The economic upturn has encouraged manufacturers to once again consider investing in their businesses.  When looking at their investment options, Midwestern manufacturers consider information technology (IT) as one of the items at the top of their priority list. 

New Approach to IT Purchasing Decisions
For the last five years, manufacturers have been in a survival, cost-control mode.  Now as the purse strings begin to loosen, companies are taking a new approach to evaluating IT purchases.  Utilizing a back-to-basics mind set, manufacturers are asking if each investment will build business value, integrate with or enhance current systems, or provide cost savings.  As more well-informed consumers, manufacturers are looking past implementation to how each IT project will affect the company’s long-term business plans.  Never before has return on investment been more of a concern.   

Strengthen, Secure, and Streamline
As manufacturers look at what the immediate and distant future holds for them, they are searching for ways to shore up their businesses and make them more efficient and competitive.  With that in mind, security, enterprise resource planning, data warehousing, and Web services are top IT priorities for manufacturers in 2005.

Security is a critical priority as information is increasingly shared electronically.  Often trading partners and suppliers will require a manufacturer to demonstrate that its information systems are secure prior to sharing information or conducting transactions.  Manufacturers also have a personal interest in securing intellectual property and operational information that, if compromised, would minimize their competitive advantage in the marketplace. 

Effective decision making is also essential to staying competitive.  Are you getting the most from your existing IT systems to help you make business decisions?  Like many companies in other industries, manufacturers have to overcome siloed systems that are not integrated with each other and, as a result, produce multiple versions of data.  This situation makes it nearly impossible to determine which data is the most accurate.  To remedy this issue and accommodate the common corporate directive to cut costs, manufacturers are working to categorize, eliminate, upgrade, and integrate the many applications and technologies that are currently implemented within their business.  Streamlining the IT architecture within your company will provide you with the information that you need to make more accurate, effective, and efficient business decisions.

Manufacturing has lagged behind other industries in Web services.  Even though manufacturers in general continue to lack tolerance for risk, it appears that they might be ready to try some new technologies.  As the marketplace evolves, manufacturers will need to incorporate systems that help serve customers and keep the business competitive.  With the improved decision-making ability provided by an integrated IT architecture, manufacturers will now be able to properly evaluate if new technologies including Web services are appropriate for their businesses. 

As manufacturers search for new ways to improve their businesses, IT is certain to be viewed as a worthwhile investment.  However, the days of blind spending are gone.  Manufacturers today are asking that their IT systems align with their strategic goals and produce business value.