An award-winning plant demonstrates manufacturing excellence—from continuous improvement and best practices to quality and innovation.
Another characteristic that sets an award-winning manufacturing company apart is a forward-looking approach to advanced technology—and that includes cloud computing.
Modern manufacturers have embraced cloud manufacturing. They’ve experienced lower total cost of ownership, faster time to value, always current functionality, and re-capturing resource time that can be dedicated to the core business.
Here’s a look at what a typical day looks like at an award-winning plant:
Start with a Holistic Supply Chain Plan
To deliver on demand, award-winning manufacturers rely on an accurate understanding of shifting customer demands. They first look at order history and use that to create a forecast. The forecast then becomes the basis for demand and capacity planning—where gaps can be identified. The plan is then shared across the sales and marketing organizations and adjusted as necessary. Effective supply chain planning sets the stage for success.
Control the Shop Floor
Managing production in real time means high-resolution traceability and data-driven quality management. Forward-thinking manufacturers have greater shop floor control and visibility at the "manufacturing moment," while production is happening. This includes comprehensive traceability to proactively monitor risks. Beyond real-time visibility, all activity is captured in a single database for analysis by anyone in the business from anywhere, any time.
Connect the Entire Business
Connecting devices, machines, and PLCs on the shop floor is critical, but high-performing manufacturing companies also connect the shop floor to the top floor. This level of connectivity enables everyone in the business the access they need to improve decision making. One manufacturing system of record enables one version of the truth that employees, suppliers, partners, and customers can rely on.
Unlock People Potential
At the end of the day, the success of any business comes down to its people. Recognizing that cloud ERP digitally transforms their business with automation and data capture, award-winning manufacturing companies have pivoted their workforces from labor-intensive, manual processes to higher-value work that has an impact on the business. Technical and IT resources no longer need to manage hardware, software and version control so they can focus on improving business processes through value-added data and business analysis to drive results.
Transform the Business
Transformation happens when manufacturers realize what they can learn about their businesses when they capture operations data within the cloud. This can mean a complete transformation in how they design products, manage quality, control inventory, work with suppliers, and deliver on customer demand. The level of flexibility, agility, and control award-winning manufactures have seen by leveraging operational data is a real game changer.
Be sure to watch the Day in the Life demo so you can see how it all works. You can also take a virtual tour of the award-winning Accuride Gunite plant by watching this video. Be sure to use the 360-degree directional tool in the upper left-hand corner of the video to get the full interactive experience.
