Advanced manufacturing is the combination of innovative solutions with the right cutting edge technology used in a way that increases the speed, quality, flexibility and safety of manufacturing processes while providing and improving upon customer-centric products. This is a term that we will be hearing more about in the months to come. It’s not a new concept but it is certainly the future of manufacturing worldwide. While it is a natural progression for manufacturers that are working on lean implementations, six sigma projects and innovation cycles, it is a leap that many US manufacturers have not been able to invest the dollars, time or enlightened thinking to embrace. This somewhat slow start in the US will be jumpstarted by the COVID-19 pandemic. As we reevaluate all the manufacturing that has been offshored, many industries will be bringing home critical components and products to the US for manufacture. For those products, and others already made here in the US, advanced manufacturing is undoubtedly the way to stay profitable in a challenging sector. There are at least three important components for embracing advanced manufacturing: innovative solutions, technology and customer-centric relationships. The right combination of these three factors, that allows for their natural synergy in your particular industry and application, is what leads to success. Let’s start with the customer-centric relationships as this will play into the other two areas, and we all know that the customer should always come first! Customer-centric implies individual, interactive relationships with key customers that lead to solutions to their actual, well understood, and mutually defined problems. This involves understanding not just their immediate needs but understanding and anticipating what those needs might look like in the future. Understanding and anticipating those needs will lead us into the idea of innovative solutions.
