'Service' is the Natural Evolution for Manufacturing: Exploring problem-solving technology also delivers more business intelligence

摘要

Manufacturers and distributors across the country, and around the world, increasingly find themselves at a crossroads. One path is littered by the reality of evolving economics while the other reveals a growth opportunity available to "pre-Internet" companies by harnessing modern technologies. For decades, the business model in the Rust Belt economy was fairly straightforward: produce and distribute more widgets to a growing customer base, domestically and internationally. With times changing, for many of these that growth model slowed, or worse, plateaued. Some came to find that growth opportunities were finite, as the customer base became finite. In other words, once you've built the customer base that needs your widgets, your growth is either fueled by, or limited by, the extent to which that customer base needs more widgets. That was then. Now, the picture is far different, and it has some traditional manufacturers veritably bullish about what lies ahead for the manufacturing sector.