How Manufacturing Leaders Use Digitization to Drive Their Business

The manufacturing sector has been undergoing changes in the past few years. The number of competitors in each product category of the manufacturing industry has been growing. Each company aims to capture a niche and build a rigid and loyal customer base. There have also been several disruptors who have aimed to change the way that the manufacturing industry works and have captured large swathes of market share. Being the dynamic industry that manufacturing is, the processes and technologies being used by it are changing continuously.

Digital transformation in the manufacturing industry has been among the major trends observed over the last decade. All manufacturing leaders have implemented concepts of Industry 4.0 to make themselves more future-ready and gain an edge over their direct competitors. By enabling end-to-end manufacturing, digitization ensures that the efficiency of the manufacturing process increases. Whether it is large manufacturers or new companies aiming to emerge as manufacturing leaders, digital transformation is among the most critical steps to take with the future in mind.

 

Advantages of Global Sourcing

 

With an increase in globalization, global manufacturing has also received a boost. There are several advantages that global manufacturing, driven by the digitization of manufacturing, provides over traditional, local methods. Here is a look at the primary advantages of global manufacturing.

1. Better Value: With global manufacturing, you will likely receive much better value for the money you invest in developing your products. This is primarily because even if you include the charges of customs, import, and export, several countries in the world can provide you services at rates that are a fraction of the costs you will incur locally. Especially in the APAC region, countries such as Malaysia, China, India, and Indonesia have emerged as manufacturing hubs with low labor and land costs, translating into high returns on investment.
2. Production Capacity: If the location to which you are outsourcing your manufacturing activities has low land costs, it is possible to build greater production capacity at these locations. With the same amount of investment, it becomes easier for you to generate a greater product volume at the same cost. Especially if you are going through a phase of high demand, outsourcing your product can help you achieve a competitive advantage as well as competitive pricing for your product.
3. Product Quality: There are several factors that your product quality can depend upon. The decision to outsource can backfire most frequently in the form of poor product quality. However, if you set up a smart factory with shop floor digitization in the country you are outsourcing your manufacturing process to, you can minutely monitor the quality of the products that are being created. The power of digitization ensures that there is now a minimal difference remaining between local and international manufacturing locations.
4. New Skills and Resources: Outsourcing your production activity can provide you with the opportunity to tap into new skills that might be available with the workforce of the other country. Additionally, resources which might not be available locally to you might be available more easily to your outsourcing partner by virtue of location. This helps you build a highly efficient team and leads to a win-win situation for you and your outsourcing partner.

 

Export Quality Suppliers and Orders

 

The outsourcing of manufacturing is not a new concept and has been carried out for more than half a century. However, with time, the processes involved have become outdated, and the quality parameters that manufacturers are achieving from them are not in line with the expectations of the times.

This is the reason that global manufacturing has developed a need for digitization. Digitization in global manufacturing can help manufacturing companies improve the quality of the products outsourced and monitor the returns on investment that the introduction of new tools is making.

The digital transformation of manufacturing is essential if you are looking to build a high-quality portfolio. Digitization also helps you achieve improved visibility of every step in your manufacturing process by providing real-time insights. These timely actionable insights can help you in making the correct, data-backed decisions for your company. Through better quality for end customers, digitization can improve your clients’ trust in your organization and result in greater revenues.

 

Conclusion

Emerging as a manufacturing leader is not a one-dimensional process. You need to aim to build better products at lower costs while maintaining customer satisfaction and loyalty. The greater the extent to which you digitize every level of your shop floor, the greater the insights you will gain through the data generated by this digitization. This, in turn, will help you optimize and improve your manufacturing process and maximize profits.

ShopWorx helps you digitize your manufacturing facilities while causing minimal disruption to your current processes. Opt for ShopWorx to transform your shop floor with the latest digital technology!