In this report, surveyed manufacturing operations noted that organizational expansion would be a focus in coming years. Many businesses will be adding new warehousing and distribution facilities to get products to market faster and many others plan to expand existing facilities, increasing storage capacities. With these additions will come additional staffing requirements. Forty five percent of manufacturers plan to increase the number of employees in their labor pool.
By 2018 a significant portion of surveyed manufacturers also plan to increase process automation within their facilities – this includes repetitive processes such as cycle counting. By equipping staff with more automated data collection technologies manufacturers will be able to reduce time spent inventorying items while significantly increasing data accuracy and availability. In complement to ADC technologies, fifty percent will implement a new “best of breed” or full featured warehouse management solution. These WMS software systems will be integrated with new or existing ERP, transportation management and yard management systems. All of these evolutionary measures will help manufacturers to function more efficiently in the global marketplace, reduce costs and increase the accuracy of their operations.