BCG predicts that, with consistent wage increases of around 15 to 20 percent annually, the labor-cost advantage associated with outsource manufacturing to Asia will drop from 55 percent to 39 percent. Rising fuel prices are another concern for off-shoring since cargo fuel costs have nearly tripled in the last decade. Now, factor in the cost of transporting goods, the cost of adding security to protect products and intellectual property, the time wasted going through customs, increasing taxations on imports, and the cost of paying a workforce to manage all of this. Suddenly the benefits of cheaper labor may not yield the benefits planned for.

So, what does this mean for American on-shore manufacturing? With natural gas production on the rise in the U.S., on-shore manufacturers are fueling plants with less expensive energy resources. Between this, and the boom in green technologies and sustainable energy , many American manufacturers are reducing production costs dramatically. With a focus on streamlining efficiency business-wide, American manufacturers are bringing ideal cost-savings to the board, especially in regards to products that are being designed and sold within the country. These new cost savings are making on-shore manufacturing models more appealing.

Improved product quality is also a draw for many companies considering on-shore manufacturing. The automation that more efficient manufacturing systems bring to the table allows for faster innovation cycles, meaning that companies can correct production errors quickly, and even get new products on the market that much faster.

Offshoring is losing ground when you take into account to the speed, agility, and interoperability needed to make efficient business decisions and remain competitive in today’s marketplace. A business’ profits, after all, no longer solely rely on how cheap the final product can be made. There are other global factors that now affect business growth, such as the ability to visualize your entire enterprise’s performance, from internal business function to third party distributers. Added visibility into client needs is also possible.

Bramasol offers consulting services and world-class products to assist companies in the development and optimization their manufacturing and business enterprise.

Just finished an incredibly insightful article on how Predictive Analysis is driving new efficiencies in plant production environments.  We all know that predictive analytics adoption is accelerating.  It is no longer enough to collect, organize, and present historical data that tells us how the organization is performing relative to its goals.  While a complete and accurate picture of our products, people, and financial performance is as important as ever, it fails in its ability to tell us what is likely to happen next.  Data mining and predictive have offered us the promise of such insight, but was inaccessible to most organizations due to cost and complexity.

Chosen as one of Forbes America's Most Promising Companies, the Packsize story is one manufacturing companies need to watch. Learn how Packsize partnered with SAP and Bramasol to establish a solid foundation to support a yearly growth rate of 40%. After implementation of the SAP Business-All-In-One solution, Packsize has achieved global visibility into manufacturing demand and status, procurement needs and sales activity. With that result Packsize continues to attract marquee companies across the globe and recently just established a relationship with Staples as their sole supplier for On Demand Packaging®.

Last week I attended the SAP Manufacturing Industry Customer Value Network Forum in Chicago. It was an outstanding event attended by over 400 people including SAP Manufacturing Experts, Partners, and over 100 customers. I was blown away by the depth, breadth and variety of companies, as well as solutions and people who attended. SAP showed is expertise and leadership in the area of manufacturing with solutions such as Supply Chain Management, Asset Management and Environmental, Health and Safety. Three major themes came out of the conference: 

If I had a dollar for each time that I’ve heard the words, “paperless society”, I’d be drinking a Mai-Tai, watching the waves roll-in from my private Hawaiian beach-front property.  Well maybe that’s an exaggeration, but the reality is that after 40 years of talking about it, technology is now here to support the concept.
 
In March 2013, Aberdeen Group published a document titled, Mobility Making Waves in Manufacturing, I couldn’t agree more but would like to add two words and change the title to, SAP and Mobility Making Waves in Manufacturing, and these aren’t the Mai-Tai watching kind of waves.  In 2005 SAP purchased Lighthammer, in 2006 they acquired FactoryLogic, in 2008 Visiprise, in 2009 Business Objects and then in 2010 they added Sybase, today I understand the vision which drove these acquisitions.
 
Now when I meet with prospective and current customers and they say we want a paperless shop-floor with full security, we want our operators, from their mobile devises and without leaving their workstations, to have the ability to clock-in and out for the day and to log-in and out of an operation, and we want them to have the latest work instructions and 3-D documents and they should be alerted, also via mobile devise, when their equipment is starting to trend out of tolerance, I can look them in the eye and say no problem.
 
Just in time, a concept has become a reality.  I say just in time because, from what I’ve observed, the next-generation workforce is all about “swipe and tap”, a fact that none of us can deny.

Packsize Taps Into Global Manufacturing and Demand and Grows 40% with SAP and Bramasol

Chosen as one of Forbes America’s Most Promising Companies, the Packsize story is one manufacturing companies need to watch. Join this webcast to learn how Packsize partnered with SAP and Bramasol to establish a solid foundation to support a yearly growth rate of 40%. After implementation of the SAP Business-All-In-One solution, Packsize has achieved global visibility into manufacturing demand and status, procurement needs and sales activity. With that result Packsize continues to attract marquee companies across the globe and recently just established a relationship with Staples as their sole supplier for On Demand Packaging®.

On June 25 - 26, 2013, SAP will host a large, national Customer Value Network (CVN) event focused on manufacturing, with Bramasol as a sponsor. Join the manufacturing industry's thought leadership community for this educational forum. Network and learn about the transformational opportunities in manufacturing today and what is working and successful for other companies in managing their business, growth and profitability on industry best practices and technology solutions.