Business Operations

Amid an uncertain economy, manufacturers will have to reinvent and upgrade their processes, from training employees to organizing supply chains and more. For today’s manufacturing trend of 2024, we’re looking at manufacturers’ efforts to improve their processes across their operations.

What manufacturers should do: Manufacturers looking to guard against economic upheaval should consider these steps, according to NAM experts:

• Consider improvements to techniques, tools, software, technologies and behaviors.
• Streamline customer service and the way products are sold to customers.
• Optimize the supply chain with help from partners, automation and design improvements.
• Reinvent processes to realize benefits (e.g., speed time to market, cut costs, work around supply challenges).

Expert opinion: Manufacturers are investing heavily in innovation, even as budgets have become tighter, according to EY Americas Industrial Products Sector Leader Brian M. Legan.

• As he points out, “Nearly half (49%) of manufacturing CEOs who participated in the EY CEO Outlook Survey plan on accelerating or maintaining current levels of innovation investment and portfolio transformation.”
• Meanwhile, “more than half of these CEOs (56%) also indicated that the main source of financing for these investments will be from savings generated from business performance improvements.”

Resources for you: Check out these NAM resources to learn more about manufacturers’ process improvements:

• The Innovation Research Interchange is an NAM division devoted to studying the next wave of manufacturing innovation and providing manufacturers with the resources they need to benefit from it.
• You can also get an inside look at process innovation by attending the Manufacturing Leadership Council’s plant tours. (The MLC is the NAM’s digital transformation division.)

Read the full 2024 trends report here.