There’s no doubt that the COVID pandemic has led to major changes in the way companies work. It has also emphasized how fragile supply chains really are. Manufacturers have realized that while they may aim to be stable, what they really need is to be agile. How rapidly can you adapt if something changes quickly … Read more
Manufacturers are shifting their focus from selling physical equipment to value-added services based on their equipment’s core capabilities. This trend has given rise to a new type of business model called Equipment-as-a-Service (EaaS). There are a lot of advantages for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) who offer a service-based model. An important competitive advantage of offering … Read more
The pandemic not only spurred significant digital transformation but also accelerated the adoption of low-code and no-code software, driven by the urgency of the application challenges that organizations faced to address operational and customer needs, and which IT was unable to meet due to workloads. In 2021, the low-code/no-code movement is shifting the balance between … Read more
Manufacturers of everything from computer chips to frozen chips use batch processing as their method of production. Probably the most famous example is the Swedish furniture manufacturer Ikea. Using batch manufacturing gives the company flexibility to produce similar items of its product range as the market demands. Even though a company has a great product, … Read more
For several decades, manufacturers have developed their strategies based on relatively stable assumptions. But in the last few years, the business model of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) has started shifting to where firms increasingly have to provide services along with their traditional physical products. Adding services to products was originally termed the servitization of business … Read more
Over the past year, manufacturing and distribution industries have noted just how drastically the nature of work has evolved, from the shift to remote and more flexible environments to the growing importance of skills over credentials, which have all impacted L&D. Corporate training has been through a number evolutions, each driven by technological and economic … Read more
Within African manufacturing organisations, there is a need to educate the industry on new technologies, what they are, and how they can be effectively deployed within their business operations. For years, manually inputted spreadsheets have gone hand-in-hand with ERP, which often result in manual capturing errors, and siloed information. There are a number of benefits … Read more
Technology is causing significant transformation, and that transformation is ongoing. Primarily, organizations have sought to improve collaboration within teams, and to streamline business processes throughout the internal value chain so that different departments work more efficiently together. There is a focus on integrating the processes, transactions and information within and between functions. To achieve the … Read more
Part of the process of selecting an ERP system is to appreciate how the software is going to be used. In Part 2, I discussed the ‘Dimensions of Change Model’, a method of how to think about the process, system and structural changes that an organization will go as a result of an ERP implementation. … Read more
