Industry Research Reports and Market Analysis at MindBranch.com
  

Manufacturing strategies to counter production pressures (Strategy Focus)

Product Type: Market Research Report
Published by: Datamonitor
Published: April 2006
Product Code: R313-15787
Description
Introduction
As manufacturing becomes more global, low-cost regions are seeing manufacturers come under increasing competition and margin pressure as they try to keep pace with shortening customer demand cycles.

Scope
  • Looks at strategies such as lean manufacturing as a method to reduce the impact of market pressures.
  • Concepts such as demand driven manufacturing are highlighted as manufacturers try to increase business agility.
Highlights
Manufacturers are turning to multiple strategies to improve their production performance. Among these, lean initiatives have proved to be some of the most popular. By removing excess waste from processes, manufacturers can theoretically operate at a more efficient level.

Manufacturers have traditionally employed a formulaic approach to forecasting future demand. This has required businesses to often overproduce as they try to offset the impact of unexpected demand. Demand based forecasting is a concept that is not new to the manufacturing industry, yet has proved difficult to implement in the past.

Reasons to Purchase
  • Understand how manufacturers are using lean strategies to lessen the impact of market pressures.
  • See how demand driven manufacturing can affect manufacturing business and drive revenues.
Table of Contents
DATAMONITOR VIEW

CATALYST

SUMMARY

METHODOLOGY




ANALYSIS

Lean initatives help manufacturers trim waste from their processes


Total productive maintenance aims to minimize production line down time

Six Sigma focuses on production quality

Just in time manufacturing 'pulls' production processes

Kaizen (continuous improvement) ensures manufacturers continue to experience strategy driven benefits

5S streamlines cleanup processes

Quick change over (SMED) ensures that reconfiguration of production lines flows smoothly and quickly

Adoption of lean strategies will vary by region, industry and individual company


Demand driven manufacturing seeks to lower costs while improving customer satisfaction


Demand driven manufacturing removes the need for traditional forecasting

Employing demand driven manufacturing reduces the cost of holding inventory

Demand driven manufacturing can be challenging to implement


Production must be flexible enough to deal with changing demand cycles

Visibility into the supply chain is required for demand driven manufacturing

Real time operation leads to the most significant benefits from demand driven manufacturing

Managing information pertaining to demand driven manufacturing is critical


Demand driven manufacturing will grow in popularity, but manufacturers will need help


Increasing supply chain visibility allows optimization of core and peripheral processes


Production visibility allows manufacturers to hone their core competency


Supplier interaction is an important element of a manufacturer's business

Customer interaction directly affects revenue, and costs





APPENDIX

Definitions

Extended methodology

Further reading

Ask the analyst




List of Figures

Figure 1: Which of the following strategies are you implementing?

Figure 2: Are your manufacturing operations lean or traditional? (1 = traditional, 4 = lean)

Ordering and More Information
Price and Delivery Options



MindBranch has been the leading provider of industry and investment research from more than 550 independent research firms since 1992. With over 90,000 market research reports, MindBranch is your trusted source of competitive business intelligence.