Are you a lean manufacturer or a lean service provider?

There are many manufacturers in many industries. There are many service providers in our vicinity. We can identify these two functionalities distinctively. But manufacturers of today are not only manufacturers. They are service providers. They provide services to their brand owners and some cases to the end consumer.

Most of the manufacturers do manufacture for brand owners. These brand owners are generally third parties. In fact most of the brand owners are moving out from manufacturing and even services related to manufacturing such as order placement. Third parties perform all these functionalities. In this context manufacturers become service providers rather than pure manufacturers. Manufacturers will have to have good order fulfillment systems; they should have strong bases in areas like logistics even design capabilities in some cases. So if you are a lean manufacturer think again. Manufacturing is only a one competency your customers looking for. There are many other areas where you can improve on.

No matter how good you can manufacture unless you can provide good service to your customers they will not look at you positively. Customers might turn to manufacturers who can provide better services even if they are little bit weaker in manufacturing competency. Being a lean manufacturer is fine. But being a lean service provider can enhance your edge when it comes to competition today.