Predictions for the Manufacturing Industry in 2021

Many business executives and managers heaved a massive sigh of relief after surviving a challenging 2020 due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. For several others, the new year presents a positive stance for economies, jobs, and businesses, especially those in the manufacturing industry. Although 60% of manufacturers admitted disruption in production and supply chain activities, several industry leaders and producers have proposed a positive shift from unrealised dreams to practical realities. 

With businesses realigning operations to adjust, stay focused, and maintain competitiveness, what should you expect in 2021? 

• Localised production shifts

The manufacturing industry is expected to take a cue from the client-driven “farm to table” trend which has grabbed hold in the agricultural sector in recent decades, shifting to localised production. The continuous trade wars and tariffs compromising supply chains worldwide urge manufacturers to move production processes nearer to the consumer. From faster marketing time, minimised working capital, state policies, and expanded flexibility, manufacturers will need to review where they sell for numerous reasons. 

Localising production shifts won’t be a simple or overnight change since the manufacturer’s size will play a significant role in the time and resources required for any reshoring processes. However, the difficulties in 2020 have increased the urgency in embracing this production type.

• Adjustment to new customer preferences 

The consumer dynamic is quickly changing, determined by a surge of information and new digitally enabled purchasing channels. Industry players have admitted that digital advancement remains their top-most commercial priority, although less than 20% effectively executed digital tools and sales channels in the last year. The pandemic has reminded producers of the significance of advanced technologies and the fragility of relying on labour, physical space accessibility, and centralised production lines worldwide. 

Additionally, top companies invest twice as much as their competitors in digital resources, training, and investing in ecommerce. The digital trends require organisations to hire or train staff to ensure digital proficiency. Despite this, producers are not moving en masse to direct sales models. An estimated 60% of producers in a survey depend on channel partners or utilise a blend of direct and indirect sales channels. 

• Sales, marketing, service integration 

According to a survey, 80% of participants believe that present customer persuasions cut across promotion, sales, and services since these elements can no longer function inside storehouses. Sales and promotion functions are being coordinated to enhance client data and new digital tools, including online media. Successful businesses have adopted account-based marketing (ABM) with important data insights and analytics to acquire more value from day-to-day advertising functions. For industrial builders, ABM could be beneficial in many ways including; 

• Creating more high-quality business opportunities
• Promote engagements and publicity to support sales 
• Gain more from trade shows
• Make more sales to existing customers, among others. 

• Coordinate talent and compensation with a development strategy 

Currently, producers have persevered through a profoundly competitive career market for commercial business roles. Despite the uncertain economic atmosphere, businesses find themselves vying for competent and proficient digital staff. Producers since 2017 have experienced a 0.8% bounce in a percentage of incomes to costs of sales benefits. An

impending retirement cliff has worsened talent pressures, with several business executives proposing that they are set to lose a high level of field representatives to retirement. 

Despite this, manufacturing businesses will still need field representatives to create and maintain essential customer relations as client access opens later. Due to this, organisations should retrain and regularly redeploy these critical roles to make room for present needs, joining them with internal sales and advertising roles. Sales compensation programs are likewise being re-designed to boost and plan for future developments. 

• Emphasis on sustainability 

Unlike before, when sustainability was considered an afterthought, it is gradually turning into a central selling point. The manufacturing industry has been a significant contributor to environmental contamination for some time. But with organisations moving towards prioritisation of science and the climate, expect efforts to be made to ensure more efficient and sustainable manufacturing processes to zero in on creating green jobs and scaling back on the industry’s high waste volumes. Over the years, the need to reduce carbon impressions and achieve carbon neutrality has been advanced significantly. Several brands are finding ways to lessen their carbon levels to a zero yield. However, many others maintain this is not good enough as they need to accomplish negative carbon levels. 

• Increased client and consumer expectations A survey by a US ecommerce platform has proposed that an estimated $710 billion will be spent by American consumers in ecommerce, representing an 18% increase for the year. With the growing demand for products, industrialists will be more constrained to produce top quality items quicker, more efficiently, and at a considerably lower cost than before. Additionally, aside from the shift in buying behaviours, the manufacturing industry will change the relationship between producers and consumers. The pandemic caused a massive jump in customer service delivery with organisations focusing on personalised experiences, extreme transparency and fast response. Clients have gotten accustomed to this service delivery and will expect to experience the same with their manufacturing associates. 
  • Increased workforce investment 

  Despite the considerable number of doomsday headlines that dominated the previous year, it is unmistakable at this point that computerisation isn’t entirely supplanting existing work, but rather creating new ones. There are growing expectations that producers will take on greater responsibility to continue this trend by developing better, more lucrative jobs for labourers in the manufacturing industry. Additionally, many industry leaders are also expected to invest in staff by offering access to STEM education, retraining, trade and vocational skills, and maker spaces. Increasing investment in the workforce will be a significant need for the manufacturing industry, mainly as policymakers centre around financial recoveries and job creation in the new year. 

  The pandemic has prompted an unprecedented rapid transformation among manufacturers in recent times and has quickened several trends already showing in business models. Although there are significant uncertainties, producers are consistently adjusting their strategic models to mirror the current reality.