Page 16
ManageMent
www.us-
tech.com
Navigating the Challenges of the Americas Market: Intensive Focus on
New Technology Adoption By Lance A. Scott, Founder and CEO, Alliance Technologies
manufacturing landscape. However, those that remain find themselves com- peting for a smaller piece of the global manufacturing pie. These remaining participants face a challenging combina- tion of lower volumes, pricing pressure and increased competition. The only way to secure, or possibly grow, their po- sition is through exceptional customer service and state-of-the-art technology. A strong period of global economic
T
growth has enabled manufacturers to invest in upgrading equipment and ca- pabilities and has helped U.S. manufac- turers to enter, or reenter, attractive
he massive shift of high-volume, low-mix production to low cost re- gions has redefined the American
markets. To a lesser, but still critically important extent, the robust economy has enabled many U.S. companies to reshore manufacturing operations. With the revival of the industry,
companies are focused on developing next-generation technologies that ad- dress trends toward automation, artifi- cial intelligence (AI) and advanced manufacturing. But, these improve- ments also bring additional challenges.
R&D Spending According to R&D Magazine’s
2018 global funding forecast, the U.S. was projected to invest approximately $553 billion across all aspects of R&D, including basic research, applied re-
search and development. This is a 2.9 percent increase over the $537 billion invested in 2017 by U.S. industry, gov- ernment and academia. U.S. R&D in- vestments are closely linked to the country’s GDP. As GDP increases, R&D investments follow suit. In pursuit of next-generation
technologies, manufacturers should anticipate allocating a significant budget to R&D. Without this commit- ment, they will weaken their ability to introduce greater flexibility in produc- tion; reduce physical and financial con- straints within production; increase ease of use for the customer; and at- tract and hire new tech-savvy workers.
Approved Vendors Top executives, engineers and
supply chain managers demand the best from their suppliers and often re- strict their new design and purchasing selections to only a core group of ap- proved vendors. Securing a position on the ap-
proved vendor list (AVL) of large com- panies requires an intensive level of in- teraction, investment of resources and sophisticated key account manage- ment. The efforts are enormous, but AVL success exposes suppliers to a vast global network of purchasing profes- sionals and can put international com- panies one step closer to gaining mar- ket share and increasing profitability. It is important for international
Navigating the Challenge of the American Marketplace
Helping international advanced manufacturing companies to accelerate strategic growth in the American market through direct operational management and expert guidance.
Getting Started in the Americas
Restructuring Your American Operation
Managing Your American Operations
Advising Your Board of Directors
Accelerating Growth Through M&A
Wherever you are on your journey to expansion into the American market, we can help. Contact us to discuss how we can grow your business, together.
+1 203 226 8895
sales@allianceamericas.com
allianceamericas.com
manufacturing companies to recognize that the effort to secure a position on a large corporation’s AVL rarely pays immediate, or in many cases, even long-term benefits to the U.S. sales team. Successful key account man- agers invest a massive amount of time to secure an AVL position and may see only minor unit sales, non-recurring engineering (NRE) revenue, or per- haps nothing at all. Meanwhile, once awarded an
AVL position, the company will likely purchase large quantities of products in non-U.S. manufacturing locations where the domestic sales team has lit- tle meaningful interaction. This is not always the case and
the best key account strategy is global in nature. Each country or region rec- ognizes its essential role in a well- managed key account relationship. This spirit of international collabora- tion should also translate to a fair com- pensation scheme, where design credit is issued to the design-in location, pur- chasing or contract negotiation, and ship-to or manufacturing location.
U.S.-Based Engineering When it comes to scaling produc-
tion, high-volume manufacturing is of-
ten transferred to lower-cost regions. Today, many other regions, especially those in Asia, offer the sophisticated systems necessary to deliver timely, high-quality and reliable products. When working at an intense
pace, U.S. engineers tend to focus more on the design and less on high- quality documentation. This furious quest for speed to market comes with some well-known and expected draw- backs. While the final product may ex- ceed performance expectations, poorly written documentation — instructions, standard operating procedures, and blueprints — can lead to more human error than necessary as the product moves to scale. In the long run, inadequate docu-
mentation can lead to manufacturing delays that only increase the overall project time and expense. The accept- ance of some engineers of the compro- mise between time to market and process documentation often leads to considerable agitation between U.S. teams and their parent companies. Companies that embrace a fail-
fast philosophy hope to mitigate the fi- nancial risk of developing a new prod- uct or service. Common within lean manufacturing, this philosophy sup- ports an iterative product development in order to determine whether an idea has value before investing additional time and money. The goal for those op- erating under the fail-fast mentality is to cut losses quickly and succeed faster.
However, when this typical U.S.
mentality confronts the more process- oriented “build it right the first time” mentality that is more common at larger international parent companies, the frustrations can overflow. Once again, the international management must establish acceptable new product development processes, milestone re- views and collaborative international working groups to reduce any poten- tial conflicts. Careful research and planning
can help international advanced man- ufacturing companies to prioritize in- vestments and avoid costly missteps when entering the U.S. market. Each company must carefully tailor its strategy, based on company size, in- dustry, product portfolio, and technical complexity to best address the chal- lenges and opportunities of the U.S. Alliance Technologies is able to pro- vide actionable steps to help compa- nies overcome these challenges. Contact: Alliance Technologies,
LLC, 26 Davis Hill Road, Weston, CT 06883 % 203-226-8895 E-mail:
sales@allianceamericas.com Web:
www.allianceamericas.com r
October, 2019
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112
