With the latest advancements in the manufacturing industry, there are many new trends that are emerging. If you are looking to bring your product from an idea to the market quickly, here are the 5 top trends that your business should adapt.

1. Onshoring

If you are not aware of this new concept, do not fret. Onshoring often is called many different names. No matter what industry you are in, onshoring is becoming a great trend. Because of the harsh environmental impacts of the manufacturing industry, this trend is even more popular. Onshoring is the concept of keeping everything local. From production to shipping and more, onshoring is meant to decrease your environmental impact.

Many customers, no matter their location, have come to embrace the local production and consumption of goods. By making this switch, or adapting economic friendly procedures in your business plan, you may attract new customer and solidify the respect of your current customers.

2. Layered Manufacturing

Typically in the manufacturing industry, we see a lot of cutting, drilling, and other subtractive forms of manufacturing. Today, one of the newest trends in the industry is the idea of three-dimensional, or layered manufacturing.

This technology has been around for a while, but as of recently, there has been many new advancements in equipment that make this easier than ever. By implementing this into your business strategy, it can help small businesses take control of more of their manufacturing and help larger businesses create a name for themselves in an entirely new field.

3. Sharing Industry Knowledge

With the nearly overwhelming amount of DIY posts, tips, and tricks flooding the Internet, more and more consumers want to attempt things on their own. Because of the DIY trend, business owners from many industries are attempting to give consumers what they want, rather than have them get it from someone else.

Providing your consumers universal access to open-source hardware will help build a more trustworthy brand. Consumers now frown upon businesses that take, but do not give. This inexpensive trend can help create a community around your brand and help attract more customers to it.

4. Advanced Machinery

Although this may seem obvious, it must be noted as a new trend. Technology only gets better as time goes on. This year, we have noticed that sensor networks, vision systems, artificial intelligence, and more are just a few of the newest advancements that the manufacturing industry has clung to.

These updates can range in terms of price. Adding advanced machinery to your business plan can be anything from a GPS enabled smartphone to traveling employees or completely new machinery that can cut the speed of products by minutes.

5. Manufacturing Factoring

In order to keep up with these trends, many businesses in the industry have relied on manufacturing factoring. Because of invoice-based nature of your manufacturing business, you are constantly faced with unpredictable income. This can make it nearly impossible to secure a strong source of capital. Manufacturing factoring takes this burden away. A factoring company will step in and purchase your business’s outstanding payments to give you a cash advance in a short amount of time.

This helps manufacturing businesses get instant payment for their orders, which will eliminate the normal struggles of poor cash flow. With more cash in your pocket, your business will be able to adapt to the ever changing trends with ease.

The industry is never the same year after year. Many trends come and go, but some trends can change your business forever. We hope that you recognize these trends in your industry so that you can start building a better business today.