Indiana Manufacturing Advancement Company @IndianaCompany

Break down of workforce. Hill I will die on. 30% - dead weight, “I deserve [x] for showing up and/or being alive” 30% - warm bodies, embrace mediocrity 30% - good contributor, no risk plz 9% - quickly rises ranks on competence, cools down when they reach financial stability <1% - obsessed, extremely talented, OR extremely hard working + risk seeking <<% 1 - obsessed, talented, AND hardworking. Risk is theoretical

Charlie Kirk, a name synonymous with having the courage to speak what you believe and seek/welcome conversations with those whom you disagree with. I’m not a political person but I am a proud American citizen and today was startling, saddening, and maddening all at the same time.. I’ve realized that I’m a bit naive to how crazy it all has become but watching a man get hunted and slayed in broad daylight because of his opinions made me disgusted and devastated. This can’t be what we actually are or become as a country.. I believe that the good people will always outnumber the evil people but damn… today was an alarming day in our country’s history. 2 kids lost a dad.. a wife lost a husband.. and societal discourse lost a voice. RIP @charliekirk11.. I send my prayers, thoughts, and love to his family and friends.

today i ran an experiment that exposed what i believe to be one of the biggest threats to america right now i attempted to raise funding for a manufacturing company from silicon valley VCs and from PE funds the VC gave me 5 minutes on zoom and said this was "more of a PE deal" because it was "too capital intensive", and they had no comps to benchmark it to, so they left to hop on another zoom and give an AI saas company a $50M pre seed the PE fund had no one to answer. i tried two others same thing. finally got a hold of the fourth which said they "don't fund r&d" and "we buy ebitda", and suggested i talk to VCs about de-risking the tech first so i call back the VC and ask "what about tesla or spacex?" and they said "those aren't replicable, you're not elon" while funding the 47th AI email assistant this is the reality: america is being priced out of its own industrial future while companies get stuck in the valley of death between VC and PE this is why 50% of our founders don't care anymore about building hard tech / manufacturing, because VCs want guilt free 100x returns from the saas casino, and pe wants existing cash flows if we want to support reindustrialization and domestic manufacturing, we need investors who understand the middle ground exists, and real tech can enable massive empires otherwise the factories of tomorrow won't be american, they'll be chinese. but at least we'll have another b2b saas platform with a 40x revenue multiple

For my last company I manufactured goods in China, India, and the US. Simply put, the US has an abysmal sales culture and China has that dawg in it. lightning-fast responses, persistent follow-up, actual urgency. In the US people don’t answer the phone during work hours. In China I can message with a supplier on WhatsApp at 2am local time. If we want reindustrialization, this must change. There’s a moral imperative to fix it. I think there’s a 10/10 important company to be built here around a responsive intelligent digital sales agent, but it’s a band aid. We need to restore morale, agency, and empowerment in US industry.

Zane Hengsperger @zanehengsperger

10 months ago

Today I ran an experiment that exposed to what I believe to be one of the biggest threats to America right now I attempted got an Aluminum 6061-T651 quote from a Chinese mill and from an American mill. The Chinese mill gave me a price over the phone and even followed up twice

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Today I ran an experiment that exposed to what I believe to be one of the biggest threats to America right now I attempted got an Aluminum 6061-T651 quote from a Chinese mill and from an American mill. The Chinese mill gave me a price over the phone and even followed up twice during the day. The American mill had no one to answer. I tried two others same thing. Finally got a hold of the fourth which sent me to their distributor. So I call the distributor and it was 4.75x the price of the Chinese metal on the exact same lead time. This is the reality: America is being priced out of its own industrial future while China is making it effortless to buy. This is why 50% of our customers don't care anymore where the raw materials come from, because they have given up on domestic. If we want to support reindustrialization and domestic manufacturing, we need a stronger mill supply chain. Otherwise the factories of tomorrow won’t be American, they’ll be Chinese.

There’s a founder from Ukraine flying from CA to the frontlines in his homeland to test counter drone systems he built with his own two hands to protect his people from destruction, and yet some people still choose to build ai tools that help you cheat on job interviews? How sway

Had an encouraging call with a founder (manufacturer) today. At one point his company outsourced some work to China and they were able to mark it up enough to make it worth it back home. But in the last year or so, they completely stopped. Shipping rate changes and tariffs removed the arbitrage. He said it’s now equal or less expensive (and quicker) to get the components made in the US (custom made, low volume parts). I think we’ll hear more stories like this soon

"The saw took us 3 years to learn how to use." One of the biggest problems in manufacturing is machine set up and learning time. We need to compress learning curves from years to weeks. Solution: Create systems, write code, and connect new hardware to machines.

Hamilton County wants your invasive trees. In exchange, they'll give you something better indystar.com/story/news/env…

ICYMI: We published our latest report, Future Ready: Advancing Indiana’s Productivity Through Critical Manufacturing Subsectors. This is a look into 4 manufacturing subsectors that will play a pivotal role in Indiana’s productivity and competitiveness. ow.ly/e4oT50WFbJO

psa to all defense startups: MRL readiness levels are recently revised as of 5.1.25. 99% of defense startups are MRL 6 or below.

🚨 Why are US machine shops vanishing? Boomer owners retiring without plans, skilled workers MIA, and cheap overseas competition gutting jobs. But here's the killer: To snag aerospace & defense gigs, shops need pricey certs like AS9100D, ITAR, & CMMC—cyber hoops & quality audits that old-timers won't fund. The end Result? Doors slam shut. It’s time to rethink & train the next generation before we lose our manufacturing muscle! 💪🔧

Zane Hengsperger @zanehengsperger

11 months ago

your quarterly reminder: the US has lost 518 machine shops net over the past 5 years (about -0.6% per year) even after accounting for new ones

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Our own Jordan Isaacs will be in Plainfield later this month for the Indiana Manufacturing Suppliers Expo to network with other advanced manufacturing and logistics professionals to share ideas and network. Learn more about the event and register here: ow.ly/LBkz50WBXFt

here’s a random boat factory in Indiana

guys the startup is just responding to the graveyard of unanswered manufacturing request a quote forms

Paul Graham @paulg

11 months ago

I just talked to a startup whose market cap, if they succeed, will be so large that we didn't even try to estimate it. It would just sound like fiction to investors.

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Got upgraded on my flight to Detroit this morning and everyone in 1st class was using a CNC machine, making things from raw metal. I looked back into the rest of the plane - everyone was vibe coding B2B SaaS. Was just a very interesting observation.

ITIA Annual Summit is just a few weeks away and we're excited to spotlight our first panel! Megan Glover will lead a conversation with Rajan Kumar, Wade Lange, Megan Lohman & Derek Small on navigating capital, people & scale. Register today! indianatechnology.org/event-6218558

How can manufacturers prepare for the next couple of decades? Bret Boyd, CEO and Co-Founder of Sustainment, talks about the opportunities manufacturers should plan for in this clip from episode 245. Hear the rest on our site today.

The basic Design for Manufacturability (DfM) guide for machining and toolmaking from my friend Adam Demuth (Adam the Machinist). Don't let Adam's small (exquisitely equipped) home shop fool you; he has many years working as a tool maker for a massive (like; billions of small parts a year) facility. He is good enough at what he does he gets to live the fantasy most of us have; working on his own, on his own terms, as the Pro from Dover who solves serious problems for folks. These 5 videos could, if implemented widely across industry, save like $5 Billion annually. There is WAY more to this topic, but we would be so far ahed of the game with just what he throws in this play list. youtube.com/playlist?list=…