Trends in Manufacturing – How Can Manufacturers Achieve Business Resilience

Trends in Manufacturing – How Can Manufacturers Achieve Business Resilience. To say that 2020 has been a challenging year for manufacturers would be an understatement. In addition to production declines and complete shutdowns, the year saw a huge drop in employment levels.

Prior to the outbreak of the Covid virus many manufacturers in the US had regained the levels of production it had lost during the 2008 recession and were on high growth trajectories. One major takeaway from all of this finds an industry looking for ways to make itself resilient enough to sustain the effects of another pandemic-driven shutdown.

As manufacturers dig their way back and look for ways to achieve business resilience the industry will see some obvious trends and some not so obvious.

Many manufacturers will be looking to incorporate more digital technologies including AI and VR, that help them become more efficient, resilient, and agile. The manufacturers who are agile, will be able to adapt and respond to challenges quickly and will be the most successful.

Many firms will be leveraging their ecosystem of suppliers, customers, partners, and peers much more than they did in the past. There is no doubt that the worldwide supply chain disruption has incented nearly every facility and business to reassess their supply chain.

Also, most importantly, manufacturers want to have better visibility and will develop better systems for navigating disruptions like the one we are currently experiencing with supply chain visibility becoming a critical capability.

Finally, the pandemic has companies emphasizing their approach to employee safety and health, which is important for your workforce as well as for your business.

As manufacturers strive to become more resilient and agile, they rely on measurements to monitor business activities and performance, document successes and challenges, and help direct management decision-making. Read more blogs.