The “continuous improvement” mantra still echoes throughout the supply chain. As 2014 gets underway, many distributors are responding by reaching beyond their traditional customer base for growth.
A pointed example is the tightening of the design and supply chain as companies seek to forge stronger relationships from the design phase on through to production. The trend is an extension of the drive for continuous process improvement in all kinds of manufacturing operations, and it highlights some of the changes taking place in manufacturing today.
“Continuous improvement is alive and well in manufacturing. For most companies, it has become a way of life,” according to a recent manufacturing industry outlook survey from Minneapolis-based accounting firm CliftonLarsonAllen. The firm interviewed executives from U.S. manufacturing and distribution organizations in late 2013 to uncover trends, issues, and challenges facing the industry as we head into 2014. Finding new ways to reduce costs and improve quality remains a top industry goal, the firm found.
“Sixty percent of respondents indicated that their continuous improvement efforts target market pressures like costs, quality, and on-time delivery; 19 percent aim to increase capacity; and just 7 percent said they are targeting inventory reduction,” the survey said. Other efforts to achieve these goals include workforce training, lean manufacturing, and factory automation.
The trend is opening the door for new business to distributors who can drive such changes through supply chain management programs. For some electronics distributors, this means extending their reach to serve a wider range of customers’ needs, beginning with the design phase and moving with customers as they navigate through the production cycle.
