Smart Manufacturing Blog

Welcome to your source for all things smart manufacturing. Whether you’re looking for expert insights, hard data, or actionable tips for your plant floor, we’ve got you covered every week of the year.

Announcement
7th Annual State of Smart Manufacturing

Now Available!

Get your copy of the 7th Annual State of Smart Manufacturing and hear from 300+ manufacturers in this new survey report!

Stu Johnson

Director of Product Marketing, Plex Systems

Image
Preview stu-johnson

About the Author

Stu Johnson served as Director of Product Marketing of Plex Systems from June 2014 to March 2020.

Shank’s Extracts Puts Quality at the Heart of Its Business for a Sweet Future

Stu Johnson February 27, 2017

The challenge of a private label manufacturer is to make the highest quality products—but quietly. Why? Because it’s all about making the customer look good. Shank’s Extracts knows how to make customers look good with its vanilla, other extract, natural and artificial flavors, food colors, and syrups because the company has been doing it since 1899....

Read More

What Automotive Manufacturers Need to Drive Success in Today’s Complex Markets

Stu Johnson February 21, 2017

Complexity in automotive manufacturing is growing. The systems that support your business are likely just as complex—70 percent of manufacturers see an increase in complexity in their organization’s ERP ecosystem due to changing business environments. You need to manage your supply chain and customer demands but the one thing you have the most control over is your own operations....

Read More

How American Axle and Manufacturing Broke Down the Silos to Gain One Version of the Truth

Stu Johnson February 2, 2017

If you have difficulty getting your arms around how your manufacturing business is actually performing, you are not alone. It’s the number one challenge many manufacturers I talk to want to tackle because it can mean the difference between running a successful company or managing a struggling company....

Read More

7 Best Practices for More Accurate Inventory Tracking and Reporting

Stu Johnson January 26, 2017

Inventory traceability and tracking is all about creating a paper trail of inventory that reflects physical reality. Many companies manually record inventory basics like shipping receipts for raw materials, warehousing, issues from stock to production, and shipments of finished goods to customers. ...

Read More