Globalization’s 21st century impact on the midsize manufacturing enterprise

Given a constant interplay between ruling management concepts—such as “lean” or “outsourcing”—and an information technology (IT) infrastructure integral to business processes that extend from demand management to product design and distribution, manufacturing systems are always changing.

This is a good thing, as evidenced by economic statistics, which reveal the very real gains in productivity growth experienced in manufacturing industries the last 15 years, and especially since 1995. This pronounced, accelerated gain results largely from IT’s application to enterprise business processes, as well as the convergence of IT and automation.

This proclivity for change can also, however, be a difficult thing to manage, and there is abundant evidence that in recent years the pace of “change” itself has accelerated.

Thus, as globalization unfolds for both the goods-making industries and the markets they serve, manufacturing systems will continue to change rapidly. If you are a champion for better use of IT for continuing productivity gain—if you believe in its promise to deliver affordable goods to a growing percentage of the world’s population—you will profit from a better understanding of the nature of approaching change. And, for midsize manufacturers especially, you will want to know where your company fits today in the context of global change and increasing complexity.

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