Innovation is critical for any manufacturing business to sustain long term success and growth. Encouraging innovation in your business will yield surefire results in the form of higher levels of productivity, efficiency, and growth. Our age of fast-paced technological advancement means that innovation is always possible for manufacturing businesses. Not only does technology enable you to reduce flaws in your operations while improving processes, but it enables you to get ahead of the game and ensure that your business is ready for the future of the marketplace.
Work with the Best Materials
The majority of manufacturing businesses find a supplier and stick with them. This used to make sense, as it was difficult to find new suppliers, so the time it took to research quality, technical specs, and pricing (as well as availability) across suppliers would take too much time, so it would be a huge drain on resources. That meant it put a drain on efficiency to shop around with different suppliers. In the modern-day, this doesn’t make sense. Sticking with one supplier means that manufacturing businesses are limiting their innovation potential. It is no longer necessary to only use the same supplier. You can be more efficient, get better prices and facilitate innovation by comparing parts and materials. There are easy ways to do this now – Octopart is a search engine for electrical parts, and it makes finding alternative materials quick and easy. With a specialized search engine’s help, you can find new materials for better prices, opening up new avenues for innovation.
Automate Your Operations
Investing in automation allows you to save the time and resources you spend on human working hours, which can be redirected towards tasks requiring critical thinking and stimulating business growth and innovation. Many big companies are already using automation in their warehouses. For example, Apple has created a recycling robot called Daisy. Apple encourages customers to hand in old devices, which are given to Daisy, who then strips down the parts to be reused. This allows Apple to save the time and money required to source new materials while serving the additional benefit of being environmentally friendly.
Utilize 3D Printing
3D printing is already having a big impact on innovation in manufacturing. The biggest impact that 3D printing is currently having in the industry is by reducing the timelines of new product introduction by a staggering amount. According to Gartner research, it reduces the time it takes to introduce a new product by about 25%. Not only does 3D printing speed up production times, but it reduces the inaccuracies that come from human error. It is predicted that 3D printing will become a mainstay in manufacturing businesses in the coming years. Many companies have seen the potential and are already investing millions in the technology.
Workforce Management Software
Workforce management software enables manufacturing businesses to streamline their daily operations, reduce risk, save time on the production line and improve company culture. It does this by encouraging and facilitating learning. Workforce management software helps to provide real-time data that managers can use to make informed decisions and improve business processes – it’s there to help you to ensure that your workforce is ready and you are prepared for innovation in your manufacturing business.
