Companies such as Harley Davidson Motor Co. in Milwaukee, Illinois Tool Works Inc. in Glenview, Ill. and Essve Tech Inc., a manufacturer of corrugated steel pipes in Alpharetta, Ga., are actively recruiting women to fill the shortage caused by a growth spurt in U.S. manufacturing due to lower energy costs, reshoring a more competitive labor market as Baby Boomers continue to retire. The U.S. Department of Labor estimated last spring that 241,000 factory jobs remained unfilled.
For the past few decades, the scramble for competitive advantage in manufacturing has largely revolved around finding new and abundant sources of low-cost labor. But with wages rising rapidly in China and other emerging markets, manufacturers worldwide are under intensifying pressure to gain advantage the old-fashioned way - by improving their productivity.
The venerable factory is an important competitive weapon in the digital economy, according to Smart Manufacturing - The Path to the Future Factory, a report from research firm IDC Manufacturing Insights.
The recent robust manufacturing performance should continue in the near-term despite marginal declines in some indicators, according to the quarterly MAPI Foundation Business Outlook, a survey conducted by the MAPI Foundation, the research affiliate of the Manufacturers Alliance for Productivity and Innovation.
Manufacturing executives like what they are seeing on their balance sheets, are increasingly confident about the U.S. economy and plan to do more hiring and operational spending in the year ahead, a new survey from PwC US reports.
All companies struggle to attract and retain top talent. But in recent years, as manufacturing has heated up, this problem threatens to slow down growth in that segment in particular.
A manufacturing production index for Latin America as a whole is expected to show this year experienced no growth - instead, it is forecast to decline a slight 0.1 percent. This challenging regional picture masks sizable differences across countries, however. The poor performance of the index published by the Manufacturers' Alliance for Productivity and Innovation Foundation is explained by recessions in Brazil and Argentina that have offset the good performance of Mexican factories.
3D printing has captured the imagination of the media and the financial markets; prognosticators are predicting a fundamental disruption in the manufacturing paradigm, from mass production to mass customization. Are we finally achieving the "lot size of one" that Taiichi Ohno envisioned when creating the Toyota Production System? Will factories disappear as the "maker movement" drives demand toward custom-designed items created on 3D printers in the home? How will these changes affect the industrial supply chains?
Transplace, a non-asset-based third-party logistics provider, has acquired Logistics Management Solutions, a 3PL with an emphasis on the chemical and industrial manufacturing sector.
Given the advent of the Internet of Things, personalization and an overall need to reduce distribution risk, procurement officers aren't necessarily crossing off reshoring as an option.