Next Generation Manufacturing

Of Interest to Manufacturers

Cloud computing is the most important data storage advancement in many years. If wielded correctly, the cloud can expand your control over your business while lowering your software costs. Here are 10 questions to ask before implementing cloud ERP software. From Manufacturing Business Technology.

What would happen if we could generate power from our windowpanes? This TED Talk shows what the future holds if we want to get off the grid. In this moving talk, entrepreneur Justin Hall-Tipping shows the materials that could make that possible, and how questioning our notion of 'normal' can lead to extraordinary breakthroughs. 

Who do you trust more with your data: Facebook or a bank? The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) proposes a new way to store your data online that would let Web surfers store and manage their own data, much like money in a bank account, and selectively lend it to companies that provide a benefit in return. Business Week online has the story.

Kevin Dewalt writes of his experiences as a D.C. tech entrepreneur at his blog, From the Start-up Trenches. He published a two-part essay on the difficulties of creating a lean start-up company. Visit his blog and read "Why Lean Startups Are Hard Part 2 — Pivoting How We Think."

Do continuous improvement initiatives drive financial benefits for manufacturers? And if they don't, why bother with them? The answer to the first question is an unequivocal "yes," according to recent research, which renders the second question moot. The survey, conducted for IndustryWeek and TBM Consulting, looked at the impact of continuous-improvement programs on three financial metrics.

Of Interest to Manufacturers

Why is the outsourcing of manufacturing such a tough process to manage, even during the best of times? Companies might have conflicting reasons for outsourcing in the first place, leading to misaligned priorities. Read the full post at SupplyChainBrain.

Social media tools offer a new test for leaders when it comes to dealing candidly with employees, especially amid economic insecurity. Bloomberg Businessweek offers this point of view on trusting a CEO in the Twitter age.

Every day, we make decisions that have good or bad consequences for our future selves. TED speaker Daniel Goldstein makes tools that can help us imagine ourselves over time, so that we make smart choices. In these still-uncertain economic times, we need all the tools we can get. Watch The Battle Between Your Present and Future Self from Manufacturing Business Technology.

Kevin Dewalt writes of his experiences as a D.C. tech entrepreneur at his blog, From the Start-up Trenches. He published a two-part essay on the difficulties of creating a lean start-up company. Visit his blog and read Why Lean Startups are Hard Part 1 – Our Genes Aren’t Lean.

Of Interest to Manufacturers

Business News Daily reports on research that says small businesses looking for investors should find an angel, as most small businesses that apply to large lenders don't understand or meet lending criteria.

Small manufacturers bet on exports as U.S. companies pushing into foreign markets are leveraging perceptions of American workmanship and a relatively weak dollar. Bloomberg Businessweek reports.

The principle of Respect for People has received greater attention in the lean community over the past several years. Jamie Flinchbaugh offers the 4 myths about the principle of “Respect for People” on his blog, citing how both companies and customers are made up of people, and the best profits and processes in the world are not worth it if they lay waste to people in their path.

Providing real-time data and metrics throughout a manufacturing enterprise is a significant challenge for many manufacturers. This article from Manufacturing Business Technology discusses the impact of delayed visibility of metrics.

Faced with a dearth of skilled labor, more companies are taking employee education into their own hands as U.S. executives considered lack of skilled workers one of the greatest risks their companies faced in 2012. The Wall Street Journal reports on why some companies are chosing to fine-tune the perfect employee.

The Manufacturing Transformation Blog gives manufacturers 6 reasons to maintain global process consistency.

A study found that more than 90 percent of manufacturers are confident that they are ahead of the curve in delivering safety, reliability and sustainability while consumers think otherwise. Find out more at Environmental Leader.

Of Interest to Manufacturers

'Tis the season for helping your community, and Business News Daily offers business owners and managers advice on how to choose a charity to support.

The proliferation of sustainability rating schemes over the last decade has affected how global companies approach sustainability. This blog item reflects on the role of three of the major sustainability ranking reports in influencing corporate strategy. Environmental Leader has the story.

Put me in, coach—or, rather, put coaches in. Workforce.com blogger Ed Frauenheim predicts a dramatic increase in one-on-one coaching will be one of the key workplace trends of the 21st century.

As the internet and a more global economy erase the 9-to-5 workday, will they also erode the sense of holidays? Bloomberg Businessweek posted this item.

When consumers spend now, their dollars are far more likely to flow to goods like cellphones, clothes, or even cars than to services like getting hair cuts, dining, at restaurants or flying on planes. This approach to thrift implies that the recession mind-set continues to influence consumer behavior more than two years into this recovery. The Wall Street Journal analyzes the spending switch and its impact on the economy.

Correctly managing product life cycles can cut costs, reduce required  man-hours, and streamline manufacturing operations. So when is the right time to make your products obsolete? Manufacturing Business Technology gives some insight.

Of Interest to Manufacturers

President Obama and his high-tech CEO jobs advisory board say an answer to U.S. unemployment and other economic woes is to graduate an additional 10,000 engineers a year. Engineers are said to drive innovation and create jobs. But is he right? Read one opinion at Manufacturing News.

Companies will be able to benchmark their sustainability data against information from thousands of other firms, using a database just launched by the Global Reporting Initiative. The Sustainability Disclosure Database includes data on the sustainability and environmental, social and governance (ESG) transparency of over three thousand companies. Read more at Environmental Leader.

Safeway may be paying dearly for $5 worth of sandwiches some customers didn't pay for. The supermarket chain's recent 15 minutes of infamy over stolen sandwiches is a reminder that policies and training have to stress common sense as much as compliance. From Workforce.com.

In the wake of an immigrant exodus, Alabama has jobs. Trouble is, Americans don't want them. In this article, Bloomberg Business takes a look at why Americans won't do dirty jobs.

Using a combination of Toyota-inspired lean manufacturing principles and an open office atmosphere, Menlo Innovations' work environment is attracting attention as they take a page from Toyota's playbook. CNN Money has the story.

Of Interest to Manufacturers

The Germans have a model the United States could use to revive manufacturing and its middle class. They value and nurture vocational training for future job holders as much as they do an academic tract...and with less societal prejudice. Read it at Manufacturing News.

The U.S. remains a global manufacturing powerhouse, accounting for one-fifth of the world’s manufacturing output. The problem is that all this activity doesn’t create as many jobs as it used to. There is hope as some factory work is returning to the U.S., thanks to a narrowing wage gap with low-cost countries and to the rising risks posed by long supply lines. Read the full post at Bloomberg BusinessWeek.

In the not-too-distant future, environmentally benign manufacturing will become one of industry’s greatest strategic challenges, not only from an engineering perspective, but from a business and marketing perspective as well. Manufacturing News reports.

Raytheon Co. is one of the world’s major suppliers to the aerospace, defense, and homeland security markets, and its global supply chain is correspondingly complex. In an interview conducted at the annual Gartner Supply Chain Executive Summit, Vivek Kamath, vice president of supply operations, talks about the unique challenges that Raytheon faces today, and how it is addressing such issues as supplier consolidation, the need for cost cutting, and the imminent retirement of so many skilled workers.

For Hourly Jobs, White-Collar Perks

Manufacturers hoping to find creative Next Generation workers will have to be just as creative in how they structure jobs to attract them. This story in The Wall Street Journal highlights how a variety of employers are offering workers—even frontline production employees—flexibility and the chance to work at home. As one production supervisor at Turck Inc. says: “We have a lot of products where literally you just need to sit there and put a label on. Honestly, it can be done anywhere.”

How are you going to be creative and flexible in attracting the creative and flexible workforce you’ll need to grow?

By John R. Brandt, CEO, The MPI Group

Of Interest to Manufacturers

A cautionary tale of outsourcing to China; There is no recourse and you could lose everything. American companies that have moved production to China to take advantage of cheap labor might want to consider a case study that is unfolding for a U.S. manufacturing company, Fellowes Inc.

The Wall Street Journal lists The Five Players to Watch, a look at key people and institutions who will have a big role in shaping the future of trading and exchanges.

What's the best way to increase company value? According to Kenneth Freeman, dean of the Boston University School of Management, the answer is by improving employee satisfaction. Employee engagement and loyalty, he writes in Harvard Business Review Online, drive customer satisfaction and loyalty--regardless of product or service. And satisfied customers virtually always yield satisfied owners.

An excellent resource for sustainability planning, the Green Manufacturing Blog features commentary, information, and resources related to green manufacturing and sustainable manufacturing, including detailed information from researchers at the University of California in the Laboratory for Manufacturing and Sustainability.

Of Interest to Manufacturers

IDC Insights shines a light on Africa's massive and fast growing middle class, which is demanding all sorts of consumer goods. This market has caught the eye of many organizations as manufacturers and retailers globally rethink their growth strategies.

Businesses that aren’t undertaking Corporate Sustainability Reporting (CSR) are missing an opportunity to communicate openly with stakeholders. A CSR report is an essential piece of any responsibility effort, but getting started can seem like a daunting task. This article from The Environmental Leader outlines the first steps.

In this video from A Lean Journey, Paul Akers describes his approach to teaching lean principles of productivity improvement and what two-second Lean means and how it can transform your environment for a lifetime.

Of Interest to Manufacturers

As more and more people demand companies to become sustainable and environmentally conscious, many corporations are at a loss as to how to begin making the necessary changes. First step in taking corporate sustainability seriously: winning over your employees. Read it at Mongabay.com

The Phoenix Economy report argued that the economic crisis offered a rare opportunity to reboot our economic and business models, focused on social innovation, and spotlighted 50. What it didn't explore in sufficient detail was the political system of which the new administration was destined to be part. One of the authors of The Phoenix Economy revisits his work from 2009 in light of 2011 politics. From the Guardian.co.uk

Stand-up workspaces could quite possibly save your life, and are Lean. The dangers of sitting all day come to light in this article as well as some practical solutions for creating your own stand-up workspace. A Lean Journey blog reports.