Columbus has gathered the valuable experiences and best advice of customers and experts in 3 topical guides. In this one, we discuss how to overcome the challenges to help you improve business visibility and performance, including:
A primary challenge for many food manufacturing and distribution firms involves the effective implementation and use of an ERP system for managing the business.
The business processes require unique software functionality related to the key issues in the food industry, as described in this series of ‘how to’ guides.
Columbus has gathered the experiences and best advice of customers and experts in this guide and answers these challenges:
The Hazard Warning Report by insurance company Zurich says that more than three quarters of Britain’s manufacturers (78%) are more optimistic about their industry than 12-months ago. The study, published June 20, underlines the importance of the state of the UK economy, emerging markets for new business and supply chain risk as being the most important factors companies face. The companies surveyed also say that a lack of credit is not holding growth back, contrary to some popular views.
The report is a study of 100 owner-managers of mid-market companies – those with £5m-£300m turnover – with qualitative analysis of the top concerns for UK business, including the Regulatory and legal environment, Access to emerging markets, Supply chain risk and Sustainability.
The study reveals that:
A survey by The Manufacturer magazine was conducted in July 2010, aimed at obtaining insight on how, and to what effect, Lean Thinking is being used by organisations.
The report found that more than two-thirds (70%) of respondents already have a lean program in their organisation while a further 11% have indicated plans to implement a lean program in the next 12 months This level of adoption indicates a strong acceptance amongst industry of the benefits and necessity of lean.
Alongside the data, you’ll find expert analysis from: Barry Evans, Senior Research Associate in Lean Enterprise Research Centre (Cardiff Business School) and insightful articles from report sponsors and lean experts: eBECS, TBM and Minitab. From all at The Manufacturer magazine and the Lean Management Journal, we hope you enjoy the Lean Report, 2011.
The UK can be the top western economy for business investment if the government can help industry with frontline investment needs like creating certainty, keeping business costs down and developing new markets.
That is the emphatic message made in the CBI’s latest report, Making the UK the best place to invest, which describes a ‘vision’ for UK business that builds on key competitive advantages such as flexible labour laws and a well-developed innovation ecosystem. Advantages also include world class universities – four of the world’s top 10 universities are British, according to the QS World University Survey 2010 – that are primed to collaborate more closely with industry through vehicles such as the Technology and Innovation Centres, and a natural geography that can support a thriving low carbon energy industry. Such factors can enable the UK to dominate a new generation of business opportunities.
But the report’s analysis says that the UK is losing its attractiveness as a place to invest. It also charts a decline in levels of inward investment and in the UK’s competitiveness. Regulation, the report says, is the biggest spanner in the works, and CBI chief executive John Cridland told the government on Monday, “time isn’t on our side and we have less than five years to turn things around.”
Manufacturers have for many years focused their efforts on implementing lean and continuous improvement projects in their factory’s. This report highlights ways that manufacturers can make their sales functions as efficient as their factory floor operations through using 6 key strategies to increase competitiveness and profitability through improved customer acquisition and retention.
The adoption and utilisation of new management practices is closely linked to productivity. Yet efforts by UK managers to translate new management practices into improved performance have been both slower and less successful than some of their counterparts in France, Germany and the US. It is imperative, therefore, that managers, policymakers and researchers achieve a better understanding of the challenges in realising the benefits of promising management practices for both firms and the economy. This research report challenges widely held assumptions about the value of management practices and provides recommendations and tools for managers and policymakers.
The 2010 Global Manufacturing Competitiveness Index is a collaboration between Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu (Deloitte) and the U.S. Council on Competitiveness. The study gathered data from CEOs and senior manufacturing business unit leaders in late 2009 and early 2010. It is the first major report of a multi-year initiative by the Council exploring the issues of policy and capability development necessary for a nation to achieve superior manufacturing competitiveness.
Introducing 2010′s much anticipated Annual Manufacturing Report (AMR). Sponsored by Barclays Corporate, the AMR 2010 reports on the findings of this year’s research in the areas of Economy, Government Policy, Finance, Purchasing, Procurement, Logistics and IT.
Today’s online business customers expect the same level of usability, personalization and functionality in a B2B site that they encounter when visiting B2C retail sites. Next-generation B2B solutions deliver automated order processes, improved information flow, expanded collaboration with channel partners, automated exchange of documents and a consistent shopping experience.
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