A National Manufacturing Strategy

In our local news paper this morning in the Editorial section was an article written by our U.S. Senator from Ohio, Sherrod Brown. titled “A National Manufacturing Strategy”. This opinion outlines the need to stop the decline in manufacturing jobs in the United States by promoting a four (4) step strategy:

1. Innovation (a climate for investments in R & D)

2. Supply Chain (tool for transition from contracting industries)

3. Skills (improving the labor force)

4. Fair Trade (eliminating unfair trade policies)

These are all sound ideas and at the macro level they make sense. However, from our point of view it is the factory level that needs improvement. Most manufacturing companies put little, if any, investment into factory floor technology…specifically, information systems in the hands of the labor force. Still today most companies are licensing information tools that are used by office personnel (overhead) and not the factory worker.

Controlling the cost means understand material and labor variances on a job by job and part by part basis instead of a monthly bucket that cannot be reconciled for process improvement. As a leader in Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES), production scheduling and factory floor information systems, we want our political leaders moving forward with a sold vision but before we put plans together to build a new stadium, let’s start with improving the blocking and tackling that makes manufacturing here in the United States cost effective. Let's find a way to inform Executive Level Management to start looking first at home (their plant) for using information tools that improve the skills, allows better Supply Chain management and provides ready to use and proven innovation on the factory floor…and do it now.

Comments (1)

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