Future Proofing and the Critical Business Issues with Homegrown Technology with Adrian Connard

Learn more about homegrown technology in manufacturing, how it builds resilience, as well as what the manufacturing sector should look out for in 2024.

Australia has emerged as a hub for homegrown technology companies that are making waves both domestically and on the global stage. Among these success stories is M1 enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, a shining example of Australian innovation that has revolutionised the manufacturing industry globally. Read on to learn more about homegrown technology in manufacturing, how it builds resilience, as well as what the manufacturing sector should look out for in 2024.

Manufacturers have needed a lot of resilience to survive and thrive over the last few years and are now on the precipice of further change with the digitisation of manufacturing, including AI. Adrian Connard, M1 Sales Engineer for ECI Solutions, recognises that this opportunity might feel a step too far at this time for many.

“If you are in a senior position in manufacturing and are ending the year with less in the tank than you’d like, take heart that the industry has required much resilience in recent years and is now entering a time of significant change with the steep trajectory of AI,” Connard said.

Connard has been a sales engineer at ECI Solutions for 5 years following a career as a mechanical engineer working in manufacturing and software. He started in mechanical design of various products and mechanical engineering before transitioning into software engineering and sales.

“A former manufacturing manager looked past my shy engineering ways and approached me to move into software. It was a transition that has been a huge asset for me, and I’ve now worked in manufacturing in the software engineering space for 19 years.”

Over that time, Connard has worked with manufacturers in Australia and New Zealand ranging in size from small-to-medium as well as large enterprise manufacturers. Being exposed to manufacturers of all sizes has allowed him to track trends and has seen him witness the key challenges faced by the manufacturing industry.

The challenge of our time

Manufacturing has seen much change recently and while this hasn’t specifically been COVID-19-induced, COVID-19 exposed weaknesses in the industry that had been hidden by a buoyant operating environment. As soon as the industry was stress-tested during COVID-19, the sector quickly witnessed less than ideal supply chains and resourcing difficulties that required vast operating resilience.

Connard outlines what COVID-19 exposed that will benefit the industry long-term.

“COVID-19 exposed difficulties in outsourcing components and processes and manufacturers have since reviewed their operations and broadened their risk profile to increase their resilience,” Connard said.

“If you look at Australian manufacturing, for example, we have seen a shift in the operational profile of manufacturers. Decades ago, Australian manufacturers sourced their supplies onshore, within Australia, and manufactured end-to-end with what they had. This shifted to an outsourced model where internationally countries like China, India, and Taiwan became manufacturing powerhouses and with that the shifts in cost per unit.

“COVID-19 exposed the risks with this model—supply chains were significantly impacted, and Australian manufacturers found the fluid borders and the cost-effectiveness of off-shoring manufacturing elements didn’t stack up.

“What we are now witnessing since COVID-19 is a hybrid model, where Australian manufacturers are not relying solely on international supplies but are broadening their risk profile.

“We found that the manufacturers who have thrived through the past few years did so because of their resilience in the supply chain and them procuring materials onshore and not just from overseas.”

Resilience building—not just a buzz phrase

Resilience has been a word frequently used and more so since COVID-19 shut borders and disrupted supply chains worldwide.

Resilience building, according to Connard, is more than just a buzz phrase.

“Resilience building, how to ensure robust and resilient business are not just words that we’ve heard a lot of… they describe how manufacturers cannot just survive but thrive,” Connard said.

Connard, as a M1 Sales Engineer, focuses on the technical aspects of the ERP software supporting Business Development Managers (BDMs) and account managers at ECI Solutions.

“I work on the proofs of concept and delivering webinars to help manufacturers understand where the M1 ERP software can be their best friend in resilience building.

“M1 and our JobBOSS² products take the guesswork out of the ordering, resourcing, processing, and delivering of manufactured products. With ERP software like these, manufacturers have at their fingertips the data necessary to make decisions in real-time on when to order more raw materials, when to respond to market fluctuations that impact end-product cost, and when shifts in operating schedules need to be made.”

Connard also recommends ECI Solutions’s plug-in tools to really set up a manufacturer for resilience.

“A tool like ECI Solutions’s KnowledgeSync sets up triggers in the manufacturer’s operations so that they don’t need to manually monitor their business. This can relieve senior staff both mentally, in always having to remember to check that ‘thing’, but also in time efficiency—they don’t need to waste time checking that ‘thing’ when it only requires action once every 30 checks, for example.

“KnowledgeSync will send an alert once a manufacturer’s trigger has been activated, so then senior staff can take action at the most appropriate time. A trigger could be set if a bill is overdue or if stock is too low to deliver the forecasted production schedule,” Connard said.

Turning data into insights—how to harness AI power

Connard looks at ECI Solutions as a way manufacturers can turn their data into insights and these insights into profit.

“Our role is to assist manufacturers in how they use their data; how they collect it, analyse it and use it to great effect,” Connard said.

“If you don’t understand the reams of data your business collects, or you don’t know how to spot the trends or glean insight into the data, then the data is useless.”

Connard looks at AI as the next manufacturing technological advancement that will harness the power of data and propel manufacturing into new possibilities.

“AI will move beyond simple reporting to increase automations and we’re seeing the potential of this with ECI Solutions’s KnowledgeSync that pushes out alerts under certain conditions and can pre-empt what you’re needing.”

The next evolution in manufacturing technology

Connard sees the ongoing customisation of products as the next evolution in manufacturing technology.

“Manufacturers will have the ability to generate different forms of their products for each customer to meet the customer’s need exactly rather than having to mass produce or engineer to order. We will see bespoke products being manufactured quickly and with ERP software like M1 and JobBOSS², manufacturers will be better placed to do this.

“This is because both M1 and JobBOSS² give manufacturers the data necessary for them to set the price accurately and provide realistic timeframes. They provide this data so manufacturing employees can make data-driven decisions, and the flip-side of this is that customers can then receive accurate costings and make the decision to spend the money to get the exact product they want.”

Manufacturing is undergoing a period of great change and whereas before a family-run small-to-medium manufacturer could rely on innate experience and a dose of luck, these businesses now need to know the exact profit margin on a job; when costs are increasing and the margins are being squeezed; and when to change up their operation so that they don’t find themselves in financial difficulty.

Connard has this advice for manufacturers, “Businesses that have a better understanding of their costs will have a better opportunity to thrive, and to understand costs you must understand your data.”

Read more about M1 from ECI Solutions and how this ERP can assist your manufacturing operation with real-time visibility of your inventory management and supply chains as well as being fully integrated with your financials.