What’s the Hidden Layer?
Part field notes, part systems analysis, The Hidden Layer explores the hidden infrastructure behind six domains of the modern world: energy, infrastructure, industrial automation, semiconductors, defense, and space.
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, connections, and mystery beneath changing technology; how systems are built, why they break, and why the physical world still matters in the digital age.
Hidden Layer Labs extends The Hidden Layer beyond ideas, serving as a workshop where observations become experiments and theories become tangible projects. Our first project is the Nomad travel data infrastructure node.
Who’s Neil?
I’m Neil Hawke (霍寧), a Hong Kong–based sourcing and supply chain operator working across advanced manufacturing, supplier ecosystems, and frontier industrial technology in 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.
Originally from Michigan, my perspective is partly shaped by the profound effect that globalization has had on that region’s manufacturing economy.
I hold a BS in Engineering Management, an MBA, and a PMP, and currently lead Advanced Sourcing initiatives for a global industrial manufacturer.
I enjoy sailing, diving, skiing, hiking, training Muay Thai, traveling Asia, and learning Mandarin.
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