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Plex Manufacturing Blog
Argent Sparks Growth and Employee Satisfaction with New Manufacturing Technology
They’re under the hood of your car, on the medicine you take, and on the groceries you buy. They help shop floor operators make things like phone chargers, and you use them to figure out which flowers you should plant in your backyard. What are they?...
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How Small Manufacturing Companies Can Lead the Industry
Most manufacturing firms in the U.S. are small—99 percent have less than 500 employees, 75 percent of which have less than 20 employees.1 And since small manufacturing companies are at the heart of creating the products the world uses, they are in the unique position to make changes at the grass root level that can lead the industry....
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Digital Transformation in the Manufacturing Industry: Why Should You Care?
The complexity and pace of customer demands have changed, which means you’ve likely had to evaluate if your manufacturing operations are keeping pace. Relying on manual processes and paper-based information is no longer sustainable if you want to compete. There are more and more companies willing to step in and take your market share....
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Manufacturers: What You Need to Know About Cloudwashing
If your company is looking for a new ERP system, you will likely discover the term “cloudwashing.” Our hope is that you discover it before you make a decision because you could be dealing with the limitations for a long time after. What is cloudwashing?...
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How to Operationalize Quality Control on the Shop Floor
Ensuring that quality controls are in place is a never-ending task for operations and quality managers. And it’s especially hard to do if you’re using manual, paper-based documentation. The key is to tie operational performance with a production control plan and work instructions that everyone has access to, and because plans are revised and instructions may change, it's ideal to have online…
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Industry 4.0: How Advancements in Manufacturing Technology Are Transforming the Industry
In the United States, economic growth has been a bit sluggish in the past decade. When you look at global economic growth, there's one common factor with all that causes the economy to grow. It’s manufacturing. Due to a number of contributing economic, political, and market factors across the globe, there’s a significant revolution that’s underway within the manufacturing industry. ...
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Wisco Employee Enjoys Fourth of July Thanks to Inventory Planning in the Cloud
Imagine one of the biggest U.S. holidays of the summer. Your family, friends, and coworkers have lots of activities planned including picnics, BBQs, games, swimming, and of course, fireworks. Everything is decked out in red, white, and blue ready to celebrate. Even the warm weather signals that the weekend will be something to remember....
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What’s It Like at an Award-Winning Manufacturing Plant?
We are proud of our customers. They are leading the manufacturing industry into the future and we’re not the only ones noticing how awesome they are. Many have won Excellence awards for doing what they do best: make amazing things. In 2016 alone, these customers were acknowledged for their manufacturing excellence:...
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What You Don’t Know About Manufacturing Traceability Could Hurt Your Business
You likely use some type of traceability procedure to comply with customer and market mandates and/or for service, safety, and process improvement purposes. However, if you are relying on manual processes, you are likely missing critical steps in the production process where errors may occur. ...
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Why Manufacturing Traceability Is Key to Reducing Errors
Paper records are prone to errors, difficult to manage, and may be impossible to find in a timely manner, like within two hours as the FDA requires. High profile recalls have increased in recent years and culpable manufacturers have paid high costs to their businesses and their brands....
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Firstronic Overhauls Its Processes to Beat the Competition
I recently had the privilege of presenting with Plex customer Sandy Kolp, Director of Program Management and Plant Manager, from Firstronic, LLC at IndustryWeek’s Manufacturing & Technology conference in Cleveland, Ohio. Firstronic is on a roll, having recently won IndustryWeek’s 2016 Plant of the Year award, along with four awards for Dependability and Timely Delivery, Responsiveness, Value…
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Digital Transformation: Manufacturers Need a Practical Approach—Not Hype
Technologists love to learn, write, and prognosticate about new terminology, technology trends, and ideas that will impact the future. But as I once heard someone say, “innovation without practical impact is a science project,” and this holds true for digital transformation, a topic deservedly getting a lot of coverage these days....
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Advanced Manufacturing Technologies Provide Endless IIoT Opportunities
The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) has a potential economic impact of $1.2-$3.7 trillion a year in 2015. Because of this enormous opportunity, many of metro Detroit’s technologists are talking about ways to integrate IIoT – where they can apply it, how they can benefit from it, and even how it can be used in their products and by customers....
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Error-Proofing Your Manufacturing Business with a Single Source of Truth
Your production operations are likely an automated and complex choreography of people and machines working together to produce products of predictable, repeatable quality. But manufacturing is complex and all the moving parts can be difficult to keep up with, which opens the door to mistakes....
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PowerPlex 2017 - Manufacturers Share Ideas, Discuss Skills Shortage and Give Back
Skills Shortage In conversations with attendees at this year’s Plex conference, the industry-wide skills shortage was a common frustration. Many businesses are using Plex to automate processes that were previously done manually, enabling some shop-floor activities to be done with fewer people, allowing reallocation of resources throughout the company. ...
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PowerPlex 2017 - Innovation in Action
As PowerPlex 2017 wraps up this week, I find myself reflecting on the many great conversations I had with smart, interesting people who are working on making things. I was surrounded by innovation — businesses making innovative products, organizations with a rich history that have continuously evolved by innovating over time, and people who are doing new and unique things with Plex to…
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For Plex Customers, the Future of Manufacturing is Now
At this year’s PowerPlex 2017, participants were abuzz with ideas about where new technologies and emerging market trends will take them. I attended keynotes and break-out sessions and had the opportunity to talk one-on-one with individuals who “make things.” In doing so, I identified several common themes that provide insight into where manufacturing is headed and how customers will get there....
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2017 Plex Impact Award Winners: Manufacturing Pioneers
Plex loves its customers. All of us at Plex are passionate about their work, and we’re eager to see how each of them are shaping the future of manufacturing in their own innovative way. That’s why choosing the Plex Impact Award winners, which annually recognizes industry leaders, innovators, and transformers, is an exciting process for the Plex team....
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Plex Supports mikeroweWORKS Foundation and America’s Hardest Workers
If you follow Executive Producer and TV Host Mike Rowe on Facebook or listen to his podcast, The Way I Heard It, you’ll be treated to stories about America’s skilled trade workers and how they’re making a difference. These stories inspire all of us at Plex who are privileged to support the manufacturing community....
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5 Warning Signs That It’s Time to Consider Cloud ERP for Your Manufacturing Business
We’ve compiled this list of warning signs many of our customers identified before moving to manufacturing ERP in the cloud. You know your systems are floundering when:...
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