Growth and more efficient processes. That’s what’s on the minds of midsized manufacturing executives today.
Earlier this year, SAP Insights surveyed executives at more than 900 midsized manufacturers to understand the dynamics and strategic direction of these businesses right now. Overall, two priorities emerged: a push for increased organic growth and ways to make their manufacturing operations more efficient overall.
For mid-sized manufacturers, organic growth is the primary strategy right now instead of mergers and acquisitions.
Specifically, 81 percent of midsized manufacturers said they are prioritizing existing market expansion as a means to growth, and roughly 78 percent are driving growth with better distribution channels and partnerships. About a third of manufacturers are also using new product development for organic growth right now.
To achieve these growth goals, midsized manufacturers are focusing on:
In addition to organic growth, process simplification is also a strategic priority for mid-sized manufacturers right now.
Roughly 66 percent of manufacturing executives surveyed said that they are focusing on simplifying the process of new product and service creation, and more than half said that better integration with their enterprise resource planning solution is important. A little more than 38 percent of midsized manufacturing executives also cited improving process automation as a priority.
To reach these simplification goals, midsized manufacturers are focusing on:
For mid-sized manufacturers, the path forward is all about technology improvement. The need for smarter manufacturing operations with new technology cuts across both growth and efficiency goals.
There are four ways that manufacturers are using technology right now to reach their growth and efficiency goals.
In other words, midsized manufacturers are leaning on investment in cloud ERP and generative AI for competitive advantage.
Midsized manufacturers have to achieve these strategic goals and technology improvements with fewer resources, both from a financial and human resource perspective. Thankfully, digital transformation has never been easier; cloud-based ERP is both easier to deploy than previous on-premise ERP solutions, and it costs less.
SAP Cloud ERP, the rebranded name for S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition, helps midsized manufacturers digitally transform in as little as 90 days and with all the technology tools needed for supporting operations today and as the business grows.
This is achieved by taking SAP’s flagship ERP solution and re-engineering it as a modular solution where businesses can take a common cloud-based core and add modules and functionality to right-size the ERP for current and future needs. SAP Cloud ERP comes with industry best practices out of the box, and manufacturers can add functionality through the SAP Business Technology Platform online marketplace or use a low-code editor within the marketplace for easily creating integrations or custom functionality.
Implementation packages such as GROW with SAP make digital transformation even easier; the GROW program is a structured approach for migrating to cloud ERP easily and with less pain, complete with most of what a business needs for making the jump to SAP Cloud ERP.
Of course, SAP Cloud ERP is also generative AI-ready. Through SAP Joule, midsized manufacturers can connect their data and software tools to any of the popular AI engines such as ChatGPT, Google Gemini, or Anthropic Claude. Once connected, this AI engine can then serve as a digital copilot that can help with analytics and activities within the system. Further, because of the deep integration with SAP Cloud ERP, the AI can work directly with company data and perform tasks with the software by itself for added utility and improved workflows.
With SAP Cloud ERP and SAP Joule, midsized manufacturers can quickly adopt AI in a meaningful way at the foundational level.
To learn more about how your midsized manufacturing business can grow organically and drive efficiency with digital transformation, contact one of our experienced consultants by calling (801) 642-0123 or by writing info@nbs-us.com.