Technology Roadmapping
By Ben Rand
It’s that time of year again: Budget season. But in this day and age, you need to be thinking about much more than just a budget. Manufacturing owners, CEOs, presidents and boards are in the midst of planning for 2017. The minimum requirement is a one-year budget, but better companies will tie these financial projections to a multiyear strategic plan that lays out various initiatives and investments designed to make the company more competitive, more profitable, more successful. However, very few manufacturers—only the biggest and most forward-thinking,it seems—will have a Technology Plan built into their strategic and financial plans.
A Technology Plan is much more than a capital budget; it is a blueprint for how your business will utilize technology to become more competitive by making your product better, faster or cheaper. Technology has always been central to manufacturing, but since the turn of the 21st century, the pace and impact of technology has accelerated. The threat of sudden disruptive change seems to hang over every industry sector. It is critical to understand these technologies since they promise to fundamentally alter your business and your competition’s.
As the company’s owner, CEO or president, you are likely the only person with the responsibility of looking and thinking ahead, and weighing the opportunities and threats that may exist. The pace and breadth of technical change creates a real challenge, even if you are an experienced engineer. How will you make sense of it all, let alone build it into your company?
In WNY, there is an answer: Buffalo Manufacturing Works, the advanced manufacturing institute, is offering a Technology Roadmapping service that brings world-class technology experts into your business to help you identify new and upcoming technologies that might help over the next few years.
Buffalo Manufacturing Works will review your strategy, assess your operations and understand your processes then craft a Technology Roadmap for your business based on their expert understanding of the technology environment. Your roadmap will help you understand where to install certain technologies and what the cost-benefit would be. Your roadmap can also help you anticipate new developments that may still be a few years away, so you can monitor, plan and prepare for those changes. The plan aligns with a multi-year strategic plan to give you a systematic approach to planning, financing and implementing new technology in your business.
Buffalo Manufacturing Works has brought world-class manufacturing expertise to WNY. Manufacturers who take advantage of this tremendous resource have the chance to create a real competitive advantage for themselves and their customers. What will you do?
