Missouri manufacturers relate concerns for future

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Missouri Enterprise recently released the findings of a survey of Missouri manufacturers. More than 500 high-level management personnel at manufacturing operations responded to the telephone survey in November of last year. The survey was designed to measure their level of comfort with specific issues they may face in the future.|ret||ret||tab|

Marketing was a major issue for many manufacturers' surveyed, with 16.3 percent expressing concern about marketing in the future. |ret||ret||tab|

Developing marketing plans and conducting marketing research were the highest priority marketing-related issues noted by respondents.|ret||ret||tab|

About 16 percent of the manufacturers who responded cited manufacturing im-provements as a "big challenge" or their "greatest challenge," making it the second most commonly cited issue in the survey. Within those improvements, companies put priorities on implementation of "Lean Manufacturing" principles as well as on safety programs.|ret||ret||tab|

Human Resources challenges were cited as a "big" or "greatest challenge" by 15.5 percent of manufacturers surveyed. Of those who cited human re-sources issues, 74 percent of them reported that "recruitment" was their primary concern. "Retaining employees" was the second most common concern cited.|ret||ret||tab|

More than 13 percent of the manufactures considered quality management systems to be an area of significant challenge. Within this category, most companies cited "quality assurance," "quality manual and documentation development" and "continuous improvement" as critical areas.|ret||ret||tab|

Other areas of concern cited included product development, environmental programs and compliance, computer and information systems, e-business, general management and strategies, and supply chain management.|ret||ret||tab|

Missouri Enterprise is a regional center for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership of the National Institute of Standards and Technology. It is sponsored in Missouri by the Missouri Department of Economic Development.[[In-content Ad]]