Flexible manufacturing: adapting quickly to changing markets and events

In-Depth

What does it mean to be a flexible manufacturer? Flexibility is about speed to adapt. It’s about creating a seamless flow from need to delivery, decision to implementation and challenge to solution. Rockwell Automation's Paolo Butti explains. 

Flexibility is a goal for many manufacturers, and with good reason. Across industry segments, the organisations that have been able to demonstrate flexible operating models are claiming industry-leading positions as a result.

Think of Amazon and Alibaba’s commitment to innovating customer experience, or how automotive manufacturers are adapting to regulation for lowering carbon emissions. Flexible trumps rigid in the face of new circumstances and market conditions.

But what does it mean to be a flexible manufacturer? Flexibility is about speed to adapt. It’s about creating a seamless flow from need to delivery, decision to implementation and challenge to solution.

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True flexibility empowers manufacturers to stay in tune with their market, replacing rigid and static operating models with levels of control and responsiveness never previously possible.

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