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Modern Manufacturing
Plex Manufacturing Blog
What is Connected Manufacturing and Why Should You Care About It?
Manufacturing is increasingly becoming part of the digital economy. Even if you are doing good as a business, you still need to respond to the changes taking place in your industry: shop floor (industrial) automation, additive manufacturing, lot sizes of one, cloud computing, analytics, mobility, and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). Because if you don’t, you risk losing your competitive…
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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....
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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. ...
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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....
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Automotive Manufacturing Suppliers: Have You Made the Transition to IATF?
I attended the Automotive Industry Action Group’s (AIAG) Annual Quality Summit in September and the topic of urgency was the required transition from the ISO/TS 16949 quality standard to the new IATF 16949:2016 specification championed by the International Automotive Task Force (IATF), www.iatfglobaloversight.org....
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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....
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Why It’s Critical for Manufacturers to Embrace Digital Transformation Now
Running a manufacturing business is not easy: complying with strict industry regulations, consistently producing quality products, and responding to a rapidly fluctuating customer demand. And your IT team (or person) doesn’t have an easy job, either. Their days are spent fighting fires, manually consolidating from paper-based processes, keeping point solutions running, creating reports, and…
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Mobility in Manufacturing: Connecting the Enterprise
Mobile ERP technology and modern manufacturing means you no longer have to be onsite to ensure that everything is running as planned. You have visibility and control from a smartphone, or any browser-enabled device anytime, anywhere. But mobility goes beyond the device....
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The Two Forces of Change Pressuring Manufacturing Businesses Right Now
It’s no secret that manufacturing is currently undergoing a massive disruption. Products used to be more standardized, demand signals more consistent and predictable, and the underlying supply chains and systems were built accordingly. Efficiency and quality were enough to drive market leadership. But not anymore....
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Common Manufacturing Supply Chain Challenges and How to Overcome Them
The goals of supply chain management and execution is to create a positive customer experience and achieve operational excellence. All too often, execution falls short either because of unanticipated changes or not enough visibility. ...
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