Real-Life Examples of Innovation in Manufacturing

How a $3 cardboard mockup prevented a 3-month schedule delay. (a fake story with a real lesson) A design team had been designing a new assembly line layout for months. CAD models, workflow simulations, ergonomic studies, virtual reality models - everything looked perfect on the computer The client approved the design. Equipment vendors were ready to build. Then the rookie designer suggested something that seemed ridiculous: "Let's build this out of cardboard first." The sourcing team rolled their eyes. They were going to miss the order window. They would have to re-quote. But the engineer spent a Saturday afternoon with cardboard, tape, and measuring tape. Monday morning, within two hours of walking through the cardboard layout, the 'operators' found five critical problems. The parts bins were too far from the assembly station. Workers would be walking 30 extra steps per cycle. The quality inspection station blocked the main workflow and created a bottleneck. The tool changeover required reaching across the aisle during operation. talk about a safety nightmare.. Their beautiful CAD model assumed perfect spacing, but real humans with safety equipment need more room. The cardboard mockup revealed what months of digital modeling missed - how the layout actually feels to use. They redesigned on the spot, moving cardboard boxes around until the flow felt right. The purchasing team was relieved, as the $200,000 order was de-risked. The final installation worked flawlessly on day one. No expensive equipment relocations. No workflow disasters. No worker complaints. Sometimes a few hours with cardboard teaches you more than months with CAD. Sometimes physical #prototypes have a feel that screens and AR can't capture. How are you testing your ideas? Are you waiting until you have the design 'done' to order the samples? Prototyping is learning. Learn faster by building. #manufacturing #design #prototyping #designthinking and below is a chatgpt representation of this story 🤓

Why These Special Bricks Could Be Manufacturing's iPhone Moment Picture this: While your home might use the energy equivalent of a few light bulbs for heating, a single factory often needs the power of thousands of homes just to make everyday products like steel, cement, and glass. This massive energy use is why manufacturing accounts for about 1/5 of all global emissions. Here's the challenge that's stumped engineers for years: Unlike cars or homes, factories need incredibly high temperatures—hotter than volcanic lava—to make the materials we use every day. Until now, only fossil fuels could deliver that kind of heat reliably and affordably. But a fascinating breakthrough just changed the game: 1. The Innovation - Engineers discovered how to turn ordinary industrial bricks into heat batteries - Stack them together, run electricity through them, and they create intense heat - Can store this heat for hours, just like a battery stores electricity - Built from materials already proven to last decades in factories 2. Why It's a Big Deal - Works with clean electricity instead of fossil fuels - Charges up when solar and wind power are cheap - Provides steady heat 24/7 (crucial for manufacturing) - Already saving money for some factories 3. The Future Impact 🏭 - Starting with cement plants in 2025 - Coming soon: steel mills and glass factories - Could eventually replace gas in power plants - Helps bring clean energy to heavy industry Here's what makes this exciting: While most clean energy innovations require completely new technologies, this one transforms something factories already use—simple bricks—into a climate solution. With $19M in new funding from major energy companies, it could help solve one of the hardest climate challenges while making manufacturing cleaner and cheaper. Question for business leaders: How might reliable, affordable clean industrial heat change your industry? What opportunities do you see? #Innovation #Manufacturing #CleanTech #Sustainability

Hot take🔥 A dirty machine shop is a lazy shop, specifically lazy management. On the contrary your shop should be stunning ⚙️🤩✨💎 I'm sorry, but this may be a hard pill to swallow... If you cannot even pick up the dirt... how can anyone trust you to make their mission critical parts where other people's lives may even depend on your quality? Example: Back in 2007 me and my former roomate from Georgia Institute of Technology bought a 20 year old "mom and pop" traditional machine shop with the goal of modernizing and transforming into an aerospace supplier. It was crazy dirty. Crap buried under crap. When we measured past on time delivery, it calculated out right at 34% 😳😱 We thew out the stupid consultant methods and implemented practical elements of Lean Manufacturing, not as a program, but as "this is our DNA, this is how we run our business every day". With very little money... We started our continuous improvements with the 5S system for workplace organization and our employees were 100% empowered and responsible for making changes, which even included moving machines around to improve layout and workflow. They knocked it out of the ballbark. With some basic training and using the methods of a NASCAR or Formula 1 pit crew, they created a smooth flowing, fast changeover work place where productivity was not forced... it just was a natural result. In one year we doubled in sales despite the great recession, achieved AS9100 certification and our on time delivery improved to the low 90% range. We reinvested 100% of our profits in upgrading CAM software, 5 axis milling and especially lots and lots of employee training. The following year representatives from Boeing were touring various shops in our area for potential supplier development. They said they had 15-20 minutes to visit. 2 minutes into the visit they stopped and huddled together chatting quiety, while one of them also got on the phone. Then they informed us they'd like to spend a couple more *HOURS* with us if we could free up our schedule that afternoon. Fast forward 30 days later we were a Boeing qualified supplier. Fast forward 1 year later we were awarded several 5 year contracts making 5 axis titanium parts for 787, 777, and 737. Boeing Space called too and asked us to make the docking rings for the ISS and new Dragon and Crew capsules. Fast forward a year after that we were a Boeing Gold Supplier with 99.9% delivery. In 2007 our backlog was about 30 days. Within 5 years our sales was over $10 million, EBITDA was near 20% and more importantly 👉 about 80% of our sales backlog was filled up with long term contracts with a variety of aerospace customers too ( = job security) It all started simply by organizing the shop. You have one life to live. Whatever you decide to do in life... Don't be lazy at it. Chose to be awesome and do the work 💪 Excelsior - Latin: Ever Upward! #aerospace #leanmanufacturing #continuousimprovement #machineshop #ceo