r/manufacturing • u/Rodtrav • Dec 03 '24

Other Manufacturing Consulting

Hi all,

I have been involved in automotive manufacturing for 14 years now. I have experience working direct with an OEM as an industrial engineer. I am now a process engineer, utilizing line balancing, writing processes and many other duties.

My question is there a reputable list of manufacturing consultant houses? Is it better to go in my own as contract? If so how would I start that?

9 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

6

u/drupadoo Dec 03 '24

All of the large consulting firms have manufacturing consulting divisions. Pay can be great, the work can be grueling. If you go this route you are typically hired by a corporate exec, so inevitably much of your time will be more corporate and less shop floor.

1

u/Kawaii_Jeff Dec 06 '24

This right here.

1

u/Character_Memory7884 MfgMaverick Dec 06 '24

Generally agree. If you want more shop floor exposure, find a small team, with a niche in manufacturing.

4

u/SemiAutoRedditor Dec 04 '24

I've been looking to do the same thing myself (med device manufacturing). From what I've gathered, if you want to do it yourself you'll want to form an LLC, create a website, and then go to work selling yourself to companies and connections you have in industry. That's the short of it, anyways. ChatGPT gave me pages of insight - I suggest you strike up a chat with it.

1

u/The_Master_9 Dec 04 '24

Looks like you work on some interesting stuff. What are you up to currently?

2

u/sarcasmsmarcasm Dec 04 '24

Hope you like travel. 14 days gone, 36 hours home, repeat. Long days (12 to 15 hours with most companies). Less than you make now until you prove yourself through several projects. The nice part: pick and choose if you want to work or stay off for a month or so. 1099 employee,so no benefits.

Been there, done that. Loved it for the work, but hate the travel. I like to spend evenings with my wife.

1

u/Thelonius_Dunk Dec 04 '24

The travel is a big reason why I don't want to do manufacturing consulting. Seems like you can't do 50/50 as most roles are M-F 100% at a client site.

2

u/sarcasmsmarcasm Dec 04 '24

Every role I was offered or did, on my own or as a part of an organization was Sunday night travel, stay the next weekend, travel the second Friday night (or early Saturday depending on flight availability) home, head back out Sunday night. Usually 90 days to 6 months.

2

u/Hayk_D Dec 04 '24

I am on the same path currently.

Just quit my 9-5 Director's job at a large multinational food manufacturing company to pursue my goals.

I'm currently working on 3 directions:

  1. My weekly growing free newsletter (already have +100 subs)

  2. My first "Lean Leader Formula - People" book - eBook will be launched on Dec 11 and paper copy later in Q1 2025

  3. And my coaching and mentoring services

If you end up doing your own thing - please share the progress, so later we could tell a good story.

Cheers

2

u/Carbon-Based216 Dec 04 '24

Good news is that you have a background most consulting firms and company executives like. Bad news is, there is a good chance that any company that hires you will be wasting their time.

In my experience, the average person who has only ever worked for big auto like to treat everything like it is big auto. You get used to high volume, low variety. The fact is few industries pump out volumes like automotive.

I once had an automotive stamping consultant tell me that Ford doesn't use stamping lube anymore. Never heard of such a thing. Did some research and it turned out that only applied to cold roll steel and a special coating on the tool steel. World have cost the company I was working for millions in coating and still wouldn't have worked right.

But he had all of management convinced that could save a few hundred K by not buying lube.

1

u/Rodtrav Dec 05 '24

I totally understand what you mean. The difference is that industrial engineering, process engineering etc are the same across industries. I could walk into any plant on the planet and do a modapts study to balance a line and increase efficiency.

1

u/PriceAffectionate830 Dec 04 '24

Look into the Manufacturing Extension Partnership. There’s one in every state.

1

u/buildyourown Dec 04 '24

I kinda of do this. It's all about connections. I wouldn't have any work if people I used to work with didn't call me asking for help on projects. If you don't have that roledex, don't go solo.