A Tale of Two Cultures

Manufacturing and supply chain management needs all the help it can get to keep an edge in today’s competitive market. A few percentage points difference in performance makes a huge difference in market share and profitability.

While it is often easy enough to review current best practices in manufacturing intelligence systems and choose the options that will make the difference in corporate performance, getting project sign off and budget approval from management can be an entirely different matter.

Much of that challenge comes from communication problems between two cultures, the technical and operational staff who develop the proposal and management who must understand it and sign off. The technical staff is most comfortable and fluent with the technical discussion. Management is fluent in the language of business and finance and evaluates the project in the context of corporate goals and ROI. Never were two groups more likely to have a failure to communicate.  

How do you reconcile the two groups to make the project happen?

Several proposal strategies have been used to bridge the gap and move forward to get the job done. The article “Justifying the Manufacturing Intelligence Project” examines the most common strategies, where they work and how to maximize your chance of success.