Smart Manufacturing Blog

Welcome to your source for all things smart manufacturing. Whether you’re looking for expert insights, hard data, or actionable tips for your plant floor, we’ve got you covered every week of the year.

Announcement
7th Annual State of Smart Manufacturing

Now Available!

Get your copy of the 7th Annual State of Smart Manufacturing and hear from 300+ manufacturers in this new survey report!

Plastics & Rubber

Plex Manufacturing Blog

Maximize Your Investment in the Plex Manufacturing Cloud with Continuous Improvement

Kristin van Duelman January 8, 2018

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?

Dave Morfas December 21, 2017

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

What is Connected Manufacturing and Why Should You Care About It?

Hemant Makhija December 14, 2017

Manufacturing is increasingly becoming part of the digital economy. Even if you are doing good as a business, you still need to respond to the changes taking place in your industry: shop floor (industrial) automation, additive manufacturing, lot sizes of one, cloud computing, analytics, mobility, and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). Because if you don’t, you risk losing your competitive…

Read More

5 Steps to Gain Organizational Buy-In for Your ERP Project

George Trudell December 7, 2017

When your company has determined that it’s the right time to look at an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, the first question that typically pops up goes like this: “Is our investment justified?” In other words, you’ll need to go about getting buy-in across your company because ERP touches every facet of your company. From our experience, this effort involves a few steps that are…

Read More

5 Operational Challenges Manufacturers Can Address with Connected Manufacturing

Dave Morfas November 30, 2017

You grapple with operational challenges every day. It’s the nature of manufacturing with so many variables that go into making products. Getting a handle on these challenges is also do or die, because production must continue to meet customer demands. So, you do whatever is necessary to get inventory under control, respond to audits, reduce waste, and manage quality....

Read More

Mobility in Manufacturing Offers New Opportunities on the Shop Floor

Dave Morfas November 21, 2017

The days of documenting inventory or production data on paper, collecting it, and manually collating it are over—at least they should be. Unfortunately, many manufacturers still rely on manual processes, when the combination of mobility and cloud provide a better alternative....

Read More

Mobility Puts Power at Manufacturers’ Fingertips

Dave Morfas November 16, 2017

A recent industry study validated the importance of mobile devices in manufacturing, uncovering that 90% of manufacturers already use mobile phones, laptops and scanners, and an additional 30% plan to deploy consumer tablets. Mobility is simply part of the current and future connected manufacturing environment. But why?...

Read More

Technology Advancements Impacting Your Manufacturing Business Right Now

Dave Morfas November 13, 2017

There are major technology advancements that have made today’s economy more connected than ever before. Whether you recognize these technologies or not, they will have an impact on your business. Your competition may already be ahead of you in taking advantage of these, but you can put yourself in the driver's seat to steer your business in the right direction....

Read More

Manufacturing Chaos to Calm: Operationalize Quality

Stu Johnson November 8, 2017

When it comes to quality management, our friends at the fictitious Edge Manufacturing are grappling with lack of visibility and control. Edge manages quality control on paper. So, it’s hard to verify whether quality procedures have taken place in a timely manner or whether operators just check boxes to move materials onto the next step to avoid production halts. ...

Read More

Manufacturing Chaos to Calm: Gaining Control Over Inventory

Stu Johnson October 26, 2017

Edge Manufacturing is in a bind. Their largest customer, ABC Corporation, just ordered 210 solar-powered attic fans to be delivered by the end of this month—ABC’s biggest order ever. Edge’s inventory manager, Jim, isn’t sure the warehouse has enough raw material to fill that many orders. And, there’s only one way to find out: pull up spreadsheets....

Read More