Charting Your Course on the Technology Road Map (Part 1)
Strategies for Manufacturing Success
This is article is part of a series of monthly articles produced by Harbour Results for PMA’s MetalForming Business Edge e-newsletter. Click here to view the full collection of articles.
The technology revolution experienced by individuals and businesses throughout the last 10 years has opened the door to a great deal of opportunity, while also and creating complexity and frustration. Regardless of what door you most relate to, manufacturing and advanced technology go hand and hand today.
According to the 2023 PMA Metalforming Insights Benchmarking Study, the average capital spend as a percent of revenue for metal formers has hovered around 4% for the past several years. What this shows is that most businesses are focused on investing in technology to support process improvement and equipment monitoring, ERP and production scheduling software.
However, most manufacturers do not have a technology strategy, putting them in a reactionary position to customer requests and/or the competitive landscape. This reactive approach can lead to issues down the road and likely generate unneeded complexity and expense.
Over the course of the next two newsletters, we are going to share best practices for establishing a technology road map that ensures you are achieving your goals and maximizing productivity and profitability.
Mapping your (Technology) Future
So, what is a technology road map? Simply put, it is proactively creating a vision for adopting and integrating technology into your business. It means laying the foundation to understanding your current capabilities and determining what processes, technology and people you will need to achieve your long-term business strategy. By developing a road map, you can:
Ensure all equipment and software are aligned and collaborative
Clearly define the necessary capabilities and maximize equipment use
Identify the talent and/or training required to seamlessly integrate technology
The first step in developing your technology road map – assuming you have already established a long-term business strategy – is to understand what is possible. What equipment, software and automation are available and how do manufacturers utilize them? We encourage you to attend equipment trade shows, such as Fabtech, and talk to your industry peers. Consider sharing a challenge that you have encountered and ask how they would have manufactured the product – you may discover a better way for next time!
Additionally, be open to and collaborate with your vendor partners. Invite them to your facility to educate them on your latest improvements, share what you are trying to accomplish and see how they can help. Finally, talk to your customers to learn about what they are seeing and experiencing across the industry.
Once you understand the available technologies and how they can impact your business, you can categorize and prioritize your investment. Common technology categories include:
Improve your manufacturing speed and efficiency
Enhance your value-add capabilities (i.e., provide customers with a more complete product)
Process monitoring
Continual quality control
Next, with all the information you have gathered and understanding everything that you want to leverage, you can determine what will impact your business the most and/or address your most pressing challenges. Armed with that information, create a phased and planned implementation timeline. Keep in mind that the sum of your plan (and investment) is greater than each individual piece of technology on its own. However, it is still important to track your level of return throughout the implementation process.
In the March newsletter, we continue on the journey of building a technology road map, including more details about vendor selection, technology implementation, measures of success and key things to consider.
Related Articles
