Hi ^redacted‌ — recommend Eli Goldratt’s “The Theory of Constraints” if that’s not already on your reading list. Ex-Precision Castparts Corp operations leader; all PCC plants ran TOC religiously to scale and streamline operations.

Hey Namue, a lot of this is context dependent, but the general principles hold. The experience already shared in this thread is a gold mine. I work closely with Canadian manufacturers in wood (millwork and wood products) and steel fabrication (custom work and pressure vessels). In both verticals, standardization that scales isn't on the shop floor first, it's in narrowing product and spec variation and getting the process out of a few key operators' heads and into documentation. The traits that make a niche product valuable, customization and craftsmanship, are often the same ones that resist standardization, so the real work is deciding where to standardize and where it would erode the moat. Happy to compare notes if useful.