Manufacturing And Warehousing IT News For VARs — December 16, 2014
By Trisha Leon, contributing writer
Articles cited this week deal with helping your clients apply lean principles, plan and prepare for supply chain risks, and tech trends that are changing the manufacturing landscape.
Why To Help Your SMB Clients Implement Lean Principles
In the Manufacturing.net article, “Go Lean In 2015: No Manufacturer Is Too Small To Benefit,” Dave Lechleitner, principal, product marketing at Exact, explains that many small manufacturers believe lean business practices are only for large corporations, but this belief is mistaken. According to Lechleitner, “If you embrace lean manufacturing as part of your company’s overall business strategy, long-term strategic benefits are possible including increased profits, decreased costs, and long-term efficiency gains.” Lechleitner goes on to share how lean principals can be implemented in three phases. VARs can help clients benefit from lean practices by finding out which lean tools work best for their business and providing services and solutions to apply them.
Preparation Is Key When Addressing Supply Chain Risks
Rich Thompson, managing director, JLL Supply Chain and Logistics Solutions, in his article, “5 Ways To Mitigate Supply Chain Risks” for Industrial Distribution, reports that over the past five years, managing supply chain risk has taken on increased importance. Given possible disruptions in the supply chain such as natural disasters and labor disputes, preparation is key. Thompson shares five steps to consider in mitigating risk in the supply chain. He states, “Companies cannot take for granted the “ease” of doing business in the United States. Despite the real and serious concerns about the aging supply chain infrastructure, the ability to flow goods into and throughout the U.S. is far better than anywhere else in the world,” adding, “There are significant risks for companies that do not heed the warning signs and who are not proactively thinking about and managing their supply chain risks.”
Tech Trends That Are Changing Manufacturing
As 2014 comes to a close, and manufacturers look ahead to 2015, the Industry Week article, “5 Manufacturing Trends that will Shape the Market in 2015,” shares trends that analysts predict will have a significant impact on the manufacturing landscape in the next year — related to social media, mobility, data analytics, and the cloud. According to writer Michael Kotelec of Verizon Enterprise Solutions, “Advances in technology — coupled with changing labor demographics — are proving to be the lynchpin shaping this new business model,” adding, “To remain economically viable, retailers must sell products faster and at competitive prices which sends a ripple effect down the supply chain.” VARs can provide services and solutions that integrate these five game-changing trends into their clients’ existing business models.
Manufacturers Believe Big Data Will Change The Competitive Landscape
A Cloud Tech article, “How enterprises see big data analytics changing the competitive landscape next year,” reports that “87 percent of enterprises believe Big Data will redefine the competitive landscape of their industries within the next three years, and 89 percent believe that companies that do not adopt a Big Data analytics strategy in the next year risk losing market share and momentum,” according to a study by Accenture and General Electric. Big Data is proving essential for growth in manufacturing, but there are many untapped benefits yet to be gained in this regard. Using Big Data analytics to predict outcomes and optimize strategies are areas in which very few businesses are capitalizing according to this same report. VARs can create strategies which engage Big Data on a deeper level for their clients, leading to their having a competitive edge in the market.
Manufacturing And Warehousing IT Talking Points
With the buzz surrounding the Internet of Things (IoT), Google wants the user to have a hand in designing it. According to IT World, Google will issue grants to facilitate research in into the IoT. In a blog announcing the grants, Vint Cerf of Google wrote, “While the Internet of Things (IoT) conjures a vision of ‘anytime, anyplace’ connectivity for all things, the realization is complex given the need to work across interconnected and heterogeneous systems, and the special considerations needed for security, privacy, and safety.” Google will continue its own research in IoT and look to expand IoT capabilities in other products as well.
For more news and insights, visit BSMinfo’s Manufacturing And Warehousing Tech Center.