Part 1 of 4
How often in life do you feel like you’re playing a never-ending game of hurry up and wait? The insurance company needs paperwork that will take them days to process. An approval board needs data with a short deadline, but their decision will take months to be reached. In life, we often have to play a waiting game, but in business, waiting doesn’t work. Not when a competitor is just waiting to profit off of your loss.
In industry today, the market requires manufacturers to be more flexible and state-of-the-art than ever before and to do so in ways that haven’t previously been done. What’s changed and what’s stayed the same?
Man Power
Well, obviously the world has changed in countless ways in just the past two years, greatly impacting the supply chain. More importantly, though, staffing has changed tremendously. In some ways, this is completely due to the Covid-19 pandemic and people wanting or needing to work from home. According to recent studies, during the pandemic’s early stages, 1.4 million U.S. manufacturing jobs were lost, and those absences more than likely set the manufacturing industry back by a decade. However, this is also just a reflection of how times have changed. In a 2019 article from Industry Week, a high schooler extols why manufacturing seems boring, redundant, and confining with minimal space for creativity, passion, and individuality. Older generations with wisdom and experience of processes and machinery are moving closer to retirement, and the younger generations are not coming in to replace them. For one thing, they just don’t have the experience yet, but unfortunately, it seems that they do not have the desire to learn. That’s why it is imperative to show the younger workforce how innovative and creative industry can be in order to maintain and grow the industrial field.
Even with new workers on the floor, there is still room for human error and a time delay due to lack of experience. When having to input information manually, mistakes can be made just to basic human error. Or if a sales rep is delayed in inputting information, it may cause a peer to have inaccurate information. If a machine goes down, the time it would take a person, especially an inexperienced worker, to diagnose and solve the problem could be detrimental to your business. There isn’t enough time to overcome a need for training and experience, as well as basic human error.
Outdated Tech
Another thing that has changed is the type of software and devices. Legacy software has, in many cases, been piecemealed together. Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES), computerized systems intended to track and document the transformation of raw materials to finished goods, were first developed in the late 1980s, and while many advancements have been made, not all systems have been tailored and personalized to what a company actually needs. Software is not one size fits all, but for a long time it was sold as though it were. A lack of proper technology and devices puts a business at severe risk in this fast-paced market. What you can’t provide quickly, someone else will, so it’s important to have the best technology for your business to maintain speed and efficiency.
This series of blogs will show you why and how your business needs an updated, cohesive, and specifically tailored to your business ecosystem of technology. As you read, you will see how Godlan, Prophecy IoT, and Infor ERP services can help you be both flexible and innovative, as well as maintain a competitive edge. Visit www.godlan.com and www.prophecyiot.com for further information or call 586.464.4400 to speak with us about beginning the process today.
