I designed and built my own CNC machine: every bracket and joint modeled in CAD, prototyped on a 3D printer, load-tested to the point of failure, and refined before a single piece of metal was cut — using only standard, repairable, off-the-shelf parts.
Plenty of automation consultants have never touched a machine. I have sourced ballscrews, tuned stepper motors, and debugged mechanical failure modes with my own hands. When your automation needs to understand what is actually happening on a production line, that hands-on fluency is the difference between a dashboard and a solution.