News Feature | February 20, 2015

Infographic Gives Solutions Providers Insights Into Manufacturing Market

Christine Kern

By Christine Kern, contributing writer

Infographic Gives Solutions Providers Insights Into Manufacturing Market

A Manufacturing.net infographic provides a comprehensive look at influences on manufacturing for 2015.

According to the infographic, the outlook for the market is positive. It cites the Merrill Lynch CFO Outlook, which found 46 percent of manufacturing CFOs surveyed anticipate an increase in profits this year, and 68 percent expect to see higher sales in 2015.

And the Institute for Supply Management found that two-thirds of manufacturers surveyed anticipate greater revenues in 2015 than in 2014, while manufacturing revenue is predicted to rise by 5.6 percent and capital expenditures in manufacturing are expected to increase by 3.7 percent.

The infographic also conveys challenges the market is facing — one is the cost of energy. Business Solutions cited Daintree in a recent blog that states buildings account for nearly 40 percent of U.S. energy consumption. The article points out your IT customers with commercial and industrial facilities will quickly see ROI in cost savings from energy management solutions. Your clients could need help overcoming hurdles integrating systems including legacy building management systems (HVAC, fire, and security), the EMS systems, and building analytics software.

The LNS Research blog “3 Industrial Energy Management Predictions for 2015,” expects enterprises that recognize the benefits of the intersection of industrial energy management (IEM), asset performance management (APM), and environmental, health, and safety (EHS) will have an edge. In the blog, Dan Miklovic states, “Real-time information on operating conditions can be fed to IEM, APM, and EHS/sustainability from existing automation and MOM/MES [manufacturing operations management/manufacturing execution systems].”

Miklovic further points out some of the earliest machine-to-machine technologies — that evolved into the Internet of Things — were in the energy sector: … “for the IoT, energy savings will be an application area that showcases the value of not only the increases in available data but the connectivity of people and systems in 2015.”