In early June, Fictiv released the third annual State of Hardware Report on its website. This year’s report aims to identify the challenges and opportunities in facilitating collaboration between the manufacturing and product development industries. In all, 1,039 developers and 97 manufacturers were surveyed on industry insights and the future of product development.
Two key factors in the manufacturing process were highlighted in the report: The State of Supply Chains and How We Communicate. These factors addressed a number of inefficiencies in the overall manufacturing process.
According to the survey, speed-to-market is the top priority for developers. Hardware developers have been experiencing inefficiencies in their efforts to quickly move from digital to physical products. Most are relying on nearshoring to support earlier stage projects that have short timelines.
In addition, limited technological capability in local manufacturing is significantly contributing to the delay in project turnarounds. With emerging technologies in product development, current manufacturing standards are already considered to be “outdated” and can delay timetomarket.
This has forced workers to take on redundant roles and activities, which can prolong manufacturing timelines. In fact, 75 percent of manufacturing workers reported that they perform three or more roles within their organizations. The survey showed that the typical turnaround time for 42 percent of manufacturers was around eight or more business days for low-volume CNC machined prototypes. This is due primarily to inefficient communications and management systems.
According to the survey, 93 percent of product developers and 94 percent of manufacturers still rely heavily on email as a primary medium of communication to discuss topics such as part designs and manufacturability. This results in unnecessary production delays.
“Manufacturing continues to be an outdated process that is increasingly in need of the digitization that has already swept through industries like transportation, grocery and hospitality,” said Dave Evans, cofounder and CEO of Fictiv. “Fictiv believes that machine learning and the introduction of software platforms and systems to centralize communications will shave days—even weeks—off production timelines.”
Even so, 2017 still capped the strongest year for American factories in terms of orders and production since 2004. This growth shows the opportunity to strengthen supply chains for efficient product development cycles. According to almost half of developers surveyed, there is still a strong demand for domestic supply because of faster delivery times.
Fictiv produces its State of Hardware Report annually in support of an increased partnership between developers and manufacturers. “The State of Hardware report is part of our commitment to making hardware development easier and more accessible and to ultimately unleash the next wave of innovation in engineering and design,” continued Evans.
“By unlocking new information and insights about product development and manufacturing trends, we can help engineers and designers deepen their understanding of their fields and accelerate the shift to a more modern tech-enabled global manufacturing process.”
The State of Hardware Report can be downloaded and viewed here.