Manufacturers today are increasingly operating in a global industry. Competitors and customers can come seemingly from nearly anywhere. Production processes are typically accomplished via a widely dispersed set of loosely federated plants. Supply chains and assembly processes can operate anywhere.

Not too long ago, the focus was simply to keep plants and machinery running, regardless of what the market was actually saying. Today, this “build-to-stock” mentality is increasingly being replaced with a “build-to-order” strategy to help streamline operations, reduce idle inventory and avoid material obsolescence.

Combined, these two forces have created considerable complexity for manufacturers seeking to improve efficiency, performance and operational excellence. That pressure, in turn, has driven considerable investment in gaining greater visibility to shop floor operations, supplier activity as well as insights into future end-user demand patterns.

Consequently, the ability to adapt quickly, on demand, has become increasingly critical. Information is power. And, it becomes more valuable when delivered faster, cleaner, to any device.

IDC Manufacturing Insights wrote a whitepaper entitled: “Improve Decision Making with Enterprise Visibility – Executive Access to Global Manufacturing Intelligence is the Key” where this transformation was described. In this paper, IDC identifies five market forces driving the need for greater visibility into manufacturing operations, which are outlined below:

1. Accelerated New Product Introduction: This is perhaps the single most important factor to achieve profitable growth. Reducing the time from approved design to volume production is a clear and measurable goal that every manufacturer is chasing – and can accomplish when better visibility between engineering design and manufacturing operations is achieved.
2. Greater product localization: Despite the fact that production and supply chain networks are global, local cultures and preferences still very much exist. Products must be adapted to satisfy the requirements of local markets – key to this theme is an ability to shift product mixes and manufacturing approaches. That ability is dependent on visibility over demand, as well as manufacturers’ own production sequences.
3. The need to improve quality: Everyone knows that production quality is a differentiator, but it is not always about having a superior product. Delivering consistency is often in fact more important, avoiding adverse events such as recalls, and building up trust with customers. To achieve this, visibility into very granular quality data at the plant is increasingly critical, helping to establish an early warning capability and a higher level of responsiveness to quality leaks.
4. The productivity trap: Considerable success has been achieved from establishing and maintaining a culture of continuous improvement. What has resulted, often unintended, is that higher productivity means more factory capacity, translating into more aggressive pricing, raising the bar for even higher levels of productivity to sustain profitability. This “productivity vise” is further exacerbated by volatile raw material costs that must also be offset by higher productivity. Manufacturers need to set the right priorities for improvement, while at the same time not overextending them in the pursuit of a constantly moving target.
5. Global compliance to regulations: Operating in a global environment means that regulatory compliance must be managed accordingly. The global, international networks most manufacturers face today bring many challenges. Dealing with compliance across multiple borders and territories is complex, and can no longer be left to individual plant management. Regulations regarding the environment, health, and safety monitoring need to be viewed in terms of the entire operational network, and managed holistically, driving a need for greater visibility across operations.

The manufacturing environment has come a long way in a short time, and is evolving all the time. Complex forces are driving agility. The pursuit of growth and innovation has never been more competitive. With improved real-time visibility on both micro and macro levels, manufacturers can embrace these challenges to gain efficiency and competitive advantage through more integrated, global production networks where visibility can help to improve decision support, agility and customer satisfaction.

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