Manufacturing Tomorrow

By Suzanne Koss

Robots can give discrete manufacturers a significant marketplace advantage by improving the quality and consistency and reducing overall operating costs. 

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By Suzanne Koss

When a company decides to watch for and take advantage of disruption, it’s essentially agreeing to “strategic risk,” leveraging uncertainty to find new opportunities that will give the organization a competitive advantage.

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By Mark Stevens

Every hour of unplanned downtime can cost manufacturers tens of thousands of dollars. See the true costs and how an IoT solution can help avoid costly failures. 

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By Mark Stevens

The IoT has impressive potential to not only improve efficiencies and boost productivity, but also to help an organization predict its maintenance needs and avoid costly failures. 

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By Suzanne Koss

An ERP solution is comprehensive, but it may be too much of a good thing if your company can effectively optimize processes using best of class software.

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By Suzanne Koss

An ERP system can be a boon for your business provided “best practices” are defined by your business needs, not the technical functionalities of the software. 

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By Suzanne Koss

Can lean manufacturing and ERP systems coexist to support minimal-waste production, or are their goals simply too divergent? Find out here.

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By Suzanne Koss

An ERP system has dollar value, but it also creates value with integrated capabilities that drive strategies, streamline processes and elevate service.

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By Suzanne Koss

Implementing an ERP system quickly seems like a good idea, but pushing the implementation envelope in these particular areas can derail its effectiveness.

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By Suzanne Koss

There are four prevalent Millennial-driven trends related to data management that ERP solutions readily offer. 

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By Suzanne Koss

A common thread in solving logistics issues for discrete manufacturers is accurate information, making ERP a vital part of the process.

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By Suzanne Koss

Keeping on top of technology trends can help you plan to work smarter, more profitably, and at a competitive advantage. The advent and evolution of technology has given forward-thinking manufacturers a distinct advantage. Here are five trends you should know. 

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By Suzanne Koss

Efficient production planning is key in realizing discrete manufacturing’s full potential, but you have to avoid and address these six common missteps. 

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By Suzanne Koss

Costs and profitability work hand in hand, but not all discrete manufacturers leverage the interdependency to improve organizational performance or set optimal product pricing. To do so requires following four key fundamental steps.

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By Suzanne Koss

A 5 percent increase in retention rate translates to a profit bump of 25-95 percent. Despite these impressive numbers in favor of retention, most manufacturing businesses choose to focus on acquisition instead of using data to drive sales from their existing customer base.

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By Suzanne Koss

Starting out, discrete manufacturers can generally stay on top of their numbers, trends and strategies with basic accounting tools, and key decisions generally fall to one person or a small group of executives. As the business grows, so do the financial and administrative responsibilities.

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By Suzanne Koss

Manufacturers can expect to capture upwards of 30 percent of their revenue from after-sale service and service-based product strategies in the future. As such, they need to be prepared with an approach that generates new revenue and keeps competitors at bay.

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By Suzanne Koss

To maximize returns on the significant investment of money and time put into an ERP system, discrete manufacturers need to use best practices to, first, determine the best ERP solution for their needs and then get the most from it.

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By Suzanne Koss

Supply chain delays add significant costs to your process, primarily because you need to carry more inventory than you would without those delays, but also because they can cause a slow order-to-cash cycle.

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By Suzanne Koss

Only with broad and deep visibility into all functions across your supply chain—raw materials, suppliers, manufacturing, warehousing, distribution, and customers—will you have the data necessary to extract insights that lead to better processes and better results.

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By Suzanne Koss

Beyond process improvement,there’s even more that can be accomplished using connective technology—like better understanding after-sale maintenance requirements and using data to understand and predict when a product will require service.

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By Suzanne Koss

Supply chain visibility continues to be a hot topic because its value to manufacturers can’t be overstated: visibility into a discrete manufacturer’s entire supply chain, from procurement to final delivery, is the best—if not the only—way to profitably grow your business and sustain that growth.

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By Mark Stevens

Today, IoT is being widely used to improve product design and performance, but there’s also much being done using the same technologies to improve customers’ experiences with enhanced and expanded services. This means that in addition to selling products, manufacturers that leverage IoT technologies can also generate revenue through services.

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By Suzanne Koss

Making inventory a priority means putting real discipline behind it. One of the most effective ways to do that is deploying an enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution, which makes it possible for discreet manufacturers to gain more control and reduce inventory costs.

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By Mark Stevens

Technologies based on IoT have the potential to drastically improve data visibility and, with the intelligence that’s gathered from all those sensors, improve nearly every aspect of manufacturing. When you capture and analyze the data generated by equipment, systems and people, you’re able to unlock insights that enable you to improve virtually everything you do.

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By Jeffrey H. Wulf

As more manufacturing employees near retirement, the industry must find ways to attract and retain young people in order to survive. The average age of manufacturing workers today is 40 to 50 years old, according to an article on the Manufacturing Digital website that highlights strategies for developing the workforce of the future.

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By Suzanne Koss

An article on the CIO website outlines how one company used mobile platforms to develop a short-term solution to address problems caused by its legacy ERP systems. If you have a legacy system and front-end issues, then a mobile platform solution makes sense. However, it should only be viewed as a bridge to get you where you truly need to go.

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By Mark Stevens

While most companies are good at gathering data and tracking the manufacturing process, they often do very little in the way of analysis. Even fewer use ongoing Big Data analysis for continuous improvement. Although the big Fortune 1,000 companies are way ahead with this technology, smaller manufacturers are also using Big Data to gain an edge.

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By Mark Stevens

Using the Industrial Internet, manufacturers can empower employees who are deep in the workplace to make faster, more effective decisions and give them a sense of responsibility beyond just the tasks they've been assigned. Look no further than General Electric to see this technology's potential for achieving efficiencies.

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By Mark Stevens

Analytics can provide insight into your business and help with making key decisions, but you must know what you’re trying to accomplish. To start, you need to understand the purpose behind using analytics. Are you trying to make a decision, create ideas or validate assumptions? There are five key elements of analytics to consider. 

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By Suzanne Koss

Profitability and good inventory management are intertwined. If you're inattentive to your inventory, your profit margins are likely to suffer. Learn tips for spotting poor or inadequate inventory management procedures in your manufacturing operation and discover how to achieve greater profitability today.

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By Mark Stevens

In manufacturing, a popular method for measuring performance is overall equipment effectiveness (OEE). But it’s also important to look at how top performers and best practices contribute to continuous improvement in your manufacturing process. Three success factors help set these top performers apart: capacity, capability and desire.

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By Mark Stevens

Effective leaders go through six steps as part of their decision-making process. It's very similar to skiers on a giant slalom who must navigate many obstacles without skipping any. When making decisions, it's important to recognize you're going through a series of stages, and that you must pass through each stage before advancing to the next.

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By Terry Kerscher

The challenge with Big Data analytics lies in its name - the data is so big that the truly valuable nuggets of information are often buried too deep. As a post on the Enterprise Irregulars blog sums it up, the data is too thick, and the ability to analyze it is too thin. Learn how to get thicker insight from thinner slices of data.

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By Mark Stevens

The Internet of Things can be a confusing term. The real intellectual property exists in the uniqueness of the sensors or device and how information is shared with others. Answers to three key questions can help you find a new value proposition for your business.

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By Terry Kerscher

Many manufacturers are smart about managing their own data. But when organizations treat ERP and CRM systems as separate IT tools performing different functions, they miss out on the cost savings of integrating them, according to a recent article from SmartData Collective. Combining this information with Big Data poses an additional challenge.

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By Luis J. Murgas

The way that information flows throughout an organization is a major factor in how efficiently the business runs. Process mapping is a great way to improve information flow. Leverage the knowledge that employees on the shop floor have, use portals to gain better visibility and refine processes as necessary to keep improving.

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By Mark Stevens

When machines communicate with each other online, this technology is often described as "the Internet of Things," or IoT. But it's also useful to differentiate between the consumer-oriented IoT and more commercial-grade applications, or the "industrial Internet." As this technology spreads, manufacturers need to make data security a priority.

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By Mark Stevens

Data can be misleading if you're not careful. It's important to think critically about the source and type of data and to avoid jumping to conclusions. An article on the Manufacturing Business Technology website warns businesses against being deluded by data. It can be easy to read too much into data if you don't question it.

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By Mark Stevens

A great deal of cost reductions and productivity gains can be made by aligning scheduling, supply chain and machine usage. Trend analysis is critical when it comes to improving scheduling routes and standards. Look for variance when you conduct an analysis. Areas where you see variance should be the first to be targeted for improvement.

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By Suzanne Koss

As a manufacturer, you're more likely to keep your customers if you look beyond making and selling products and explore ways to offer additional value. New ways to deepen the customer relationship and grow revenue include providing services and subscriptions that tap into device sensor data, according to a recent article on Manufacturing.net.

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By Mark Stevens

Breaking down the barriers that constrain thought is crucial to facilitating creativity and finding innovative solutions in the workplace. People are frequently too focused on what they perceive to be the problem at hand and lose sight of what's really important, according to an article on the BizTimes website.

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By Mark Stevens

Manufacturers should evaluate their order fulfillment processes and remove any potential hurdles that could stop or delay the workflow. The keys to increasing order fulfillment efficiency are ensuring that critical information is available at each stage of the process and fostering informal communication across departments.

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By Mark Stevens

In today’s fast-moving environment, businesses must ensure their production system can adjust to meet changing customer demand. Customers have come to expect a speedy response thanks to advances in technology and processes that brought such conveniences as next-day delivery of consumer goods. Follow three tips to become more agile.

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By Mark Stevens

Manufacturers stand to gain from finding ways to make their operations greener. According to a post on the Manufacturing Trends and News blog, green manufacturing is all about sustainability. There are several ways that companies are going green, which can help to reduce costs and even create new revenue streams.

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By Luis J. Murgas

While "business intelligence" is a contested and confusing term, BI 1.0, BI 2.0 and now BI 3.0 do reflect a real evolution, according to a SmartData Collective article. Driving this change are technology vendors that want to tap new markets for BI solutions, as well as organizations that see the value in encouraging wider use of these tools.

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By Mark Stevens

Tablets are increasingly popular with sales organizations, and recent advances mean it's possible to leave the laptop behind and still run full-featured CRM systems and ERP software. While sales reps have used tablets for a while to display products and catalogs, they now also have access to client histories, past orders and analytics tools.

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By Mark Stevens

When you go see the doctor, he or she might take your pulse, temperature and blood pressure, and those tests can tell you a lot about your health. Similarly, benchmarks can give a kind of personal health assessment of an organization. But it's important to keep in mind that the same benchmarks don't work for everyone.

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By Suzanne Koss

If you're running a company without business intelligence tools, you're probably just sustaining your company or in a market with low competition. In competitive markets, business intelligence is a critical tool for understanding your customers and what they're buying, helping you discover patterns and see how processes are changing.

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By Mark Stevens

Collaborative problem-solving is about getting the right mix of people together and leveraging each individual’s unique set of skills. It must start with a common pool of understanding in which people share similar values of trust, integrity and honesty, and there must be a common purpose or vision. 

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By Jeffrey H. Wulf

Many manufacturers struggle to align the performance goals of each department with the objectives of the overall organization, but it’s worth the effort. One of the major advantages is higher employee engagement, which leads to increased productivity. Improving performance alignment starts with clear and effective communication.

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By Jeffrey H. Wulf

Innovation, by its nature, requires change. And manufacturing innovation requires a corresponding capacity for change, whether you're taking a risk on cutting-edge technology or trying new communication strategies. Companies that lead the market in manufacturing innovation often have a strong change management culture running in parallel.

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By Mark Stevens

When automated workflows fail to align with how your employees actually think and work, effective decision-making and manufacturing innovation are hindered. Too often, the complexity of an ERP system blocks employee intuition. Unlocking the potential of data-driven workflows requires tools that combine software and human multidimensional cognition.

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By Suzanne Koss

Different customers are governed by different budget cycles. With good customer segmentation and analytics, you're able to forecast your business and its profitability more accurately. Analytics help you see how products sell across certain customer segments, providing valuable insight into areas where you could make improvements.

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By Suzanne Koss

Is it time for new manufacturing software? Don't be in such a hurry to start that you skip key planning steps in your implementation. Effective planning and change management help keep your company's day-to-day efforts running alongside the implementation project. Here are three planning tips for a smooth transition to a new manufacturing ERP system.

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By Jeffrey H. Wulf

Employee productivity and engagement isn't typically boosted by office celebrations and other soft events, an article in Entrepreneur magazine reports. To increase productivity and empower your employees so they feel like they're making a significant contribution, give them the power to take risks, make decisions and offer suggestions.

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By Matt Gelb

When you're dealing with complex distributed assets, you need powerful tools in place to monitor and analyze the asset data. XRM gathers relevant information into one place, making it easier to monitor data points, identify standard procedures and automate routine tasks. Learn six ways to improve how you manage distributed assets with XRM.

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By Mark Stevens

Many manufacturers provide employees with analytics and dashboards, hoping that the data empowers them to identify issues and solve problems on the shop floor. But a dashboard's usefulness depends on the relevance of the data and whether that data produces meaningful action. Here are five steps for using KPIs and dashboards effectively.

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By Mark Stevens

An article on the Information Age website says “fast data” technologies can create value because they get information into the hands of decision-makers while it’s still relevant. But it doesn’t matter how “big” or “fast” the data is. To be successful, the data must be aligned with business objectives and strategies.

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By Luis J. Murgas

Manufacturers tend to focus on the practices aspect of agile, similar to how they might think about "just in time" or lean manufacturing. While there are simple ways to use agile practices to improve teams, improve efficiency and increase synchronization, at its core agile is a management methodology of practices and values.

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By Suzanne Koss

Any time you introduce new manufacturing software or a different tactic for workflow improvement, you're asking employees to not only learn a new way of working, but also to stick with it despite the frustrations that often come with change. Here are three ways to get users on board and encourage them during any rough patches.

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By Suzanne Koss

ERP implementations require strong user adoption in order to reach the system's full potential. Manufacturers shouldn't simply bring a vendor in, watch the vendor set the system up and then expect employees to start using it. We outline seven keys to encourage users to embrace your manufacturing ERP system.

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By Mark Stevens

When manufacturers use business intelligence to monitor performance, they're often uncertain about the specific numbers or trends they should review. How do you know you're analyzing the right metrics? Learn the single most important measure for manufacturers, and how it uncovers hidden waste and emphasizes collaboration across the organization.

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By Terry Kerscher

CRM systems offer the opportunity to do more than just manage your customer and sales information. They're able to improve your manufacturing business and even increase your profitability. When you have access to market share information, the right CRM system is able to identify problem products and regions, and also highlight areas primed for growth.

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By Mark Stevens

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When a manufacturing process includes a routine movement that occurs repeatedly, the repetitive motion is often a great job for a robot regardless of whether it's high-quality precision or a lower-quality task. Wondering how robots could enhance your value stream? Learn about the benefits and potential drawbacks of using robots in your manufacturing process.

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By Jeffrey H. Wulf

When individuals at your company learn about plans to change the status quo, many are likely to react with cynicism and resistance. While it may seem like they're just being negative, their reactions might be rational and well-deserved. Here are three change management tips for addressing skepticism and building a culture of continuous improvement.

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By Mark Stevens

Value-stream mapping is vital to helping organizations truly understand their operations and implement lean manufacturing principles. People need to see how decisions are made and materials flow. An article on the Manufacturing.net website shows how film and adhesive manufacturer FLEXcon used value-steam mapping to improve operations.

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By Mark Stevens

Breaking down departmental barriers is crucial to developing lean operations. According to an article on the IndustryWeek website, a lot can be gained from employees having an awareness of how their actions affect co-workers in other divisions. An end-to-end approach to improving value chains is a critical lean principle.

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