We all know demand variability and predictability are a daily reality for high tech manufacturers. The up-coming holiday season brings its own challenges for the manufacturers of consumer electronics. This year, it looks like it may be compounded by an earlier than expected uptick in underlying demand across most high tech sectors. Just this Monday [...]
From Xerox.com: “With the development of a new silver ink, Xerox scientists have paved the way for commercialization and low-cost manufacturing of printable electronics. Printable electronics offers manufacturers a very low-cost way to add “intelligence” or computing power to a wide range of surfaces such as plastic or fabric. This development will aid the commercialization [...]
Verical, Inc., the Electronic Components Marketplace, today announced the production launch of its online trading platform for global high tech manufacturers and distributors of electronic components. Countering major risks to the high tech supply chain, the Verical Marketplace uses information and technology to create a unique pedigree scoring system for component parts available in its [...]
Check out our SupplyChainNetwork search results for the term “supply chain innovation”. As we appear to finally be hitting bottom relative to the current recession, there’s no better time to introduce innovative ideas and innovation into your supply chain to both improve service and reduce costs. http://bit.ly/Z4YoV
The real challenge to Lean, however, requires this first change, a shift in the culture. Consumer products manufacturers are early on in their Lean journey compared to companies across industry, with 56% less than a year to 3 years into it. By leveraging external expertise and taking small steps in their Lean programs, these manufacturers [...]
In the last several years, the manufacturing sector has moved from vertically organized structures to horizontal organizations; that is, a single company no longer controls its product from, let’s say, the mine to the store shelf. Instead, today’s companies control only pieces of the supply chain, and the companies and divisions controlling those various components [...]
Using Lean principles, manufacturers have made significant improvements to their operations, from improved productivity, increased resource utilization, to a more accurate understanding of product costs. One area where manufacturers may not have thought to apply Lean is the workforce. But as labor pressures increase and margins tighten, savvy manufacturers are turning their attention to the [...]
