#63 – Inside Our Industry – The State of Manufacturing is Opportunity
Posted on | Inside Our Industry
Disruptions often lead to opportunity. That is very much the case in manufacturing today in the age of COVID.
The State of Manufacturing Is Opportunity
Willem Sundblad, Aug 12, 2021, Forbes.com
There are some undeniable and important trends in manufacturing at the moment. Manufacturers are still grappling with supply chain disruptions and difficulties sourcing raw materials. Even if they can find what they need, often prices have increased to levels that are threatening margins. Add to that, significant increases in demand- all those delayed products, plans, and purchases from last year are now happening all at once- and the challenges of implementing new technologies into the production process. Lastly, finding and retaining enough employees with the skills manufacturers need continues to be a top challenge
Many companies are trying to figure out how to manage all these challenges at the same time. They’re looking for suppliers that are geographically closer to production centers and for a more resilient supply chain, employees who have the skills needed for Industry 4.0 manufacturing, and technology to help them modernize and bring new efficiency to production.
These are four important disruptions happening at the moment—and also four massive opportunities. What the leaders of every manufacturing company need to solve immediately is how their organization can take advantage of these trends in order to capture as much business as possible, as well as plan for the future.
McKinsey Global Institute (MGI), McKinsey & Company’s research group, recently released a report on U.S. manufacturing that highlights how significant manufacturings’ impact to the U.S. economy and competitiveness is—it accounts for 8% of the workforce, 11% of GDP, 20% of capital stock, 35% of productivity growth, 55% of patents, 60% of exports, and 70% of R&D investment.
But the U.S. has also lost ground in the past few decades, with decreases in some manufacturing segments. The U.S. is very good at innovating but less successful in scaling these innovations compared to other countries.
Willem Sundblad – He is the CEO and cofounder of Oden Technologies, a company empowering manufacturers to make more, waste less and innovate faster through machine learning and applied analytics.