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    Home»Swarfblog»A Must Read
    Swarfblog

    A Must Read

    Lloyd GraffBy Lloyd GraffDecember 21, 2012Updated:January 21, 201414 Comments5 Mins Read
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    “Massive multidimensionality”

    Sometimes you read something so brilliant, so incisive, so right on, you want to jump for joy and call your friends. This came in yesterday from the publication Industry Today. (See if you can make it to the end)

    –Lloyd Graff

    “2013: A New Manufacturing Era”      (from Industry Today)

    “It has been a long tradition: In December and January, publications—no matter what subjects they cover—like to engage in the game of New Year predictions. That’s why we were excited when IDC presented us with its Top 10 manufacturing industry predictions for 2013, which we—in turn—present to you.

    We’re not immune to the Nostradamus impulse. But we don’t assume the role of prognosticator. Rather, as a journalistic enterprise, we like to report on what we feel are the most reasonable predictions. We leave the fortune-telling to someone like IDC (International Data Corporation) Manufacturing Insights, the Framingham, Mass.-based organization that analyzes trends in global supply chain, demand management, product lifestyle management, operations, technology, and sustainability, among many other elements.

    We’ve chosen wisely; the organization isn’t a carnival tent tarot card reader. After all, consider what IDC predicted in 2012: emergence of “engaged” organizations, stronger supply chain alignment, IT support of supply chain, increased adaptation of “lean” innovation, greater product lifecycle visibility, factory capabilities focused more strongly on customer demand than just on production capacity, increased efforts toward sustainability, and the advancement of a culture of learning among manufacturers and their employees. If you’ve been reading Industry Today in the past year, you’ll recognize these topics as common themes that thread through our feature articles and company profiles.

    It all came true. Indeed, IDC is prescient.

    That’s why we were excited when IDC presented us with its Top 10 manufacturing industry predictions for 2013, which we—in turn—present to you:

    • Prediction 1: Watch for the “new wave” business productivity. Kimberly Knickle, IDC Manufacturing Insights’ practice director, explains what that means: “Many companies are already there, where ‘new wave’ productivity relates to process, business ecosystems, individuals, and management. Scope has broadened and has become much more complex, due to the current economic environment.”
    • Prediction 2: The House of Productivity will be supported by four pillars. “That refers to the first prediction and means ‘how are we going to do this,’” says Knickle. “IDC sees it happening through big data/analytics [tools and technologies], the ‘cloud’ [advanced computing technology], mobility, and social business – more specifically, a combination of these elements, which fosters a collaborative process.”
    • Prediction 3: Resiliency becomes a priority for manufacturers looking to master “massive multidimensionality.” That’s a tough one to swallow. What does it mean? Again, Knickle clarifies: “Resiliency is critical to the supply chain, and complexity comes from the fact that these are global operations and markets – so the capability to respond to unexpected change, and even expected change, is important. It’s about supply chain agility, and multidimensionality simply means keeping track of all that is going on in the chain where the multiple components comes in, and to behave accordingly. That requires resiliency.”
    • Prediction 4: Manufacturing IT organizations will have to support a more productive operational ecosystem. We’re not talking about nature, but about business. “This refers to the manufacturers’ and the business environment challenges, on the supply and demand sides,” describes Knickle.
    • Prediction 5: Companies will recalibrate the product lifecycle process. “Product management is too important to be left to the engineers. The economics of the product lifecycle dictate a LOB [line of business] ‘big tent,’” says Knickle.
    • Prediction 6: IT delivers a “digital thread” for the product management process. “This involves how technology will play a role, and envisioning the full product lifecycle. Some of the components will be visualization technology,” says Knickle.
    • Prediction 7: Service excellence will become a strategic priority. That’s pretty much self-explanatory. Some companies already understand this, and act upon the realization.
    • Prediction 8: Technology advancements will accelerate service excellence initiatives. See above.
    • Prediction 9: People will be at the center of the factory of the future. “We’re really not moving away from labor-intensive manufacturing,” observes Knickle. “This means how important it is for people to make decisions. Higher levels of IT and automation in factory are very important, but how people make decisions, based on information, will make the difference.”
    • Prediction 10: Advanced technologies will emerge in support of operational excellence strategies.

    That last prediction is perhaps the most exciting. We can’t wait to see what’s going to happen next.

    Meanwhile, Bob Parker, IDC Manufacturing Insights’ group vice president, offers this observation: “Manufacturing companies are sitting on a record stockpile of cash and, provided near-term uncertainties are resolved, are looking at robust global markets beyond 2013. Also, we are seeing a generational change at the executive levels across all segments.”

    The new generation of manufacturing leadership, IDC anticipates, will favor longer term growth initiatives based on advanced technology. So, the emerging leaders are heading into a brave new world, and without fear.”

    Sometimes, insights leave you speechless. Inspired?

    Question: Do you read manufacturing industry magazines?

    Lloyd Graff is Owner and Chief Space-Filler for Today’s Machining World, and Owner and Chief Space-Filler of used machine tool firm Graff-Pinkert & Co.

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    Lloyd Graff

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    14 Comments

    1. shawn arnold on December 21, 2012 12:25 pm

      Yes I do…my favorite is this rag out of California called CNC WEST.

    2. ed kays on December 21, 2012 12:35 pm

      I don’t have time to read that many magazines. The above article tells me “I ain’t missin much”

    3. Ted on December 21, 2012 12:45 pm

      I like number 9 and 10 the rest sounds like alot of noew wave corporate gobbledy gook.
      9 sounds like someone realized that we still need need skilled labor to run the advanced manufaturing machinery. Number 10 sounds like what the industry has been doing for the last 20 years, it’s just taken all this time for the industrial pundits to catch up.
      … at least it’s not political this time.

    4. shawn arnold on December 21, 2012 12:58 pm

      this 10 point list would cure insomnia…my guess is that Lloyd was showing his sarcastic side when he said this is a must read and to alert your friends

    5. Ken Myers on December 21, 2012 1:00 pm

      Great article [again, Lloyd &, YES, I do read manufcturing magazines regularly but your’s is ALWAYS a must read for me.
      Thanks & Merry Christmas, Ken

    6. Hank on December 21, 2012 1:07 pm

      Very few because most of the writers are like this Knickle Knut and spend way too much time in classrooms and behind desks and have no clue how real work gets done and would not recognize productivity if it bit them in their backside.

    7. Albert B. Albrecht on December 21, 2012 2:36 pm

      Coventional wisdom tells me it is the men and women on the production floors that will control the growth of manufacturing in the future – not the intelects out of touch with the real world.

    8. Andy Berlage on December 21, 2012 5:08 pm

      I don’t even understand what half of it means, Lame.

    9. jax thomas on December 21, 2012 5:42 pm

      it sounds to me like a professor wrote this article. lots of big words to learn that mean absolutely nothing. the people that are still around have done all this stuff a long time ago. this is a must read for the people going out of business or already out of business, exactly an area where a professor would shine

    10. Bill on December 24, 2012 8:34 am

      Pretty much crap wxcept for 9 & 10.

    11. Peter on December 26, 2012 10:05 am

      If I had a Knickle for every perdiction I have read. Well you know the rest.

    12. Dick Crosby on December 27, 2012 1:50 pm

      I accepted your challenge, and read it to the end. I thought I had/have good reading/comprehensive abilities. Except for a smidgen of 9, and the bulk of 10, I might as well have saved my time. What a bunch of intellectual gobbledy-gook.
      Why hasn’t the government found her. She needs a job at Treasury or the Fed.
      Certainly in Washington.

    13. Lloyd on December 27, 2012 4:26 pm

      I ran this awful piece just because it was such a pathetic example of the usual tripe we read in he industrial magazines. That the people at Industry World would use this article to trumpet their publication struck me as remarkable and then hilarious.

    14. Lloyd on December 27, 2012 4:33 pm

      I highly doubt the editor of Industry World has read Huxley’s Brave New World. That last line was a classic.

    Graff Pinkert

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