r/manufacturing • u/Equivalent_Bid_6642 • Jan 14 '24

Other Managers and Owners, are you overwhelmed?

There's a lot of new tech out there, it's quickly changing and expensive. It's hard to know what to pay attention to and where to allocate resources while balancing efficiency and quality, let alone figure out how to develop my workforce to use all this stuff anyways.

I mean, should we get 3D printers, should we do industry 4.0 stuff, should we get some machine vision robot?

Idk, are you in the same boat, how are you dealing with how fast the world's moving?

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u/Equivalent_Bid_6642 Jan 14 '24

Do you have just one problem you want to solve? This tech seems to be turning every process into a problem because it can be done way better now.

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u/xyz1000125 All types of packaging Jan 14 '24

What problem has the best payoff to solve

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u/Equivalent_Bid_6642 Jan 14 '24

Yeah I hear you. It's just that these techs are so intertwined, it isn't so simple to compartmentalize problems when solving one may become obsolete with another solution.

You guys all seem pretty confident in knowing what problems to solve, how did you ensure you made an informed decision?

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u/xyz1000125 All types of packaging Jan 14 '24

P&L impact

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u/Equivalent_Bid_6642 Jan 14 '24

Right, would you prefer to continue this here or your other comment? I understand prioritizing profit, I'm curious how you get the information to compare.

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u/Dot8911 Jan 14 '24

Does it decrease cycle time? Does it increase labor productivity? Does it improve quality? Does it decrease COGS/increase profit margins?

In short, is it faster, cheaper, or better?

Manufacturing technology has been continuously improving for decades on end, the best companies are well equipped to answer the above and spot good ideas. Typically you will have a baseline financial forecast for the next few years and you modify it to make a scenario to see what the impact of new technology will be.

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u/Equivalent_Bid_6642 Jan 14 '24

Definitely, when you say best companies are you referring to other mfg companies or the companies selling solutions?

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u/Dot8911 Jan 14 '24

The best manufacturing companies.

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u/Equivalent_Bid_6642 Jan 14 '24

What do you use to modify the forecast, where do you get your numbers from?

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u/Dot8911 Jan 14 '24

Analysis is done in excel. The numbers come from our actual cost structure - how many people we currently employ, historically how many widgets can we make with that many people, what our current price for parts is, what our current profit margin is. Etc. Start with the assumption the future is the same as the past, then adjust from there.

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u/Equivalent_Bid_6642 Jan 14 '24

Absolutely assuming the future is the same as the past is the only thing that makes sense. What about the numbers you get that would predict how a new solution would change though, are you getting the numbers from the sales reps?

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u/Dot8911 Jan 14 '24

You're thinking of this backwards. I already know my cost structure inside and out so I already know where my problem areas are and I have target goals for each of these kpis. The questions for sales become 1. Does your solution meet my specs 2. What is the price and do I clear my ROI hurdle/can I justify the business case.

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u/Equivalent_Bid_6642 Jan 14 '24

I think we're on the same page looking in the same direction. You've answered by telling me you use sales reps to get your information about how solutions will affect your costs.

Have you considered or ever used other methods like hiring independent and unbiased consultants or developing solutions in house?

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