AI in Manufacturing: What Your Machines Can Teach… Your Other Machines
What’s the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in Industry 4.0? It’s not easy to answer. AI isn’t a single technology; it’s better described as a broad field of inquiry into the development of machines that solve problems normally solved by human intelligence (along with problems we can’t solve!). For Industry 4.0, the AI innovation with the most impact (so far) is machine learning (ML). What is ML? ML algorithms create models based on historic data that return accurate predictions when [...]
The Power (and Peril) of Parenting in the Workplace
By John Brandt with Jenny Sherman When I was as Editor-in-Chief at IndustryWeek (IW) magazine, my kids were toddlers. And as anybody with kids will tell you, toddlers resemble nothing more than tiny, hilarious drunks, but with significantly less common sense. They survive for two reasons: parents who worry obsessively about them, and the fact that they mysteriously bounce, instead of break. This means that most parents — including me — live through a terrifying stage of life [...]
NAFEM Helps Manufacturers Find the Data They Need to Grow
MPI Customer Spotlight: NAFEM For a manufacturing company, plugging into the power of a community of peers can be both a lifeline and a launch pad. No one knows this better than the 500 member companies of NAFEM, the North American Association of Food Equipment Manufacturers. These manufacturers are the foundation of the foodservice industry. As NAFEM Executive Vice President Deirdre Flynn says, “If you've had the opportunity to eat outside of your home... our members are the people making [...]
A 10-Year Journey: Changing Green Practices in Manufacturing
Ah, 2010. Does it feel like yesterday... or a lifetime ago? We were two years into a recession. The iPhone was a new invention. The BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, the earthquake in Haiti, the passing of the Affordable Care Act: all on people’s minds. Remember the vuvuzelas at the FIFA World Cup in South Africa? It was simpler time. Maybe. It was also the year The MPI Group started tracking data on the green practices of manufacturing plants around [...]
Digital By Choice – or Chance? An Interview with John R. Brandt.
MPI Insight: John, you work with manufacturers around the world on digital transformation. What surprises you about what you're seeing on the ground? John: Digital transformation has been one of the fastest management revolutions we've seen in manufacturing. MPI started studying Internet of Things (IoT) and Industry 4.0 adoption among manufacturers in 2015 — because 46% of US manufacturers told us in another MPI study that they had never heard of an IoT strategy. What happened next was incredible: In [...]
The Top Four Digitization Opportunities for Manufacturers in 2023
Nearly 100 manufacturers have completed the Digital Transformation for Manufacturers (DTM) online assessment, a free benchmark comparison tool that enables manufacturers to measure the digital maturity of their organizations and helps them to identify opportunities for digital transformation and profits. The data points to four critical opportunities for manufacturers: #1. Business Strategy Only 31% of manufacturers completing the Assessment have digital strategies even partially implemented. Deploying a well-designed strategy is a critical first step on the digital transformation journey. #2. [...]
Waste Not, Want Not: An Interview with George Taninecz
MPI Insight: MPI has been tracking green performances of manufacturers since 2010 in the MPI Manufacturing Study. What are the most interesting trends over that time? George: One interesting trend is that the growth of green in manufacturing slowed a bit in past years of the studies. Then it picked up again in our 2021 study. It appears that there's more industry awareness now, with companies recognizing that they need to get on board with green manufacturing. Some companies may be recognizing [...]
The Lean, Green Future of Manufacturing
Lean manufacturing and environmentally responsible practices go hand in hand. Why? Because lean drives plants to optimize for efficiency and relentless reduction of waste. What could be a more perfect match for green manufacturing? The MPI Group has tracked manufacturers’ use of green practices — and performance on green metrics — since 2010. We’ve found that plants using lean – and/or the related methodology of the Toyota Production System (TPS) – are more likely to use leading green practices and [...]
The 7 Processes for Holiday Survival: Thanksgiving Edition
"There's a sale on Process Mapping, aisle 12!" At MPI, we help companies analyze seven fundamental processes that can deliver value to customers. This week we asked ourselves: Why limit ourselves to business processes when there’s another CRITICAL process in need of help — surviving the holidays! Introducing: The 7 Processes for Holiday Survival – Thanksgiving Edition. At which of these processes are you great? At which are you ridiculously terrible? Analyze your performance now! Research and Development (R&D): Imagining, [...]
Doing the Gemba Walk for Digital Profits
If you know lean, you’re already familiar with the “gemba walk” (quick refresher: the Toyota/lean idea of “going to the gemba” means to observe the work in the actual place where it happens). The Digital Transformation for Manufacturers project (an MPI collaboration funded by the U.S. Department of Commerce) has everything you need to know about how to take a gemba walk that helps your company become the digital leader it was born to be. How? By deepening focus: as [...]
The New Math of Manufacturing
Come with me, for a moment, to the plant floor of the well-respected (albeit fictional) drill manufacturer, Grunnings. Plant Manager Vernon Dursley is evaluating his energy costs — and finds the recent increases to resemble nothing so much as bad witchcraft. As his complexion turns an unpleasant shade of purple, his Assistant Manager chimes in: “Look, it’s painful, but energy is overhead — we just have to bite the drill bit and write a check.” And so it was, for [...]
The Curious Case of the Small Business (Q&A)
MPI Insight sat down with MPI CEO John Brandt to talk about the challenges and opportunities for small business owners right now, and to spotlight case studies in performance improvement excellence with a small team. MPI Insight: In your writing, you always make a point to use case studies from small businesses, often with 20 employees or fewer. Why do you make a habit of focusing on small business? John: Many times if you’re learning about a business concept or how a [...]