I’m Neil Hawke (霍寧), a Hong Kong–based operator focused on advanced manufacturing and industrial strategy across Asia.

I work at the intersection of product development, manufacturing, sourcing, and operational risk. I'm interested in how complex physical products get built at scale, and how organizations develop resilient industrial systems in an uncertain world.Today, I lead Advanced Sourcing initiatives across Asia for Milwaukee Tool, including supplier intelligence, manufacturing capability assessment, and early-stage sourcing strategy.• MBA and BS in Engineering Management, Michigan Technological University
• PMP Certified
• Michigan Tech Engineering & Supply Chain Management Industry Advisory Board
• Based in Hong Kong, originally from MichiganOutside of work, I enjoy sailing, diving, skiing, hiking, training Muay Thai, traveling Asia, and learning Mandarin.If we haven't met yet, feel free to reach out [email in footer].

Life outside the office.

Part field notes, part systems analysis, The Hidden Layer explores the hidden infrastructure behind the modern world: energy, infrastructure, industrial automation, semiconductors, space, and defense.Posts are authored by Neil Hawke (霍寧) from inside the environments where many of these shifts are occurring- factory floors, supplier networks, sourcing teams, and industrial ecosystems across Asia-Pacific.The goal: explore the reality and connections underneath changing technology; how systems are built, why they break, and why the physical world still matters in the digital age.Status: Active.

Hidden Layer Labs is the workshop behind The Hidden Layer, where ideas become tangible projects.Founded by Neil Hawke, Hidden Layer Labs explores the intersection of technology, manufacturing, exploration, and field research through practical experiments and original tools.Every project begins with a question, is tested in the real world, and is documented from first concept to final field report. Built selectively and published openly.Status: Active, in development.

NOMAD

Nomad is a personal infrastructure project exploring portable computing and communications systems for globally mobile industrial work.Built around my own use cases traveling between suppliers, factories, and offices across Asia, the project focuses on compact, self-contained systems for local storage, networking, and resilient field computing outside traditional office environments.Status: Active, in development.

COLDWATER

INLAND SEAS // WORKING COASTSColdwater is an independent field journal and emerging equipment studio exploring inland seas and working coasts: water, weather, maritime history, ports and vessels, diving, field use, and the practical objects shaped by life near the water. Rooted in the Great Lakes but extending across the Pacific and other working waterfronts, it follows the connections between place, industry, ecology, and the people who live alongside water as a condition rather than a backdrop. It carries forward the emotional core of Great Lakes Coastal, the regional apparel and culture project I founded in 2021, while opening into a broader and more lived-in body of work.Status: Active.

TraceLayer is a proof-of-concept supplier intelligence and disruption-monitoring tool for electronics sourcing.Built around real operational pain points encountered in Asia manufacturing and supplier management, the platform maps approved vendor ecosystems against supply chain events, geopolitical risk, and component exposure to generate lightweight executive visibility and sourcing intelligence.The project currently exists as an experimental prototype exploring more proactive approaches to electronics supply chain resilience.Status: On hold.

Good in the Great Lakes Region- that's what Thimbleberry Capital is about. I have a lot of belief in the grit and innovation of founders in the Michigan-Wisconsin-Minnesota-Illinois area, and I founded Thimbleberry Capital as a purpose-driven nanocapital initiative, supporting founders in the outdoor, mobility, and health sciences industries in this region.Our first investment was sponsoring Michigan Tech's Circular Solutions Enterprise Team in a project to develop a recyclable textile solution.As of January 2025, Thimbleberry Capital was archived to prioritize other projects.Status: Archived.

Founded in 2021, Great Lakes Coastal is my love letter to my home, the Great Lakes region.With the help of talented designers, I created the first Great Lakes Beach Shirt and other associated beachwear, featuring prints unique to iconic Great Lakes locations.This project was designed to be explicitly low-tech and to step away from complexity, but proved to have its own challenges in terms of unit economics and global sourcing.We've had the opportunity to partner with great organizations, creating custom shirts for Door County Brewing Company, and Copper Harbor Trails Club, in addition to our own collection.Status: On hiatus.

College Coaching with Neil

College Coaching with Neil aims to support struggling college students, using my unique perspective and experiences from my undergraduate degree.I offer downloadable PDF materials on Gumroad.These resources are grouped by student needs, with some geared toward parents, some for academic crisis-mode, and some for early career planning. All are free or very low-cost.Status: Passive.