Topic: Manufacturing

n Erik Kaas’s Six reasons why manufacturing systems fail, the Sage ERP VP of product management identifies several ways a manufacturing system can do more harm than good. I wanted to jump in on the[…]

Most every company talks about a Lean supply chain.  The pressure to reduce inventory, improve asset velocity, preserve cash, and make the numbers look good on the balance sheet drives most supply chain[…]

Graphic by David Sasda.

It’s no surprise that outsourcing has changed the global manufacturing landscape over the last several decades, for better or worse. Outsourcing allows manufacturers to competitively price and scale up and[…]

Success often strikes when you least expect it, and when it does, will you be ready? This blog series will help you determine whether your business is ready to handle the challenges of an increase in[…]

When IndustryWeek released its annual ranking of revenue growth for the 500 largest publicly held U.S. manufacturing companies, it was exciting to see the progress made in 2011.

The point of purchasing a PLM or PDM system is to simplify and centralize your BOMs and other product data. But once your BOMs, Items, AMLs and associated content exist in a structured format, you are[…]

Building a HeathKit was no great feat of engineering—it came with a fixed list of parts and the schematic—but it helped you understand how electronics work by letting you assemble your own electronic[…]

Supply chain diversification is perpetually on the mind of most production managers. Not too surprising, considering how turbulent 2011 has been politically, economically and geologically.[…] read more

As closely as manufacturing and engineering work together, sometimes it feels like they are worlds apart. Engineers are told to design something, manufacturers are told to make something. Engineering opens[…]

In the last fifteen years, manufacturing in the United States has undergone a fundamental shift. As millions of U.S. manufacturing jobs have been lost to outsourcing and automation, output has steadily[…]

While there are few opportunities to discuss clean tech and innovation with friends and industry-leaders, there are even fewer opportunities of this nature that include great food and music.[…] read more

As I said on Tuesday, small manufacturers face unique challenges when it comes to navigating the contract manufacturer (CM) and original equipment manufacturer (OEM) relationship.

Outsourcing plays a role in almost every manufacturing strategy. But for smaller manufacturers with fewer resources available, the challenges of outsourcing—finding the right contract manufacturer (CM),[…]

When it comes to manufacturing a product, there is a certain level of risk that is impossible to avoid. No matter how much planning you do, something will eventually come along that takes your organization[…]

For those of you that missed it, Arena premiere partner Global Supply Chain Solutions hosted a webinar last week that discussed best practices for managing your supply chain through periods of global[…]

Last year we published a post about SawStop, a line of table saws equipped with a patented safety brake that stops a saw blade instantly when it senses human skin.

If you are a small to mid-size manufacturer, it’s probably safe to assume that you outsource some or all of your manufacturing. But “outsourcing” is a very broad term that means different things to[…]

I wrote a bit on Tuesday about the importance of documenting part information during the design process, and today I’d like to talk about another type of documentation that is commonly overlooked in[…]

You remember those friends in high school that didn’t like to show their work? I predict that many of them are now engineers. Most engineers I know see documentation as an obligatory and pointless chore,[…]

As Cisco closes its “Flip Camera” chapter of history, it’s shutting down a 400 million dollar business, letting go of 550 employees and spending $300 million in restructuring costs. But given the[…]

Historically, manufacturers haven’t had a lot of online networking opportunities. That’s why I was so excited to discover Manufacturing Chat (mfgchat)—a bi-weekly Twitter chat about all things[…]

For most companies, manufacturing changes begin when an issue is identified on the manufacturing floor and end when a solution is implemented into a product’s design. But there are a million ways to manage[…]

We saw the bill of materials (BOM) for the iPad 2 last week and were impressed by the low costs Apple was able to achieve for its newest version of the tablet, which is considerably improved over the[…]

As we mentioned recently on this blog, it is commonly believed that much of U.S. manufacturing has moved overseas in search of cheaper manufacturing alternatives. And while it’s true that many companies[…]

As northeastern Japan lies in ruins following the biggest earthquake in its history, companies around the world are conducting business as usual. But even if you didn’t feel Friday’s earthquake, disasters[…]

For small to mid-size businesses, manufacturing beautifully intricate product parts typically means contracting a supplier to do the job. But what if you were able to *print* your own parts in your own[…]

The goal of most manufacturing organizations is the same: build great products in a repeatable way. That requires good manufacturing processes — which obviously takes more than just having the appropriate[…]

The revitalization of U.S. manufacturing is a top concern for the Association for Manufacturing Technology (AMT), which is proposing a “comprehensive national strategy” to help jumpstart U.S. economic[…]

The above statement may seem like a no-brainer for those who speak supply chain; however, it was one of the top takeaways in the 8th annual “Global Survey of Supply Chain Progress” conducted by Supply[…]

*Lightbulb* You’ve just conceived a brilliant new invention. Now what? A recent post in the MFG.com Mojo blog offers suggestions to help you navigate the early stages of “bringing your creation to life.”[…]

Small contract manufacturers in less industrialized regions of the country may feel that business opportunities are not only scarcer, but also more challenging due to the restrictions of their geographic[…]

The economic recovery seems to have spawned a renewed focus on lean manufacturing. In addition to a recent flurry of articles, we’ve also been hearing it more in our conversations with small and mid-size[…]

I have recently been talking to people in small and mid-size businesses about their goals for this year and the challenges they face. New product development is on many companies’ list of goals, but[…]

According to UNICEF, in Ghana 25% of deaths in children under 5 are caused by diarrhea. In Northern Ghana, where more than half the population gets its water from wells, ponds and streams, this percentage[…]

Anyone connected to the construction industry has been hit hard by the economy in the past few years. And now, unless a company is part of the green revolution, the construction industry is going to[…]

The American Machine Tool Distributors’ Association (AMTDA) and the Association for Manufacturing Technology (AMT) report that March U.S. manufacturing technology consumption (USMTC) totaled $258 million.[…]

Thanks to The Impossible Project, Polaroid film is back, and production of Polaroid cameras is following. In the 1960s, half the homes in America had a Polaroid camera. By the year 2000, 13 million of them[…]

Chris Anderson has written a phenomenal article about the democratization of manufacturing in a recent issue of Wired magazine. I cannot recommend the article enough, if for no other reason than the chance[…]

I’m kind of a vinyl nerd. When things get hectic, I retreat to the man-cave in my garage, play some pinball and play my records on a little turntable perched on my workbench. I’ve always been curious about[…]