Manufacturing
Manufacturing is changing and experiencing turbulent times, but it is not the story of total gloom and doom which we often hear about:
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Manufacturing contributes 10% of the United Kingdom’s Gross Value Added (GVA) and it employs 2.5 million people directly.
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The manufacturing sector accounts for 50% of exports and 75% of research and development.
Manufacturers are bombarded with advice, often from bureaucrats about how they should run their businesses. Advice to outsource overseas and to keep the design and control in the UK is counterbalanced by stories of major problems with quality overseas; increased freight costs; erratic internet connectivity in parts of the developing world; rising labour costs and problems with labour relations.
However, there are some unequivocal facts. Life is becoming more complex and customers more demanding; the supply chain is now multi-threaded; design and prototyping may take place with customers in the UK while manufacturing may take place in China with materials shipped from India and customers all over the world. It is important to engage with a technology provider who understands the bigger picture and recognises the issues of working across the globe - while at the same time appreciates the immediate and urgent requirements of today’s problems.
The old MRP systems which were run once a week have been replaced by more agile ERP systems, often with Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) functionality to allow collaboration throughout the supply chain and to model the increasing requirement for the Value Add and Value Stream needs of modern manufacture. Business intelligence has always been important; now it is critical - but it must also be more timely, accurate and granular than ever before; broad brush knowledge about last month’s sales is no longer acceptable.
The founders of Waterstons all came from multi-national manufacturing companies in 1994 and have worked with manufacturing clients ever since. It is our largest sector and we have worked hard to keep up to date with the technologies which are required and which are coming on stream.