Next Generation Manufacturing

Are You Hiring Yet?

Recent U.S. economic data indicates decreasing unemployment — which could make the search for critical skills in manufacturing more difficult. But we’re not surprised: In MPI’s most recent U.S. Manufacturing Study, executives across industries forecasted modest growth in employment this year.

Plant workforces were expected to rise from 158.8 (average) and 70 (median) per plant in 2011 to 165.3 (average) and 70 (median) for 2012, according to the Manufacturing 2011/2012 Executive Summary. What’s especially promising about the findings is that all kinds of plants — big/small, by mix, by volume — expect to grow their workforces in 2012. Findings by industry generally supported the trend of optimistic caution as well. Note that even plants furthest from world-class manufacturing status were expecting an increase.

Plant-Level Employment

Broad-based workforce expansion is good for the economy, but should have plant managers thinking about skills gaps and how they’ll address them.

What are your hiring plans for 2012?

By John Brandt, CEO, The MPI Group

Of Interest to Manufacturers

McKinsey Quarterly offers three snapshots of Chinese innovation. Chinese innovation is evolving in diverse ways and at an uneven pace across a range of different industries. Presented here are ground-level views from three of them: automobiles, semiconductors, and pharmaceuticals.

The power of social media is not lost on American companies. Many are using it successfully for everything from new-product marketing to employee collaboration to innovative and very effective forms of customer service. But most companies are struggling mightily to turn nascent, ad hoc efforts into something resembling an actual strategy. How is ROI determined? CFO.com offers this perspective.

We believe that we should work to be happy, but could that be backward? In this fast-moving and entertaining talk from TEDxBloomington, psychologist Shawn Achor argues that, actually, happiness inspires productivity.

SupplyChainBrain.com reports that despite improving their carbon performance, multinational companies are not yet demonstrating significant emissions reductions in their supply chains, according to research published by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) and Accenture.

 

Building a World-Class Chemical and Petroleum Supply Chain

Chemical and petroleum producers manage complex, asset-heavy supply chains, and any problem harms customer satisfaction, disrupts business continuity, and poses potential safety and environmental risks.

To help chemical manufactures build a world-class supply chain that can withstand the stress of today's unpredictable business environment, IBM produced and distributed this report. Building a World-Class Supply Chain establishes the best practices and performances in the chemical and petroleum industry and uses findings from MPI’s Next Generation Manufacturing Study.

Download IBM's Building a World-Class Supply Chain: New Insights from Chemical and Petroleum Producers.