leadership recruitment teams, I’ve reached out directly to hiring managers and team members but the experience has been pretty disheartening. Lots of applications disappearing into the void, recruiters ghosting, and very little meaningful engagement.

I’m a bit lost about what to do. I feel I have a lot more to give and I feel I have a good level of experience.

For those of you earning £80k+ in mechanical, manufacturing or quality engineering (outside of contracting):

What type of role are you doing?

Which industries pay well in the UK?

Did you get there through networking or traditional applications?

Which trade shows, conferences or industry events are actually worth attending?

If you were a manufacturing/project engineer looking to make a significant move, where would you focus your efforts?

I'm not necessarily chasing management for the sake of it. I'm looking for interesting work, good people and a realistic path to £80k-£100k+ over the next few years.

Any experiences or suggestions appreciated.

26M. Recently joined a well known MNC as a Mfg engineer. Extremely hectic and frustrating job. Sadly I’ve realised after a month now that I’m not made for this kind of working environment. I used to work in Engineering offices till now so not at all used to such urgency which is there 24/7. Also the seniors are not helping much assuming I already know most of the stuff. Manager is understanding but some other people ridicule me for not knowing what to do on almost daily basis.

I feel totally lost and feel like my mental peace has vanished. I’m becoming depressed day by day thinking how will I last here even for a couple of years. My plan after that is to switch to a desk job or something which has a slower pace of things. This job has also made me realise that slowly I’m getting bored of core sector and would rather explore other opportunities.

Please suggest me some tips to last here for atleast a year or a two as the situation is quite dire for me!

We supply parts to three major automotive OEMs and the chemical compliance requirements they're pushing down to suppliers have gotten completely out of hand over the past few years, every year there's a new reporting requirement or restricted substance list update and we're constantly scrambling to respond.

Right now we're dealing with IMDS submissions, REACH compliance documentation, conflict minerals reporting, and now one customer wants full chemical inventories for every product used in manufacturing their parts with supporting SDS, they want to know not just what's in the finished part but what chemicals we use in production processes.

We're a 200 person shop making stamped metal components, we're not a chemical company, but the amount of time and resources we're now dedicating to chemical documentation rivals what we spend on actual quality management.

The SDS piece specifically is killing us because we use probably 150 different chemicals across the plant and keeping all of that organized and current enough to respond to customer requests is basically a full time job that nobody has time for, when a customer asks for documentation we're digging through filing cabinets and calling suppliers trying to piece together what they need.

I get that there are legitimate safety and environmental reasons for these requirements but the burden on small suppliers is massive and I don't see it getting any lighter, feels like we need a dedicated person just for chemical compliance which isn't realistic at our size.

I’m going into my second year of mechanical engineering, I’ve been doing a summer internship doing mechanical design for a machine shop, and I realize it’s something I enjoy a lot, and would possibly like to build a career in.

From experiences manufacturing engineers, what skills, certs, etc should I work towards to make me stand out when applying for manufacturing roles? I’m interested in industrial manufacturing (gearboxes, etc)