SEPTEMBER 2020 RECOVERY
1Product Portfolio
Focus on your top sellers,
keep cost basis low, while
being bold, brave and honest.
Understanding weaknesses
in the business is fundamental
to success.
2Utilisation of staff
This is one of your biggest
costs, so using flexible furlough
and then moving to core hour
contracts and annualised
contracts should be integral to
your strategy.
3Adapt to Survive
Many technologies and
solutions were seen as a nice
to have, and set aside for
future consideration. But
embracing Industry 4.0 has
never been more important to
the development of a resilient
and robust business that can
deal with disruption. Invest in
machinery and technology that
can make areas of your business
faster, more secure and more
efficient. Use R&D benefits to
support the development of
new products. Don’t stand still!
4 Supply chain scrutiny
Spread yourself across countries not just
companies. Do your research, understand the
market and politics and get suitable advice where
you need it.
5 New business
Where are new sales going to come from
in the future – what’s on the government’s
agenda that you can capitalise on, what trends
are forming? Ask yourselves these questions
and consider whether your current systems and
processes are fit for purpose; does your realtime
visibility across the business allow you to
forecast accurately, see glitches in operations
and make business critical decisions quickly?
6Collaboration
Collaboration is key to successful digital
transformation, both within organisations and
in the external supplier ecosystem.
Many areas of manufacturing have seen the
possibility of using the pandemic as a way of
revitalising their business, and it is those who
embrace the opportunity to breathe new life into
processes, plans and mindsets who will benefit
most. Inevitably there have been businesses that
have suffered greatly, but with the right advice
and a new approach to their core strategy, there
is an opportunity to recover and strengthen for
the future.
supplier ecosystem more
widely, which is likely going to
be a critical factor of business'
success going forward.
So where does this leave
the manufacturing sector as
the recovery kicks in? The
big long-term challenge and
opportunity facing the sector
remains adapting to the Fourth
Industrial Revolution. This is
the automation of traditional
manufacturing with modern
digital technology. Adapting
your business for the Fourth
Industrial Revolution is far
more important than it ever
was before and needs to be part
of every business’s strategy
as we head towards Brexit. As
we come out of the recovery
phase of this crisis back to a
new ‘business as usual state’
smarter technology and
digital approaches will be a
vital component of successful
progress.
The road to making the most
out of the recovery and taking
Industry 4.0 fully on board can
be summarised by the following
six points.
ETAJOE /stock.adobe.com
www.manufacturingmanagement.co.uk 31
/stock.adobe.com
/www.manufacturingmanagement.co.uk