In today’s manufacturing and distribution world, the key to success is certainly keeping productivity up, up, and further up! In the US, clearly, the levels of productivity are increasing is good for US businesses and labor. A large part of this increase in productivity has been organizations that have been improving and increasing the efficiencies of their operations.
Working smarter by using integrated systems and intelligent material handling systems allows organizations to sell globally, but work locally in the US. This often means overcoming cheaper labor, land, and lack of environmental controls. The advantage is often the reduced complexity and subsequent cost of the supply chain.
Manufacturing a product might be cheaper in another region, but the costs both hard and soft need to be factored into the true cost of where do those units need to be shipped in order to be consumed. Those hard and soft costs are usually associated with the supply chain. Everything from the cost of oil, transportation, damage, wrong shipments, time shipping and many more elements have opened the eyes of many a manufacturer and have helped drive them to re-shore their operations.
Automation, automated systems, improved processes, management procedures and high performance material handling systems are some of the “silver bullets” that help even off the playing field. The latest trends in productivity are proof that organizations are investing in their future. In fact, the US leads the world when you look at the level of integrated robots being added to operations.
If your organization is looking to re-shore or thinking of off shoring, one of the first steps should be calling ISD to review your existing operations and look for efficiencies that might help make moving an easy decision for your organization.
From implementing robotic systems to reworking and improving conveyor systems to implementing mid load automated storage and retrieval systems and order picking systems, ISD can show you the best return on investment (ROI) decision.
Keeping operations in the US often leads to increased customer service, lower inventory levels, lower chance of litigation due to unknown actions within an extended supply chain and when combined with automation overall lower costs.