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Articles by Stefan Schrauf
Inside the Digital Factory
For some manufacturers, the obstacles to digitization have a chilling effect. They are frightened away from modernizing their factories, even though the long-term benefits should be obvious — as should the threat that competitors will outpace them by adopting new technologies. The only way forward is to adopt a realistic road map to digitization. Here’s a six-step plan. 1. Map out your digital factory strategy.
Future-Proofing Your Supply Chain for the New Normal
Supply-chain executives in North America have a lot on their plates these days, to say the least. Trade tensions are pushing businesses to shift supply chains quickly, as well as respond to the never-ending push for productivity improvements — all while political, environmental and economic uncertainty continues to loom. What’s more, today’s digitally connected customers have increasingly higher service expectations, wanting instant delivery to their doorstep, and at a lower price.
Digital Champions
Illustration by Patrick Hruby Most manufacturers, energy companies, and raw materials providers know they face a strategic challenge. Industry 4.0 is coming. Dubbed the “fourth industrial revolution” by World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab, this orchestrated system of digital advancement has also been referred to as an industrial renaissance (see “A Strategist’s Guide to Industry 4.0,” by Reinhard Geissbauer, Jesper Vedsø, and Stefan Schrauf, s+b, May 9, 2016).
Inside the Digital Factory
3D printing of Futurecraft 3D, a customizable running shoe midsole made by Adidas. Photograph courtesy of Adidas The industrial world has been in the throes of digitization for well over a decade. Primarily through enterprise resource planning (ERP) and manufacturing execution systems (MES), critical planning, scheduling, warehousing, inventory management, and logistics processes have been automated and simplified.
Inside the Digital Factory
The industrial world has been in the throes of digitization for well over a decade. Primarily through enterprise resource planning (ERP) and manufacturing execution systems (MESs), critical planning, scheduling, warehousing, inventory management, and logistics processes have been automated and simplified.
Solving the online logistics dilemma: A practical guide toward profitability
E-commerce businesses have allowed shoppers to have sky-high delivery expectations, but these companies have not given sufficient thought to logistics complexities and costs. As we assess retail today, many online operations have never made a profit. A smart, structured approach using a clear framework can start to reverse years of losses. Online retail sales revenues have been a consistent success story since the advent of the Internet.
Industry 4.0: The Five Steps Towards A Digital Supply Chain
If the vision of Industry 4.0 is to be realized, most enterprise processes — manufacturing, product development, customer relations, and the workplace itself — must become fully digitized. A critical element will be the arrival of the digital supply chain. The supply chain today is a series of largely discrete, siloed steps taken through marketing, product development, manufacturing, and distribution, and finally into the hands of the customer.
Industry 4.0: How digitization makes the supply chain more efficient, agile, and customer-focused
If the vision of Industry 4.0 is to be realized, most enterprise processes must become more digitized. A critical element will be the evolution of traditional supply chains toward a connected, smart, and highly efficient supply chain ecosystem. The supply chain today is a series of largely discrete, siloed steps taken through marketing, product development, manufacturing, and distribution, and finally into the hands of the customer.
A Strategist’s Guide to Industry 4.0
Industrial revolutions are momentous events. By most reckonings, there have been only three. The first was triggered in the 1700s by the commercial steam engine and the mechanical loom. The harnessing of electricity and mass production sparked the second, around the start of the 20th century. The computer set the third in motion after World War II (see “The Man Who Made the Computer Age Possible,” by Jeffrey E. Garten).
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