supply chain instead of demand. Add the shoot-up of oil prices, and people are starting to realize we’ll have to reinvent manufacturing in the United States.”

Wayne Morris, president and chief executive officer of MyDials, a supplier of operational business intelligence software-as-a-service, located in Louisville, Colo., sees some reactive and some proactive approaches to aligning manufacturing and enterprises. But it all comes down to information, in his opinion.

“I know of a company that was in a competitive situation and needed to move a new product into the market rapidly to counter the threat. But it may have moved too quickly in terms of getting quality products out,” Morris says. “Lots of people are watching the line, so they need lots of information. On the other hand, many companies are using Lean Manufacturing in multiple different ways—sometimes not only to manage themselves but also to manage suppliers. We’re also starting to see the inclusion of real-time analytics in the way people look at making decisions rather than waiting for the end of a reporting period.”

Marc Leroux, manager for collaborative production management for automation supplier ABB, in Columbus, Ohio, takes a consultative approach when talking with customers. “I don’t just talk return on assets when I talk with customers, but I look at coupling the project with corporate strategic objectives. I always look at the annual report before I go in. I look for what the CEO says are strategic drivers. Then I go to manufacturing and talk to line management. There is often a disconnect. If we can help them understand that what they are trying to do aligns with corporate strategic objectives, then we are in a better situation.” What Leroux often finds is that executives are looking for ways to optimize the supply chain to shorten the order-to-cash cycle.

Learn new language

Colin Winchester, vice president of operations for Software Toolbox Inc., an automation software supplier in Matthews, N.C., notes—like Chris Lyden above—that engineers often can’t speak the language of executives. “They need to talk about ways to improve profitability and understand the company as a process. The engineer needs to understand overall processes about profitability. I’ll be talking with manufacturing and they’ll say, ‘The guys don’t understand we need to fix this.’ But the engineer doesn’t understand that executives need to hear about profitability.”

“It’s absolutely necessary to produce a pure product,” says Sheila Kester, general manager for operations management software at GE Intelligent Platforms, the Charlottesville, Va.-based automation supplier. “Companies need immediate ways to trace anything that happens. They need to say, ‘We produce a pure product, and here’s the proof.’ It is of strategic importance that I can tell you in minutes what used to take days so the company can find it, cap it and replace it before it’s a big public event.”

From aligning manufacturing with corporate strategic initiatives to getting manufacturing managers and engineers speaking the corporate language of finance, suppliers and users are making manufacturing strategically important to enterprises once again.

The Association for Manufacturing Excellence, AME
www.ame.org

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