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Modern Manufacturing
Plex Manufacturing Blog
Key Takeaways From the 7th Annual State of Smart Manufacturing Report
Responding to market adversity with agility, improved processes, and technology adoption Welcome to the 2022 State of Smart Manufacturing Report, the most robust edition yet. Based on surveys from 321 manufacturers from across the globe, the results reflect general consistency in major factors impacting manufacturers....
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Utilizing Automation in Manufacturing Processes: The Future Is Here
Driven by the rapid growth of technology, automation in manufacturing processes has significantly evolved over the years. Where traditional manufacturing was once utterly manual, more and more manual functions were reinvented with automated production. This included innovation in conveyance, limit switches, and eventually programmable logic controllers....
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Monitoring, Tracing, and Tracking Manufacturing Processes: What’s the Difference?
The rise of cloud-based software and advanced analytics has helped manufacturers drill further into Lean and Six Sigma methodologies that improve efficiency and lower costs....
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How OEE and Manufacturing Software Improves Efficiency
“Efficiency” is a broad term in manufacturing. It means producing or doing something while using the least time, resources, and energy. For companies like yours, that may encompass efficiency of motion, the effectiveness of training, the quality of SOPs, or inventory accuracy. But it’s when all those components are working together that operations achieve their highest efficiency....
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IoT Traceability Software Eliminates Surprises in Manufacturing
Many people love surprises. On birthdays, anniversaries, or holidays, they can be fun. But in manufacturing environments, not so much. Surprises here can mean missed deliveries, damaged or spoiled materials, compromised brand reputation, and even dangerous recalls. For many years, traceability within manufacturing was plagued by the same problems encountered by any analysis. Siloed data,…
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5 Steps for Improving Your Product Quality
Everyone knows that poor quality can cause headaches that ripple throughout an organization, but not every manufacturer approaches (or even defines) quality the same way. Quality improvement strategies are as old as manufacturing itself, and yet achieving success in this area continues to be a challenge for many in the industry. Done right, and your quality concerns will be reduced to a minimal…
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Inventory Valuation Methods – Which One Works for You?
If you don’t know what you’ve got, you don’t know what you can make. While simple, this statement sums up the importance of inventory accounting in any business. But the value of inventory is just as significant. While accurate unit counts mean actual performance will match the production schedule, inventory valuation affects many areas within the company....
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The Last Mile in Your Quality Journey: Building a Quality Culture for Continuous Improvement (Part 3 of 3)
This is the third and final blog in a series focused on quality management. The first two blogs covered the importance of digitized quality processes and extending quality beyond a manufacturer's four walls. The third and final step I want to cover is the natural progression in Quality: the importance of building a quality culture or mindset across the enterprise....
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The Role of Quality Assurance in Manufacturing
What’s your quality management system like? It’s a simple question, but the answer can be complicated. Most manufacturers say they have a system in place, but what does that really entail? After all, some quality systems are based on manual, rudimentary processes while others leverage automated, cutting-edge innovations. Regardless of the level of sophistication, any quality management system…
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Progressing Down Your Quality Journey: Extending Quality Management into the Supply Chain (Part 2 of 3)
Last week I discussed the importance of starting out your quality journey by eliminating manual processes and embracing digitization. For the second blog in this three-part series, let's look at a natural next step for progression that many manufacturers are taking — extending their quality approach beyond their "four walls" and into the supply chain....
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