Ortiz, Jon Paul Edward M.

Assignment 12
ME421-18 OJT 03/07/2022

Summary: 11 Trends That Will Dominate Manufacturing in 2021

Employee Safety Becomes a Top Priority

It almost goes without saying that employee safety is a —if not the—leading trend for
manufacturers heading into 2021. This has led many manufacturers to in-source facilities
maintenance and management and placed increased emphasis on traceability, which
requires manufacturers to reclaim internal equipment data from OEMs. This renewed
focus on employee safety even extends as far as field service; in order to minimize
contact, technicians will need to be more prepared for each job so that they can quickly
complete open work orders. We also predict that this trend will have a direct effect on
supply chain visibility, as manufacturers demand greater transparency from suppliers as
they work to track issues and claims throughout the manufacturing process.
IoT is (Still) THE Big Thing
Additionally, 34% of manufacturers have plans to incorporate IoT technology into their
processes, while 32% plan to embed IoT technology into their products.“IoT and
predictive analytics are having a major impact on manufacturing, offering exciting new
opportunities for connecting operations and transforming business processes,” said
Michael Strand, Senior Vice President at Hitachi Solutions America. IoT-enabled devices
make it possible for manufacturers to safely monitor equipment performance at a distance
and identify potential issues before a malfunction even occurs; they also enable
technicians to gain a complete understanding of the problem at hand and come up with
potential solutions before they arrive at the job site, so they can get in and get out that
much faster.
Predictive Maintenance Keeps Production on Track
Speaking of predictive maintenance, a breakdown in critical equipment is costly to
manufacturers in terms of repairs, downtime, and loss of productivity. Predictive analytics
enables manufacturers to monitor equipment performance using any number of
performance metrics and to automate the data collection process using IoT technology.
This insight provides manufacturers with a better understanding of how systems work and
when they will fail, enabling them to administer predictive maintenance and save valuable
time, money, and resources in the process.
Shifting Focus from B2B to B2C
In recent years, many manufacturers have opted to transition from a traditional
business-to-business (B2B) model to a business-to-consumer (B2C) model. The B2C
model boasts a number of appealing benefits, including:
 Increased Profits: Companies can get the full manufacturer’s suggest retail price
(MSRP) rather than wholesale prices for their products.
 Faster Time to Market: Rather than contend with the lengthy traditional retail
sales cycle that requires them to lock-in product development far ahead of order
and delivery, manufacturers can rapidly prototype, test, and push products to
market, giving them a distinct competitive advantage.
 Brand Control: B2C eliminates the risk of a manufacturer’s brand being diluted or
misrepresented by third parties.
 Price Control: Manufacturers have the opportunity to reinforce their MSRP.
 Better Customer Data: Selling directly to consumer’s enables manufacturers to
collect customer data that can ultimately result in better products, stronger
relationships, and increased sales.
Manufacturers Plan Their COVID-19 Exit Strategy
The unfortunate reality of COVID-19 is that certain products and the companies that
manufacture them will disappear from the marketplace, never to return. Those
manufacturers that do manage to survive will have had their strategy slate wiped clean,
meaning there’s no time like the present to start planning a pandemic exit strategy.
Gartnerbreaks its post-pandemic planning framework into three phases, referred to
collectively as “The Reset”:
 Phase1, Respond: Immediate actions required to keep people safe and essential
business functions operating
 Phase2, Recover: Restart activities: reopen, rehire, rebudget, and resupply;
create a plan to restore scalable state
 Phase3, Renew: Strategic, durable execution across the organization; use
learnings and emergent patterns from prior phases as elements of a new
foundation
A New Approach to ERP
For example, many of our manufacturing clients here at Hitachi Solutions have
approached us to create PowerApps for everything from employee safety apps to back-
to-work systems; these temporary solutions sit on top of our clients’ ERP systems and
enable them to adapt to the new normal of COVID-19 without having to go through a
multi-year development process. We’ve also seen manufacturers take a data-driven
approach to ERP upgrades. This approach enables manufacturers to move data forward,
consolidate around modern data platforms, and build tangent functions on top of their
existing data model without having to perform a full replacement or make any significant
changes to their existing ERP, resulting in a faster time to value.
Manufacturers Gain Greater Visibility into Big Data
Renewed interest in IoT and increased emphasis on predictive maintenance means big
data is an even bigger trend than ever before; we can likely expect almost every surface
to be transformed into a sensor for data collection in order to generate real-time insights
for manufacturers. The ability to collect data from a multiplicity of sources, combined with
increasingly powerful cloud computing capabilities, make it possible for manufacturers to
slice and dice data in ways that provide them with a comprehensive understanding of
their business —an absolute essential as they work to reevaluate their forecasting and
planning models and develop a successful COVID-19 exit strategy.
VR & AR Support Touchless Service Model
COVID-19 has proven to be a major obstacle to the field service arms of manufacturing
companies, preventing technicians from going to job sites to install equipment or
administer repairs. In the past, customers were often reluctant to explore touchless
service options and instead preferred the convenience of having a technician come onsite
to complete a repair. Now, due to COVID-19, more customers are open to this idea,
enabling manufacturers to evaluate new processes and procedures with the long-term
goal of making them permanent fixtures. In the end, customers and field service
technicians benefit from the reduced risk of exposure, and manufacturers benefit from
exploring new lines of business.
3D Printing Makes Production Faster & Cheaper
These days, manufacturers depend on 3D printing to support prototyping —a highly cost-
effective way for product designers to test and troubleshoot new products —and to
produce items on demand rather than have to manufacture and warehouse them.3D
printing has also transformed the expensive and time-consuming process of tooling.
Historically, it took months for manufacturers to create the molds, jigs, and fixtures
necessary for the mass production of heavy equipment, and many manufacturers
depended on the support of tooling companies headquartered overseas.
Manufacturers Reevaluate Shoring & Sourcing
Prior to COVID-19, reshoring —that is, bringing imported goods or materials back to
domestic production —was already well on its way to becoming common practice
amongst U.S.-based manufacturers. According to some reports, as many as749, 000 jobs
were brought back to the U.S. between 2010 and 2018 as a result of reshoring.
There are a number of reasons for this:
 The economies in many go-to offshoring countries have become stronger in recent
years, leading to an increase in wages for their citizens.
 Countries in which labor remains inexpensive lack the infrastructure to support
complex manufacturing operations.
 The cost of transportation continues to rise.
 Manufacturers are now able to utilize advanced software programs and robotics to
automate many of the processes that once required human intervention.
The Job Market Remains Uncertain
Companies that produce non-essential goods have seen a significant reduction in staff,
while those that produce essential goods have actually had to scale up, add product lines,
and hire new workers in order to satisfy demand. Looking ahead, manufacturers will likely
continue to reevaluate their workforce based on shifts in demand. Though this type of
employee is likely to be a rare find due to the ongoing shortage of tech-savvy talent,
companies like Hitachi Solutions are producing easy-to-use technology that will create
new opportunities for employees of all backgrounds.COVID-19 has changed the world —
and the manufacturing industry —as we know it.