Plant Operations: Small, Lean & Mean: How the Cloud Powers Lean Operations for Small and Medium-Sized Manufacturers

Chicago, Illinois - Competition is fierce in today’s increasingly global manufacturing industry. Customers demand products that are delivered on time and meet or exceed their standards of quality. With fewer precious resources than large-scale manufacturing enterprises in the U.S. and abroad, how do SMBs keep up?

In his presentation, Dave Lechleitner, product marketing principal for Exact U.S. Cloud Solutions, will speak to how small and medium-sized manufacturers can stand out from the competition by achieving lean manufacturing. 

Dave will touch on the key principles of lean manufacturing, including the elimination of waste and how to focus on value-added activities. He will also address how SMBs can leverage the capabilities of mobile and cloud technologies to achieve lean operations in the following ways: 

Attain a holistic view of the firm: Mobile and cloud technologies tie core business functions together on centralized platforms. By uniting vital information across company silos and departments, business owners can: 

• Identify problems before they occur and respond quickly
• Drive down into granular data points like profit per product or actual cost per product – all calculated automatically
• Allocate valuable resources strategically: SMBs can ensure materials, personnel and time are spent on value-added activities only. With the cloud, SMBs can more easily:   
• Match supply with demand using software that can support flexible mixed-mode manufacturing – producing batches made-to-order or made-to-stock
• Manage personnel and scheduling through software that will assign tasks, track actions and alert team members when workflow is interrupted
• Optimize customer experience: Satisfied customers are loyal customers. SMBs can ensure optimal customer satisfaction with cloud capabilities to: 
• Generate quotes at lightning speed, with rates stored in a centralized platform
• Inform customers about the status of their order at each stage of production
• Guarantee on-time deliveries with an interconnected value chain

About the author
Dave Lechleitner is currently the product marketing principal for Exact’s U.S. Cloud Solutions. Dave also serves as the chair of the Software Technology Council for the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association. He has been in manufacturing for more than 20 years and is considered a thought leader in the industry. Dave is a senior enterprise resource planning (ERP) professional with extensive pre-and post-sale consulting, presales and management experience, in addition to vast experience in cost accounting and deployment of ERP solutions at all levels of a manufacturing enterprise. Dave is certified in lean manufacturing and frequently speaks about the topic nationally to help small manufacturers become lean.

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