The Manufacturing Blog

Big data is not just for predicting election outcomes and mapping genomes. More and more predictive analytics and related technologies are able to help manufacturers boost performance, streamline processes and better compete in the global marketplace. Here we profile five ways manufacturers can use these technologies.

Manufacturing was one of the first industries to support commercial software. And developments in the evolution of manufacturing software led to the software class known as enterprise resource planning (ERP). This post looks at the history of manufacturing software as well as important people, places and events.

The origins for what would become material requirements planning (MRP) software dates back to the 1950′s. This timeline notes important events, people and milestones in the evolution of MRP systems. In addition to looking at the history of MRP, we look at what the future holds for this application class as software moves to the Cloud.

Manufacturing in the United States is mounting an unlikely comeback. This year, manufacturing is expected to outpace growth of the overall economy. One part of this trend is the fact that more businesses are deciding to produce domestically. Why is this happening, and how can we continue the momentum?

The emergence of platforms-as-a-service (PaaS) for the manufacturing sector is creating new possibilities in the way manufacturing applications are developed, distributed and consumed. PaaS lowers barriers to entry for third-party developers to create applications that tackle specific manufacturing problems.

Manufacturers have long depended on traditional marketing tactics — cold calling, word-of-mouth, print catalogs and trade shows, among others — to find sales leads. These are still effective ways to sell in the industrial world. But the times, they are a-changin’. Today, manufacturers need an effective website as well.

The next manufacturing revolution has begun–and it’s being led by individuals, not multinational corporations. This manufacturing revolution is about empowering individuals with the same types of manufacturing capabilities that were once only available to large corporations. It’s about democratizing manufacturing.

A recent Deloitte report estimated that as many as 600,000 jobs U.S. manufacturing jobs are unfilled. Why? There’s a skills mismatch in the manufacturing industry. With unemployment sitting at 8.3 percent, this is cause for concern. Whatever the causes, we now need to work together as a nation to overcome the skills deficit.

Marc Halpern, Vice President of Gartner Manufacturing Industry Advisory Service, recently suggested that crowdsourcing could fix manufacturing. I caught up with Halpern to learn how crowdsourcing might work in the manufacturing industry, and what needs to happen to before it can gain widespread acceptance.

In an industry that relies heavily on word-of-mouth to acquire business, social media tools can help contract manufacturers and job shops stand out from the noise and gain a competitive advantage on a global scale to win new customers. In this article, I discuss how manufacturers should get started with social media.