CATEGORY: manufacturing

The manufacturing industry is often stereotyped as being populated by old-economy dinosaurs that trail the “knowledge economy” in terms of the tools they use. In reality, many manufacturers have been early and enthusiastic adopters of digital technologies that improve productivity, reduce costs and benefit their bottom lines. However, a new challenge facing manufacturers who have embraced a[…]

For years, interaction between participants in a supply chain has been based on electronic data interchange, or EDI, ensuring that all participants are using a common language to enable communication between otherwise-incompatible systems. 

From the standpoint of measures of manufacturing output, the United States manufactures more goods than it ever has throughout history. While shop-floor automation gets much of the credit for manufacturers’ growing productivity, those in the industry know that what’s going on behind the scenes and in the supply chain is equally – if not more – important. Digital transformation is making[…]

Rapidly changing technologies  are shifting traditional manufacturing towards a Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0). The ability to rapidly change with technological advances is vital for manufacturers trying to maintain a competitive edge, but the technology-driven market can be difficult to navigate. Some of the challenges manufacturers face in the transition to Industry 4.0 include:

While outsiders looking in at the manufacturing industry may be forgiven for thinking that its massive productivity gains in recent years are the result of robots and automation, industry insiders know that there’s a far more subtle force in play: Information.