Announcement
Now Available!
Get your copy of the 7th Annual State of Smart Manufacturing and hear from 300+ manufacturers in this new survey report!
Food & Beverage
Plex Manufacturing Blog
5 Steps to Gain Organizational Buy-In for Your ERP Project
When your company has determined that it’s the right time to look at an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, the first question that typically pops up goes like this: “Is our investment justified?” In other words, you’ll need to go about getting buy-in across your company because ERP touches every facet of your company. From our experience, this effort involves a few steps that are…
Read More
5 Operational Challenges Manufacturers Can Address with Connected Manufacturing
You grapple with operational challenges every day. It’s the nature of manufacturing with so many variables that go into making products. Getting a handle on these challenges is also do or die, because production must continue to meet customer demands. So, you do whatever is necessary to get inventory under control, respond to audits, reduce waste, and manage quality....
Read More
Mobility in Manufacturing Offers New Opportunities on the Shop Floor
The days of documenting inventory or production data on paper, collecting it, and manually collating it are over—at least they should be. Unfortunately, many manufacturers still rely on manual processes, when the combination of mobility and cloud provide a better alternative....
Read More
Technology Advancements Impacting Your Manufacturing Business Right Now
There are major technology advancements that have made today’s economy more connected than ever before. Whether you recognize these technologies or not, they will have an impact on your business. Your competition may already be ahead of you in taking advantage of these, but you can put yourself in the driver's seat to steer your business in the right direction....
Read More
Manufacturing Chaos to Calm: Operationalize Quality
When it comes to quality management, our friends at the fictitious Edge Manufacturing are grappling with lack of visibility and control. Edge manages quality control on paper. So, it’s hard to verify whether quality procedures have taken place in a timely manner or whether operators just check boxes to move materials onto the next step to avoid production halts. ...
Read More
Manufacturing Chaos to Calm: Gaining Control Over Inventory
Edge Manufacturing is in a bind. Their largest customer, ABC Corporation, just ordered 210 solar-powered attic fans to be delivered by the end of this month—ABC’s biggest order ever. Edge’s inventory manager, Jim, isn’t sure the warehouse has enough raw material to fill that many orders. And, there’s only one way to find out: pull up spreadsheets....
Read More
Here’s How to Build Your Team of Plex Champions
The Plex Manufacturing Cloud enables you to dramatically reduce the burden on your IT staff, infuse quality throughout production, and gain an incredible amount of visibility and control. It essentially becomes the technology foundation for transforming your business. ...
Read More
Active Planning at Plex and How Manufacturers Can Leverage It Too
Most businesses do planning and budgeting using spreadsheets. Everyone knows how to use them and they provide a good enough tool but, they are error-prone and time-consuming when it comes to sharing and collaboration. Links get broken and formulas have to be manually copied and pasted. Not a great solution when business moves at light speed or when things change, and they always do....
Read More
Four Key Considerations Manufacturers Need to Know with a Global ERP Implementation
In today's highly competitive marketplace, chances are good you're considering, have decided, or have been asked by customers or suppliers to expand your business across borders. Growing your company's global footprint can indeed bring competitive advantages. It also brings added complexity and the need to expand business processes to seamlessly encompass multiple locations....
Read More
Manufacturers are Relying on Technology for More Responsive Supply Chains
Agility and speed are the hallmarks of today’s supply chains due to increased global connectivity and competition. No longer is it enough to focus on quality, costs, or efficiency to remain competitive. Manufacturers today need to be responsive to shifts in customer demands, and they are realizing that the key to differentiation is in supply chain execution and flexibility....
Read More