The Profile of a Future-Ready Manufacturer
Inside Salesforce’s “Trends in Manufacturing” Research Report
by Smilka Janeska-Sarkanjac
What is a Future-Ready Manufacturer?
In its special “Trends in Manufacturing” research report, Salesforce is positioning a “Future-Ready Manufacturer” to be a company that “feels” its systems and technology are ready to handle the decade ahead.
Based on personal experience (that is widely shared with many others), as a result of the known globally impacting events during the past two years, I have faced too often empty shelves (even for dairy products), or a scenario of waiting for 6+ months to have goods delivered that it took max a month in the past, etc.
That said, I can easily hear the skeptics declaring that all the manufacturers proved to be Future-Unprepared. After all, the report itself says that almost all manufacturers experienced ripple effects across their lines of business, including customer demand, production capacity, distribution lines, and more.
The key point here is that the Future-Ready manufacturers were able to react rapidly to the market changes and even strengthen further their market position since the start of the infamous global events.
The C-Suite focus in a Future-Ready Manufacturer
It comes (at almost) no surprise that optimizing processes and adapting demand planning are the two priority C-Suite focus items in manufacturing companies.
The more important aspect is, however, the ability of the Future-Ready Manufacturers to embrace the Servitization model by bundling product, support, software, and other services in a single revenue model.
The Rise of Nearshoring in the Manufacturing Industry
Many may instantly assume that this part will focus on migrating manufacturing production or supply chain management operations to nearshore. A big item in itself, but less relevant to becoming a Future-Ready Manufacturer.
Adopting Cloud technologies, like Salesforce, is unmistakable now part of the C-Suite agenda, considering Cloud as a proven enabler of Future-Ready Manufacturers to react rapidly to market changes.
However, the manufacturing companies, especially the mid-size ones in Western Europe, started facing major challenges with their traditional technology expertise sourcing models:
- Unaffordable local technology expertise, killing 90%+ of business initiatives
- Unreliable off-shoring expertise, plagued with culture, language and simply time zone differences
By addressing the cost, capacity, culture, language and time zone aspects, no wonder that the Nearshore model has been gaining so much in popularity among manufacturing companies.
For many, especially the small and mid-sized manufacturing companies in Western Europe, the Nearshore model proved to be the only viable model supporting their journey into Future-Ready Manufacturers.
About codeSTREETS
codeSTREETS is a Registered Partner of Salesforce, with the HQ in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and the Center of Enablement in Skopje, North Macedonia. codeSTREETS is actively engaged in the Manufacturing Industry, delivering Salesforce professional services, among others, to leading European manufacturers.
If you want more information on how codeSTREETS can support your Future-Ready Manufacturer journey, contact us at contact@codeSTREETS.com.
Sources
Trends in Manufacturing by Salesforce