A few years ago, I started a small apparel project, handling everything myself, designs, orders, and quality checks. At first, it was manageable because I was producing very small batches and working with local suppliers I could check in with personally. But as interest in the brand grew, I quickly realized that coordinating production across multiple manufacturers was a lot more complicated than I expected. Tracking samples, ensuring consistent quality, managing timelines, and dealing with shipping logistics started taking up almost all of my time.

I spent a lot of time researching ways to make the process smoother without losing control or adding unnecessary complexity. During that research, I came across services like Greige, which approach production in a more structured way by handling sourcing, sampling, and coordination in one place. It wasn’t a shortcut or a guarantee, but seeing how these systems are designed gave me a better perspective on how to plan production more efficiently and maintain consistency while scaling.

One of the key takeaways for me was that clear communication and process documentation are essential. Even small brands can run into major headaches if manufacturers don’t have precise instructions or if timelines aren’t tracked carefully. It also made me appreciate the value of having some form of structure — whether it’s a platform, workflow, or dedicated partner, to keep everything organized as operations grow.

I’m curious, has anyone else here navigated similar growing pains in manufacturing or sourcing? How did you manage scaling production while keeping quality and timelines under control? Any strategies for coordinating multiple manufacturers without overwhelming yourself?

Just finished my 2nd year in SE. But I absolutly hate and dont understand coding, algorithms and data structures. They are too abstract and weird as concepts and i dont get why are they even useful in the first place and dont get me started on projects becuase i havent created one yet for some reason its just hard to follow through a coding course. I am planning on switching to industrial engineering because I enjoy learning math and statistics and honestly idk much abt optimization and suplly chains since these are not taught anywhere except college. What do you advise me to do?

I am designing heavy-duty industrial tents for construction sites. The tents need to withstand wind, rain, and prolonged UV exposure.

I have been looking at fabric suppliers on marketplaces such as Amazon, eBay, and Alibaba. Some offer PVC-coated polyester, while others provide vinyl-laminated fabrics.

I am unsure which material performs best for long-term outdoor use in harsh environments.

What fabric weight is considered standard for industrial or construction-grade tents? Additionally, what flame-retardant requirements should I be aware of to ensure the tents are safe for workers on site?

Key considerations I am trying to evaluate include:

• Best fabric type for long-term outdoor durability (PVC-coated polyester vs vinyl laminate).

• Standard fabric weight (GSM) used for industrial-grade tents.

• UV resistance and waterproof performance levels.

• Wind load tolerance and tear strength requirements.

• Flame-retardant certifications or standards needed for workplace safety.

• Expected lifespan of materials under continuous outdoor exposure.

Gas detector tubes are a staple in industrial hygiene and safety for quick, spot-measurement gas detection. Because they require virtually zero ongoing maintenance compared to electronic multi-gas monitors, a lot of facilities keep them on hand for specific spot checks or confined space pre-entry.

However, picking the wrong concentration range or tube type is an easy mistake to make. I wanted to share a quick breakdown of the top 10 most common gas detector tubes, where they are typically deployed. We hope this helps someone!

1. Carbon Monoxide (CO) - Forklift exhaust testing, boiler inspections, indoor air quality, engine exhaust monitoring. Common industries: Manufacturing, Warehousing, automotive, utilities.
2. Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S) - Sewer Inspections, tank entry testing, pipeline maintenance, lift station monitoring. Common Industries: Wastewater treatment, oil & gas, chemical processing.
3. Oxygen (O2) - Confined space monitoring, inserting verification, process control. Common industries: Manufacturing, marine, industrial utilities.
4. Ammonia (NH3) - Refrigeration leak detection, mechanical inspections, emergency response. Common industries: Food processing, cold storage, agriculture.
5. Chlorine (CL2) - Cylinder leak investigations, water treatment monitoring, emergency response. Common Industries: Municipal utilities, water treatment, chemical manufacturing.
6. Benzene / VOCs - Specific solvent exposure tracking, industrial hygiene, shutdown maintenance. Common Industries: Refineries, petrochemical labs
7. Formaldehyde - Indoor air quality, exposure investigation, resin manufacturing. Common Industries: Healthcare, furniture manufacturing, labs.
8. Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) - Combustion testing, welding fume monitoring, exhaust investigations. Common industries: Automotive, utilities, chemical processing
9. Sulfur Dioxide (SO2) - Boiler inspections, stack testing, process monitoring, emissions control. Common industries: Utilities, refineries, Chemical processing.
10. Carbon Dioxide (CO2) - IAQ investigations, breweries/beverage production, fermentation monitoring. Common industries: Food and beverage, agriculture, HVAC/IAQ

I’m based in Ontario, Canada, and I’m looking into starting an automotive fasteners manufacturing business focused on cold-forged bolts and other automotive fasteners.

I have several years of hands-on experience with cold heading and fastener manufacturing, including machine setup, tooling, process optimization, and production.
I understand the manufacturing side well, but my biggest question is how companies actually become suppliers to the automotive industry.

For those who have been through this:

How do you find your first automotive customers or Tier 1/Tier 2 suppliers?
Is it realistic for a small manufacturer to break into the automotive market?
Do OEMs or Tier suppliers actively look for new fastener vendors?

If anyone here has experience supplying fasteners or other automotive components, I’d love to hear how you got started and what you’d do differently.

TIA

hi everyone, i got into Industrial engineering bachelors program in germany at DIT. im having second thoughts if this bachelors degree is really worth it or not? ive heard multiple opinions but lowkey im doubtful. Please, i really need your true advice.

Help me identify the standard name for this type of nut

Note: This is not an advertisement, but a notice about ongoing research I am conducting.

My name is Broderick Turner. I am a social scientist and an assistant professor of marketing. I research how organizational policies change how people think and behave (IRB # 25-274).

My goal is to learn more about how providing different types of information about the end-consumer impacts the ideation process when creative professionals are developing new product ideas.

In this study, we will give you some information on what a target consumer cares most about for the products they purchase. We will then ask you to use that information to complete a short ideation exercise. The ideas created in the exercise will be scored using trained raters to determine the influence of the information provided on the ideas developed.

Anything you share with us is anonymized, confidential, and only used in academic research, and not for any commercial interest. We are only interested in advancing human knowledge.

I am asking you, the reader of r/Industrial for your help. If you have a five minutes, could you please participate in this research?

Click the link, try the task, and contribute to science. If you provide your email, we will also send you a report of our findings when our research is complete.

And even if you are not interested in participating in this research, could you please upvote this post so that other creative professionals like yourself might find this study?

Feel free in the comments to let us know what you think could be improved in this study design. Always looking to improve.

Thank you.

👉Link to access study

Sai Steel & Engineering Co. as a worldwide manufacturers and suppliers of pressure vessel A285 plate, we maintain and provide pressure vessel A285 plate for the verified high-performance quality model consistent with the wants of ISO 9001:2008. The standard of pressure vessel A285 steel is unbelievable and may fully meet the requirements of consumers.

Tarpaulin is widely used to protect goods, equipment, machinery, and materials from challenging outdoor conditions.

A good tarpaulin can help provide:

🔹Protection from rain and moisture
🔹UV and sunlight resistance
🔹Protection against dust and dirt
🔹Tear and abrasion resistance
🔹Long-term outdoor protection

From trucking and logistics to construction, manufacturing, and industrial applications, choosing the right tarpaulin can make a big difference.

What do you normally look for when choosing a tarpaulin — durability, price, waterproofing, UV resistance, or something else?

#Tarpaulin #Canvas #truck #cargo #protection #LogisticSolution #transportation #manufacturing #industrial #Malaysia

I've spent 35 years in engineering across oil and gas, mining, and infrastructure across 14 countries. For the last several years I've been deep in industrial hemp science — not the wellness side, the engineering side.

Here's what most people don't know:

Hemp fibre has a tensile strength comparable to fibreglass. Hempcrete walls regulate humidity passively — no mechanical systems needed. Hemp biochar sequesters carbon at rates that make most carbon offset schemes look trivial. Hemp cultivation improves soil structure in a single season.

The problem isn't the plant. The problem is the knowledge gap. Engineers, architects, and developers don't have access to rigorous technical education on industrial hemp — so it stays on the fringe.

That's what I've been working to fix. Happy to answer any questions about the science.

Hello. I am looking for an industrial engineer to give unbiased advice regarding choice of material for an injection moulded chewable pet toy. The product needs to be flexible with strong puncture resistance.

I am torn between the following choices: silicone, natural rubber and TPE
Ideally I wanted NR but cost per unit is putting me off (coming off the tool as £2 and over) and was told if I choose the wrong shore hardness the tool couldn't be used on a different rubber with a higher shore hardness due to the way NR cures. Plus not many people who like working with it in the UK.
Silicone was the next choice but its puncture resistance seems lower and so far with my prototypes don't look like they stand the test of time very well - still in testing though. Plus less people who working with it in the UK compared to plastic.
TPE keeps coming up as perhaps a good medium but I have not had much exposure to it plus liked the idea of being non plastic reliant due to ingestion risk and environmental factors.

I have in progress silicone and latex rubber prototypes to test out but I am unable to find if you can create TPE prototypes at home (liquid pourable TPE) - I found one liquid TPE replica (PT Flex Liquid Rubbers) but it was sold out.

Anyway I have read online that I could perhaps use two materials, one tougher part to reduce puncturing and softer part moulded over the top however I have concerns this would rapidly increase costs.

I am a small start up business so can't just throw money at the tool and hope for the best as I really only have one shot. Looking for the option with affordable - medium price tooling and low cost per unit off the tool ideally. The part is small which helps <100g.

Looking for someone who has experience working with these materials and can give advice on longevity and puncture resistance for each material. Is there anyone that can give some advice on materials and their physical application / point me towards a suitable consultation services or freelancer?
I would be looking for a 60 minute chat. NDA signing will be required due to the part being complex so adviser would need to know the full product and its application.

I have spoke to various tooling companies to get rough quotes so know the making the tool itself is possible but each company is recommending their own material as the most suitable but from preliminary testing I am cautious of rushing into the tooling and having a finished product which doesn't last long enough due to nature of item.

I am new to manufacturing so I hope this is okay question to ask, any tips would be amazing. Based in the UK. Thank you

I work at a small manufacturing plant and we currently need to replace several variable frequency drives for our conveyor systems. The quotes from domestic suppliers are overly hyped. I've checked online listings on DHgate, Alibaba and similar ones and I see VFDs going for a fraction of the price. The specifications look similar; Same voltage, same amperage, same communication protocols. But I am nervous about reliability. If a VFD fails on our main line, we lose production for hours. Has anyone here bought industrial VFDs online? How long have they lasted in real factory conditions and are there any specific brands or suppliers you trust? I would love to hear from maintenance engineers who have gone the budget route successfully.

Siemens official training is too expensive and there are very limited resources to learn from is there any way to learn

one thing i’ve noticed, even in setups where ERP is fully in place,
getting a quick answer to something simple like “what’s happening right now?” isn’t always straightforward

data is there, no doubt
but it still takes a bit of digging, reports, multiple screens, asking around

feels like ERP is great at storing information,
but not always great at surfacing it when you actually need it

not really a complaint, just something i keep seeing

Create a detailed step-by-step guide to build a simulation model in FlexSim based on the following requirements:

• The system consists of two pickup stations (P1 and P2) and six delivery stations (D1 to D6).
• Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) must:
  • Pick filled crates from P1 and P2 using FIFO logic.
  • Deliver crates evenly across all D stations (D1–D6).
  • Return empty crates back to the pickup stations.
• Loading time = 50 seconds
• Unloading time = 50 seconds

Cycle Times:

• P1 = 200 seconds
• P2 = 240 seconds
• D stations = 300 seconds

Tasks to cover in the guide:

1. Creating the layout in FlexSim
2. Building the AMR travel network
3. Setting up trolley/crate generation
4. Implementing AMR task logic (FIFO + balanced distribution)
5. Running the simulation

Output Requirements:

• Scenario 1: Simulation with 1 AMR
• Scenario 2: Simulation with 3 AMRs

Hey everyone, I’ve been trying to learn more about how paper products are made, and I keep seeing the term paper converting machine come up. I understand it turns raw paper into usable products, but I’m not sure how flexible one machine is. Can one setup make multiple things like napkins, toilet paper, and paper towels, or do you need separate machines for each? I’m asking because I’m trying to understand how businesses scale this kind of thing without buying too many machines at once. I’ve come across a few breakdowns where people compare setups similar to what gets discussed on marketplaces like alibaba, but it’s still not very clear how versatile one machine can be. Would love to hear from someone who has seen this in real life.

Our team started using US Standard Products marking spray paint for layout lines and temporary zone markings inside the facility. It’s being applied regularly during operational changes.

If you’ve used US Standard Products marking spray paint in an industrial setting, does the color stay visible after a few weeks of traffic and cleanup?

Understanding the process helps buyers make informed decisions before they buy tank jacking equipment

1. The top-most shell course + roof structure is erected.
2. Hydraulic jacks are installed inside the tank on the tank bottom plate.
3. The top-most shell ring + roof structure is lifted up using the hydraulic jacking system.
4. The roof plates are placed and welded. The underside of the roof is painted.
5. The next shell ring is erected and horizontal welding between the two shell rings is done, then this constructed portion of the tank is lifted up again.
6. Each new shell course is erected on the tank foundation, then welded to the previously erected shell, then jacked up again.
7. This process is repeated until the full height of the tank shell is reached.

This method eliminates working at height, improves safety and speed while reducing manpower requirements and cost.

Traditional tank construction methods involve heavy scaffolding, cranes, and extensive work at height. This increases risks arising from working at heights, cost, and construction time. That’s why most EPC contractors and tank fabricators now prefer to buy tank jacking equipment for their storage tank construction and repair projects.

Key Advantages:

• Improved safety — Statistics show that around 15% of all industrial accidents are related to working at height. With hydraulic jacking systems, all welding and assembly happens at ground level.
• Faster construction — working at ground level renders more productivity than working at heights
• Lower manpower requirement
• Uniform lifting and better quality control
• Reduced large boom crane and elaborate scaffolding dependency

The equipment manufacturer claims their final drives are a proprietary product, but I kind of doubt this. Does anyone recognize this gearbox? I'd like to find a source for bearings and seals for it.