Karen Kurek, principal at McGladrey, will discuss the firm’s exclusive Manufacturing Monitor Report, discuss the strengthening of the U.S. manufacturing economy, and highlight the trends and challenges for manufacturing in the next two years.
Manufacturing Jobs Offer Greater Compensation
Today’s manufacturing employees earn higher wages and receive more generous benefits than other working Americans. In the third quarter of 2012, manufacturing employers paid $33.30 per hour in wages and benefits, while all employers in the economy paid about $30.80 per hour, meaning that there is an 8 percent premium for working in manufacturing.Most of the difference in compensation is due to the fact that manufacturers provide a higher level of benefits for its workers than do other industries, including for paid leave, supplemental pay, and insurance.
[SLIDE TRANSITION]
KEY POINT: This is a broad set of participants that provides an accurate look at the industry.
United States: 921
Non-United States: 226
Brazil 28
Canada 9
France 41
Germany 68
Mexico 50
UK 27
KEY POINT: This is a unique data set of private data that provides information you can’t get anywhere else.
The survey asked a range of questions, covering topics such as employment to data security to how companies grow.
Here are some of the interesting points we uncovered during the survey process
Over the years we’ve conducted the survey, we’ve noticed the resilience of thriving companies
KEY POINT: How have thriving companies managed to do so well, even in the depths of the recession?
Each year, the survey asked participants about they’re business condition: Are they thriving, holding steady or declining? As you can see here, even in the immediate aftermath of the recession, a steady percentage of thriving companies remains pretty strong. In 2014, there 36% self-identified as thriving, up from 31% in 2013. What did companies do to join the ranks of the thriving?
“Thriving” is a somewhat subjective term. For an executive to say a company is thriving, it could simply mean that revenue growth is outpacing inflation. Yet the thriving companies participating in the 2014 Monitor survey have more in common than strong revenue growth or higher demand.
We thought it would be helpful to share what these thriving companies are doing in order for you to bring the best practices of these companies back to your own organizations.
KEY POINT: Thriving companies make capital and resource investments to generate revenue in an innovation-focused environment. These companies take the time and effort necessary to make their strategies work for them.
Infrastructure: Investing in their businesses, and at a faster rate. Thriving companies lead others in a number of investment areas. A greater percentage of them invest in equipment (and at a higher rate), as well as in technology infrastructure and software.
Growth: They are also more likely to grow through acquisitions and innovation.
Process: Continuous improvement is in the DNA of the culture. Leadership and management development programs and employee training on the shop floor at these companies are expected to increase in the next 12 months. Thriving companies also lead in significant initiatives in operational and other improvements.
Supply chain: Thriving companies are using information technology and other resources to share information with suppliers and internal personnel to understand and meet the needs of their customers.
External challenges: Thriving companies are better able to minimize the financial impact of government regulations and taxation. They are embracing the challenges with, for example, incentives and programs designed to make the best of a regulatory environment through lower costs and healthier employees.
Effective implementation of these strategies: Notably, thriving companies use these strategies more effectively than others. Whether it’s addressing operational efficiencies, focusing on more profitable existing customers or leveraging technology, these companies are taking the time to make these strategies work for them.
While many companies plan to increase investments this year, thriving companies, however, are leaders in investments for the future. They set the strategic priorities that will lead to growth, particularly for IT and R&D.
Average spending increases at thriving companies for:
17% for information technology (10% for holding steady; 7% for declining)
11% for equipment and machinery (compared to 9% holding steady and 7% declining companies)
6% for research and development (5% holding steady; 3% declining
Thriving companies place a huge value on accurate information to run their businesses. They are anticipating increases in IT spending by an average of 17 percent, compared to 10 percent by companies that are holding steady and 7 percent by declining companies over the next 12 months.
Drilling deeper, the differences are all the more stark for IT.
Thriving companies are able to manage profit strategies more effectively than other organizations, particularly regarding the effectiveness of implementing technology. For example, 24 percent report that upgrading technology infrastructure was highly effective in managing profits, compared to 14 percent of holding steady and 7 percent of declining companies.
Thriving companies are more likely to invest in mobility solutions, with 45 percent planning to purchase new, upgrade or reconfigure, compared to 40 percent of holding steady and 32 percent of declining companies. One Seattle-based manufacturer, for example, is rolling out a new Web-based application to allow its 1,400 customers to reach them online. The software enables customers and prospects to get quotes, view product drawings and submit orders.
KEY POINT: To secure their growth, executives also are looking to improve systems to safeguard their company’s information and data.
Unfortunately, security breaches are being reported regularly, with customer records or sensitive information ending up in the wrong hands. Yet a majority of executives believe that their company’s information and data is reasonably safe.
Thriving companies ensure IT effectively minimizes corporate risks.
More troubling are the reasons that make executives think their systems and data are secure. For example, many simply do not think that their companies are targets of hackers. This may be because executives view hackers’ targets to be limited to competitive information or intellectual property alone, and would be of limited use outside their firm or industry.
Thriving companies are making these acquisitions primarily to expand product lines to reach new customers, create cost synergies, improve margins and improve their market position.
Corporate governance, operation integration and creating a common culture are critical to ensure the success of M&A activity:
Thriving companies are more effective at integrating IT platforms to share data
Thriving companies leverage skills/resources throughout the firm rather than just locally
EXAMPLES
Bimba Manufacturing Company, a leading provider of pneumatic, hydraulic and electric solutions based in Illinois, recently acquired Acro Associates, a California firm. Acro’s non-contact pinch valve product line provided Bimba with the ability to expand further into the medical industry, while also bringing new technologies to their existing industrial customers in food and beverage and other sectors. Adding Acro’s pinch valves and controls capabilities increases their strategic value in key industries and reflects a long-term commitment to growth.
A Philadelphia-based distributor of glass bottles and related packaging grew by acquisition in order to bring the company expertise in specific domestic markets. However, they tended to operate in regional silos and, as a result, were unable to leverage that expertise across the country. In an effort to work more “as one company,” the company began moving to a single information technology platform in order to share data and leverage the knowledge they acquired throughout the organization.
At Thomas Edison’s Menlo Park facilities, California employees called it “midnight lunch,” the inventor’s practice of creating an environment of social engagement and collaboration that took place after hours in his lab.6 It served as the foundation for the work in all of Edison’s labs by bringing individuals from diverse disciplines together to ensure multiple perspectives and rapid problem-solving.
“Innovation is about creating new value. That means innovation can be applied to products, services, business models, or even how your company serves its customers.” (Sarah Miller Caldicott, great grandniece of Thomas Edison) Clearly, thriving companies recognize this.
Thriving companies continually use innovation for growth and improved performance:
65% have seen improved company performance through innovation of products and processes
68% will create new products in the coming year
55% anticipate improved company performance due to innovation
Product and process innovation is necessary for all companies because, in trying to understand and satisfy customers’ future interests, they experiment and uncover better ways of doing business, even if those ideas don’t initially yield returns as a new product or service. Unfortunately, many firms focus their innovation efforts solely on products—not on evolving customer needs. Only 12 percent of companies overall report that new services are important for sales growth in the next 12 months.
EXAMPLES
One manufacturer of electric power monitoring equipment based in Washington state noted that having its research and development team members in disparate locations was not encouraging innovation and invention. The company began construction on a nearly 100,000-square-foot building that would, among its many features, include enough office space to put the company’s entire R&D team in one location as well as allow for a more creative and collaborative environment.
Service is a key contributor to customer value and can yield revenues and profits as much as a new widget. Examples abound in various industries: IBM IT and business services, Rockwell Automation energy management services, Apple retail stores and its Genius Bars.
KEY POINT: As one Seattle manufacturer put it, “No matter how many times you do a Lean event on a process, you can find substantial gain. I haven't yet been at a manufacturing company that has said, "Okay, we're done now, that's as far as we can push it." You can always look at a process and eliminate non-value added [steps, and] eliminate defects…” This company invests in continuous improvement initiatives on an annual basis to eliminate defects and improve performance. Their efforts have resulted in tripling productivity in one of the company’s steel lines with half the number of personnel.
The need for continuous improvement has not disappeared. Even though there often remains a strategic opportunity for pricing as a profitability lever, thriving U.S. companies today succeed in part because they continually establish higher benchmarks to force improvements: 28 percent of them cite process improvement initiatives as a top reason for their success.
Thriving companies also report larger increases in productivity, driven by process improvements (80% of thriving companies), improved labor utilization (5%) and improved equipment utilization (4%).
EXAMPLE: BISON GEAR
Bison Gear and Engineering Corporation, a manufacturer of gear motors based in St. Charles, Illinois, converted its manufacturing facility to function as a lean manufacturing plant. The company has been able to achieve significant reductions in lead times throughout the operation by utilizing a number of lean techniques. They took the lean concepts used on the shop floor to other parts of the enterprise as well, implementing them in the back office, finance department and the engineering process of the business.
Training is a continuing priority among thriving companies this year. 54% report that investments in leadership and management development improved company performance; 45% cite workforce education and training for improved productivity.
Thriving companies are not only using IT to improve information sharing both within the company and with customers, but they are also far more effective in using IT to improve customer satisfaction and minimize corporate risks.
KEY POINT: Every decision made along the supply chain continuum, including those regarding the products and services that companies provide, should be based on supporting the needs and values of the end user.
Thriving companies know the importance of the vendor relationship; nearly three-quarters found working with suppliers to improve processes and lower costs was an effective means to maintaining or improving profit margins.
Leveraging customer relationship management systems, a greater percentage of thriving companies (33%) make more effective use of their IT systems to improve customer satisfaction than other companies (27%).
EXAMPLES
An aerospace company has added assembly options for its customers—producing a “kit” from multiple parts that is then shipped to buyers—as a way to make value-added services a distinctive element of its brand.
A food manufacturer and distributor based in Baltimore, noting food safety concerns in general, and the Food Safety Modernization Act in particular, considers making investments to source and manufacture certain products domestically rather than try to control quality and safety coming from a source offshore.
We asked: “Under what circumstances might your organization move its major operations facility?” Here are the responses.
We’ve been noticing a decrease in the strategy to offshore, and an increase in on shoring.
Onshore: Return some operations/functions to home country
Past two years: 7.7%
Next two years: 9.9%
Offshore: Relocate some domestic operations/functions overseas
Past two years: 13.1%
Next two years: 12.6%
Each company’s supply chain is unique, and analysis of current spend, total-cost data, and emerging supplier opportunities contribute to onshore and offshore decisions, as do the efficiencies to be gained by having activities physically closer to the customer
EXAMPLES
GE Appliances: At General Electric’s Appliance Park, in Louisville, Kentucky, its GeoSpring water heater just came home to Louisville from China due to concerns that it would be “knocked off,” as well as due to rising oil prices, rising local wages in China and increases in U.S. productivity.
Caterpillar: Opened new plant for manufacturing hydraulic excavator in Texas due to the location’s “proximity to supply base, access to ports and other transportation.” But they also make strategic decisions to build plants in Japan, China and Brazil, based on the forecast need, logistics and other considerations.
In fact, some focus group participants pointed out that products made in the United States enjoy a reputation for quality around the world.
One Seattle-based manufacturer exports its garage doors to Canada as well as the Middle East, Australia and New Zealand. China can make a garage door and ship it to Saudi Arabia for a fraction of the cost, ~60% less. But it's the quality and “Made in America,” that enables the Seattle manufacturer to compete. “We have to put a sticker on every door that says ‘Made in America,’ that's a huge thing.”
Depending on the market, the value that customers place on these products can translate into premium prices and profits.
This year, the Monitor survey asked “How will the following external issues affect your company’s growth in the next 12 months?”
Here are the possible multiple choice responses.
Which do you think was No. 1?
KEY POINT:
These elements are part of the business environment, and thriving companies are moving ahead with their strategies. An in-depth understanding of their business fundamentals and financials (enabled by IT investments) allows these companies to be nimble in their responses to changing regulatory and tax landscapes. Even when unpredicted changes occur, executives and their accounting teams find opportunities to minimize financial fallout on their organizations.
Thriving companies are clearly less affected by external factors.
For example [go on to next slide on ACA]…
KEY POINT: Companies are focusing attention on how to lower the premiums companies and workforces will pay
Many companies (and not just those that are thriving) are already compliant with the act—or at least, that is their intention. Because the act’s regulations are still being revised, many companies may not have a complete understanding of what being in compliance means for them. For now, they are focusing their attention on how to lower the premiums that they and their workforces will pay. About half of the companies are implementing incentive programs to promote healthier lifestyles or are adopting wellness programs
Affordable Care Act:
Thriving companies are even more likely to respond to the Affordable Care Act’s employer mandate:
76.6% will offer fully compliant coverage to full-time employees
0.3% will not offer compliant coverage to employees and will instead pay penalties
13% are not subject to the employer mandate because they have fewer than 50 employees
10.1% Unsure/haven’t made a decision
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2.6% will change the status of some workers from full-time to part-time in order to reduce ACA-related costs
0.9% will lay off workers in order to offset the costs of ACA compliance
3.0% will reduce wages in order to offset the costs of ACA compliance
46.6% will implement wellness programs to help encourage employees to live healthier lifestyles
49.1% will provide health plans that include incentives for healthy living
This approach also helps attract and retain talent.
Through the effective use of KPMs and other feedback (e.g., ERP, CRM systems), thriving companies are able to see how they’re doing – in real time, in any location – and adjust as needed using the investments they’ve made in IT, continuous improvement, marketing, leadership or sales generation.
These investments in IT are paying off for thriving companies. In customer satisfaction, companies rated their IT environments “effective” or “extremely effective.”
EXAMPLE
One Seattle-based manufacturer is rolling out a new Web-based application to allow its 1,400 customers to reach them online. The software enables customers and prospects to get quotes, view product drawings and submit orders in one location.
Thriving companies are looking that much better…
However, thriving companies’ anticipated employment costs increases in the next 12 months
Wages 97.0% expect increase by 4.1% avg.
Health care costs 92.1% expect increase by 9.5% avg.
Other benefits 74.7% expect increase by 3.4% avg.
Employee training 79.6% expect increase by 6.2% avg.
In summary, how do thriving companies do it?
They prioritize their strategic plans, and manage them effectively.
Thriving companies bring an in-depth understanding of their business fundamentals, strategic priorities and financial knowledge and build on a foundation of IT systems (e.g., CRM, ERP) and KPMs. This allows them to be informed and nimble in their responses to changing circumstances and opportunities.
[THIS STILL NEEDS REFINING.]
We’ve cut the information in a number of different ways, for your convenience. Most are available through our website at www.mcgladrey.com, look under industrial products.