SHOULD WE FEAR GLOBALIZATION

Manufacturing will Survive

James P. Gray

JPG Management Group, LLC

Posted with Permission from the Author

WINOC

445 West Liberty St.

Suite 225

Medina, OH

44256

330-725-4885

Manufacturing will survive... through planning, innovation, sourcing and lean execution.

Manufacturing has been getting hit pretty hard of late. We keep hearing of losing manufacturing to third world countries. While this may be true particularly for commodity or high volume items, this makes for opportunities. For manufacturers, they need to innovate and be lean. Also, small and midsize organizations need to cooperate with others in their community. Outsourcing does not mean going overseas, but utilizing the best resources to better service your customers.

The model for success in manufacturing consists of planning, innovation, sourcing and lean execution. Planning is an understanding of your market and capabilities, and developing a roadmap for success. One key "Quality" is now a given and the organization needs to plan for quality. Plans need to be throughout the organization from strategic to tactical. All plans need to be communicated and understood to be effectively implemented.

Innovation is developing new products, services and processes. No organization can stand on its' past merits. Nor does every shop need to develop their own products, if one can continuously improve its' processes to deliver high quality cost effective work for their customers, they can survive.

Organizations need to look outside their own facilities and even their industry to find others with the best practices to use as resources. This requires cooperation with customers and suppliers. New agreements and ways of doing business are necessary.

Lean execution is a key to success. One needs not only to plan for the best, but needs to execute for the best. All organizations, small and large, need to embrace lean techniques. Even companies that count on product development need to incorporate lean into the development process. Manufacturing can and will survive to be an important part of the northeastern Ohio economy. Will your company be part of it?

About the Author

Jim Gray is the Managing Director of JPG Management Group and a Senior Business Advisor for WINOC in areas of Financial Management, Strategic Planning, Operational Leadership and Lean Implementation (Shop and Office). Jim has a Bachelor of Industrial Engineering degree from Cleveland State University and an MBA in Operations/Strategic Management from Case Western Reserve University.

[See Jim's bio here.]