Use All the Tools at Hand

For many manufacturing operations, there are information sources that may not appear obvious. Although, the Internet is now a standard source of research and question answering, there are some other ways to get information to make the business better.

Your suppliers, for example, can be a rich source of relevant information. These people deal with you and also with numerous other manufacturers. They see what others are doing and are often in a position to evaluate practices that might be of benefit to you.

I’m not talking about gossip or breaking confidences, however, there are many things that can and probably should be shared among manufacturers trying to improve the competitiveness of our industry as a whole. In many ways, it’s a national issue about global competition rather than local or regional competition.

We’re in the midst of a manufacturing renaissance in the U.S., and it’s in everyone’s best interest to keep it moving forward. Information and best practices can be key to maintaining manufacturing momentum.

Finding relevant knowledge means tapping as many resources as possible. We published an article on this topic last year that discusses ways to take advantage of less obvious sources for knowledge. It was written by industry veteran Norm Vallone, who is president of MessageWorks Inc. Click here to read his take about how to Tap your Supplier’s Knowledge Base.