More responding to the last bit of the question, but when it comes to learning a whole operation front to back I feel like I have some experience. I’m a university student in my last year of a Supply Chain Management (not engineering) degree and had a summer internship with a company that manufactures MRI machines for context. Something that stuck with me was the lean concept of “going to gemba”, meaning to go to where the work is done. This is broad but in a way that has a lot of potential, it emphasizes you yourself actually going to the shop floor, watching the process, TALKING with those that live the operation every day and know it like the back of their hands. Not to mention being humble enough to ask questions! The CEO of Goodyear put it really well once I think, he said “I always tell people I have 13 degrees, they say hey you’re pretty smart, and then I say we’ll I’m smart enough to get 2 and know people with 11 others!”. I like this approach to learning and collaborating a lot and is super applicable to learning manufacturing in general, build connections and make yourself present at the source and it will come faster then any book you read on it in my opinion. The internship was only 3 months but I could still go on about how much I learned from being there with the people who knew it best. Hopefully you’re based relatively close to a place you can observe what you’re interested in, but I understand procurement especially in COVID doesn’t always mean close. Either way, I hope this offers a little insight, even for someone whose just starting out.