A modern manufacturing company is the key element to getting your product to market. However, a manufacturer must consider the momentum balance that must be sustained to produce your product. To reach levels of profitability, a manufacturing company has to attain a certain level of output. This can involve making deals before certain products are developed, it can involve loans, and it can involve real risk. That’s why it’s important to be prepared and knowledgeable about your product when starting the manufacturing process, so you both end up with a successful product that you’re satisfied with.
Today’s technology solutions have revolutionized manufacturing, making it possible to reduce operational risk while increasing the ability of manufacturing companies to take chances in the market. But with those capabilities there always comes risk. Here are six challenges most modern manufacturing companies can face, as well as how those challenges can be addressed.
At a basic level, any modern manufacturing company will have associated operational costs that require reliable, balanced management to overcome. The machines used to facilitate streamlined production, employee investment, legal exigencies, and client acquisition all have high associated costs.
What makes sense here is taking a twofold approach to expense management. On one hand, dependable clients who regularly need what is being manufactured is essential. On the other, technological solutions that are optimally designed to reduce costs help give resource liquidity requisite to outbound marketing efforts, as well as R&D.
Between such a two-fold approach, a modern manufacturing company will be able to more completely manage costs over time, one approach covering hidden costs, and the other covering more direct ones.
Law is in constant flux. Consider this example from antiquity: asbestos. We know it’s cancer-causing now, and as a result is a poor building material. But when it was in regular use, there were substantial portions of asbestos which could be allowed in a given product. Today, products must include less than 1% of this substance.
Well, if your facility were manufacturing products with a high level of asbestos in them, you would have seen a financial loss in terms of transition and perhaps fines as your facility was forced by needed legal changes to adapt. Today, with modern research, there are substances that are seen to be health hazards, and sometimes recalls become necessary.
Any manufacturing facility that wants to be successful needs to have a legal solution that can ensure operations aren’t either in danger of transgressing law, or operating without the penumbra of that which is legal. This keeps all parties involved risk free and on the right path to production.
From a product development perspective, designing prototypes takes time and resources for those developing a product. Certainly there are situations where a design “home run” is hit right out of the R&D dugout; however these situations are the exception rather than the rule. Usually prototyping requires multiple iterations before a finished product is produced.
The longer it takes from design to prototype manufacture, the more expensive this process becomes. Today’s technology advances and design planning tools are doing an excellent job of helping to diminish such time, but still many products are failing because of these time and cash consuming challenges in design and modern manufacturing. Precision machining services can deliver prototypes in days rather than weeks or months. This allows you to save a lot of time in the development process, which translates to resources which can be apportioned elsewhere for greater operational viability.
Prototype manufacturing through 3ERP brings a number of cutting-edge resources to the table; according to their website, “…precision CNC machining services ensure your designs and ideas will make sense in the real world in just a few days, allowing you to review the design and functionality of products before you have them mass-produced…” The more swiftly and accurately what you’ve designed can be fleshed out and made a three-dimensional reality, the quicker you can move toward releasing such products to the general public, or implementing them in developmental areas of your operation. Understanding the consequences of your decisions based on cost, quality and schedule helps you make sure your product is successful.
There are quite a few considerable facets to supply management which can cost a modern manufacturing company dearly if they aren’t properly approached. A manufacturer needs to acquire supplies for that which they manufacture, and store components in advance of unexpected requests from clients, or acquisition of new ones.
Manufacturers have to work with other companies to acquire supplies needed, and you’ll likely have to maintain your own fleet of vehicles to deliver completed products to clients. Essentially, you’ve got a supply chain entering and exiting your modern manufacturing company. Optimizing it wherever possible will shave tens of thousands of dollars from your yearly budget, and can be done more efficiently than ever through deft utilization of Big Data.
Cloud computing solutions which utilize massive server arrays (sometimes including in excess of a million individual servers; at least in Amazon’s case) can combine with IoT (Internet of Things) devices in data collection, allowing you to get a real-time perspective of incoming and outgoing supply chains. This same method of Big Data utility can be used on the manufacturing floor in a “smart manufacturing” capacity to increase production efficiency.
Because of technology changes across the marketplace and volatile legal restrictions—often in the form of taxation—today’s competition is fierce in modern manufacturing. “More goods more cost-effectively” seems to be the best way to sum up the current environment.
Between IoT-facilitated smart manufacturing, cloud computing, rapid prototyping, and society’s increased dependence on manufactured products, getting to the top is difficult and fiercely pursued. For a manufacturing facility to contend, you must trim the fat and optimize wherever and however possible—within the bounds of law, of course. Communication is becoming more and more key in every step of the process, as this saves time, money and resources for all involved.
Last, but certainly not least, a modern manufacturing facility must develop great relationships to retain primary clients and attain new ones in a statistically reliable way. This requires marketing and PR that is dependable and statistically visible for purposes of ROI confirmation. SEO, SMO, and other digital marketing campaigns are increasingly shown to be effective here. Also, partnerships with industry experts who have the skills to manage these relationships are and can help a product come to fruition with limited hiccups along the way.
Guest Author's Bio
Ashley Lipman
Content marketing specialist
Ashley is an award-winning writer who discovered her passion in providing creative solutions for building brands online. Since her first high school award in Creative Writing, she continues to deliver awesome content through various niches.
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