Are Manufacturers Ready for Shop Floor Modernization?

[Former Member]

While attending the American Manufacturing Strategies Summit in Chicago last week, a rousing discussion arose regarding a recent blog post of the same title by Kirsten Billhardt of Dell @kirstenatdell (here) regarding their theme at the show of "Modernizing the Shop Floor".  Modernization on the shop floor is a continuum between the most advanced new machinery of additive manufacturing and robotics and others still using pen and paper to capture data.  We sometimes characterize non-technology adopters as less advanced as organizations, but there are many reasons including pure economics of the industry or the size of their company challenging adoption. There are some really incredible businesses that are still realizing the value of shop floor modernizations.  In fact, every new plant that goes up, is relocated, or is fundamentally transformed in a signifant way is faced with the same ground-up questions of implementing shop floor modernization and processes.  In locations with new workers or those with a skill set mismatch, clear work instructions, simple UI's to capture information, and basic supporting automation can be even more critical.  Many executives are running very sound businesses, competing aggressively, innovating in the marketplace and yet still have opportunities in improving their manufacturing processes, enabling their workers, and integrating the shop floor into their enterprise.

Hear Bill Edmonds from B&G Manufacturing, a family owned business, talk about how Dell consulting helped helped them realize their vision of bringing electronic information to their workers and capturing data electronically with SAP's Manufacturing, Integration and Intelligence (MII).  Hear Bill talk about how their forced confirmation policy helped them achieve almost 100% accuracy in data capture on quantity and labor inputs.  They innovated in their manufacturing processes the same way they innovate for their customers.  They were able to change the way they interact with their customers, look at logistics differently, and become a company focused on forecasting and planning.  This helps B&G make shop floor modernization a strategic competitive differentiator.

Join us in Madrid in two weeks to hear other similar customers stories and see how SAP solutions and partners like Dell can help you realize the value of shop floor modernization.

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