The Impact of Inflation on Manufacturers in 2023

Inflation rose to a 32-year high in 2022, with a consumer inflation rate of 7.8 percent. Now that 2023 is here, the manufacturing industry must brace for the impact of this inflation. Defined as the general rise in prices of goods and services over time, inflation is considered normal at around 2 percent.

Forecasted to fall by the end of 2023, inflation's decline will largely depend on domestic inflationary pressure, with wage growth being a significant factor. As a result of rising wages, businesses may have to reduce their recruitment pace to retain skilled labor. However, businesses can use automation and business intelligence solutions to address this issue by automating internal tasks and ensuring productivity through the monitoring of machine health.

Impacts of inflation

The manufacturing industry is heavily reliant on raw materials, which are subject to the fluctuations of the global market and are in short supply due to labour and transportation shortages.

As the prices of these materials increase, the cost of manufacturing goods also rises, and businesses must adjust their pricing accordingly. Additionally, higher inflation also leads to increased interest rates, which can further add to the cost of production and reduce the flexibility of growth for small-to-medium businesses (SMBs).

Inflation has a major impact on the labour market. As the cost of living rises due to higher inflation, businesses must raise wages to attract and retain skilled workers. This increase in overhead costs leads to a further reduction in profits.

The rising inflation rate in 2023 is likely to have a significant impact on the manufacturing industry. Businesses must be prepared to adjust their prices and production costs to remain competitive in the global market. Additionally, they must strive to keep their labour costs under control while still providing competitive wages to attract and retain quality employees.

By taking the necessary steps to mitigate the effects of higher inflation, businesses can ensure their long-term success in the manufacturing industry.

Strategies for Mitigation

While there is no way to completely shield your business from inflation, there are ways to mitigate the negative impacts inflation will leave on your company’s profits.

Moving to automation will help your company allocate resources more effectively across your shop floor. Using machine intelligence to understand which machines are performing at capacity will keep your business running productively while utilising what you already have rather than looking externally for an extra boost. Alora Machine Intelligence (MI) Dashboard offers real-time health and usage data from every machine on your shop floor, regardless of age.

Keeping productivity high while maintaining a low headcount will offset the rise in labour costs. Keeping an eye on which tasks employees excel in by using business intelligence and updating your machine shop scheduling software accordingly is a quick solution to implement within your business process that will improve performance. M1 is an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software for the manufacturing industry that optimises visibility, coordination, and management across an organisation’s facility. This cloud-based business management software minimises workflow struggles, providing businesses with invaluable insight into their entire operation.

Freezing recruiting is a temporary solution for companies who feel all their imperative roles can be fulfilled with their current employees. This hiring hold gives employers time to reorganise teams, train current staff, and integrate members to achieve higher productivity. This also allows employers to fill less urgent jobs with part-time, contracted, or hourly employees.

While freezing recruiting is a last resort, having manufacturing management software can be your 365, 24/7 employee when labour is stretched thin. By becoming the one source of truth and data, this solution can eliminate redundant tasks, bring operations closer together, and easily manage difficult areas of manufacturing like scheduling, estimating and quoting, and even automate purchasing for your teams. Solutions like this can help take the workload off burnt out employees and help them perform higher overall to drive production.

Unfortunately, throughout 2023 we will need to continue fighting against inflation within all fields and industries. Manufacturers are not alone in this struggle, and we will continue to see new and innovative ways to offset the effects of inflation moving forward. A solution is using machine intelligence with with Alora and business intelligence with M1.