Inflation poses a particular risk to manufacturers in a climate where rising labor costs and fluctuating materials costs already make negotiations unpredictable. Building a secret weapon against inflation means drafting new supplier relationships where a price stems from good data models and verifiable intelligence.

What does it take to get to an accurate should cost? Is that price tag worth the investment? And what’s the cost of not doing so? In this episode of the podcast, Kearney’s Lead Partner for Europe Dominik Leisinger leans on his industry experience to explain Cost to Cost.

If manufacturers want to reap the benefits of digital transformation, they need to have a single source of data accepted by everyone in the organization. MBD, or Model-Based Definition, creates that single source of truth. What is MBD? And how can it help you?

A digital solution won’t be very effective if the ROI it promises occurs only years in the future, and only after your team has given up established processes and technologies they find useful and familiar. This is especially true in Japan, where manufacturers hold on to legacy systems. To win, any new solution must work immediately and seamlessly with current technology.

The promises of additive manufacturing include customization, weight reduction, and the benefit of bringing offshore production back in house. But what about the cost? How can you decide if additive is really for you? Robert Turck explains.

How can manufactures cope with supply chain shortages and deliver the smart products their consumers are asking for? And what sort of smart consumer appliances will CPOs need to support in the future? Rob Lidster, Chief Procurement Officer of GE Appliances, gives us the answers.

High demand for electric vehicles bodes well for EV manufactures, but only if they can figure out how to deliver their product amidst supply chain shortages and fluctuating materials costs. Automotive is a competitive game, says GM veteran Craig McLeod. The winners of this race will be the manufacturers who leverage digital models to swap out materials on the fly and build their own moment-by-moment sustainable supply chain.

Can you name the 3 major disruptions keeping manufacturers up at night? Philippe Adam, CMO of aPriori, has been listening to manufactures' pain points, and he has the definitive diagnosis on what ails them, as well as the prescription for a digital cure.

The global shortage of microchips has left engineering and sourcing teams scrambling to figure out how to bring smart products to market. Mechanical Engineer and PCB expert Sam Ellis describes how building contingency planning into the design process can risk-proof manufactures against future disruptions in the global supply chain.

The threats facing manufacturing today – from labor shortage to materials prices to inflation – are not going away. Digital transformation can be a solution, but only if manufactures see the change through to the end. In this executive conversation, CEOs Stephanie Feraday and Jody Markopoulos reveal how they set up win conditions – and avoid pitfalls – for digital transformation.