Are you a future-ready manufacturer?
Greg O’Loan, regional vice president, ANZ for Epicor Software Corporation For manufacturers to compete successfully in the face of cheaper overseas competitors, it’s essential to look to technologies that can offer improved processes, increased efficiencies, and substantial cost savings. Before businesses can determine whether they’re a future-ready manufacturer, they need to understand exactly where their business sits today, where it could be in three to five years, and how the business can embrace innovation and automation. This requires a time investment to create a roadmap. However, this investment will pay off as the business becomes truly future-ready and can leverage new and emerging technologies to compete more effectively. At the very least, tackling these tough questions will put organisations ahead of competitors who are consumed with putting out today’s fires rather than focusing on growth opportunities. Manufacturers that don’t invest in breakthrough technologies will be rendered irrelevant and, more often than not, it will happen at a much faster rate than they ever could have dreamed possible. It’s important to address this significant business risk sooner rather than later by embracing ways to work smarter and more efficiently. The next generation of manufacturers can’t afford to sit on the sidelines. Future manufacturers will need to be aware of how the world is changing, pay attention to economic and geopolitical forecasts, and invest in technology. While innovation is important, the key for the average manufacturing plant looking for a toehold is knowing your customers and their needs just a little bit better than the competition does. The opportunities for growth have increased recently and the Australian manufacturing industry is set for a resurgence. It has added 40,000 new jobs in since June 2016, and increased the value of Australian-made goods sold to international markets by more than $20 billion since 2009. […]