Manufacturing Trends for Defense Related Industries
Manufacturing is a critical industry especially when it comes to innovation, and evolution. Manufacturing for the industrial-base of our country accounts for a major portion of the delivery of commercial products, many linked to the defense industry by either their production means or use of high-technology.
For defense manufacturing firms, this obvious need for the government to support the strengthening of this industry can be an advantage for those invested in injection molding manufacturing processes. There has been a coordinated call for the increased partnering and support of the defense and manufacturing industries for these reasons. This bodes well for those focused on improved supports and inherent expansion of orders, activity and new products that will naturally-emerge from this market climate.
Problems and Solutions
The complex and dynamic nature of every section of the manufacturing markets present both problems and solutions to the intricacies presented today.
There are five basic forces that have presented themselves as the drivers of the shape of today's manufacturing market. These include:
· Competition and Rivalry: This can swing from moderate to fierce. Expansion of global chains of supply, and an intense focus on cheaper and faster ways to produce products has defined many goals within the industry. When focusing on the capitalization of costs and the advantages of innovation, the integration of global products and shape of new partnerships continues to help shape the new field for manufacturing companies.
· Buying Power: This can change and shift by which segment of the market that is focused on. With highly unique products, there are concentrations of buyers who have the ability to wield significant influence over that part of the market. With competitive pricing segments that are affected by producer influences, there has been a weakening of buying power. (Read Apple or AT&T)
· Supplier Power: This seems to range from moderate to high. Supplier power is realized is dependent on the manufacturing sector. Segments in which suppliers have the ability to demonstrate unique manufacturing such as 3-D technology or injection molding often need access to rare materials which can cause suppliers to have a lot of power.
· Threat of New Entrants: Highly technical sections of the market are susceptible to this. Learning curves, governmental regulation and high capital requirements are also big factors.
· The Threat of Substitutes: This tends to be high in the manufacturing sectors. Large percentages of manufactured products are considered commodities. Substitution is therefore inherently high and product substitutions vary based on brand, application, ease of production, etc. Price to produce is the biggest determination of whether a product is in jeopardy of being subjected to substitutions.
Over the past 20 years defense manufacturing has grown more remote. A monopoly that has become a specialized niche industry, it services a highly-technical yet narrow market. Defense manufacturing is distinguished by the customer it supports. It is subdivided into segments and sub segments. It produces weapons system platforms, expendables, components. Analyzation of each segment of the industry is done regularly in order to remain competitive and flexible.
Innovation and Opportunity
The defense industrial base is strong, innovative and capable of massive supply delivery. There are those who are concerned that with the scale down of defense contracts in other nations, the industry will suffer. Frequent analysis shows that there are both weaknesses and opportunities within the current DOD industry and manufacturing marketing sectors.
Opportunities include: Post war restructuring, increased collaboration and partnering, globalization (which introduces new markets and technological advances) can decrease or reduce regulations, increase economies of scale and provide public and political support for manufacturing and the jobs and revenue this creates.
For manufacturers who specialize in injection molding, forging partnerships with companies who are leaders in the field can help to land big defense department contracts. If you or your company want to expand your potential to increase your market options, Crescent Industries offers engineering services for tooling and molding. We provide complete product development whether you have a simple or complex project.
Our on-site tooling facility provides mold building, mold maintenance and mold repair services. We help solve the needs of our customers by supplying precision. Our Swiss screw components are machined for production. Our machined components are insert molded, or delivered as finished products.
Crescent performs varieties of plastic injection molding processes -- over molding, family molding, insert molding and clean room molding. Crescent Industries helps to complete projects by assisting with services like assembly, pad printing, packaging and more.
At Crescent Industries, we want your injection mold to run for as long as possible. This is done by producing quality plastic components. We even provide documented mold maintenance programs for all our customer's injection molds. For more information please call 1-800-411-3844 or visit our website www.crescentind.com.
