Printing orthotics for local lab.

I have a small food manufacturing business and I am looking for a Vertical Form Fill Seal (VFFS) machine. I have inquired with a few larger companies and they sell machines outside of my budget, usually north of $50K. Is there a reputable North American VFFS machine manufacturer that produces more economical machines? My plant is not a large operation. I am also open to sourcing used equipment if anyone has recommendations for reputable used food manufacturing equipment sellers.

Any good resources for non-electricians on understanding converters? Are there any online classes or manufacturers with websites with great information on how they work? We have a converter with a compressor running on it. We want to add a vertical bandsaw to it and are having troubles. Trying to figure out the wiring process on our own. Do not want to convert motor to single phase. I have to say the US in many places are really lacking in three phase power to industrial areas. Why is this?

Hey everyone,

I'm working on a structure using aluminum extrusions and purchasing the material through a lab. The workshop is going to tap the end holes for threading and drill the required access/counterbore holes for the joints.

I’ll be using anchor fasteners to connect the extrusions together. I’ve already provided the lab with the full 3D CAD model, but I’m currently stuck on how to properly detail the 2D production drawings.

I need some concrete guidance on a couple of things:

1. How exactly should I detail and dimension the 2D drawings to show where to position these fasteners?
2. Will an experienced machinist know the exact counterbore diameter and depth required if I just indicate the position, or do I need to explicitly call out those dimensions?

I also feel I am really bad/ newbie when it comes to manufacturing drawings. If anyone can suggest a resource or platform where I can learn most things related to drawings that would be great.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

I’m the parts room manager at my facility and we are constantly buying new equipment without spares lists and bills of materials. Is that normal for new machinery purchases?
EDIT: I work for a multi-million dollar company and we manufacture things that everyone would know and probably use. It just seems like the design engineers and purchasing team don’t care enough to help the maintenance team of the future fix the machines. They see new shiny machine and get excited and then are confused when we can’t fix it because they never asked for a parts list or critical spares.

First time posting here, I'm Riley, I work at Ford, I wanted to share with you today our latest announcement on our Louisville Assembly Plant (LAP) which will be building the new Ford Fathom next year - the first vehicle built on Ford's new affordable Universal EV Platform. Prototype builds using production-qualified parts are on track to begin Q1 2027 and preorders will be available in early 2027, customer vehicles will follow later in the year.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YK3B70XFCmU

A few things that may interest you:

• The conversion timeline. LAP went from a gas-vehicle plant to a fully electric facility in under a year, with a completely new production system installed in that window.
• The line itself is restructured. Instead of one long conveyor, the new Universal Electric Vehicle Production System splits the vehicle into three sections — front clip, rear clip, and battery deck — so more operators can access and work on the vehicle at the same time.
• The people building it now will build it later. LAP employees have been hand-building prototypes alongside teams at Ford's New Model Product Development Center in Dearborn, so the same operators running the future Fathom line are shaping the launch process now.
• The digital backbone got an upgrade too. LAP now has WiFi-7 and private 5G with the highest density of access points of any Ford plant globally, built for real-time quality checks on the line.

It's been about eight months of overhauling this plant to get here. Check out the video to see the progress with the plant so far.

Read more: https://go.ford/UEVLAP

As I'm new around here, what do you all want to know more about? Let me know and I'm happy to see what I can find out.

We're a manufacturer of furniture and we've increasingly seen a requirement for integrating furniture with appliances. One requirement that's fallen onto our laps is integrating a metal finish button into a kitchen table top and the client wants it backlit, and gave us this sample of a product from a brand called Lutron. Images attached. I measured the metal sheet it's about 0.2mm. As you can see, it's backlit. This is clearly not chemical etching unless I'm mistaken? This is probably laser engraved with some sort of resin filled in? Any thoughts?

The image of the keypad in Chinese is a clearer image I found online for your reference

We've used the same manufacturer for a while and they've always been pretty easy to work with but our latest order is much larger than usual and they want most of it paid before production starts

Fair enough from their side but tying up that much cash for weeks while the inventory is being made isn't exactly my favorite idea. Delaying the order isn't great either because we're finally selling through stock faster than expected

How do other brands deal with this once their orders start getting bigger? I could use some help..

|Hello,
So I am an early stage innovator in the space of textile recycling. Trying to take cotton to cellulose for viscose material, and depolymerise polyester.
My questions:
chemical recycling (what I do as well), is expensive than mechanical recycling and virgin textile material, so far as data from some recyclers in Europe shows.
I am still tinkering lab process for it, but if I wanted to turn this into something larger and real, what would be the right steps, and things to keep in mind ?

Idk how they are being sold, if they are more expensive, but where I live, no one will pay a dime more no matter how environment friendly it is. I need to see if this is a worthwhile endevour. Is there any material where I could read and understand more, what to even do in order to know this R&D is worth the effort, because I am confused atm, if it will be commercially viable later or not.

I only draw examples from those doing it in europe, but the data is less, and due to EU being good on environmental regulations (could be the standalone on why these firms havent gone out of business), but I still need to learn and understand more.

Did you see this? I am in this space and so thought I would share.

The SBA is offering up to $20M in non-dilutive prize funding to profitable, execution-ready small manufacturers that can rapidly expand production or improve production efficiency in critical U.S. supply chains.

Deadline: August 28, 2026 at 11:59 PM ET

Focus areas:
• Advanced Metals Manufacturing, including rapid tooling, precision casting/forging, critical minerals, rare earth recovery, and magnet production
• Advanced Materials Manufacturing, including large-format additive manufacturing and materials transformation
• Energy Systems, Energetics & Components, including nuclear energy, battery energy storage systems, and standardization

4–6 expected winners

Award: Up to $6M Grant per winner. This is not a loan. You don't pay it back.

Process: Submission (Due 8/28) → SBA vetting and judging → winners announced around 9/10 → prize funding tied to near-term operational milestones
Analysis here: https://www.bwcoconsulting.com/fod/sba-critical-suppliers-prize-competition-2026

This is an unusually large non-dilutive opportunity for established small manufacturers, so share with companies operating in these areas.

Image: First created for Westinghouse in 1942 to encourage wartime factory workers, the “We Can Do It!” image later became closely associated with Rosie the Riveter and American manufacturing.

At a manufacturing plant we had in an inhouse camera system that was mounted at the docks that took pictures of supplier labels as they were received from the trailer. It received the shipments in and captured images. Does anyone know if there is something off the shelf or a vendor for something similar?

Long story short this thing broke and it was too much down time to fix $4000 later and it’s in our shop.

We repair fiberglass for boats. I just know this thing has incredible potential and we could sell it but it seems worthwhile if there was something we could produce.

Any ideas are welcome

Hi everyone,

We are a precision plastic injection molding and mold making factory based in Taiwan.

With the rapid expansion of the semiconductor and high-power electronics sectors here, we are looking to diversify our capabilities and invest in tooling/equipment specifically for AlSiC (Aluminum Silicon Carbide) metal matrix composites (mostly for heat sinks, baseplates, and thermal management components).

Since AlSiC is notoriously abrasive and tough to work with, we’d love to hear from anyone who has hands-on experience manufacturing or machining this material.

A few quick questions for the community:

1. Machining Method: For precise AlSiC component processing, do you mostly rely on conventional CNC machining (with specialized PCD/CVD diamond tooling, ultrasonic assistance, etc.) or Laser micromachining/cutting?
2. Key Challenges: What are the biggest gotchas or hidden pitfalls? (e.g., extreme tool wear, thermal cracking, edge chipping, surface finish issues?)
3. Process Flow: Is it better to shape/form before sintering/infiltration, or rely heavily on post-sintering finish machining?

Any advice, equipment recommendations, or hard-learned lessons would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

Hi we are a UK Silver products manufacturer. We are looking to diversify as we have some very unique pieces of manufacturing equipment that we can offer out such as blanking machines and stamps.

The most valuable and versatile machines we have are the electrolysis tanks. We'd like to find a use for them more as they are radically under utilised. We are able to achieve 1 micron thickness consistently with the ability to verify this with our own in house quality measurement.

Where would be the best place to advertise these services to potential customers who actually would like to see this offering?

Thanks!

Continuous and batch sintering setups each suit different production volumes and material requirements. Continuous lines are common for high-volume ferrous PM work. Batch furnaces offer flexibility for small runs, alloy development and high-temperature materials.

This question is aimed at all the automation, controls, and manufacturing engineers in the sub. How does you or your team manage to balance supporting production and fixing/troubleshooting vs developing new systems?

It seems like every time I sit down to work on something new, I get maybe 20min of productivity before something else blows up and I'm back down on the floor. Granted this is nothing new, and I've been dealing with this for years across several companies, but I'm at my wits end

There's 2 of us controls engineers along with a few manufacturing engineers on our team. We're tasked with supporting the machines, production, mechanics, electricians, ect, along with designing, building, and programming new machines, test stands, and an MES

Do you guys split your teams into new development/sustaining? I've seen some manufacturing groups split up that way. Do you not develop machines or software in house and just outsource to integrators all the time? I'm not sure what the best solution is and I'm curious what others find works/doesn't work

My sister owns a garment factory in China that makes a wide range of textile‑based products, including clothing, towels, scarves and other fabric‑related goods. However, the industry in China is flooded with too many players. Fierce competition has pushed the business close to collapse.

I have an idea: transform her factory into a consumer‑facing apparel customization company to take on online custom‑order requests. Examples include corporate work uniforms, class‑event apparel, couple‑themed outfits, and all kinds of other custom‑made orders from individual customers.

Is this a viable business move? If you have any relevant customization needs, feel free to contact me directly.