FEATURE
“ If you do what you ’ ve always done , you ’ ll get what you always got .”
and co-opetition ..." that is driven by the customer has to be a better model for the future . There are models out there people can follow that I believe offer us all a better " new normal " and the chance to turn the Industry 4.0 myth into magic . Those models , however , are not based on one supplier or one size fits all .
Obviously , this is not something we in the manufacturing supply chain can impose . Ultimately the process has to belong to the customer , but our aim should be to encourage the collaboration and we in the manufacturing supply chain need to change our ways – less adversarial , less out for ourselves and more collaborative in our approach too .
So what might the future hold ? The Covid pandemic has forced a major rethink of global manufacturing supply chains in what is being termed the new normal . Our contention is that radical change and the new normal should not just apply to manufacturers or customers in general . It should and must go much further and apply to the entire ecosystem of suppliers .
In the final analysis , we need to work together to
Malcolm Knott , MD of Middlesbrough ’ s ITS .
break the traditional silos both within organisations and those in the external supplier ecosystem . The fact that people from different organisational types , people like John and I , can discuss it and find common ground and we can see it as a light at the end of the tunnel , should give us all reason to be optimistic .
Malcolm Knott , managing director , Industrial Technology Systems , with thanks to John Robinson , strategic client advisor – manufacturing Industry 4.0 – digital supply chain EMEA North for his valued input .
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