Today’s global economy offers more opportunities than ever to small businesses. But for U.S. manufacturers specifically, it also has led to more competition than ever. Offshore manufacturers, particularly those in China, have been able to produce products at a fraction of the cost that those same products require in the U.S. In fact, about 5 […]
How to Compete Against Offshore Manufacturing – Especially in China Read More »
Much has been made of the decline in U.S. manufacturing. But the U.S. still produces more than 18 percent of the world’s goods. So manufacturing is still alive and well. However, small manufacturers in particular face a fair number of challenges, including competition from large domestic businesses and those around the world. Here are some
10 Major Challenges Facing Your Small Manufacturing Business Read More »
You always know what you’re putting into your body, right? You might want to think twice before buying those supposedly ‘all-natural supplements’. It turns out that many supplement products may not always be the same as advertised. Buyer Beware (Seriously…) For example, a lawsuit in 2015 accused GNC of putting synthetic chemicals in purportedly all-natural
A Surprising [and Absent] Dose of Reality About the Supplement Manufacturing Industry Read More »
Kanban is a project management approach for nearly any step-by-step process to increase efficiency, reduce waste, and help a business improve. Although Kanban was developed in the 1940s and 1950s to boost manufacturing efficiency at Toyota factories in Japan, the system has been adapted to many industries, including software development, publishing, and retail. Kanban is
From Retail to Manufacturing, Kanban Improves Efficiency Read More »
With each passing year, there are more examples of manufacturers doing impressive things with content marketing. Though manufacturers have been slower than those in other industries to adopt the practice of content marketing, CMI’s annual survey a year ago indicated a breakthrough: 59% said their organization’s overall approach to content marketing was more successful compared
6 Ways Manufacturing Marketers Can Improve Their Content Marketing Read More »
While running a successful advertising campaign can be complex at the best of times, it presents a special challenge to small industrial manufacturers. It’s one thing to advertise a widely understood product, such as a running shoe or blender, to a large consumer market. It’s another thing entirely to sell a manufacturing capability that’s only really
The PPC challenge of selling manufacturing capability vs. stock products Read More »
The physical and digital worlds are accelerating fast, now colliding head-on. In manufacturing, this collision and resulting fusion represent the frontier of innovation and reinvention. Exemplifying this physical-digital collision is the use of “Augmented Reality” to design, manufacture, and service products. This blog discusses several exciting use cases for this technology in smart manufacturing. AR
Augmented Reality is Energizing Smart Manufacturing Read More »
