Four New Year's Resolutions for Manufacturing Collaboration

By Andrew Crowley

It's the same routine every year. As the clock strikes midnight, our thoughts quickly turn to those new year's resolutions. Whether these are good thoughts, or dreadful thoughts, there are often a number of common themes that emerge when we resolve to do better; stress less, be better with your finances, lose weight, and improve your time management.

Believe it or not, these goals can also be applied to your manufacturing collaboration process. In this blog post, I will discuss these four common resolutions and how you can help your organization in each area in the new year. 

Stress Less

You wouldn't think it would be, but manufacturing collaboration can be quite stressful, especially if you're having to do it by attaching a file to an email...or as some folks like to call it "the way we've always done it here." The truth is, manufacturing collaboration today can be a clunky, costly operation for both your organization and those outside your organization that you have to share data with. Packaging and repackaging of files, problems accessing file formats, reviewing data in disparate locations, and ongoing delays are just some of the many things that can cause you stress in 2024.

Using a single collaborative tool can reduce your stress and the stress on your manufacturing processes by eliminating engineering errors caused by poor collaboration — specifically in the context of shared technical data. It also helps manufacturers maintain the quality of the data they're sharing across the team. 

Be Better With Your Finances

This is something we all strive for, right? Every year we want to be just a little bit better at managing our money. Over the years, we've found that many teams and supplier networks have been cost centers for manufacturers, but why is that? A significant part of it has to do with the technology being used and the amount of "friction" it is causing, which creates trade offs and down stream issues that cost time and more importantly, money.

Now imagine you are attacking these challenges with frictionless technology that can automate Technical Data Package (TDP) creation, communication, and collaboration so your teams and suppliers are always connected to the data and expertise they need to make decisions and develop products faster. All of the sudden, your cost center becomes an innovation center instead, with the ultimate benefit being money savings, which is something we can all get behind! 

Lose Weight

"This is definitely the year!" Well, that's at least what we tell ourselves isn't it? Whether we are trying to get outside more, go to a gym, or just be more active, it can be a struggle and something that definitely prevents us from reaching our goals. In manufacturing, I can't think of two terms that are more weighty than scrap and rework. But what causes scrap and rework? Typically, it's manufacturer and supplier miscommunication. This can manifest itself in a number of ways:

• Multiple sources of truth
• Inaccurate, out of date data
• Untraced communication
• Disconnected email and file sharing

This can weigh down your supplier collaboration with unnecessary meetings, emails, and phone calls. Time to shed that weight once and for all with a better solution.

Manage Your Time Better

We all want more time, don't we? Whether it is time with our families, friends, or even time to just work on making our lives more efficient — at home or in the office, there never seems to be enough time. In manufacturing, so much time is spent on finding, packaging, sharing, and explaining product data via email and file sharing applications. The problem with this file-based approach risks intellectual property leaks and leaves little time for product innovation.

At Anark, we've found that with the right collaboration tool, 50% of engineering time can be freed up from taking all of the things we listed above and working on them in Anark Collaborate. Not only will this free up engineering time, but everyone else's time as well, which is definitely worth pursuing in the new year. 

Resolve to Help Your Organization

As you finalize the new year's resolutions for your organization or team, keep in mind the importance of reducing stress, be better with your finances, losing weight, and managing your time. When you're ready to take these on, Anark will be here for you!