Exciting news from one of our thought leaders: This past December, Campbell Soup announced its intention to acquire snacks company Snyder’s-Lance. This will add Snyder’s brands including Kettle, Cape Cod, Late July, and Emerald nuts to the Campbells’ snack lineup, which already includes well-known household brands, most notably the Pepperidge Farm Milano cookies and Goldfish crackers. Analysts say this represents a shift in the company’s “center of gravity” from its core soup business to snacks. The acquisition will bring the proportion of Campbell’s revenue from snacks up to 46% from 31% of sales in 2017.
Read More →Managing an Inter-generational Workforce
At the American Manufacturing Summit, Dirk Hilgenberg, VP, Assembly at BMW, shared this chart showing changes in the composition of the civilian labor force from 2004 to 2024. As you can see, the population of workers age 25-34 will remain relatively stable, there will be a decline in those aged 45-54, but as some people live and work longer, there will actually be an increase of those aged 65 and older in the workforce. The result, Hilgenberg says, is that by 2024, we will have three generations of workers on the shop floor with completely different value sets, interests, and abilities. This represents a huge challenge for leadership, team dynamics, and incentives.
Read More →New Year’s Resolutions: Create Successful Teams and a Sound Strategy
Dan Key, SVP, Operations & Supply Chain at Axalta Coating Systems spends a lot of time analyzing successful teams and how they win. He has found that many of them have similar characteristics. They have a system, they hire people that fit that system, and they develop that system over time. They mix A+ players with a lot of B players that know their role in the organization. They’re not afraid to let people go (not even the A+ talent), but rather see it as an opportunity to change and improve. They define a sound strategy that everyone on the team can understand. As we make our New Year’s resolutions to improve our organizations in 2018, consider some of Key’s tips to creating successful teams and a sound strategy.
Read More →Does Data Help or Hamper Your Ability to Execute Effectively?
Winning the game requires you to manage the details in short increment time intervals. For a fast/short cycle time business, if you learned that you missed the day at the end of the day, it’s too late to do much about it. But if you had the ability to measure and address performance in hourly or shorter time frames, there’s time to take action to ensure you meet the day’s goals. To learn more about data-driven daily management, check out this eguide by Dploy Solutions!
Read More →Infor CloudSuite Industrial (SyteLine) for Medical Devices
For medical device manufacturers, advancing and maintaining information management solutions that are compliant with an evolving set of FDA regulatory standards is a constant challenge. As you strive to manufacture high-quality medical devices, you need an enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution that can help you minimize compliance risk, as you maintain profitability, drive efficiencies, and streamline all parts of your business. This article will delve into: Upholding GMP quality standards; Maintaining regulatory compliance; Using integrated electronic records; and Meeting regulatory requirements. To find out more about how to reduce compliance risks and meet regulatory requirements, check out the white paper by Copley Consulting Group below:
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