Continuously Evolving Strategy

Kevin Coleman is a highly skilled senior level project and program manager/advisor with experience leading projects with labor budgets ranging from a few hundred thousand dollars to multi-million dollar budgets across multiple industries.

  Manufacturing   Strategy  

When you examine today’s business world, you see that there has been a substantial amount of change that has occurred over the last several years. Multiple authorities have noted that a huge technology-driven game changer awaits us within the coming years. Will it be the connected car, wearable computing or something totally unexpected is the subject of spirited debate these days.

It is my belief that is will not be any of those. Instead, it will be the result of all of the technologies that are currently slated to emerge over the next three to five years. This is having profound impact on businesses. As McKinsey recently pointed out, “Business models and processes are less durable than they used to be.” One of the main reasons for this is the introduction of new technologies that permit us to do things differently--or in some cases, to do things we could not do before.

Perhaps the best example of how business models and processes have changed can be found by looking at 3D printing. Currently there are a few 3D printer manufacturers selling industrial-grade machines. The current market for these devices was reported to be just over $4 billion and with a compound annual growth rate (CGAR) of over 35 percent. The product is manufactured at or very close to the point of purchase, or where the product will be consumed. In some cases, the customer owns the 3D…

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