Pnc Bank Manufacturing

Logistics doesn’t end when products ship to customers. Companies are beginning to pay more attention to why, when, and how products get back to the plant. Here’s how to take a more strategic approach to efficient and cost-effective returns.

As 3-D printing has matured into a more versatile and capable technology since its beginnings in the 1980s, it is transforming relationships between customers and suppliers. To keep up with such dramatic changes, suppliers need to use 3-D printing to their own advantage.

When it comes to team selling, some companies take “the more the merrier” approach. But given how many ways any meeting can go wrong, it’s key to find the right mix of people before you head to the customer’s office. This podcast explores best practices for team selling.

The 2015 State of Logistics Report from the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals forecasts the factors that will impact inbound and outbound shipping in the coming year. Here are a few things to learn from the report.

Software solutions advancing in integration, centralized data and control, mobile computing and the cloud are giving supply chain management a much broader meaning. This podcast explores four trends you should be aware of when evaluating your current I-T capabilities.

By the end of this year, ISO 9001 for 2015 will be released. ISO 9001 is the most-used quality standard in manufacturing. More and more of your customers are looking for suppliers compliant with this standard, so it’s important that you make the transition. This podcast explores what you need to know about the changes.

Companies that relocate operations to lower-wage countries often fail to achieve the savings they seek. The total cost of manufacturing in any location depends on a number of factors, not labor costs alone. Besides wages and inventory, the sourcing decision should be based on many other factors. This podcast explores the many reasons to invest in production in the United States.

The saying goes, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression,” and that is surely true for businesses. This podcast shares strategies for ways to start off a client relationship on the right foot, courtesy of Rob Olney, the CEO of ETM Manufacturing, one of Inc. magazine’s 5,000 fastest growing private companies in the U.S.

When you have to tell customers about a price increase, you don’t know how they will react. This podcast offers tips from sales expert Dave Kahle, who has authored 12 books and spoken at events in 47 states and seven countries. His approach makes communicating price increases more successful—and easier on both you and your customers.

PNC Bank celebrates manufacturing during the entire month of October to recognize our nation’s manufacturers. PNC is proud to host special activities throughout the month, and many of these events can be considered year-round as ways to engage with your local community. This podcast explores what’s in store for Manufacturing Month 2014.

To maintain a company’s competitiveness, key people need to be strong leaders. Management competencies are not enough. It may be time to look at your supply chain and logistics team and see how your talent pool measures up. Adrian Gonzalez, president of Adelante SCM, has identified eight factors you should consider.

Seven different manufacturing professionals offer their nuggets of advice on how to effectively delegate responsibilities.

What will material handling and logistics look like in 2025? The U.S. Roadmap for Material Handling and Logistics is looking ahead at the capabilities and resources the industry needs to develop by then. This podcast examines the major challenges and trends ahead.

When your company is spending millions on new sales and operations or enterprise resource planning systems, failure is not an option—yet it’s a fact that implementations do fail or fall short of meeting expectations. Effective change management is a process of uniting people in making a transition, training, adapting business processes and getting people to work together. Here are a few considerations that can improve your chances of success.

A company’s lean journey usually starts in the factory. Sooner or later, roadblocks from processes that connect the plant’s value streams with the outside world become visible. Procurement is one of those processes. This podcast discusses how to successfully implement lean in procurement.

Decades ago, when stable forecasts determined production goals months in advance, Manufacturing Resource Planning (MSP) was designed for make-to-stock production. MSP remains at the core of most Enterprise Resource Planning systems, but in the last few years, factory management systems have been entering the market. This podcast looks at production and inventory management to meet today’s changing demands.

You may be losing sales if you don’t accept credit or debit card payments. A First Data study found that only 32 percent of consumers prefer to pay with cash. There are other reasons you should be accepting multiple forms of payment. Discover more benefits to credit and debit cards in this podcast.

Toyota’s global sourcing strategies faced serious tests in 2011, and it was supply chain managers for both parts and people that helped handle the unexpected. Just as Toyota’s production rose during the economic recovery, it was hit by the Japanese earthquake and tsunami in March 2011. Suddenly, critical parts for North American vehicles were unavailable. This podcast examines Toyota’s strategy for facing this obstacle, and what you can learn from it.

To ensure smooth operations, you want to provide your entire supply chain with visibility and information at every step in the manufacturing process. Especially in a lean manufacturing environment, open communication is imperative. This podcast examines the successful supply-chain communication strategies of wind industry supplier NRG Systems.

Engineers search for solutions to technical problems, make decisions based on facts and want to know features, performance characteristics and technical specs. That’s where you come in. This podcast offers tips for targeted sales of your product or services to technical specialists in other companies.