Manufacturing Opportunities in e-Commerce

By Lisa Anderson

According to Insider Intelligence, U.S. B2B e-commerce sales will be over $2 trillion by 2024. Digital Commerce 360 says that manufacturers’ B2B e-commerce sales have been growing at an annual rate of 16 percent since 2016 which is almost 1.5 times faster than total manufacturing sales. The opportunity is vast to grow even faster than the averages as not all manufacturers are willing to jump into the mix.

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Lisa Anderson’s New Book on SIOP: Key to Supply Chain Success

Sales, Inventory, Operations, Planning is Key to Supply Chain Success 

Manufacturing and Supply Chain Expert Lisa Anderson, MBA, CSCP, CLTD, known as the Strongest Link in Your Supply Chain® and President of LMA Consulting Group Inc., has published: SIOP (Sales Inventory Operations Planning): Creating Predictable Revenue and EBITDA Growth. LMA Consulting Group works with manufacturers and distributors on strategy and end-to-end supply chain transformation to maximize the customer experience and enable profitable, scalable, dramatic business growth.

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Supply Chain Challenges Are Just an Excuse

By Lisa Anderson

The supply chain has become an excuse. Although there has certainly been a slew of supply chain challenges that carry on with baby formula shortages, rail backlogs, computer chip issues, hurricane-induced delays, fertilizer scarcity and China’s zero-COVID policy delays, the supply chain should no longer be the excuse. Only the proactive will thrive in the years to come.

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Case Study: Strategies to Successfully Navigate Inflation

By Lisa Anderson

Inflation continues to plague the world with escalating prices across a spectrum of products and services. The price of oil and gas has continued to rise and supply chain challenges persist, creating inflationary pressures across the board. Even though interest rates are rising, inflation isn’t yet getting under control. Thus, what are the best of the best doing to thrive under these extraordinary pressures?

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ERP and Related Technologies to Automate, Digitize and Thrive

By Lisa Anderson

Manufacturers utilize less than 20% of the full functionality of their ERP systems. But the key question is, why does it matter? In today’s inflationary and supply chain disrupted business environment, manufacturers need to automate and digitize to “do more with less” and thrive during these volatile times. One important way to achieve this goal is to further leverage your ERP system where it will make a difference.

No matter which ERP system you use or how archaic, there will be opportunities to use additional functionality. In 30 years of working with manufacturers, I haven’t had one example of a client that couldn’t benefit by expanding the use of ERP.

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Supply Chain Collaboration and VMI to Get Ahead of Economic Challenges

By Lisa Anderson

With record-breaking price increases and lack of material availability, manufacturers are experiencing increasing threats to profit margins and maintaining strong customer service. To add fuel to the fire, they are also now having to consider plans to prepare for a potential recession. It is becoming increasingly difficult to navigate these volatile times, and the most successful are not doing it alone. Instead, they are pursuing collaborative programs with supply chain partners. What is clear is that there will be more winners and losers created than at any other time in history. Thus, it is worth figuring out how to work with your supply chain partners to ensure mutual success rather than mutual demise.

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NAM Study Says Ports Stoppage Would Be Devastating Hit to Manufacturers

Stoppage Would Cost Economy Half a Billion Dollars a Day, Destroy 41,000 U.S. Jobs

As negotiations between the Pacific Maritime Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union near a critical deadline, the National Association of Manufacturers released a statement on the potential impact of stoppage based on analysis commissioned by the organization utilizing the Inforum LIFT economic model to quantify the impacts of a potential 15-day closure at the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports.

According to the study by Inforum Economics, a 15-day disruption would cost the US economy nearly half a billion dollars a day — for a total of $7.5 billion — and destroy 41,000 jobs, including more than 6,100 in manufacturing. As the industry continues to grapple with historic supply chain challenges, inflationary pressures and rising transportation and energy costs, manufacturers are calling on the parties to reach an agreement immediately to avoid this continued uncertainty.

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Inflation and Supply Chain Impact on Gordon Brush

 

Ken Rakusin, President and CEO, Gordon Brush Mfg. Co., Inc. was interviewed by reporter Renee Ing from Spectrum News 1 on how inflation and supply chain issues are affecting brush manufacturers.

“Everything is backlogged because we are having trouble getting the material needed to make our brushes and something that used to cost $5.00, is now $15.00,” says Rakusin, “The backlog has slowed my entire business down. We used to be able to quote and deliver in a one to two-week time period, now, we can’t do that anymore, we don’t know whether it’s going to be four weeks or six weeks.”

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