To pique the interest of a new generation of talent and to continue to attract customers, manufacturers must think differently about how to showcase their businesses. Things like joining manufacturing associations and getting ISO certified can help manufacturing operations put their best foot forward. Adopting automation and exploring ways to navigate the new supply chain normal will also go a long way to keeping manufacturing operations fresh and current. Anything manufacturers can do to encourage the next generation of manufacturers to get interested and involved should be explored.

Manufacturing Day is a celebration of all things manufacturing.  It is a way to highlight what your companies do to spread the word to your community, potential customers, and the next generation workforce.

When it comes to building sales and brand awareness, blogging is a great way to strengthen and promote a brand as well as drive sales and increase website traffic. Neil Hussey of Denco Lubrication Ltd in the UK led a discussion for USA Manufacturing Hour Chat on Twitter about the benefits of blogging for businesses.

In the manufacturing industry, quality certifications can help drive a company to success. These certifications give a company reputability for manufacturing standards. Quality certifications matter in manufacturing both to the company and the customer. From a company standpoint, certifications help with quality and service, annual and independent audits, review and testing capabilities, reliability of production and delivery, safety, and error minimization. In short, it forces the company to stay in line with operational and quality standards. It is easy to see how manufacturing certifications are beneficial to a customer. With a certification, a customer can easily rely on the fact that a certified company is trustworthy and keeping up with industry standards.

In manufacturing, quality products and services make a difference in the level of success a company can experience. For many manufacturing operations, seeking out a quality certification is a way to not only hold themselves to a quality standard but also to let their customers know about the quality level at which they operate. There are many reasons why quality certifications matter to manufacturers.

There are many types of business models commonly utilized. Two business models that get a lot of focus are B2B and B2C models. B2B, which stands for business to business, is a model in which businesses sell products or services to other businesses. The second model is B2C, in which businesses sell products or services directly to consumers. These two business models seem clear in terms of the differences between them. Yet there is a third business model that is growing in popularity for manufacturers that allows typically B2B operations to have direct access to consumers. This business model is called B2B2C.

A supply chain is a series of links between companies and suppliers for the purpose of producing and distributing a product to a final buyer. This network of links includes various entities such as manufacturers, producers, warehouses, logistics services, distribution centers and retailers. When it comes to supply chain management, a healthy supply chain helps get a product successfully and profitably from the planning phases to the end user in a reasonable amount of time. Healthy supply chains help reduce costs for companies as well as help them stay competitive in the marketplace.

These five stages of a supply chain outline the basics of what it takes to transform raw materials into finished products successfully and profitably.

A modern machine shop automatically adds value within a manufacturing operation. For starters, a modern machine shop houses equipment, usually old and new, that enhances manufactured products in some way. The machine shop is a value-added aspect because anything that happens in the machine shop further enhances and completes a product that is being produced in a facility. Adding value is the enhancement of a product during the process. Let’s look at why a machine shop adds value.

Any machine in a machine shop environment that is machining, plating, polishing, cleaning, or assembling is making money for a manufacturing operation. The nature of adding value is the transformation of the item during the process.

As technology continues to grow and expand, so does the Industrial Revolution. There are four established stages as of now, with a fifth beginning to take shape. It started with the first stage of mechanized production. During this stage, water wheels and steam engines were created, and manufacturing moved from manpower to machine power. The second stage was mass production. A major technological advancement was achieved in the form of electricity. This technological advancement allowed for the creation of assembly lines. The third stage was the Digital Revolution. Analogue electronics and mechanical devices were expanded into digital technology such as personal computers, the Internet, and information and communications technology.

A type of robot growing in popularity in the industrial manufacturing industry is called a cobot, otherwise known as a collaborative robot. The reason for the growing popularity of cobots is their ability to work side by side with human operators to accomplish a task. With ever expanding technology, many fear it will make human workers obsolete. Robots are one of the top concerns. However, when it comes to cobots, they have one great difference from traditional industrial robots. Their design purpose is to work productively alongside humans. This will obviously have the benefit of human labor still required and an advanced form of technology assisting in the job process. Nobody wants to see human labor become obsolete. This is why more and more manufacturing operations are making use of cobots, as they integrate automation systems.