How to save manufacturing - well, some good starting points anyway

Following is an article in last week's Huffington Post. It's a little misdirected in its approach, implying that the manufacturing industry is faced with challenges caused by the recent onset of technological advances and globalisation. In fact, the manufacturing industry has arguably had ot be the most adaptive being particularly more sensitive to the booms and busts of past decades. Fuel prices go up, manufacturing has to adapt. Mining booms occur, manufacturing has to cope with the talent drain. GFCs, natural disasters etc have made manufacturing an industry chameleon that has had to adapt or die. The industry's resilience is not to be underestimated and most companies have had to inmplement, in some form, the 'next generation' points made by the author, which are:

• anticipate customer needs
• innovate around the core
• focus on collaboration
• pre-solve problems
• inform and communicate
• do continuous de-commoditisation

This is a good start for sure and more details abouts each of these points is provided in the link below, however SME manufacturers need more guidance.

Being time and resource poor, they need (external) assistance to validate their strategies. This where government should play a role as funding the enablers for a more globally competitive and sustanaible industry.

Click here to read the full article.