Manufacturing is one of the industries that drive the world forwards, creating innovative and intriguing products from simple hairbrushes and pens for people’s day-to-day lives to precision-engineered machinery that helps organisations make a difference around the planet.
However, there are some growing challenges that companies throughout the manufacturing space are coming up against. Knowing about these challenges helps the industry to react and respond, staying as productive as possible.
Learn more about some of the biggest manufacturing challenges in 2023, in addition to their causes and some of the steps that businesses are taking to resolve them going forwards.
Manufacturing Challenges in 2023
There is a huge range of manufacturing challenges facing companies in 2023, with each one requiring its own unique solution to resolve. By being aware of these issues, you can start to put policies and systems in place to avoid them and keep the company operating as effectively as possible, producing all the goods you need and serving your customers properly. Some of the main concerns facing the manufacturing sector include:
Inflation
Inflation is an economic phenomenon that is a concern for a lot of people, both on a consumer level and for companies. The general idea behind the concept is that the currency itself is devalued, driving the price of all goods up and squeezing demand for products. For manufacturing companies, this is a double-edged sword. Not only are raw materials more expensive to buy in an inflationary landscape, but there are fewer customers looking to buy products thanks to a lack of disposable income.
There are relatively few steps that a business can take to counter inflation. One strategy that some businesses follow focus on having a long-term outlook, trying to keep prices consistent and taking a slight decrease in profits in the short term. As a result of following this strategy, a company emerges from the period with more of a market share than at the start of the period and can take advantage once costs return to normal.
Employee Recruitment and Retention
Having the right employees is one of the most important things for a company of any size. The more complicated the products you sell, the better employee standard you need to make sure that the business is achieving the standards that its customers want to see.
In addition to getting the right members of staff in the first place, retaining them within the business is its own challenge, with larger companies having the resources to draw staff members away. This leads to businesses having to pay more to train completely new members of staff, as well as losing that employee’s productivity.
To combat this, many manufacturers actively take steps to make their workplace as attractive as they can to members of staff. This includes having strong compensation packages, the potential for bonuses and promotions, and building a strong culture throughout the company.
Whilst these factors can take a lot of time and financial investment to secure, they are well worth it as it secures the quality of a company’s products and the loyalty of members of staff for the foreseeable future.
Customer Expectation
Customer standards have undergone a significant transition in recent years. The rise of Amazon and other rapid-delivery platforms has meant that customers have come to expect a good standard of quality in every product, regardless of the timeframe available. This means that companies need to create top-quality goods under incredibly tight deadlines in order to keep up with the competition and do so in a high enough volume to reach all of their customers.
One of the main steps that companies are taking is to modernise their production methods. By adding robotics and a certain degree of automation to production lines, some of the more menial tasks are completed more quickly whilst retaining a high standard of product. The alternative is focusing fully on manual work but increasing the level of training in the workplace to push people to achieve higher standards of work.
Data Security
Data security is increasingly one of the most important things that any company has to pay attention to. Traditionally this focused on the way that a company’s internal data was handled, with businesses putting a lot of their time into protecting their designs and manufacturing schedules. However, this is increasingly becoming an issue with personal data, with people having data rights including:
- Right to be informed on how a company is using their data.
- Right to access the data organisations hold on them at any time.
- Right to rectify any data companies hold about them.
- Right to erase the data that any organisation holds pertaining to them.
- Right to restrict the way that a company processes their data.
- Right to stop organisations from using automated processes to make decisions on their data.
All of these rights combined create a unique challenge for companies, with businesses approaching the issue by adding to their data security provision. Many businesses, including those in the manufacturing sector, are also making full use of data specialists to keep control of their processes.
This significantly reduces the risk of issues like data leaks in the future, whilst also providing more expertise throughout the company to explain data processing to fellow members of staff and customers that request more information.
Technological Development
Technological development is a constant and evolving process, with features such as artificial intelligence and robotics providing a lot of opportunities for companies across the industry. However, this isn’t necessarily a positive for a lot of companies in the sector. If your business focuses on hiring precise craftspeople to make bespoke products, robotics can put a real squeeze on your customer base.
In response, if a company can’t implement robotics into its processes there is a significant benefit to including terms such as “handmade” in its branding. This takes a potential disadvantage and spins it in a way that attracts more customers, improving the chances of customer retention and attracting completely new audiences.
Why Choose Eventura to help Deliver your Sage 200 Manufacturing Project?
With two decades of Sage deployments under our belt, we are experts in delivering robust Sage 200 solutions that are meticulously designed to suit your specific business needs. We take a full 360-degree view of your business, and help you identify all of your requirements.
We have particular expertise in helping industries such as manufacturing, construction and warehousing and distribution, where we have helped create bespoke solutions that tackle industry specific needs.
Our team of expert business analysts, developers, consultants, technicians and support staff will guide you through your Sage 200 project from conception, through to deployment and ongoing support.
If you would like to speak with one of our Sage 200 experts, you can request a free call back here.
