Manufacturing, Two Years Later
This blog has covered a lot of ground over the last eight months, from economics jokes to retail and wholesale pricing concerns, from the meat industry to the president’s inaugural address.
Though there’s a little something for everyone in the pricing field on the CPO blog, at its core it is dedicated to the issues touching the manufacturing pricer, strategist, executive.
Today’s post offers a handful of articles that create a sobering retrospective. My hope is that by acknowledging reality and embracing the means to a solution, the headline in 2010 will be a banner proclamation that the manufacturing industry has not only survived, but transformed itself into a model industry of transparency and intelligent business.
2009
The Collapse of Manufacturing
Economist
http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13144864“The destructive global power of the financial crisis became clear last year. The immenisty of the manufacturing crisis is still sinking in, largely because it is seen in national terms - indeed, often nationalistic ones. In fact manufacturing is also caught up in a global whirlwind…
2007
For Manufacturing, a Recession Has Arrived
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/28/business/28leonhardt-web.html?_r=1&scp=5&sq=manufacturing&st=cse“Is the entire United States economy in danger of going the way of the manufacturing sector? Is it possible that we’re headed for a real recession?”
The manufacturing industry has a chance to reinvent itself and our hope lies in transparency. Transparency of price is a powerful point to start the ripple effect that will change the entire conversation throughout the supply chain - and the economy. From another recent Economist article, this one on the finance industry, we are offered a truth that should be equally applied to all industries:
“When information is relevant, standardised and public, it fosters intelligent decision-making.”
Economist
February 21, 2009
http://www.economist.com/finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13144773
To me, that sentiment gives hope for the possibilities yet to be fully realized in manufacturing industry.
