Strategic Asset Management: Getting More Out of Less

Regardless of where a manufacturer competes in today's global economy, two factors underlie its strategy: A relentless push to reduce costs and an equally relentless focus on customers' current and future needs. Savvy manufacturing leaders are increasingly turning to optimized machine performance to manage both pressures — and to boost profits. The bottom line? Strategic management of machinery assets is now a must for manufacturers in a highly competitive, often-unpredictable global economy. Leading manufacturers have always focused on optimizing machine performance. For example, U.S. and Canadian manufacturers closest to world-class manufacturing status generally exhibit better equipment performance, as well as greater equipment performance improvement over the past three years. Read on to see how this guide can help you to lower risk, reduce costs, improve performance and gain agility!
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Smart Capital. The Sharp Manufacturer’s Guide to Equipment Purchases

Industrial machines aren’t off-the-shelf commodities — and their purchase can’t be based solely on price and product. Instead, smart manufacturers treat the purchase of capital equipment as a strategic investment, one that boosts performance and profit while building long-term customer value. Sharp manufacturers use an eight-step process to make sure they select the right equipmentfrom the right vendorunder the right conditionsto serve their needs today and tomorrow.
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Customer Line Integration: New Opportunities for Experienced Manufacturers

In their efforts to meet the rapid and continuously changing demands of customers in the past quarter century, manufacturers have reconfi gured nearly every aspect of their businesses. After repeatedly asking themselves a difficult question — “What value does the production of a product bring to the business of manufacturing?”
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Powerful Performance Measures. An executive primer to performance measures that drive improvement

Every organization has its favorite metrics – measurements that gauge control, progress, and success. At a world-class organization, these measures serve as a common “performance language” that links corporate strategy, divisional goals, plant targets, departmental budgets, and individual incentives into a unified, results-oriented system. But at a mediocre or failing organization, these measures usually turn into management babble and confusion – reams of records and disjointed findings tracked simply because “that’s what we’ve always done.” Metrics at these organizations become straitjackets – restraints that actually waste resources, aggravate employees, and block improvement.
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Benchmarking. An executive primer to locating and leveraging manufacturing best practices

Envy may be one of the seven deadly sins, but its presence is vital when it comes to operations performance. Every executive wants his or her company or plant to be at least as good as those of his or her peers; most, in fact, want them to be better — or even the best.
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Capacity Optimization. A manufacturer’s guide for getting the most out of equipment, people, and processes

The ability to squeeze every ounce of productivity from existing operations can mean thousands of dollars in savings. Yet many companies still confuse productivity with increased output – forgetting that profitableproductivity not only increases margins but prevents costly overproduction. Savvy manufacturers focus instead on capacity optimization – the ability to efficiently produce exactly what’s needed, when it’s needed, without costly buildups of unwanted inventories.
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