Dive Brief:
- Manufacturers who embrace "smart operations," also known as connected manufacturing and the industrial Internet, are thriving, while their peers who don't are merely surviving, UPS suggests in a report.
- The strategy combines ongoing improvement and real-time data throughout the value chain, not only inside the factory. UPS finds a widening gap between manufacturers that go this route and those that don't.
- Companies can get help by teaming with third-party service providers that can provide scale, process expertise and advanced technology know-how, the report finds.
Dive Insight:
Companies that use connected products well are "more likely to offer better customer service and create new revenue streams because they use cloud-based technology," a UPS blog post on the report suggests.
Top manufacturers also use historical and real-time data to predict and handle responses to supply chain disruptions, invest significantly in technology, and encourage customer and supplier participation, UPS says.
Earlier this year, a Salesforce Research survey on connected manufacturing conducted by Harris Poll found that while executives consider service to be important, agents don't always have access to the latest technology, leading to inefficiency in dealing with customers. Many companies are using paper or other outdated methods to handle customer data, the survey noted.
