IDC Manufacturing Insights: 10 Predictions for Manufacturing in 2012

I attended the IDC Manufacturing Insights Predictions 2012:  Manufacturing conference call today.   I enjoyed this call as IDC highlighted the key 2012 trends within the Manufacturing Industry.

This was a global predictions call and was focused broadly on manufacturing industry wide predictions.  The IDC Manufacturing Insights team has scheduled other prediction calls going into more detail on topics like Supply Chain and Product Lifecycle Management.  There are also other calls coming up that focus on manufacturing related predictions in both Europe and Asia.   

Leading this conference call was the IDC Manufacturing Insights team of Joe Barkai (Vice President), Simon Ellis (Practice Director), Kimberly Knickle (Practice Director), Pierfrancesco Manenti (Head – EMEA), and Bob Parker (Group Vice President)

Summary

In 2012, the industry could be characterized as having cautious optimism.  Manufacturing is recovering but business will never be the same.  IDC showed spending forecasts for all major sub-industries with manufacturing and all industries show growth with the consumer oriented industries showing the most growth. 

The Ten Predictions

The 2012 predictions list below was sourced from the conference call slides.

1. ‘Engaged’ Organizations. “Success in the intelligent economy will be achieved through “engaged” organizations”.
2. ‘Four Forces’. “IT organizations will make foundational investments in the “four forces” that deliver both IT productivity and business value”  (note:  IDC says the four forces are Mobility, Big Data, Cloud, and Social Business)
3. Supply Chain Alignment. “Manufacturers Focus on Clock-Speed Alignment across the Supply and Demand Sides of their Supply Chains”
4. IT Support of Supply Chain. “The Requirement for Speed and the Ubiquity of Information Creates a New Landscape for IT Support of the Supply Chain”
5. Lean Innovation. “Manufacturers Adopt Lean Innovation Throughout the Product Lifecycle”
6. Product Lifecycle Visibility. “Greater Visibility and Deeper Understanding of All Aspects of Product Lifecycle Enable Context for Innovation”
7. Factory of the Future: Capabilities.  “The Factory of the Future will be Driven by Capabilities to Fulfill Customer Demand Rather than Pure Production Capacity”
8. Factory of the Future: Operations. “The Factory of the Future will Require a New Approach to Operations Applications”
9. Culture of Learning. “Engaged Manufacturers Look Ahead by Creating a Culture of Learning”
10. Sustainability. “Manufacturers Shine Environmental Sustainability Spotlight on the Factory as a Means of Getting to the Product”

For More Information

• The IDC Manufacturing Insights main page is http://www.idc-mi.com/
• Conference Call Replay (registration required): IDC Manufacturing Insights Predictions 2012: Manufacturing.  See press release for other Manufacturing Insights prediction calls coming up.
• Reports: IDC Energy Insights Top 10 Predictions for Utilities Industry (not published yet)
• Press Release:  IDC Manufacturing Insights To Present Top 10 Predictions for 2012
• Community:  The IDC Insights Community has blogs, videos, forums, resource library, events etc.
• IDC Manufacturing Insights Newsletter: www.idc-mi.com/newsletter
• The IDC 2012 Predictions portal is at http://www.idc.com/research/Predictions12/Main/index.jsp.  This page is being updated daily as new reports come out, webinars announced, etc.

Comments

[Consumption model]

Thank you for your article. Manufacturers can focus on the consumption model and implement an effective supply chain system for the growth of there firm.