Faster Time to Market: Communication and Centralized Data

Improving time to market can make a considerable difference when it comes to competitive manufacturing, profit margin and market share. Nearshoring is a great first step towards streamlining the supply chain, as it allows for production close to the marketplace, but becoming an industry leader also necessitates better cooperation between employees, customers and suppliers.

The importance of internal and external communication
Technologies and competitor offerings shift rapidly, and reacting slowly to the market can mean falling behind and losing a considerable share of revenue. Good communication is a crucial component of speeding that reaction time and better facilitating innovation because it delegates personal accountability, eliminates confusion and redundancies and keeps all entities on the same page. While creating a communication protocol that dictates what information should be shared and how might seem daunting, it can make a huge difference in company communication proficiency. This strategy can be expanded to incorporate the entire supply chain as well, creating transparency that can reduce manufacturing costs.  

Centralized data streamlines production
Establishing a centralized database is a great second step towards better communication and more competitive manufacturing. A uniform, central system links all existing data in its most updated form, ensuring that all employees have the most up-to-date and accurate information. This makes production significantly quicker by reducing internal redundancies, but also eliminates a large percentage of company error. Mistakes in this industry are particularly expensive, so providing a shared a drive as a data framework is a crucial component of low cost manufacturing. 

An article by Business Box synthesizes both concepts into one poignant question: how simple and user-friendly is doing business with you? Through clear, effective communication and an easily-accessed, up-to-date database, entities throughout the supply chain will cooperate better together and increase valuable speed to market.