2015 was a good year for ALTEX. We are hitting on all cylinders and we made great strides in the markets we serve. While other industries experienced struggles, our organization was able to hold its own and see positive growth.
The latest NAM Manufacturers’ Outlook Survey found that 59.6 percent of manufacturers are positive about the outlook for 2016. ALTEX couldn’t agree more.
Looking ahead, we’re pleased at the great opportunities in front of us for 2016. Our home state, Indiana, continues to rank as one of the best states to manufacture within in the nation. Additionally, our (nearshore) Mexico facility continues to bring great value to our clients. We’re proud to manufacture custom electromechanical, wire harness and cable assemblies and serve our valued customers from both locations.
We see several encouraging trends emerging for 2016, but these three are key – supply chain management, conflict minerals and operational efficiencies.
- Supply Chain Management. In regard to supply chain management, strong collaborative relationships and truly integrated supply chain partnerships remain important, but real-time business intelligence and analytics continue to bring manufacturing to a new level of sophistication. As 2016 moves along, we’ll continue to see more integrated manufacturing enterprise solutions come to market that are robust and industry specific.
- Conflict Minerals. Discussion andlegislation will continue to be top of mind in regards to conflict minerals and their use in the manufacturing process. Organizations will continue to audit their supply chains to ensure they are not using “conflict minerals” – particularly gold, coltan, tin and tungsten from mines controlled by Congo’s militia.
- Operational Efficiencies. As organizations continue to weigh onshore vs. offshore vs. nearshore, as well as make vs. buy, operational efficiencies will play a key role in business The bottom line is ability of an enterprise to deliver products or services to its customers in the most cost-effective manner possible while still ensuring high quality service and support – no matter which shore.
As a strategic outsourced manufacturing partner, we’ll keep an eye on all three of these trends throughout the year. We remain committed to empowering and enabling our high performance teams to create efficiencies, maximize technologies and serve our clients with the high level of service they come to expect from ALTEX.