Business Operations

On a recent tour of Intertape Polymer Group’s Tremonton, Utah, plant, manufacturers saw disruptive technology in action. From employing 3D printing to slashing parts-making time to programming floor equipment to identify and fix problems quickly, the Manufacturing 4.0 processes and technologies were on full display. The NAM’s Manufacturing Leadership Council hosted the tour and brought 70 MLC members to the paper- and film-based packaging maker.

Growth: IPG, a Montreal-based manufacturer whose products include the cling film StretchFlex, has seen its revenue double in the past six years, from $750 million to $1.5 billion.

• The company now has approximately 4,000 employees across 34 locations, including 22 manufacturing facilities in North America.

What they saw: In addition to 3D printing and problem-solving floor equipment, tour participants got to see how IPG:

• Manages parts more effectively with an automated storage system; and
• Uses “hackathons” and employs a data-driven, digital-first mindset to find solutions to challenges.

Digital journey: In a briefing before the tour, IPG Vice President of Business Transformation Jai Sundararaman described why and how IPG undertook its digital transformation journey.

• First, the manufacturer conducted an in-depth investigation. This included studying 20 different technologies, attending more than 10 industry conferences, hosting technology summits with vendors and engaging in more than 25 networking sessions with fellow members of the MLC.

Phased transformation: IPG’s phased approach to digital transformation focused on delivering business value. The company undertook the following schedule:

• Phase 1: Align strategy and execution and “homogenize” operating culture. Upskill and retain talent with digital and process knowledge.
• Phase 2: Drive revenue and margin growth by applying digital technologies at scale in other functions, such as customer engagement.
• Phase 3: Leverage digital technologies for business model innovation.

M4.0 discussion: At the end of the IPG plant event, participants joined a panel discussion on data standards and analysis. Panelists discussed how to measure the return manufacturers get from implementing M4.0 technologies and how to get buy-in from employees and leadership.

Upcoming plant tour: Join the MLC’s next plant tour right from your desk on July 27. Participants will take a virtual look inside Accuray’s Global Manufacturing Center in Madison, Wisconsin. This virtual plant tour will highlight the challenges of a low-volume, high-complexity manufacturing and supply chain model. Register today to reserve your place.

What is Lilly Diabetes President Mike Mason’s goal for people living with diabetes? The simple answer is to improve and simplify diabetes management so people can focus on living the life they want.

Forward-looking: Today, more than 537 million people across the world are living with diabetes. That’s why Mason and his Lilly Diabetes team are continuing to develop more innovative insulin and non-insulin medicines to help transform diabetes care.

Lilly has played an important role in improving diabetes care for close to a century, starting with manufacturing and bringing to market the first commercial insulin, lletin, in 1923. Since then, there has been incredible innovation in insulin, shifting from animal-based insulin to recombinant DNA human insulin to today’s more modern analog insulins.

• “Thanks to a century’s worth of scientific advancements and discoveries, I am proud that we can meet the diverse needs of people with diabetes in ways we only dreamed were possible,” Mason said.

More to be done: Still, only about half of people with diabetes are achieving their blood sugar goals—leaving them at higher risk for long-term cardiovascular disease and other diabetes-related complications.

• For Lilly, that means keeping a “relentless focus” on the improvement of diabetes treatments and solutions, Mason said.
• “Importantly, delivering breakthrough treatments is just the start of what we do. Lilly is deeply committed to doing what we can to ensure everyone who needs our products can access them,” he added.
• Lilly offers a variety of affordability solutions through patient support programs and copay assistance across the major products of its portfolio. People with diabetes can contact the Lilly Diabetes Solution Center to learn about affordability solutions that best match their needs.

What’s coming: Lilly’s vision for the future is to maintain a relentless focus on raising the innovation bar for diabetes treatment, as well as in other serious metabolic conditions, including obesity, NASH and heart failure, to name a few.

• “Our diabetes pipeline includes a once-weekly injection, currently under review by the FDA that represents a new class of medicines to treat type 2 diabetes,” Mason said. “In clinical trials, this therapy significantly lowered glucose levels and body weight—and even helped many participants reach a non-diabetes glucose range.”
• “Our hope is to revolutionize how metabolic conditions are understood and treated, hopefully changing the way people manage conditions like type 2 diabetes and others,” he added.

Manufacturing support: Diabetes innovation is ultimately made possible by the people who work tirelessly to make life-saving medicines.

• “I’ve witnessed our team start with an extraordinary idea and determine the science to make it possible, and it’s our manufacturing team that brings these products to fruition,” Mason said. “Our talented and dedicated manufacturing teammates make delivering life-saving medications to people with diabetes possible.”
• Even at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Lilly employees in essential manufacturing and research jobs came to work each day “to make vital medicines for the world.”

 The last word: Lilly is “in an exciting period of growth,” Mason said, noting a recent announcement from the company that it planned to invest $1 billion in a North Carolina site to create an injectables-manufacturing facility.

The investment “underscores our commitment to delivering innovative medicines to patients around the world,” Mason said. “And it taps some of the brightest minds from the local labor force to bring it to life.”

With increased pressure from customers, regulators and even shareholders, sustainable business practices are no longer optional for manufacturers. From reduced energy and materials consumption to lower emissions and ethical sourcing, manufacturers are expected to meet ambitious new goals. Luckily, the Manufacturing Leadership Council has established a new member working group devoted to helping manufacturers reach these objectives.

Support set-up: With five virtual meetings each year, the M4.0 Sustainability and Net Zero Decision Compass Group will explore key issues, best practices and challenges related to creating sustainable, compliant and environmentally friendly operating strategies.

• At the first meeting, “Next Steps in Manufacturing 4.0 Sustainability,” on March 10, attendees heard from 3M Senior Vice President of Environmental Strategies and Fluorochemical Stewardship Dr. Rebecca Teeters and Lexmark International Chief Sustainability Officer John Gagel. Both speakers are also MLC board members.

Why the new group: The MLC decided to create the group after a survey of their more than 3,300 members revealed sustainability was a top member business concern.

• “We decided that given the intensity of interest in sustainability and related subjects, such as net-zero and the circular economy, this was an opportunity to dedicate a whole new group to the topic,” said MLC Co-Founder, Executive Director and Vice President David Brousell.

Good for business, too: While manufacturers have been discussing and working toward sustainability for decades, recent growing concerns about climate change and other environmental issues are making the matter increasingly urgent.

• Manufacturers that take on sustainable business practices are seeing competitive advantages ranging from cost savings to higher product quality to increased shareholder and employee satisfaction.

Lessons from manufacturing peers: The new Decision Compass group will share sustainability strategies, the real-world achievements of manufacturing companies, knowledge about the use and application of advanced technologies and timelines for implementation.

• Participants will also be able to see how they stack up against other manufacturing companies.

Get involved: The MLC offers resources to help manufacturers improve their operations and learn about digital manufacturing. To learn more about the sustainability group or find out about MLC membership, email [email protected].

There’s nothing quite like a real-world test run to determine whether a new technology is right for your business. That’s where Rethink, the annual summit of the NAM’s Manufacturing Leadership Council, comes in.

The world’s leading event on Manufacturing 4.0, Rethink boasts an agenda packed with case studies to help manufacturing leaders see exactly how various digital technologies might help them improve their operational quality and efficiency.

The featured case studies coming to Rethink include the following:

• The Expanding Reach of Collaborative Robots: Examine practical applications for collaborative robots in manufacturing. Discover the benefits already being realized from the use of robots and identify ways to maximize the benefits.
• Extracting Insights from Plant Floor Data: See firsthand how to use data to monitor equipment performance, predict conditions and take preemptive action to avoid downtime. Gain practical takeaways on how to leverage data for bottom-line benefits.
• How AR/VR Can Empower Frontline Workers: Take a deep dive into one company’s advanced deployment of augmented and virtual reality technologies. Explore how these technologies helped transform operational activities and empower frontline workers.
• Fostering Data Literacy: The What, Why and How: Learn how to manage and analyze data from all aspects of your operations and use it effectively to improve decision making. Gain an understanding of the emerging discipline of data literacy as a way to overcome business culture hurdles.

How to participate: The Rethink summit takes place June 27–29 in Marco Island, Florida.

• In addition to case studies, the agenda will include inspirational keynote speeches, thought-provoking panel discussions and hands-on think tanks.
• More than 300 top-level executives and their teams attend each year.
• Participants include professionals in operations, IT, supply chain, engineering, C-level management, HR and more.

Click here to browse the agenda and to register.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many manufacturers raced to adopt advanced manufacturing technologies as a way to mitigate related disruptions. But there are signs the implementation is falling short of expectations, according to a new survey from the Manufacturing Leadership Council.

Is M4.0 adoption increasing? Respondents to the most recent survey were nearly evenly divided as to whether they were increasing digital-tool adoption in the wake of the pandemic: 30% said adoption had accelerated, 32% said it decelerated and 35% said it had not changed. Prior surveys overwhelmingly revealed that manufacturers were accelerating their digital investments.

Key findings: Other data points of note include the following:

• Most manufacturers gave themselves a low- to mid-level grade on their M4.0 maturity—somewhere between a 3 and a 7 on a scale of 1 to 10. When it comes to M4.0 roadmaps, the largest percentage of respondents (33%) said that formal roadmaps were still under development.
• Nonetheless, progress is being made in some areas. Customer support made the most strides in M4.0 adoption, with 12% of respondents rating themselves as advanced in this area compared to only 4% last year. Additionally, 20% of manufacturers surveyed said their plant floors are extensively networked and IP enabled, and 52% said they have digitization for production and assembly processes.
• More manufacturers are keen to take advantage of M4.0 technologies: 43% of respondents said they use machine learning, and another 27% said they plan to bring it online in the next two years.
• The biggest jump for planned usage is for digital twins: 32% of respondents said they plan to implement this technology in the next two years, on top of the 25% who are using it now.

Major risk: Many manufacturers find themselves in a perilous cybersecurity position, according to the survey. Just 19% have a fully formed cybersecurity program that includes workforce preparedness plans, employee training and routine drills that simulate a cyberattack.

• This is likely why 57% of respondents say that their company’s plant floor systems and assets are only partially secure against cyberattacks. The need to upgrade legacy equipment tops the list of potential challenges, with 59% of manufacturers reporting that they should do so.

 Other struggles: Not surprisingly, 53% of respondents cited a lack of skilled employees as their top challenge. Some 39% said access to an adequate budget for M4.0 investments was their chief problem.

The takeaway: Despite these issues, manufacturers still see tremendous potential in embracing M4.0, according to the survey’s findings.

• Sixty-seven percent of respondents cited better operational efficiency as a top benefit of M4.0; 49% cited better decision-making, 47% cited greater speed and flexibility and 42% cited cost reduction.
• Disruptions of the past two years have made manufacturers want to move toward becoming factories of the future, but the realities of the ambitious undertaking are proving daunting. Those who persist, however, are likely to find great rewards.

Project HOPE, a nonprofit the NAM is working with on humanitarian relief, is ensuring that some of the most vulnerable victims of the war in Ukraine receive care and support.

What’s happening: The U.S.-based international nonprofit, which has aid teams on the ground in Ukraine and in neighboring Poland, Moldova and Romania, recently delivered the following in Ukraine:

• Twenty-two pallets of medicines;
• Eight Interagency Emergency Health Kits, each one containing enough essential medicine to serve a population of 10,000 people for more than three months; and
• Forty-five Essential Health Packs, each of which comes with a minimum of 800 courses of treatment, including over-the-counter and prescription medication, antibiotics, anti-inflammatories and anti-parasitics.

Project HOPE is helping deliver crucial medicines to pediatric oncology patients at the University Children’s Hospital in Krakow, which the organization has supported for nearly 50 years. And manufacturers are helping its efforts.

• Pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly send a shipment of its diabetes treatments to Ukraine earlier this month. Lilly will continue to provide medications, including oncology and COVID-19 treatments, to the country.
• Manufacturers have donated thousands of dollars through Project HOPE, both directly and through the NAM’s partnership page. As of this writing, donations through the partnership are at more than $11,000.

Other efforts: Project HOPE has partnered with nongovernmental organizations in and around Ukraine to provide food as well as medicine and technical support to health facilities treating refugees, displaced persons and others affected by the war.

How you can help: Those who wish to donate to Project HOPE may do so here.

• To get more information on what the NAM is doing to help, or to share how your company is contributing to the relief effort, please contact the NAM at [email protected].

Read more: Many manufacturers are making a difference on the ground in Ukraine. Read our stories about Sukup Manufacturing and Greene Tweed.

The above photo, which runs courtesy of Project HOPE, shows oncology patient Tamara, 5, and her mother Mikhaila at the University Children’s Hospital in Krakow. Tamara and Mikhaila fled the war in Ukraine and are seeking safety in Poland. 

As supply chain bottlenecks and materials shortages continue to challenge both the U.S. and the world, companies in the semiconductor industry are working hard to meet high-quality standards, achieve strong technological innovations and keep up with the growing demand.

To meet these goals, chip producers as well as all their suppliers are continuously investing time and funds into new products, technologies and facilities.

SGL Carbon, a global manufacturer of products derived from carbon and graphite, is part of this supply chain for chip producers.

Heavily invested: The company, which has its North American headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina, has been investing significantly in its semiconductor-related production while working hard to meet demand and keep pace with the ever-shifting market.

• Over the past four years, SGL Carbon invested approximately €30 million into enhancing its production capacities and a modern clean-room environment in St. Marys, Pennsylvania, the home of its main North American operations related to the semiconductor industry.

Smaller size, bigger impact: The semiconductor market is a dynamic sector, and its applications are now more essential than ever to everyday life, according to SGL Carbon Vice President of Marketing and Sales Doug Garda. As chips get smaller, their efficiency and performance are getting bigger—and so is the global appetite for them.

• “We’re seeing more and more demand globally, and the infrastructure that exists in the industry isn’t sufficient to meet those demands,” Garda said. “Especially with the Internet of Things, e-mobility, LED lighting and automated production, there are so many more applications and high-performance variants of chips required for the future. We need to meet that very steep demand curve.”

Global shortages: While in development, semiconductor chips can cross international borders 70 times before the end product reaches a consumer, fueling significant complexity in the manufacturing process and supply chains.

• With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, labor challenges, shifts in consumer needs and general unpredictability have fed worldwide supply issues.

High demand: In the midst of these shortages, the market for silicon-based wafers, used for regular chips, is expected to grow by 5% annually over the next five years. However, the market for special silicon-carbide-based wafers, used for high-performance chips, is expected to grow by 30% or more annually over the same period.

A critical market: Sometimes described as the “brains” of electronic devices, from automobiles to home appliances to personal electronics and medical devices, semiconductors are critical components for all sorts of manufactured products. A shortage in semiconductors creates ripples all across the manufacturing industry.

• “The semiconductor market is a key component to any region’s manufacturing needs right now,” said SGL Carbon NA Network Operations Manager Tom Detsch. “It’s one of the most important opportunities of our time—and we’re of course also looking for funding options to further grow.”

Eye on Congress: The U.S. House of Representatives and Senate have both considered legislation designed to strengthen the U.S. semiconductor industry, but differing bills have left Congress with varying approaches.

• The House passed a bipartisan CHIPS Act in the National Defense Authorization Act authorization last year, but it lacked funding. The funds were instead included in subsequent legislation, the America COMPETES Act.
• Meanwhile, the Senate passed its CHIPS Act funding through the United States Innovation and Competition Act of 2021 (USICA).

“The question remains: what’s next?” said Detsch. “These markets are growing. How much is going to be in the United States, and how much will be outside? There’s government funding being looked at here in the U.S. and abroad. That’s something that would be interesting for us in the U.S. if something like that were to be available.”

Our take: The NAM is strongly supporting efforts to increase domestic chipmaking capacity here in the United States and is urging the federal government to help make that goal a reality.

The last word: “We’re a solutions provider, and demand for our graphite products has expanded rapidly,” said Garda. “Without graphite-based equipment, no semiconductors could be manufactured. Thus, this will be a growing market for us and for North America in general for a long time.”

When Russia invaded Ukraine, Sukup Manufacturing knew it couldn’t stand by. The Iowa-based company—which manufactures grain storage, drying and handling equipment—has a European counterpart located in Denmark, Sukup Europe, that partners with the Grain House Company in Ukraine. As Russian troops threatened Ukraine, President and CEO Steve Sukup immediately greenlit the effort to help Grain House’s personnel and families get to safety.

“When Russia invaded Ukraine, we immediately said, how can we help?” said Emily Schmitt, Sukup’s chief administrative officer and general counsel. “We called the CEO of Sukup Europe, and his response was, I’m really glad I work for a company where I’m able to say I can help and do what’s needed.”

The mission: Managing Director of Sukup Europe Jens Erik Iversen and Co-Founder of Grain House Company Andriy Semenovych worked together on the effort, gathering the resources needed to make the 1,200-mile journey from a pickup point in Ukraine to a community in Denmark. Sukup’s Iowa headquarters coordinated with its counterparts, offering financial support and even leveraging business connections on the route between Ukraine and Denmark to help move refugees safely out of the country. Determined to overcome any last-minute obstacles, Iversen himself rode in the bus to meet the Ukrainian families at the border—bringing food and clothes and helping to provide asylum assistance.

Since that first caravan, Sukup has organized multiple trips to the border. Through their efforts, they have been able to bring 64 people in more than 20 families to Denmark.

• “Being a family business is not where family ties stop here,” said Schmitt. “It’s really ingrained in Sukup to give back. Every employee isn’t just an employee—they’re family. And their families are our families as well.”

The way forward: Today, Sukup is focused on making sure there’s a continuous and reliable community effort to support the refugees in Denmark. It is working with Danish officials to ensure that the Ukrainian refugees can remain in the country and with the U.S. government to secure temporary work visas that could allow the Ukrainians to go to Iowa. It is also working through the Sukup Family Foundation to continue providing food, clothing and other resettlement resources to the Ukrainian families they’ve evacuated.

The last word: “We’re hearing that there’s upwards of four million refugees coming out of Ukraine now—so this is one grain of sand on the beach,” said Sukup Chairman and NAM Board Member Charles Sukup. “But we’re so proud our people stepped up and did it so rapidly and efficiently. This was the epitome of our history of taking care of each other.”

How will the 5G transition affect manufacturing? If you ask Ericsson Senior Vice President Åsa Tamsons, enormously.

5G will help drive global transformation, innovation and sustainability in our sector, Tamsons recently told the NAM’s Manufacturing Leadership Council. She sat down with MLC Co-Founding Executive Editor and Senior Content Director Paul Tate at Ericsson’s new 5G Smart Factory in Lewisville, Texas, to tell us more.

About Ericsson: Founded in 1876, Ericsson Inc. is a leading provider of information and communication technology. The company is now a $25 billion global enterprise with 100,000 employees serving clients in 180 countries.

About the Lewisville plant: Ericsson describes its Lewisville plant, which opened in March 2020, as a “5G-enabled, digital native” facility.

• “We wanted to be able to obtain data from every single source, device, machine and person operating in the facility, both now and in the future,” she said. “One part was implementing 5G, but we also needed a data architecture to secure that and to use equipment that is able to extract both production data and operational status.”

Development process: In its journey to Manufacturing 4.0, Ericsson used a particularly agile development process.

• “We had a mission to develop 25 use cases within a year,” Tamsons said. “In the first eight months, we launched seven of those 25 use cases. In the remaining four to five months, we launched the other 18. It just shows the power of doing that groundwork, while also demonstrating that you can launch end-to-end solutions in rapid time. Then you really start to have platforms that you can scale.”

Measuring impact: The Lewisville facility serves one of Ericsson’s biggest and most important markets in the world—yet it is operated by just 100 people.

• The plant delivers 2.2 times more output than similar sites that don’t have the same degree of automation or technology in place.

Lighthouse status: Lewisville is also one of the world’s first manufacturing plants to achieve Global Lighthouse Network status under the World Economic Forum’s new sustainability category.

•  A combination of recyclable and reused materials, renewable energy, an ideal location close to a major airport and advanced manufacturing technologies supported this award.
• “Innovation is not all about technology,” Tamsons said. “It’s about how you apply it and how you can use the best of technology to create better solutions that are also more sustainable.”

What’s next: The Lewisville plant has plans for further innovation.

• “We’ll continue to build out the data structure and cloud capability, really focusing on how we can scale up the value of existing use cases and applications and on what the next use cases will be,” she said. “We’re continuing to invest in upgrading our manufacturing sites to develop a reliable, sustainable, global supply chain, not only in Lewisville, but across the world.”

Attend a plant tour: Join the MLC in Texas for the Ericsson Lewisville Plant Tour on Oct. 4–5 to see Ericsson’s 5G-enabled digital native, double Lighthouse award-winning plant for yourself. Save the date and watch for more details.

A group of world-class manufacturers and their leaders have been recognized for their achievements by the 2022 Manufacturing Leadership Awards.

About the awards: Presented by the Manufacturing Leadership Council, a division of the NAM, the awards recognize excellence in digital manufacturing. Since the program’s founding in 2005, more than 1,000 high-performing projects and individual leaders have been honored with an award. Winners represent companies of varying sizes in a wide array of industries.

This year’s awards were given in nine project categories and two individual categories. Some project categories include AI and Machine Learning, Digital Supply Chains and Digital Network Connectivity. Judging is done by a panel of industry experts, many of whom are past winners themselves.

Why it matters: The movement toward smart factories allows manufacturers to leverage data to become more efficient, productive, sustainable and competitive. In the difficult business conditions that many are experiencing, data-driven operations can mitigate disruptions and even predict them before they happen.

“This year’s winners are exemplary for their compelling use of technology, innovative approach to problem solving and overall commitment to furthering the progress of Manufacturing 4.0,” said Manufacturing Leadership Council Co-Founder, Vice President and Executive Director David R. Brousell.

Gala coming in June: Winners will be honored at the Manufacturing Leadership Awards Gala on Wednesday, June 29, 2022, at the JW Marriott Marco Island Beach Resort in Florida. The gala will also feature the announcement of this year’s Large Enterprise Manufacturer of the Year, Small/Medium Enterprise Manufacturer of the Year and Manufacturing Leader of the Year.

Select winners will present their projects at Rethink: The Manufacturing Leadership Council Summit, the industry’s premier event focused on Manufacturing 4.0.

See the complete list of winners here.