Manufacturing Industry Overview

Manufacturing Industry Overview

When marketing to the manufacturing industry, it is important to have a firm grasp of the current environment for the industry. Growing at its fastest pace in seven months, US manufacturing in December of 2010 marked its 18th month of continuous growth. This gain, as paraphrased from “The Economic Times,” extended a recent run of encouraging economic data and suggested that the world’s biggest economy would continue to accelerate in 2011.

Finally, the dark cloud that formed at the start of ’08 was dissipating and the industry was cautiously, pragmatically, optimistic.

Demand depends upon consumer spending, which drives 70% of the US economy, and the economic events of recent years have ‘sucker punched’ us, resulting in redoubled efforts toward improving labor productivity and more efficient logistics and distribution.

To be competitive, manufacturers must differentiate themselves. Shorter lead times, faster turnaround, and improved service can make a difference in attracting and retaining customers. The need for increased operational efficiency and globalization is driving manufacturers to invest in software that can support common business processes across enterprises. The need to build globally efficient supply chains and support initiatives such as lean manufacturing is pushing corporations to intensify their software integration efforts. With advanced manufacturing technology, businesses are able to deliver on mass customization.

Early in our history, Frantz Group patented our “Manufacturing-Intelligent Call Center,” which provided qualified lead generation services and marketing campaign support to many leading providers of (then) MRP, ERP, and shop floor application software solutions. Technology and marketing techniques have grown and changed during our nearly 20 years in business, and we’ve pioneered many of those; Frantz Group’s expertise has necessarily grown in order to maintain its competitive edge and to ensure clients get top quality results for their marketing budgets. What hasn’t changed is our concentrated focus on the manufacturing vertical, which has distinguished Frantz Group throughout our history. Since we opened our doors in 1993, Frantz Group has worked with many world-class manufacturing technology leaders, including IBM, Sterling Commerce, JD Edwards, PeopleSoft, Oracle, Intentia, Lawson, SSA Global, Infor, MAPICS, GEAC, Daly.commerce, Dassault Systèmes, and more.