Manufacturing businesses in Alberta and Canada have many ongoing challenges in remaining competitive in the global marketplace, especially with regard to the USA and China. The Manufacturing Institute of the USA reports (2006):

• Manufacturing has an economic multiplier of 1.37 (for one dollar of output, 37 cents additional economic activity, the highest of many industries);
• Small and medium sized manufacturers innovate the most and create many sustainable jobs;
• International competition is increasing and manufacturing has many a number of things to do to remain competitive with foreign companies.

The significant strategic issues which face Alberta and Canadian manufacturers include:

• Managing the business within a higher valued Canadian dollar;
• Productivity and automation;
• Awareness and adoption of leading business and manufacturing practices;
• Serving and competing for USA markets;
• China and the rapidly emerging role in the global economy;
• India and its new opportunities.

Currently the Canadian dollar is seeing much upward pressure due to a variety of economic and policy influences. Over the longer term, fundamental business competitiveness is a goal which business owners understand and desire. These are some of the market side issues which face manufacturers. What can we learn from best practices to help ensure competitive structures?

Our work includes development of a best manufacturing and resource guide which addresses a number of topics including company vision, lean manufacturing, supply chain management and environmental and green products. Recently we have been developing several manufacturer consortiums to address learning best practices and to share productivity tools to ensure a competitive manufacturing base. Lean manufacturing (LM) is a way of assisting companies to become “next generation manufacturers” through an integrated process of in-plant improvements. This model is an “in-plant” method management can apply internally for quick productivity gains. Lean manufacturing is based on the highly regarded Toyota company model, which has been built on continuous learning and reducing waste. A central theme of LM is to eliminate muda (waste in Japanese).

The areas of lean enterprise and alliances and supply chain management are two powerful tools which can be applied with powerful results to manufacturing and service businesses. If you are interested in developing technical reports for more awareness, applying lean ideas and considering other internal reviews of your business we may be able to assist.