Infor, a leading provider of business application software serving over 70 000 customers, today announced details of a seminar on the future of manufacturing, at The Forum, 1st Floor, Wanderers Building, The Campus Office Park, 57 Sloane Ave, Bryanston 2021, South Africa, on Tuesday 17 May.
The seminar will include a presentation by Craig Simpson, lead analyst at IDC Manufacturing Insights, who will present results of one of the largest global surveys focused entirely on discrete manufacturers; authored by IDC Manufacturing Insights and sponsored by Infor and IBM.
News points:
* One of the key findings of the study is that increasing complexity is cited as one of the key challenges facing senior executives across automotive, metal fabrication, industrial machinery and equipment, and hi-tech electronics industries, with 52.8% declaring their operations to be more or significantly more complex than five years ago.
* Driving down costs and achieving profitability tops today's business concerns, but customer fulfilment is heralded as the most important business initiative in achieving these challenges - marking a significant change from manufacturers' sole focus on cost cutting at the peak of the financial crisis in 2009. Therefore retention and growth of existing customer relationships must be a top business strategy, according to the survey.
* Almost half (44.6%) of respondents recognise technology as a vital component in their pursuit of operational excellence, with improved decision-making, profitability and cost reduction cited as the areas enterprise resource planning (ERP) can add the most value.
What IDC says
“Increased competition, globalisation, product proliferation and elongated supply chains have conspired to create escalating complexity for manufacturers,” comments Craig Simpson, lead analyst, IDC Manufacturing Insights.
“Fuelled by the global financial crisis, the discrete manufacturing sector has faced unprecedented change in the last 24 months. As we begin to turn a corner, we are seeing a significant shift in emphasis towards customer fulfilment as an equal priority to cost cutting, as manufacturers seek to capitalise on the relationship between customer retention and profitability.”
What we say
“In order to thrive post-recession and achieve long-term business growth, investment in customer retention is imperative for sub-Saharan manufacturers,” comments Andrew Kinder, director of product marketing, Infor.
“However, companies need to overcome the barriers created through increasing complexity to become more agile, and ensure they have accurate real-time information at hand to deliver on customer-led strategies. As the study highlights, improved IT infrastructure is a key component in facilitating better decision-making, profitability, customer fulfilment and efficiency of manufacturing operations. The next few years will inevitably bring new challenges in the quest to enhance customer fulfilment, but without the right tools to manage customer relationships, these challenges will prove even tougher to overcome.”
Additional resources:
- To understand the top manufacturing concerns, together with a wide range of business strategies to help further success in 2011-2012, register for the event here.
- The Forum,1st Floor, Wanderers Building, The Campus Office Park, 57 Sloane Ave, Bryanston 2021, South Africa
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Infor
Infor is a leading provider of business software and services, helping 70 000 customers in 125 countries improve operations and drive growth. To learn more about Infor, please visit www.infor.com.
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