Announcement
Now Available!
Get your copy of the 7th Annual State of Smart Manufacturing and hear from 300+ manufacturers in this new survey report!
Modern Manufacturing
Plex Manufacturing Blog
FABTECH 2018: Manufacturing Set to Grow--Finding Workers Still a Challenge
While at FABTECH 2018, North America's largest metal forming, fabricating, welding and finishing show in Chicago, we noticed that the industry is on the growth path. Production in the U.S. is estimated to grow 2.8 percent from 2018-2021.1 We’ve also seen that optimism within the manufacturing industry is at an all-time high. ...
Read More
A Halloween Haunting: Scary Stories for Manufacturers
We love the manufacturing industry. And some of us also love celebrating Halloween. What if we combined these two things by re-imagining some of today’s most popular thrillers set in a manufacturing environment? It’s not that farfetched. Let’s explore some ideas....
Read More
“What Is Your IIoT Strategy?” Is the Wrong Question
Manufacturers need to do more! Competitors are doing more--and perhaps at a lower cost. Customers expect more--and may demand a discount assuming that you're continuously improving. The recent technology trends seem to miss the fact that it’s your business strategy that's the thing. Not technology for technology sake. ...
Read More
Plastics and Rubber Manufacturers: 11 Tips to Help You Grow Your Business with Less
It has almost become a cliché to say that manufacturers are under constant pressure to deliver higher quality products at a lower cost. But this cliché happens to be true—especially in the plastics and rubber sector. Given the sheer breadth of products you manufacture and the seemingly endless number of applications for these products, your target market is complex and constantly changing....
Read More
Manufacturers: Risk is an Opportunity, Not a Cost Driver
As a fastener manufacturer, delivering high quality ensures (among other things) that scrap rates are kept low and first pass yield remains high. But did you know that it could also influence which business you’ll win next?...
Read More
How Wholesale Bakeries Can Manage a Complex Manufacturing Process
When you think of manufacturing, your mind may not jump directly to a visual of rows of cupcakes and cookies or a seemingly endless batch of cake cruising down a conveyor belt, but wholesale bakeries have all the same challenges as other manufacturers—and then some!...
Read More
4 Manufacturing Efficiency Ideas to Consider This Summer
Summer is usually a slower time for manufacturers. In fact, you’ve probably already decided to take some time off and get out of town. Nobody will fault you for that. Everybody needs a break. But before you go, make plans to do something else with your summer: carve out time to gain a better understanding of your business. ...
Read More
A Case for Digitizing Food Safety Management Systems
You don’t have to look any further than the recent E. coli outbreak caused by romaine lettuce – the worst E. coli outbreak since 2006 – to know that better food safety practices are essential to consumers’ health and wellness. Over the course of several weeks, nearly 200 individuals across 13 states became sick from the contaminated food. Five people have died to date, and nearly 100 were…
Read More
5 Areas Every Supply Chain Leader Should Focus on to Sustain Competitiveness
As a supply chain leader, you must have a broad understanding of how your entire business flows from sales to procurement to engineering to service. You also need access to a reliable and holistic set of data or you’ll feel more like you’re fighting fires instead of delivering on customer demand. ...
Read More
How to Become a Preferred Manufacturing Supplier
Becoming a preferred supplier is a status most manufacturers want to attain and keep. To achieve this, you need to keep a close eye on quality performance while managing all the work involved with proving compliance. After all, your customers use compliance as a way to weed out lower performing suppliers so the two go hand in hand—even though compliance presents a whole set of headaches for you…
Read More
Manufacturers: Is it Time to Break Up with Your Legacy ERP?
Break ups are never easy. As a manufacturer, ending your relationship with a legacy ERP system that no longer supports the agility and speed at which you do business can seem complicated. But there are many good reasons to move on. First and foremost, saying goodbye is necessary to the health of your manufacturing operations....
Read More
Digitize, Connect, and Comply: Manufacturers Need a Risk-Based Approach
Manufacturing industry standards have undergone significant changes in recent years in an attempt to respond to quality issues in products that resulted in personal injury, and deaths. You have likely seen the rise of the trend toward risk-based quality compliance that focuses on mitigating quality risks through prevention versus the more traditional approach of detection, or catching quality…
Read More
Manufacturers: How Connected is Your Supply Chain Planning?
Unless you have supernatural abilities, you’re like most humans who can’t accurately predict the future. But as a manufacturer—you need an effective way to “see” into future customer demand so you can allocate the right amount of inventory, optimize production, and keep customers happy....
Read More
Maximize Your Investment in the Plex Manufacturing Cloud with Continuous Improvement
Once you’ve chosen, implemented, and worked with the Plex Manufacturing Cloud, you still aren’t “done” with it. Now it’s time to dig in and discover how to really maximize your investment. Just as your business continues to innovate and move forward, your Plex system will deliver updates that you can use to drive even more efficiency and results. ...
Read More
Ready to Turn Your Biggest Manufacturing Challenges into Opportunities in 2018?
Every business comes with its challenges. But, what if you could take your biggest manufacturing challenges—the ones you grapple with day-in and day-out—and turn them into competitive advantages?...
Read More