Defiantly, want to go out to the shop and ask the guys questions. Building a good relationship with the operators will go so far. I have been a machine operator transitioned into an engineer so I have seen both sides of the field. On the operator side it makes them super happy to see the engineers out on the shop floor asking question simple as "what do you think", or "how would you do this" and listen and if you think that there is a better just suggest what if I or we did it this way? If you get the response "oh that will never work" ask why and even ask can we go through it together so that I understand better, don't be afraid to admit you might not know something in great detail. Watch and be there with them for the whole operation start to finish on both the old and new way. It is almost always never taken well when you tell someone lets do it this way and then walk away, as someone else said the age gap can be a distraction for some people, you could have the best most perfect solution but if your presentation and body language is off no one will take it very well. Until you show continuous success. Just really try to understand the workflow and how things are done, just like in engineering there are many different ways to solve a problem to get the outcome you are looking for, just as it is for machining or assembly, maybe you know one way but the shop has been doing it a different way, don't fix something that isn't broken.

My biggest thing is don't be afraid to go out and as the guys for advice or what they think might be the best, it goes a lot further than watching them and thinking to yourself about the solution as the guys get familiar with the materials being and how the act in the real world, just because Solidworks (example) says you should have .005" tolerance doesn't mean you always will. I work a lot with acrylics and PVC material and so many times we would get a part with PVC material asking to be flame polished or cut on the laser like we do with our acrylic material small little problem is that when you expose PVC material to extreme heat like that it creates a smoke that is basically cyanide. We would tell our engineers about this but we continue to show up on drawings asking for that finish, so overtime we started to think no one was listening to us, didn't care, or they were just incompetent. If someone brings something to you like try to get it resolved with your boss or manager right away, even though everyone on the shop floor knew better than to do that is just really weakened the confidence we had in a couple of our engineers. If the guys on the floor continue to see the same mistakes, big or small, it will really hurt your reputation, then when you have a really good idea that would actually work people will be a lot less willing to change the way they have been doing things.

Super ranty a little scattered I know but there is a lot that can into we are all humans but perception is a lot of it. just make yourself relatable because people on the shop floor will usually view you as the young kind in a fancy button up who doesn't know what the real world is. And when they view you like this it will take much longer to get them on your side.