#47 – Inside Our Industry – 2021 State of Manufacturing Report Reveals Industry Recovery
Posted on | Inside Our Industry
The latest State of Manufacturing Report continues on a positive, optimistic track as many recent industry indicators.
2021 State of Manufacturing Report Reveals Industry Recovery
Tilly Kenyon | manufacturingglobal.com | April 27, 2021
The new 2021 State of Manufacturing Report from Fictiv has revealed that the industry is quickly bouncing back from the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Investments are being seen in digital transformation, with the aim of improving speed, resilience, and sustainability.
There are still areas of concern, but the report found that lessons learned from the pandemic have enabled companies to implement and create new innovations. Industry leaders believe now is the time to accelerate the pace of change, with 95% saying the pandemic has had long-term effects on their business and that same number (95%) agreeing that digital transformation is essential to their company’s future success.
The pandemic also brought to light weaknesses in supply chains as 94% of survey respondents reported concerns about their current supply chains, and 92% said their supply chains act as barriers to new product innovation.
Moving forward, companies are looking to future-proof their manufacturing, with 62% pursuing a re-shoring strategy, 89% reporting that sustainable manufacturing is a growing priority, and 84% have turned to on-demand manufacturing as a solution.
This was the sixth annual report, which polled hundreds of senior manufacturing and supply chain decision-makers from across various different companies. Themes that emerged from the report include:
Right-shoring vs Re-shoring
- Among those industries with plans to onshore in 2021, 80% of medical device companies report it is a key strategy, followed by 67% in robotics, 61% in automotive, and 45% in consumer electronics;
- 55% report that workforce training is the number one barrier to increasing their US-based manufacturing footprint, followed by cost (43%), insufficient capacity (36%), and lack of access to needed technologies compared to global suppliers (31%);
- Only 10% of survey respondents report they see no barriers to manufacturing in the US.
Workforce Challenges
- Limited budgets are a key barrier to hiring new innovation talent for 45% of respondents;
- 44% report difficulty hiring manufacturing talent with the necessary digital expertise;
- 95% of companies agree that expert guidance around manufacturing feasibility for new product innovations would be of great benefit.