How to Use the MFG Community and Forum
When you create an MFG.com account, you are granted access to the MFG Community. Whether you are a paid subscriber (or not), a manufacturer or a buyer–everyone with an MFG account has access! The MFG Community serves as an incredible resource to:
- Strengthen your business
- Hone your marketing skills
- Connect with other manufactures about common topics
- Buy or sell manufacturing equipment
- Find skilled workers
The MFG Community is also a great place to find manufacturing insights relevant to your business, and make the most of the MFG experience.
There are numerous ways to use the MFG Community. In case you have yet to explore some of the many features available, we’ve created a “How To Guide” for all the different aspects available to you.
Continue reading to learn about:
- The activity feed
- The MFG blog
- Classifieds
- Finding a manufacturing job
- Manufacturing forums
- Direct messaging
All of these features and your unique use of them will help you to get the most out of your MFG.com experience.
Activity Feed
You’ll find the Activity page first. Functioning as both a landing page and a running feed, the Activity page shows all updates posted by members of the Community, as well as posts from the Forums and Classifieds sections (covered later in this blog). View “Latest Updates” on the upper left, a summary of recent posts and updates added by other MFG users. See your connections below the updates, differentiating between newest, those currently active, and popular. To the right of the page, you will see a section highlighting recently active members in the MFG network. Below “Recently Active Members” are boxes with both recent Classified postings and recent discussions as posted on MFG Forums. Our MFG users really value the manufacturing forums, which are also available on the Forum tab, which will be discussed in more detail later.
The Activity Feed, found in the center of the page, displays any and all posts made by members of the Community. This covers but is not limited to:
- Requests for help
- Company promotion
- Machinery updates
- Recent creations
- & more
If there is something you want to let the Community know about or discuss with fellow members of the MFG Community, the Activity feed is the place to start.
Blog
You are likely reading this on our MFG Blog, another great resource provided by MFG. Blogs are posted nearly every week and include Press Releases, Feature Releases, and other topics of interest to MFG users. Read up on how to find a manufacturer in our database, current manufacturing trends, and the best ways to market your manufacturing business digitally.
MFG blogs cover manufacturing insights and manufacturing news that is relevant to our users. Written by experts, these blogs cover important concepts for growing and marketing your business, using MFG most effectively, finding the right manufacturers, and succeeding in partnership with MFG. Check back regularly to stay up-to-date on the latest trends and updates to MFG, or just keep an eye out in the Activity Feed! We always post when a new blog is live.
Blogs also facilitate commenting, so you and other Community members can continue the conversation.
Classifieds
The Classifieds page gives users a place to sell or buy equipment and/or materials. You have the opportunity to place, browse, and search ads relevant to these endeavors. Posts on the Classifieds page include contact information, the price of what is being sold, and a space to add more information.
If you are just getting started in the manufacturing world and looking to purchase some equipment, or are moving to another material or manufacturing style and looking to offload your current materials, the Classified page is a great place for you to explore.
Recent Classified posts also appear on the Activity page in a box titled “Latest Classifieds.”
Find A Manufacturing Job
The Find a Manufacturing Job tab in the Community helps our suppliers do just that: find manufacturing jobs. Jobs can be posted as either full-time, part-time, or temporary, and can be searched and narrowed down by keywords, location (including both in-person and remote), and categories.
Posting a job is easy. Just sign in to your account and select “Post a Job” on the page. Include information about your location, your contact information, and a description of the job. Like all aspects of the MFG Community, communicating with other users is easy. If you want to apply for the job, select the “Apply for Job” tab and send in your application!
Forums
Forums are an essential part of the MFG Community, acting as a platform for members to ask questions and share insights with one another.. The forums provide a space for you to find a manufacturer, learn more about MFG new releases, and discuss topics with other suppliers and buyers.
Forum topics include:
- Introductions
- Announcements
- Latest News
- Growing Your Manufacturing Business
- FAQs
- Support
- & more
Click on any of these boards to read what others are discussing, answer a question posed by another user, or ask your own questions of manufacturers and buyers.
We recognize how important forums are to manufacturers and our manufacturing forums provide manufacturing insights, manufacturing news, updates on manufacturing events, and more.
We also recently launched a new forum highlighting product launches at MFG, accompanied by all the information you need to take advantage of updates and new releases. You can also ask any questions you have about the releases here, and a member of the MFG team will get back to you promptly with an answer.
Recent forum discussions also appear on the Activity page in a box titled “Recent Discussions.”
Direct Messaging
Have you ever seen a comment on a blog that sparked a question? Has a Classifieds post ever inspired you to reach out to the poster about what they are selling? Do you ever want to comment on an individual’s post in the Activity Feed, without the rest of the Community viewing it? If the answer to any of these questions is “Yes!”, check out our Direct Messaging Feature.
Direct Messaging is supported for all other members of the MFG Community, paid plan or not. The messages are private to you and the user you are communicating with. Use this feature to talk with other members directly, and also send and reference images and attachments. Through this feature, MFG Community members can help each other with projects and roadblocks, as well as get to know each other as members co-exist on the MFG platform.
Direct messages can be found on the top right bar of the MFG page under the 
icon.
Hopefully you now have a complete understanding of all that MFG.com and our Community have to offer. We look forward to seeing your insights on the manufacturing forums, your posts in the Activity feedand most of all, we look forward to watching your business grow.
Please leave a comment below if you have any questions or suggestions about how we can make the Community even better. Create an account now to join or start using the Community.
