No single one of these models is right for every product made by every manufacturer for every one of their customers. Manufacturers will instead adopt each model when appropriate to do so, finding the right mix of approaches to meet their specific situation. In 2024, the emphasis continues to move away from the cost-reduction imperative of offshoring toward a more resilient, “Goldilocks” mix of other models.

It’s no coincidence that the most agile brands combine multisourcing, “Goldilocks” manufacturing strategies, and contract manufacturing to compress product lifecycles, reduce risk, and ride the trend of ephemeral demand. Enterprises that build products with a 50-year life span usually build, own, and operate their own plant. Apply the principles of modularity. Engineer-to-order manufacturing is hard to scale.

Excerpt from the transcript: And there are a number of resources here on the side reports that George has written, some of them I've been involved with too, around things like, for example, this notion of Goldilocks manufacturing. You know, understanding what that just right model is to balance all the different places and ways you might choose to meet a customer's order. And understanding the costs involved in this as well.

Excerpt from the transcript: Goldilocks' manufacturing is neither just in time, nor just in case, but just right. And it talks, as I said, about onshoring, friendshoring, reshoring and all the rest of it. And looks far beyond just the automotive sector. And so, you know, the big takeaway point there, you know, Chinese manufacturers, they're not just a place for the rest of the world to get stuff made cheaply. They're building their own products and those products are world class.

(Out-of-copyright image of Goldilocks eating porridge from the 1908 publication, “Cinderella, or, The little glass slipper,” digitized by the Internet Archive and available at Wikimedia Commons; map of manufacturing locations from the Forrester report, Goldilocks Manufacturing Is Neither Just In Time Nor Just In Case, But Just Right)

Get our top takeaways and impressions from Hannover Messe 2024, the smart manufacturing world’s annual trade show.

Excerpt from the transcript: I mentioned there are two additional reports coming very soon, one from Martha and I on generative AI in manufacturing and one from George Lawrie and I on that "Goldilocks Manufacturing" piece, the rebalancing of supply chains. So you have research to support half the predictions and you have research coming in the next month or thereabouts on the other two predictions as well. So that is as done. Does anyone have any questions?

Example: In a manufacturing supply chain, an inventory optimization agent could query the toolbox to discover and invoke the appropriate MCP-exposed tool for updating stock levels in SAP and placing automated restocking orders in the warehouse system. Model repository. The model repository is the abstracted lifecycle management layer for AI models within the ARA.

Energy costs often matter more than labor costs in modern manufacturing, but business and technology leaders must also consider the cost of moving raw materials and finished goods throughout their supply chain. Emerging technologies play their part in helping manufacturers settle on a multinational Goldilocks model that is neither just in time nor just in case but just right.

If you are a data center, a utility company, or have a large manufacturing footprint, what is your part in the energy assurance story? Four: assuming one market signal applies everywhere. Global organizations often face contradictory expectations across regions and customers. What it means: A single corporate position can coexist with localized messaging and implementation.