Breathing New Life into the Next Generation of Manufacturing

The Association for Manufacturing Excellence (AME) with 25 years of experience in leading the deployment of the next generation of manufacturing initiatives by increasing the productivity and quality gains of organizations  by  continuously improving their processes by sharing and implementing “best practices”…. resulting in expanded market share and the creation of more high-paying jobs.

Assessing the State of Manufacturing for the Future

The American Small Manufacturers Coalition and member Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) centers commissioned the Next Generation Manufacturing Study in 2009 to assess the country’s progress in implementing Next Generation Manufacturing (NGM) strategies. The six NGM Success Attributes consist of the following:

1. Customer-focused innovation

2. Engaged people/human capital acquisition, development and retention

3. Superior processes/improvement focus

4. Supply-chain management and collaboration

5. Green/sustainability

6. Global engagement

The survey results established a “scorecard” for U.S. manufacturers by which to measure progress in defining strategies within their organizations, implementing best practices to support those strategies, and reaping the performance improvements that will propel them into the next generation.

Gaps for Manufacturers Success in the Future

The resulting “NGM scorecard” provides a gap analysis between where we are today and where we need to be to win today and the decade ahead. A serious gap exists between the strategies U.S. manufacturers believe are critical to their future success and their actual progress in implementing those strategies. What was found are critical threats that demand immediate action: 

• A serious gap exists between the strategies U.S. manufacturers believe are critical to their future success and their actual progress in implementing those strategies.

• Small and midsize manufacturers are less likely than larger firms to be at or near world-class status in each of the next generation strategies.

• Green/Sustainability ranks low among the strategic priorities for U.S. manufacturers despite increasing government regulation, growing consumer demand, and new requirements from large downstream manufacturers in their supply chains.

• Only 28% of respondents believe global engagement is highly important despite a near-term future in which markets, talent, competitors and partner opportunities are growing faster outside the U.S. than within its borders.

• In an increasingly networked world, trusted partnerships are a key competitive advantage, but today effective partnerships with employees, suppliers and regional support organizations are the exception rather than the norm.

• Leadership loss represents a significant threat – or opportunity. One quarter of respondents say a planned leadership succession will occur within the next five years – potentially impacting 80,000 U.S. manufacturing firms.

A Call for Action! Breathing life into the Next Generation of Manufacturing

Manufacturing, an industry long known as the most vital to the overall economic strength of a country is faltering, and without the attention it so desperately deserves, it is in grave danger of continual decline. However, we strongly believe that with the right initiatives, continual support and a great team effort, together we can recreate a thriving and sustainable manufacturing industry, including the creation of countless jobs. The concerned members of the Association for Manufacturing Excellence (AME) invite you to join us in giving birth to the next generation of manufacturing.

Founded in 1985, AME is a network of manufacturing professionals and businesses committed to enterprise excellence through shared learning. AME members have direct access to a trusted peer network and numerous opportunities that provide the knowledge, ideas and practitioner-to-practitioner training that can immediately be implemented by any organization embarking upon, or in the midst of, their continuous improvement journey. AME’s focus is supporting small- to mid-sized businesses that are credited with creating 75 percent of new jobs.  We also provide large locally based companies access to the tools and techniques to enhance productivity and increase global competitiveness.  AME’s strategic goals and objectives are to grow and sustain a stronger manufacturing base not only in a region, but throughout North America as well.

To sustain and grow our industry, we must all determine how to breathe new life into the next generation of manufacturing.  As explained by Michael Porter, Bishop William Lawrence University Professor at the Harvard Business School, “The enduring competitive advantage in the global economy lies increasingly in local things – knowledge, relationships, and motivation – that distant rivals cannot match”.

A region or country must continually retool and upgrade itself to become more productive and thus sustainable. Businesses must move to higher levels of skills and technology to continually improve the quality of their products and services. Otherwise, it will always be vulnerable to being beaten by other locations in the country and in the world that has lower wages. The most prosperous companies and regions are successful because they create higher and higher value products and get higher prices per unit of output.

To achieve these goals, businesses, governments, and learning organizations must collectively focus on developing the resources and the necessary infrastructure to produce quality products and services at an accelerated pace in order to win the global economic race. Local groups of manufacturing professionals can provide the foundation to do this. AME already has a network of industry professionals that can help regions launch local business excellence groups or consortiums using proven deployment processes.  In the end, government should strive to help create a framework, infrastructure and environment that supports rising productivity.

We need the growth of a culture that achieves results through people.  We need rapid advancement of technology and innovation.  And we need Lean and Green systems and attitudes.  But most importantly, in order to make all of this happen, we need to develop pragmatic, working-level leaders who can pull it all together.

We strongly believe that a collective commitment to the next generation of manufacturing will breathe new life into our economy and sustain it for years to come. Please join us in leading these efforts!

Luke Faulstick, AME Chairman            Ralph L. Keller, AME President        

www.ame.org

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