4 Manufacturing Industry Trends in 2023
With a new year comes new trends, and the manufacturing industry has a handful of trends that can make significant impacts for businesses. Thanks to the COVID pandemic, technology lent a hand in furthering traditional manufacturing processes. An informative article on Paycor outlines four trends that are showing up in manufacturing this year and beyond:
- Moving to Cloud-Based ERPs. “Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems help manufacturers manage facility operations and can include anything from payroll to production. In this era of rapid change and constant disruptions, responsiveness is necessary to succeed. A cloud-based ERP can give manufacturers the real-time insights and analytics they need to make immediate decisions to keep production moving. Becoming cloud-based also allows them to layer in other applications, such as employee safety apps or back-to-work systems, in order to quickly meet their needs.”
- Dealing with an Uncertain Job Market. “For manufacturing, the extent of staffing issues can vary depending on what product the company makes and sells. During COVID, those who produced non-essential goods reduced headcount and relied heavily on automation and optimization to control costs. But manufacturers who made essential goods had to increase headcount in order to ramp up production and satisfy demand. Now, as the world slowly returns to normal, manufacturers will continue to reevaluate their workforce based on product demands and a potential recession in 2023.”
- Invest in Big Data. “In order to generate real-time insights during production, manufacturers can expect almost every surface to be transformed into a sensor for data collection. Using software (such as Paycor Analytics) to analyze their people data will also play a key role in forecasting labor costs and production time. The ability to collect data from multiple sources will give manufacturers a comprehensive understanding of their business which is an absolute must as they reevaluate planning models.”
- Upskilling Your Workforce. “The manufacturing skills gap in the U.S. could result in 2.1 million unfilled jobs by 2030 (via Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute). As older workers begin retiring, the more traditional, apprenticeship training model may not be ready to facilitate the types of changes needed. Manufacturers will have to employ more efficient training methods such as virtual reality and mixed-model assembly to drive results and upskill employees”
