In the last week, not only have there been several articles about the positive strides manufacturing is making but it also has come up in several presentations we've attended such as the economic forecast. Here is a compilation of just a few of the HOT topics and trends.
In supply chain circles, there are lots of exciting concepts to discuss and debate such as lean, master scheduling, theory of constraints and many more; however, we have found that our most successful clients start with the customer!
Innovation can come in many shapes and sizes. Is innovation top of mind for you every day?
Think carefully about your real objective. Are you truly interested in cost cuts? For my part, I have yet to hear of a company vision, mission, or strategy that’s related to cutting costs.
Factories across the globe are showing signs of strain in keeping up with demand. China, Germany, France, Canada, the UK and the US all show that capacity might not be keeping up with supply.
Robots shouldn't be viewed as a hammer. Think about what you need to accomplish and evaluate robots as one tool / solution to a business issue.
Manufacturing isn't showing signs of slowing down.
My colleague and I led a Kaizen workshop on metrics last week with a process manufacturing client. It is always interesting to brainstorm which metrics are the most relevant in tracking a company's success. They are NOT always the same.
There has certainly been a lot of conversation about the potential tax law changes! Michael Kouyoumdjian, managing shareholder of RP&B CPAs did a great job of going through the potential changes and impacts in a discussion with trusted advisers to manufacturers and distributors.
Growth is a hot topic. Regardless of your industry, if your company isn't growing, it is dying.
