Manufacturing Executive - September 2008 - (Page 4)

paul tate/editor’s letter w What Are We Waiting For? Do Europe’s manufacturers have the motivation to orchestrate widespread transformational change? think about innovation in times of global pressure, when the demands of operational excellence, speed to market, and tight budgets dominate the daily agenda? The answer is simple: You have to. That means working out many issues: how to create structures that foster and encourage the best ideas that will make money; how to inspire and support both internal culture change and external collaborators to constantly refresh the competitive ideas pool; how to bridge the gap between the demands of line management and the need for centralised control; and, even, as Executive Editor Mark Halper points out, how to turn the evil pressures of credit-crunching financial upheaval into a new motivation to rethink entire supply chains. These are some of the critical factors for the future that we explore in this issue. We also track the development of new practical guidelines from the MESA group, designed to help companies achieve one of the holy grails of modern manufacturing — the tight integration of plant floor automation with business-critical management information systems. Of course, the world won’t wait for Europe to change. “It’s time for action,” says Daimler’s Heinrich Flegel, chairman of Europe’s forward-looking ManuFuture group, in an exclusive interview with Manufacturing Executive. In today’s world, there’s little room for corporate manufacturing management on any continent to freeze like rabbits in the headlights as reality bears down on them at an ever-increasing speed. This is indeed the time for greater action in European manufacturing. Time to find a better balance between ever yday pressures and innovative potential. Time to invest in technology-enabled change to help redesign Europe’s manufacturing landscape and strengthen its world-class profile. Most of all, time to stand back and think about how you’re really going to get from here to the future. Manufacturing Executive will be with you all along the way. ■ Paul Tate is Executive Editor of Manufacturing Executive. He can be reached at ptate@thomaspublishing.com. hen was the last time you had a chance to stand back and think about the future? There seems little time these days for strategic reflection when your executive teams are desperately trying to cope with the constant demands of operational improvement, disruptive competitive attacks, new global rivals, rocketing materials and energy costs, and, increasingly, brow-furrowing technological complexity. Yet, fundamental change is becoming a way of life. Competition, efficiency, and operational excellence now depend on it. What are often missing are the knowledge, insight, and guidance to make meaningful transformation happen, and happen successfully. Welcome to the latest issue of Manufacturing Executive. Our mission is to help Europe’s manufacturing leaders achieve exactly that — transformational change through the relentless pursuit of innovative ideas, the lessons of sustainable best practices, and the progressive use of value-capturing technologies. Europe’s 2.5 million manufacturing companies have a strong tradition of developing some of the best ideas, brands, products, and executive leaders in the manufacturing world. But, like their counterparts the planet over, everyday pressures on the continent’s industrial leaders are now intense. But there may never be a better time for European manufacturing executives to seek out new global possibilities and business-changing new initiatives. It’s exactly in times of intense commercial pressure and rapid change that new leaders emerge, existing powerhouses evolve, and innovative approaches become the drivers of future sustainability. That’s why we have devoted much of this issue to exploring some of the fundamental issues now facing Europe’s manufacturing sector in developing innovative, value-driven approaches for the future. After all, necessity is not the only mother of invention. So is opportunity — and, often, uncertainty. And there’s plenty of all of these in today’s market. So can Europe’s leaders successfully stand back and 2008 4 September

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Manufacturing Executive - September 2008

Manufacturing Executive - September 2008 Contents Editor's Letter Opinion By David Humphrey Starters Road Trip Part 1: Innovation or Efficiency? Part 2: The Innovation Gap Opinion By Lisa Bodell Special Report: Great Aspirations Supply Chain: The New Money Machine Product Design: Fruehauf Gets into High Gear with 3D CAD Business Intelligence: Food Distributor Turns Up the Heat on Manufacturers Software: Manufacturers Face SaaS Hurdles Dialogue Opinion By Pierfrancesco Manenti

Manufacturing Executive - September 2008

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