It’s National Manufacturing Day—a great time to reflect on where we’ve been and where we’re headed as an industry. I’ve noticed several trends over this past year and I’d like to share them with you here. The overall message: Risk mitigation needs to be part of your strategy, but technology solutions abound to help you tackle everything from sustainability to supply chain risk to product innovation barriers. Take a look at four of today’s most pressing manufacturing challenges and what to do about them.
Supply Chain Risks Persist, but New Technologies Improve Supply Chain Visibility and Resiliency
Between macroeconomic instability, the devastating war in Ukraine, a persistent global health emergency and climate challenges, 2023 continues to prove that smart supply chain management is a game of risk mitigation. Industry leaders are learning how to be agile in order to navigate potential supply chain disruptions—from production lags to transportation issues to fluctuations in customer demand. And that’s where technology comes in.
Improving manufacturing and supply chain visibility ranked as the top business priority according to our survey of hundreds of manufacturing leaders for the second year in a row. From supply chain analytics and visualization tools to intelligent asset management suites to on-demand manufacturing platforms, investment in digital technologies that give you end-to-end visibility of your supply chain is absolutely essential.
Overcome Barriers to New Product Development Through Automation
Supply chain and sourcing challenges also show up in discussions about new product innovation. In fact, 56% of manufacturing leaders say supplier issues are one of the biggest barriers to product innovation.
These challenges range from lack of design for manufacturability (DFM) expertise, to slow feedback loops, to difficulty sourcing high quality parts in low volumes. The good news is that automation and artificial intelligence technologies have never been more advanced or market-ready to help reduce these barriers. By leveraging technologies like AI-powered DFM feedback, digital platforms for on-demand part sourcing and API integrations to connect fragmented supply chain ecosystems, you can automate the slow, manual tasks that typically lengthen innovation cycles and ultimately accelerate time to market. It’s no wonder that 78% of companies are actively evaluating tech solutions to boost innovation.
Workforce Challenges Exist, but Upskilling Existing Staff Helps
As a mechanical engineer myself, I am continually impressed by the new talent coming up in our industry, building world-changing innovations to solve society’s most complex issues. National Manufacturing Day is a great time to remind folks considering manufacturing as a career to please join us! It’s an exciting time to be in manufacturing and there are a number of promising career paths with countless opportunities to explore new technology.
The sobering reality, however, is that 97% of manufacturing leaders believe there’s an imminent mechanical engineering shortage.
Many leaders are working to solve this challenge by training existing staff to enhance skills and productivity. I also believe technology has an important role to play here. In the future, New Product Introduction (NPI) teams will be leaner, more efficient and more tech-enabled. With technology, a team of five engineers can have the productivity of a team of 20. And they can do more of what they love and less of the manual repetitive tasks they don't love.
Given the shortages of talent predicted in the coming years, manufacturing leaders should utilize training and technology to prepare and empower their workforce.
Leverage Additive Manufacturing to Support Sustainability Efforts
According to our recent sustainability report, 87% of manufacturing leaders say the importance of sustainable manufacturing is increasing. At the same time, 36% say a lack of funding is preventing them from meeting sustainability goals. Embracing advanced additive manufacturing (3D printing) technologies can be particularly useful for producing critical components and prototypes with reduced waste.
Additionally, additive manufacturing enables the production of very complex geometries with almost no design limitations. Every year there are more advanced additive materials and processes that make it possible to leverage this exciting and green-friendly technology for not just prototyping purposes but also end-use production. The potential result? Faster time-to-market and an easier path to achieving carbon-neutral goals.
Key Takeaways
Today, manufacturers have a unique opportunity to leverage technology to address intractable problems with supply chains, new product development and more. Adopting cutting-edge technologies and strategies can position you for long-term success in an increasingly dynamic global marketplace. And on National Manufacturing Day, talking about this is more important than ever.
As Fictiv’s CEO, Dave Evans leads the company vision to put world-class manufacturing and supply chain capabilities in the hands of innovators, without constraints. Prior to founding Fictiv, Dave was the first hire at Ford’s Silicon Valley Innovation Lab, under Ford’s Global Research and Advanced Engineering Division. Dave earned his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University.