Should Manufacturers Use Video in Their Marketing Mixes?

As a consumer, it’s nearly impossible to get away from videos, advertising or otherwise. To give you a numeric sense of our collective obsession with online moving images: Since last year, YouTube has started registering over a billion hours of video viewing every single day.

We all know the reasons we personally turn to YouTube, whether it’s to watch sports highlights, silly cat videos, cooking instructions, or power tool demonstrations. But does video — originally a consumer-oriented medium — have a rightful place in the marketing arsenal for manufacturers with a strong B2B audience?

The Data Behind Video Consumption in B2B Marketing

Clearly, a lot of people are watching a lot of video content online, and this prevalence bears out in B2B video marketing statistics, not just consumer video activity. Seventy-two percent of B2B content marketers use video content as part of their strategy, making it the third most popular type of B2B marketing content overall. This strategy frequently pays off, as B2B videos experience 41% higher web traffic from searches, 27% higher click-through rates, and 34% higher web conversion rates as compared to non-users.

The success of B2B video extends to manufacturing and industrial specific applications. In its 2017 annual report on trends in industrial marketing, IEEE GlobalSpec Media Solutions found that 50% of manufacturing marketers spent more money on video in 2017 than they did in the previous year. Videos also ranked in the top 10 marketing channels, with 34% of all manufacturing marketers saying they utilized video in 2017.

Even more impressive, a full 80% of industrial content marketers said they used video for marketing purposes in the Content Marketing Institute’s 2018 report. (Content marketing is a subset of marketing, which is why this number is higher than the IEEE GlobalSpec report.) Furthermore, pre-produced videos were named one of the top three most effective content marketing mediums (the other two were email and LinkedIn) with 52% of industrial marketers saying that video was effective.

As the numbers show, videos are already an important part of the industrial marketing toolbox, and are likely to be more important over time as more manufacturers learn how to effectively produce and use them.

Types of Manufacturing Marketing Videos

The key to success with any marketing tactic, including video, is having a specific plan that aligns with your overall business goals. Here are some manufacturing-specific video ideas that can help you start brainstorming ideas:

Virtual Tour

No matter how state-of-the-art your facility is, giving in-person tours isn’t always feasible, for a variety of reasons. However, videos give you a chance to create a virtual tour of your facility that people can view anywhere, any time. This content is an excellent way to highlight any special equipment or capabilities that you have, and a timelapse (such as that used in the example below) can show off an entire day at your facility. Make sure to let employees know you’ll be filming. Your public relations, legal or public affairs department can help you with any releases they might have to sign.

Video of Flying Out the Door: How Boeing Keeps Up Delivery of the Popular 737

Video of Heroes of American Manufacturing Ace Metal Crafts Company Source

Product or Equipment Demo

Certain performance metrics — e.g., efficiency, speed, or quality — can be difficult to demonstrate with words alone. Showing a product in action or going behind the scenes into the making of that product are powerful ways to show off your product’s capabilities and features. Product demo videos are also a great way to introduce a new item or service.

Video of Kingston DRAM Manufacturing Tour

Customer Testimonial

You already have case studies and quotes from customers on your website, so why not unite the power of testimonials with the power of video? If one of your customers is comfortable in front of the camera, a video testimonial can be a great way to break up the usual case study format, convey authenticity and be more persuasive because it can often better communicate emotions. Your potential customers can see and hear the enthusiasm your current client has for your product. You can also add shots of your facility and the product in question for extra impact.

Video of Customer Success Story – Tag Team Manufacturing

Educational Content

Including informational content among your marketing messages is an important part of positioning your company as a trusted industry expert. Alongside blogs and reports, educational videos can showcase your subject matter expertise. These videos may take many forms, such as interviews with subject matter experts or a how-to tutorial that answers a common question.

Video of How to Design and Manufacture a Product

Videos Definitely Belong in the Manufacturer Marketing Mix

Videos have already proven to be an effective marketing channel for B2B business, including manufacturers, and the importance of this compelling medium will only continue to grow in the future. From time-lapse virtual tours to customer testimonials, videos offer a unique, immersive marketing resource for demonstrating what sets your business apart.

About The Author

Katie Takacs

Katie Takacs is the marketing and operations manager for the Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership

USA Is Now The Preferred Location For New Factory Capacity To Serve U.S. Market As Interest In Reshoring Stays Strong

by Boston Consulting Group

Of manufacturers planning to add production capacity over the next five years for goods consumed in the U.S., more plan to add that capacity in the U.S. than in any other country — a sharp reversal since as recently as two years ago. And a rising percentage of U.S.-based executives at the manufacturers say they are already in the process of reshoring production work from China. These are among the findings of new research released today by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG).

Thirty-one percent of respondents to BCG’s fourth annual survey of senior U.S.-based manufacturing executives at companies with at least $1 billion in annual revenues said that their companies are most likely to add production capacity in the U.S. within five years for goods sold in the U.S., while 20 percent said they are most likely to add capacity in China. Asked the same question in 2013, 30 percent of respondents said that China was the most likely destination for new capacity devoted to serving the U.S. market, while only 26 percent said capacity would be added in the U.S. (see exhibit).

Even though China will remain a major exporter to the U.S., which accounted for around 18 percent of its total exports through the first eleven months of 2015, the suggestion that the U.S. has surpassed China as the most likely destination for new manufacturing capacity is striking.

The share of executives saying that their companies are actively reshoring production increased by 9 percent since 2014 and by about 250 percent since 2012. This suggests that companies that were considering reshoring in the past three years are now taking action. By a two-to-one margin, executives said they believe that reshoring will help create U.S. jobs at their companies rather than lead to a net loss of jobs.

“These findings underscore how significantly U.S. attitudes toward manufacturing in America seem to have swung in just a few years,” said Harold L. Sirkin, a BCG senior partner and a coauthor of the research, which is part of BCG’s ongoing series on the shifting economics of global manufacturing, launched in 2011. “The results offer the latest evidence that a revival of American manufacturing is underway.”

This year’s survey also confirmed that factors such as logistics, inventory costs, ease of doing business, and the risks of operating extended supply chains are weighing heavily in executives’ decisions to bring manufacturing back to the U.S. Seventy-six percent of respondents reported that a primary reason for reshoring production of goods to be sold in the U.S. was to “shorten our supply chain,” while 70 percent cited reduced shipping costs and 64 percent said “to be closer to customers.”

“The fundamental economic forces that are prompting many companies to reassess their global manufacturing footprint have not changed,” explained Michael Zinser, a BCG senior partner and coleader of the firm’s global Manufacturing practice. “Given the big differences in wage growth and productivity — and the greater attention companies are paying to total cost — there is good reason to believe that the cost-competitiveness of the U.S. compared with China and many other major export economies will continue to improve in the near term.”

The decreasing costs and improved capabilities of advanced manufacturing technologies such as robotics also make manufacturing in the U.S. more attractive than in economies whose chief advantage is cheap labor. Fifty-six percent of respondents said that lower automation costs have improved the competitiveness of U.S.-made products compared with similar goods sourced from low-cost countries. Seventy-one percent said advanced manufacturing technologies will improve the economics of local production, and 75 percent said they will invest in additional automation or advanced manufacturing technologies in the next five years.

Even though they plan to invest more in automation, manufacturing executives indicated that reshoring is still likely to create new U.S. manufacturing jobs. Fifty percent of respondents said they expect that U.S. manufacturing employment by their companies will increase by at least 5 percent over the next five years as a result of reshoring; 27 percent predicted a job increase of at least 10 percent.

Although the core indicators of U.S. competitiveness remain strong, recent turbulence in the global economic environment — such as collapsing energy prices and massive swings in exchange rates — have given some executives pause. The 2015 survey shows that executives believe that the U.S. will account for a slightly lower portion of their companies’ global production capacity than they indicated in 2014. The ratio of those projecting net job increases versus net job losses, while still two-to-one in favor of increases, also declined since the 2014 survey, which found a three-to-one ratio in favor of job creation.

The underlying drivers of this hesitance go beyond global macroeconomic volatility and include factors such as concerns about rising U.S. health-care costs, federal and local regulatory uncertainty, increases in the U.S. minimum wage, and unclear progress on tax reform. Such concerns are causing companies to reassess their long-term manufacturing strategies.

“Although interest in reshoring remains strong, this year’s findings indicate that a number of companies are still holding back,” noted Justin Rose, a BCG partner and leader of the firm’s North American Industrial Goods Operations team who, along with Sirkin and Zinser, is a coauthor of The U.S. Manufacturing Renaissance: How Shifting Global Economics Are Creating an American Comeback (Knowledge@Wharton, 2012). “This reinforces the fact that the U.S. can’t simply rest on positive global macroeconomic trends if it is to fully capture the opportunities created by the shifting economics of global manufacturing.”

AVA Consulting Company specializes in global manufacturing consulting. With over 26 years of manufacturing products for the B2B and B2C market using Agile Manufacturing Methods. Please contact Kevin Armstrong, President of Armstrong Value Add.

Fiatech and E2open Integrated Materials Management Webinar 8-5-14

Industry Crib Sheet: Industrial Production Jumps in September

U.S. industrial production surged in September, bolstered by big expansions in mining and utilities while manufacturing activity rebounded from the summer doldrums. The 1 percent output growth shattered economists’ predictions of 0.4 percent growth and was the biggest month-to-month jump in more than four years.Output at the nation’s mines rose 1.8 percent, and utilities production accelerated 3.9 percent as energy requirements for air-conditioning increased with above-normal temperatures. After declining 0.5 percent in August, manufacturing, which accounts for the majority of industrial activity, bounced back with a 0.5 percent expansion to finish the third quarter at an annualized 3.5 percent growth rate. The Federal Reserve lowered the manufacturing sector’s August output  from an initially reported 0.4 percent decline.

September’s heady industrial output was 4.3 percent higher than the same month a year earlier and handily offset the 0.2 percent decline in August, resulting in an annualized 3.2 percent expansion rate for total industrial activity in the third quarter.

“This was a very encouraging report, and the strong performance in the manufacturing sector will go some way in allaying fears about weakening momentum in this sector,” TD Securities’ Millan Mulraine said in a published report.

Both consumer goods and business equipment manufacturing rebounded from August declines with respective expansions of 0.5 percent and 0.3 percent. The production of aerospace and transportation equipment jumped 1.7 percent, an indication manufacturers in that industry were responding to the steep surge in civilian aircraft orders in July. However, auto production fell again, dropping 1.4 percent and confounding economists, who expected a quick turnaround from a 7 percent plunge in August.

Total industrial capacity utilization rose 0.6 points to 79.3 percent, the highest level in more than six years but still below the long-run average of 80.1 percent. Manufacturing operating rates rose just 0.2 points to 77.3 percent, compared with the long-run average of 78.7 percent. Despite record backlogs and continued orders for goods, manufacturers are operating at well below historical capacity levels, a troubling sign for economists, who see a widespread lack of inflationary growth. Weak inflation could delay Fed policymakers from raising interest rates, a move widely expected sometime next year.

Analysts predict manufacturing will continue to drive the U.S. economy in the fourth quarter. “Going forward, we expect manufacturing will remain one of the stronger areas of the economy,” The Wall Street Journal reported economist John Ryding as saying, “helped by an upswing in capital spending.” The production of business equipment rose 0.3 percent in September after falling 0.2 percent in August and a 1.2 percent jump in July.

The U.S. economy grew by 4.6 percent in the second quarter, buoyed by the manufacturing sector’s 6.8 percent expansion in the April-to-June period. Manufacturing will need to continue its robust contribution to the economy, as a 0.3 percent decline in September retail sales, a sign of continued passive consumer spending, could put economists’ third-quarter forecasts of above-3 percent GDP growth in jeopardy. An early estimate for third-quarter GDP is due from the federal government at the end of this month.

Machine Tool Sales Tick Up, but Spurt Is Expected  Metalworking machinery demand rose marginally in August after weakening significantly in July while cutting tool consumption fell into a deeper slump, but industry officials remained upbeat in anticipation of re-strengthening activity over the rest of the year.

August metal cutting, forming, and fabrication machinery sales totaled $356.7 million, a 0.4 percent increase from July but a 6 percent decline compared with the same month a year ago, according to the U.S. Manufacturing Technology Orders report published by the Association For Manufacturing Technology (AMT). With a $3.1 billion total through August, machinery sales this year fell 0.1 percent further behind last year’s pace and now trails by 2013 year-to-date sales by 2.4 percent.

The $166 million total in cutting tool purchases in August was down 2.7 percent from July and down 3 percent from August 2013, according to the Cutting Tool Market Report jointly released by AMT and the United States Cutting Tool Institute. Cutting tool consumption fell 1.1 percent in July. Tom Haag, president of the USCTI, said the August tumble was unsurprising, noting that the summer months are when shops take vacation and auto plants retool production lines for the next model year.

Haag’s comment reflects the 7 percent drop in motor vehicle and part production in August, according to the Federal Reserve’s latest U.S. industrial production report (see story above).

“The three-month rolling average actually shows the sales as fairly steady throughout the summer,” said Haag. “The third quarter should close much stronger with September bringing the industry back to full speed and the IMTS exhibition driving new interest with record attendance,” he added, referring to September’s International Manufacturing Technology Show in Chicago that drew over 114,000 manufacturing professionals.

Officials anticipate machine tool sales to pick up after new machinery introductions at IMTS and as shops upgrade their capital equipment to meet greater production demands. Data from the Fed indicates that U.S. manufacturing rebounded 0.5 percent in September after a 0.5 percent drop in August, highlighting an early autumn pick-up. AMT has noted that many manufacturers, which are already working off record backlogs, are still running equipment that is over 20 years old and will need to acquire new machinery.

Still, other economic indicators suggest that momentum growth could be a challenge ahead for manufacturers. Factory orders tumbled 10.1 percent in August, according to the Commerce Department, and the Institute for Supply Management’s closely watched manufacturing index  showed a 6.7 percent softening in new orders in September. Although most economists expect manufacturing to help carry the U.S. economy in the fourth quarter, some are worried about the slowdown in the global economy, which could weaken exports, as well as continued sluggish domestic consumer spending.

Manufacturers are operating at their highest capacity levels in recent memory but are still well below their historical rates, despite a continuing build-up of record backlogs. According to ISM, manufacturers’ shipments edged up 0.1 percent in September. Plus, Labor Department figures show manufacturing employment has mostly stagnated since July. The sector added just 4,000 positions in September.

Report Gives Mat-Handling Equipment Sourcing Tips Prices for material-handling equipment have risen moderately over the past three years, but manufacturers should consider electrically driven equipment as well as leasing and renting options to counter high long-term ownership costs, according to research firm IBISWorld in a new report.

IBISWorld said respective prices for pallet trucks and forklifts are growing at 2.9 percent and 2 percent annually, but the costs beyond initial equipment purchases, such as those for fueling and maintenance, have remained high for material-handling equipment.

As manufacturing activity has quickened, manufacturers have bought more material-handling equipment to keep operations in pace with production and demand. Manufacturers also have expanded payrolls to maintain the higher production pace, which means they have had to conduct more operator training. While training is the least costly of post-purchase expenses, IBISWorld said, the costs of preparing material-handling operators are proportionate to the size and capacity of the manufacturing operation and thus are growing.

IBISWorld calculated that a gas-powered forklift that accrues 2,500 operating hours a year, for example, costs an average $1,500 to maintain and $5,000 in fuel to keep moving. The research firm said while electric forklifts and pallet trucks have higher initial sticker prices, their lower costs of ownership make them advantageous to their gas-powered counterparts, if manufacturers intend to use them over several years; IBISWorld said electric-powered forklifts cost $2,000 annually for fuel and $500 a year for maintenance. The firm also pointed out that gas-powered forklifts have additional costs in on-site refueling equipment, such as pumps and storage tanks, which should be critical purchasing considerations for manufacturers.

Maintenance costs for such equipment will obviously be higher for manufacturers that have aggressive operating environments. IBISWorld recommended manufacturers powder-coat their pallet trucks’ forks, bodies, frames, steering handles, and all other exterior metal surfaces to slow down their wear and tear. And it said maintenance costs are naturally higher for used material-handling equipment and should be weighed against new equipment if manufacturers are considering the pre-owned equipment route.

IBISWorld said bluntly that equipment buyers “that intend to use [a] forklift for less than 10 months are better off renting.” It estimated that the average cost of renting a forklift is around $900 per week, whereas owning a new one costs about $38,000.

Process Is Paramount in Effective Storeroom Management

The company storeroom or tool crib of a manufacturing operation can be easily discounted, but a poorly operated storeroom can be a tremendous drag on productivity, especially when the availability of parts and supplies is critical to the repair and maintenance of shop-floor equipment.

MRO (maintenance, repair, and operations) can have an outsized impact on company operations, as the amount spent in the United States on MRO materials each year is far from trivial, at more than $500 billion, according to Mike Weinberg, vice president for sales and marketing at Radnor, Pa.-based Storeroom Solutions Inc. (SSI), when interviewed by ThomasNet News. “But if you think about that in comparison to the revenues generated by products and services,” he said, “it’s relatively small, about eight or 10 percent.”

However, if MRO operations are mismanaged, the ripple effects can be significant on company finances and productivity. The reason is, said Weinberg, “there are a lot of transactions around MRO, and they are frankly very hard to manage.” In fact, he said, because such transactions are small but numerous, “80 or 90 percent of (all) company transactions can easily be a result of managing MRO.”

Technology solutions can provide visibility and insight into a company’s MRO facilities. A computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) or a broader-scale enterprise asset management (EAM) solution can be used to keep track of storeroom inventories and maintenance and repair incidents. In turn, CMMS and EAM capabilities are often included in enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions.

But storeroom management software will be beneficial only if the company makes it a priority to improve processes around MRO planning and inventory and if it expedites communication among the storeroom, the purchasing department, and the rest of the company.

The case of a manufacturer in the aerospace industry illustrates the kinds of problems that can arise.

Traditionally, the company’s MRO storeroom was managed by its own employees, who tracked inventory and established minimum and maximum order points. However, company management felt that improvements were possible.

There was a part that the company needed about once a year. But an audit revealed that 12 identical parts were ordered because the stock fell below the minimum order point. Because the system was not properly optimized, those 12 ordered parts represented more than a decade’s worth of supply.

As another example, the storeroom was ordering the same elbow fitting under four different brand names, resulting, again, in an overstock and unnecessary complications and costs. Nobody had the job of raising questions about such ordering decisions, so the company was maintaining a bloated inventory of MRO parts and supplies.

A recent study by SSI examined the performance of MRO storeroom operations in North America. From querying some 200 company decision-makers, SSI found that poor MRO storeroom management is having a negative effect on manufacturing productivity and quality.

Survey respondents came from a range of industries, with the highest percentage in general manufacturing, followed by food and beverage, pharmaceuticals and medical devices, and automotive.

More than half said the state of their storeroom operations causes frequent downtime or reliability issues at their plants, with “financial ramifications that often ripple across other departments,” according to the study’s authors. Yet at 62 percent of firms, the storeroom function is not involved in the company’s operational excellence strategy. The study found that little or no communication exists between storeroom operations and the rest of the company.

The following data points from the study emphasize the consequences:

– More than 56 percent do not consistently have supplies and parts kitted and delivered prior to the technician’s arrival for scheduled maintenance events, with nearly 15 percent responding they almost never do.

– Supply-chain complexity emerged as a significant issue for survey respondents, with 55 percent of companies doing business with 50 or more vendors of MRO and indirect supplies. Nearly 32 percent were dealing with 100 or more suppliers. SSI stressed that “consolidation to fewer suppliers increases cost savings through volume purchasing, streamlined ordering, and more efficient use of staff resources.”

Not surprisingly, given these strategic deficiencies, SSI found that companies were falling short in the application of technology for MRO and indirect storeroom operations.

For example, nearly 52 percent of respondents said they do not have any kind of maintenance planning system to make sure that repair parts are available. Sixty-nine percent of firms do not include warranty tracking and cost recovery in their systems.

More than 70 percent do not use mobile technologies in storeroom operations, inventory, purchasing, and functions like picking and packing. Similarly, 42 percent rarely or never use such technologies as barcoding, radio frequency identification, or point-of-use vending to control MRO and indirect materials movement and consumption.

SSI is one of a number of companies that provide solutions and services around the management of storeroom operations. Some big software vendors have offerings in the overall EAM space, including IBM, ABB, SAP, Honeywell, and Oracle. Some software companies develop solutions just for storerooms — examples include MarginPoint, Finale Inventory, and Hagemeyer North America.

SSI has developed its own proprietary cloud-based CMMS solution, which integrates with clients’ enterprise systems. However, SSI’s business is a step up from software — a big step up, really, as its focus is on complete turnkey management of a company’s storeroom operations. Hagemeyer also provides such outsourcing services, although it primarily functions as a supplier of industrial products. Erie Bearings is another example of a product supplier that also offers storeroom management services.

In the case of the aerospace manufacturer, SSI went in and implemented a more disciplined process around the company’s storeroom operations. SSI was able to analyze the manufacturer’s MRO inventory and purchasing data and optimize the operation, eliminating duplications and overstocks. According to SSI, the manufacturer was able to reduce its MRO inventory by more than 30 percent over three years, with an estimated savings of $2 million.

By Al Bredenberg

Manufacturing and Millenials

Posted by Paula Hynes on Mon, Apr 14, 2014 on the RODON BLOG

There has been a great deal of attention paid to the skills gap facing American manufacturers. We all know that many young people shy away from STEM education and they have a distorted, grimy, perception of manufacturing employment and careers.

This fact is highlighted in a recent video from the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM). The young people featured in this short film are obviously pretty bright but are not knowledgeable about manufacturing or technical careers. Some of the statistics that are cited in this video are quite interesting. Over 17 million people are employed in manufacturing and on average the compensation for these careers exceeds $77,000. So while the jobs are there and they pay well, young people show little if any interest. According to NAM, 18-24 years olds rank manufacturing 5 out of 7 for career preferences. However, more than 80% believe manufacturing is important to our economy and standard of living.

The skills gap needs to be addressed before we can develop the engineers and technicians of the future. A study from The National Defense Industrial Association reported that between 5th and 12th grade, 74% of the children do not have access to or interest in STEM the coursework they need to thrive in today’s advanced manufacturing environment. Without this baseline education, our young people will not be qualified to fill the highly technical careers that are now the benchmark of a manufacturing environment.

Many companies are addressing this gap by working with local educators and school administrators to support and encourage STEM education. Some organizations partner with workforce development agencies to identify and groom future manufacturing candidates. Still others are using the “old” model of apprenticeships to grow their own talent internally.

Recently, NAM conducted a Talent Development Roundtable as a part of their initiative to drive education innovation and promote manufacturing careers. The product of this collaboration between educators and industry is called the Manufacturing Skills Certification System. These standards will help companies validate the workforce readiness of new employees and interns. This certification system assesses technical skills across 14 sectors of advanced manufacturing. NAM is now working to develop standards that will be applicable to higher–level education and industry specific occupations.

This infographic from NIST Manufacturing Extension Partnership concisely illustrates the gravity of this issue.

New Era of Machines for US Manufacturing

Multiple-function Machine : a new trend in Filling Equipment

January 22, 4:30 AM

Packagers are asking for machines that can perform multiple functions beyond that of the traditional monobloc filler/capper.

CPGs also want more equipment flexibility to accommodate a continually expanding range of packaging formats, including a wider variety of container shapes, sizes, material structures, and closure mechanisms.

Five years from now, some machine builders predict more complexly integrated machines with software adaptations that can handle maybe four to six operations (for example, filling, capping, labeling, coding, cartoning, and casing) in one system. Also predicted are multiple production cells if one module fails, you can take it out and replace it without having to replace the entire system.

Serac is offering machines that include packaging distribution, filling and capping functions linked through a starwheel positive transfer system which saves 25% floor space .

The distribution unit can be completed with neck trimming, rinsing or blowing units, to clean or decontaminate containers before filling.

Boost productivity with quick change-overs

From serac-group.com – Today, 3:19 AM

To stand ahead of their competitors, manufacturers need to enforce their brand identity with countless variations of containers, cap shapes, applications, fragrances…
Not only does this high-segmentation challenge the industrial rationalization, it also requires more flexible packaging solutions.
Serac’s New Generation Filler-Capper offers manufacturers, more specifically in the Home and Personal Care sectors, the opportunity to speed-up market launches, increase productivity and reduce operational costs.

Mr. Guy Dumargue, Serac Group President commented “We are very excited about the open architecture of the FC Filler Capper.
Many of our customers are looking to reduce their costs and we think the open design of the New FC will help them achieve lower operating expenses.”