Increasing complexity is biggest concern for manufacturers

That's among the verdicts of a white paper incorporating one of the largest global manufacturing IT system surveys focused entirely on discrete manufacturers, authored by IDC Manufacturing Insights and sponsored by Infor and IBM. The study – believed to be the largest into the discrete manufacturing sector, and undertaken among CEOs, COOs and CFOs in the UK, US, Germany, France, Benelux, Japan, China and Brazil – also reveals that driving down costs and achieving profitability tops today's business concerns, but shows that, overall, customer fulfilment is the most important business initiative. These results mark a significant change from last year, when most manufacturers' sole focus was on cost cutting at the peak of the financial crisis. "In order to thrive post-recession and achieve long term business growth, investment in customer retention is imperative," comments Andrew Kinder, director of solutions marketing, Infor. "However manufacturers 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." Interestingly, the survey suggests significant differences in key initiatives underway to combat the recession in different geographies. In Western Europe and the US, a conservative 'back to basics' strategy of customer retention and productivity ranks high on the agenda, contrasting with Japan and China, where innovation and new product development rank highest. Meanwhile, consensus on cost concerns exists across all four industries, although raw material costs are a much greater concern for the metal fabrication industry, which is most exposed to the volatile and fluctuating costs of steel or rubber. Conversely, achieving revenue targets is more important for high-tech electronics and automotive. As for the greatest system shortfalls, demand planning and forecasting are near universally mentioned, with the skills shortage the greatest resource challenge. Kinder suggests that an improved IT infrastructure is a key component in facilitating better decision-making, profitability, customer fulfilment and efficiency in most 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."