For those of us working in U.S. manufacturing, right now is a chance to dream big about our industry, our companies, our employees and ourselves. Given how fast our industry is changing, this aspirational impulse isn\u2019t likely to be a fool\u2019s errand, either. The accelerating pace of tech and its influence on everything from\u00a0online CNC machining\u00a0to supply chain management means moving the needle of reality fast is a given. Those manufacturers who manage to adjust to tech\u2019s breakneck pace the quickest and most meaningfully stand to achieve the most.<\/p>\n
Here, then, are three and a half ways to push U.S. manufacturing over the top in terms of revenue, market share, cost savings and innovation.<\/p>\n
Long touted\u00a0as a sort of one-size-fits-all amorphous savior to any organization in need of \u201cincreased efficiency\u201d and \u201cgreater productivity,\u201d wrangling data for competitive advantage has worked really well for some companies. Most manufacturers, however, have found it rather difficult to leverage.<\/p>\n
The reasons for the difficulty are many. There\u2019s the sheer \u2014 and\u00a0exponentially increasing volume\u00a0\u2014 of the stuff, the fact that not all data is created equal, the lack of available talent able to make sense of it (let alone apply it), the widely dispersed nature of most manufacturers\u2019 supply chains and some rather persistent industry blind spots. For most manufacturers, just trying to\u00a0think<\/em>\u00a0about how to utilize a technology like big data is enough to make heads spin. Forget about\u00a0actually<\/em>\u00a0utilizing it.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a way out of the mess. As Jack Levis, Senior Director of Process Management at\u00a0UPS, put it in a keynote address at the SAS Analytics conference back in 2015, \u201cI don\u2019t have a single big data problem. I have business projects \u2026 big data is a how. It\u2019s not a what.\u201d<\/p>\n When you think of ways to improve your business, the promise of big data becomes a lot more clear. Take the amount of time wasted during the traditional RFQ process for instance. What if you could not only speed up sourcing but achieve a more reliable path to fair pricing at the same time?<\/p>\n The data to pull off such a stunt exists, and the application does, too. Here at Xometry, we gather machining, 3D printing and injection molding data and apply it so effectively we not only circumvent the RFQ process and deliver\u00a0fair-market, data-driven pricing instantly, we often move companies from quoting to production in a single business day.<\/p>\n So, rather than chasing after big data in hopes of discovering where you might be able to use it, identify those business processes that could benefit from an overhaul and apply it there. In-person supplier vetting, the RFQ process, prototyping as a separate and siloed manufacturing consideration from running production \u2014 in the light of big data, these sacred pillars of U.S. manufacturing are giant wastes of time that keep you from getting to market ahead of the global competition.<\/p>\n The cost of storing goods is something every company selling a physical product would like to reduce. From retailers to OEMs to machine shops and publishing houses, every piece of overstock or just-in-case inventory sitting on a shelf isn\u2019t just a product to have on-hand in case a customer needs it in the future. It\u2019s also a product a customer may never buy. Even among those companies for whom warehousing combined with eCommerce is the working business model \u2014 Amazon being the clear winner in this department \u2014 \u00a0reducing the costs of warehousing goods is still paramount.<\/p>\n That\u2019s why almost every company is getting increasingly creative to lower costs. From the implementation of lean principles and continuous improvement among warehouse staff to increased automation and\u00a0robotics, cutting costs on inventory and storage is big business. But what if the answer to drastically lowering costs isn\u2019t inside a more efficient warehouse at all? What if manufacturers\u2019 approach to inventory ceased to be a question of how to best cut costs and instead became a question of how to best bypass the traditional notion of inventory itself?<\/p>\n If there was ever a time to rethink your approach to inventory and warehousing, it\u2019s now. The explosion of inexpensive cloud storage solutions that came online in 2016 makes a digitized approach to warehousing possible in a way that is completely new.<\/p>\n Imagine a virtual warehouse that stored all your digital part files. Now, imagine a network of suppliers large enough to guarantee every part file you had stored in the cloud could be machined or printed on-demand whenever a customer needed it. For manufacturers with access to a\u00a0digital and distributed supply base, this approach to inventory and warehousing is already possible.<\/p>\n With\u00a0Xometry, every one of our customers has access to free and secure cloud-based storage in our parts library. Because we also have access to the largest CNC machining, 3D printing and injection molding supply network in the country, we can always turn those files into real parts, whether you need 2 3D printed prototypes, 200 CNC milled parts or 200,000 injection molded widgets. It doesn\u2019t matter if you\u2019re still running production or that you\u2019re ready to move into low-volume aftermarket batches, the potential to save money storing parts as digital files rather than actual parts can completely change your bottom line.<\/p>\n Outsourcing our CNC machining, garment construction, electronics assemblies, biotech and the like has certainly saved a lot of U.S. companies a lot of money. It also cost a lot of U.S. shops, factories and people a lot of jobs. While the resulting breakdown in trust between suppliers, workers and manufacturers shows signs of slow repair, the hit manufacturing took in terms of R&D and innovation is still not fully understood or appreciated.<\/p>\n According to\u00a0an article in the Harvard Business Review\u00a0titled, \u201cDoes America Really Need Manufacturing,\u201d U.S. companies\u2019 obsession with cutting costs in the short-term has harmed our long-term prospects for innovation. Being that innovation is a key driver of our country\u2019s economy, that\u2019s not good news.<\/p>\n Deep knowledge that yields the adventurous insight necessary for innovation comes from making, not just designing.<\/p>\n According to the article\u2019s authors, Gary Pisano and Willy Shih, the relationship between inventing and developing a product and manufacturing it is more tightly interwoven than originally believed. By outsourcing the making of our goods, we\u2019ve actually outsourced the potential to innovate and develop outstanding, groundbreaking products as well.<\/p>\n How? Deep knowledge \u2014 the kind that yields the adventurous insight necessary for innovation \u2014 comes from making, not just designing. When U.S. manufacturing decided en masse to ship a lot of its making offshore, it watered down the vital feedback loop that exists when designing and making are carried out in tandem. Regardless of whether \u201cin tandem\u201d means in the exact same location or just in the same time zone, manufacturing where you\u2019re designing allows for a back and forth in communication that creates process and product adjustments that can push R&D forward.<\/p>\n To get back to good R&D work, then, it\u2019s essential to\u00a0reshore your manufacturing. Not only will doing so shorten your supply chain and allow for more effective communication, but it will strengthen our\u00a0Industrial Commons, raising the whole country\u2019s tide of innovation and lifting all boats in the process.\u00a0<\/p>\n Pushing U.S. Manufacturing over the top won\u2019t happen without concentrated effort. Resolve to do things differently and better by embracing the amazing tech and suppliers available right here in the U.S.A.<\/p>\n Xometry is committed to revitalizing American manufacturing by connecting you with over 2,300 machine shops in 49 states across the country. Instantly access their production capacity through the\u00a0Xometry Instant Quoting Engine\u2120.<\/p>\n William KruegerAs a digital marketing specialist, William works with all forms of media from photography and video to content writing and graphic design to tell the story of American manufacturing. He holds a B.A. in Communication from Wittenberg University.<\/p>\n Read more articles by William Krueger<\/p>\n2) Rethink inventory and warehousing<\/h2>\n
3) Get back to R&D<\/h2>\n
3.5) Reshore Your manufacturing<\/h2>\n