Can the US build a DJI?
How DJI achieves its exceptional margins, from a teardown of two popular drones.
physical-products
Manufacturing stack S1-S8
The Variety Trap
Why Margins Collapse Where Product Variety Explodes, And How Assembly Can Win Them Back
In much of the West, the importance of these close relationships was lost, with competitive bidding and more transactional relationships becoming the norm.
In this model, vertical integration is not about owning everything. It is about owning the layers of the stack where outsourcing would slow learning, limit final integration or affect product performance.
America’s machinists are retiring, and two startup founders want to salvage what they know
Neuramill is building software that captures how experienced machinists decide to make a part, then applies that knowledge to new jobs at aerospace and defense machine shops. The company was founded last year by two engineers in their 20s who started their careers in Seattle.
Bits & Boxes: Where Intelligent Software Meets Physical Fulfillment: The Orchestration Gap
Metal Stamping Guide: Processes, Tooling, and DfM
Learn how metal stamping works, including processes, tooling, materials, tolerances, and DFM best practices for high-volume production.
Changing how eyeglass lenses are made
Eyeglass lenses have been cast, shipped, and ground the same way for decades. Azul 3D is betting that UV-curable photopolymers and 3D printing offer something better
Open Printer
Finally, an open hardware printer you can actually understand, repair, and upgrade
Inside the Product Everyone Loves to Hate
There’s a single product category that is universally despised by nearly every technology-using human on Earth: the printer.
5 Japanese Pens & Notebooks So Beautifully Made You’ll Never Want to Type Again - Yanko Design
There is a specific quality to well-made Japanese stationery that is difficult to name and easy to recognize. It is not about price or brand recognition. It is the sense that the object was designed by someone who used a pen every single day and got quietly frustrated with…
The Man Who Made Bolts Boring
On screws, agreements, and the disgruntled man who taught strangers to speak the same language
Inside the First U.S. Aluminum Smelter in 46 Years
The first new U.S. primary smelter since 1980. What it is, how it works, and where its inputs come from.
How a Fitted Product Category Learned to Sell Online - Retail Focus Magazine - Retail Design
For most of the last twenty years, tyres were held up as an example of a category that could not fully move online.
Better Than Free
In the analog world, it takes great effort to make a copy.
Nostalgic Warehouse
Nostalgic Warehouse offers a large selection of vintage door and cabinet hardware and antique reproductions for historic homes and modern construction.
Why AR Glasses Still Don’t Scale
Optical manufacturing bottlenecks, air conditioning as development infrastructure, and the anisotropy lesson every process quietly reteaches
Beyond the solver: How Geometric Deep Learning is reshaping CAE - Simcenter
Discover how Geometric Deep Learning and Graph Neural Networks power Simcenter PhysicsAI to cut CFD & FEA simulation time from days to seconds.
Surface Truths: A Practitioners Guide to CMF Specification
Surface Truths: A Practitioner’s Guide to CMF Specification Color, Material, and Finish (CMF) is the user’s first physical interaction with any product, yet the specification knowledge required to execute CMF across a global supply chain is rarely documented in one place. This…
This Is Why America Can’t Have Robots And Other Nice Things
Every robot and drone runs on actuators — and China makes 90% of them. Inside the American startups racing to win back the motors the U.S. forgot how to build.
A Bootstrapper's Guide to Re-Industrializing America
I’m a big fan of focusing on things that are within my control. This article is about real actions we can take while we’re waiting for lawmakers to get their shit together. @andrewmccalip, @zanehengsperger, and others have
Your Mattress Got Worse on Purpose
The world's largest mattress maker now owns America's largest mattress retailer. The FTC tried to stop them and lost.
The Last American Reed Switch Maker
GE killed their biggest competitor. Russia lost another. A Nebraska family kept making the component nobody thinks about, and now they basically own the market.
The Nut That Holds the Guardrail
A 97-year-old fastener manufacturer in Albion, Michigan, trading below book value with zero analyst coverage, just paid a special dividend.
Tolerances: Expectations for Industrial 3D Printing
In the world of additive manufacturing, “What tolerance can you guarantee?” is the question everyone asks -- and the one no responsible shop should ever answer with a promise. Industrial 3D...
7-in-1 Titanium Ruler That Draws Perfect Circles, Measures Angles, and Works as a Caliper. Yes, Really. - Yanko Design
https://youtu.be/MhqH6AyYn3I EDC and stationery have been moving closer together for years. Pens became precision objects. Rulers became desk jewelry. Pocket tools started borrowing the language of industrial design, while analog work tools picked up the portability and finish…
🚀Guide to HW Product Requirements Documents (PRDs): Step 2 of Product Making
How to define a physical product concept and get it ready for execution.
How Fast Could Robot Production Scale Up?
We look at reference classes, factory buildout timelines, and upstream component supply to estimate plausible production rates for humanoids, quadrupeds, robotic arms, wheeled robots, and drones.
🌒 CHURN: The Dark Side of the Rapid Manufacturing Industry
Protolabs, Xometry, Fictiv and Jiga Deep Dive
Your Power Tools Got Worse On Purpose | Who Really Owns DeWalt, Craftsman, and Milwaukee?
How TTI and Stanley Black & Decker took the same playbook in opposite directions.
How Invisalign Became the World’s Biggest User of 3D Printers
Joe Hogan, Align Technology’s plastics-nerd CEO, says you shouldn’t eat with your aligners and that you don’t need to wear your retainers every night.
Lessons Learned Shipping 500 Units of my First Hardware Product
Building in consumer hardware as a software engineer
Manufacturing Startups
An analysis
We Are Building the Wrong Factories
Why Silicon Valley's Defense Obsession is Missing the Real Path to American Reindustrialization
The Rise of Shippable Microfactories
Can microfactories solve prefab's economic problem by inverting the factory model?
📈Product Market Fit for Physical Products
I asked an 🍎 Apple Vision Pro designer turned solopreneur how he sells HW.
The Real Reasons Your Appliances Die Young
Modern appliances pack in more features and efficiency than ever — but you might need to accept that they won’t last as long as Grandma’s old fridge.
What Do Pawn Shops Buy? Answered + Prices Ranges Detailed
What can you sell at a pawn shop? We explain what pawn shops buy, plus how to get the most money. Find price details for electronics, clothing, and more.
How PawnGuru Helps Sellers And Pawn Shops Compare Prices Online
Inside of a pawn shop / Photo Credit: PawnGuru Pawning something you own can be a major challenge. You want to get the highest amount for your item, but you don’t know which pawn shop will pay the most. Reality TV shows like “Hardcore Pawn” and “Pawn Stars” demonstrate how pawn…
📈Product Market Fit for Physical Products
I asked an 🍎 Apple Vision Pro designer turned solopreneur how he sells HW.
Startup Strategy for Commodity Products - Austin Vernon's Blog
I Can’t Stop Thinking About Lenovo’s Brilliant Modular Mouse Concept at CES 2025 - Yanko Design
You go to a tech expo like CES expecting to be absolutely wowed by phones, laptops, GPUs, cars, and all sorts of prominent product categories. I went to CES 2025 and was wowed by a mouse... yes, a wireless mouse that connects to your computer. Designed by the folks at Lenovo…
Browse Manufacturing Methods
What Happened to the US Machine Tool Industry?
Machine tools – machines that cut or form metal – are the heart of industrial civilization.
We are as gods
Exactly: How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World
Why America’s Largest Tool Company Couldn’t Make a Wrench in America …
archived 22 Jul 2023 03:08:13 UTC
Here’s How Tool Companies Charge Vastly Different Prices for the Same Tools
Sometimes there is a replacement for name brand tools. Knowing who makes what is the best way to save big when building your tool collection.
The other "Phillips" head screwdriver you might not know about - Shop Press
Not every Phillips head fastener is a Phillips head fastener. If you don't know about Japanese Industrial Standard, now you'll know.
Motors for Makers: A Guide to Steppers, Servos, and Other Electrical Machin
Durable Design
(1) New Messages!
Hasbro has announced Hasbro Selfie Series figures—a groundbreaking endeavor to use 3D printing to manufacture personalized action figures at scale.