Show the scale, the process and the people
More than 585,000 people work in manufacturing in Michigan, according to preliminary Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates for July 2026. For a plant or warehouse that is hiring, the hard part is that a job post cannot show what the work looks like, how big the operation is or who does it. Video can.
Each camera does a different job. Aerials establish scale and setting: the footprint of the plant, the dock doors and trailer yard, the rail spur and the highway access that customers and logistics partners care about. FPV takes the viewer inside in one continuous shot, from the parking lot through the dock, down the line and into the showroom. Ground cameras capture the people and the detail. A recruiting or brand film usually needs all three, and we shoot them in one visit so the look matches.
The same footage works well beyond recruiting. Sales teams use capability films in customer decks and on trade-show screens. Leasing and investor teams use warehouse aerials to show access and capacity. Communications teams use expansion footage for ribbon cuttings and press releases.
Marketing and documentation, not inspection
We want to be clear about scope. This service covers marketing and documentation: recruiting films, facility tours, brand and capability video, orientation footage, and before-and-after aerials of expansions and new lines.
It does not cover roof, stack, tank or equipment inspections, thermal imaging, LiDAR, or survey-grade mapping and measurements. Those jobs need specialized sensors, processing and reporting, and a firm that does them every day. If you have an inspection provider, we can coordinate schedules so both crews are not disrupting the site on separate days.
For documentation, we use the same method as our construction progress aerials: fixed positions, heights and headings, repeated on every visit, so a new building or a line changeover can be shown before, during and after.
Inside the plant: FPV, safety and restricted areas
Indoor flights change the rulebook. The FAA says Part 107 does not apply to operations conducted indoors, because its rules cover the outdoor National Airspace System. Inside your building, your safety rules govern the flight, and we plan around them:
- Orientation and PPE. We complete your site orientation and wear the PPE your site requires, including in areas the camera only passes through.
- Moving equipment. Routes are planned around forklifts, overhead cranes and conveyors and timed with your supervisors. Some shots work best at a shift change or during a planned slowdown.
- People. Everyone on the route is briefed. People who are not part of the shot stay out of the flight path, and indoor work uses small drones with guarded propellers.
- Restricted areas. Before the shoot, we agree on a no-film list: proprietary processes, export-controlled work, screens, whiteboards and badges. Your team reviews the edit before anything is published.
Once the drone flies out a dock door, Part 107 applies again. FPV pilots fly with goggles, so a visual observer keeps the aircraft in sight. Part 107’s rules on flying over people apply in the yard and the parking lot, and we route around workers who are not part of the operation.
Airspace around Michigan’s industrial corridors
Many plants sit near airports, and the airspace changes from one site to the next. When we checked FAA data in September 2026, large plants on Detroit’s east side along the Hamtramck border and in southern Warren sat inside Coleman A. Young International Airport’s Class D airspace, with facility-map ceilings of 300 and 400 feet at the points we checked, so flights there need LAANC authorization. Industrial sites in east Dearborn and in Sterling Heights showed uncontrolled Class G airspace at the surface.
Some neighbors carry federal restrictions. The FAA prohibits drone flights over designated national security sensitive facilities from the ground to 400 feet, and its data lists the Detroit Arsenal in Warren and Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Macomb County among them. A facility nearby is not off-limits, but the flight plan has to keep the aircraft outside those boundaries.
Airspace and restrictions change, so we check every site in B4UFLY or a LAANC app on the day of the flight.
Planning a facility shoot
Most projects start with a walk-through or a call with your plant manager and your HR and EHS leads. Deliverables usually include horizontal films for the website and trade-show screens, vertical cuts for recruiting on social, and edited stills for careers pages and sales decks. If your company has rules about which cameras or drones may operate on site, tell us at the start.
Send the site address, what the video needs to do and any rules about cameras on site. We will come back with a plan and a fixed quote. Get a quote.