Everyone's been talking about the growth in the manufacturing industry over the past year and lauding the United States' success in this field, but what about the future? What does the recent boom in production mean for 2015?

John Zegers of Manufacturing Business Technology asks and answers that very question in a recent article. In doing so, he lays out some predictions as to what the manufacturing sphere will look like come this time next year:

• Reshoring:​ Jobs have slowly but surely been returning to the states from overseas as the global economy continues to slide. 
• Manufacturing will flourish: As it has been in recent months, manufacturing will continue to surge in terms of output, says Zegers. This seems like one of the more sure bets, considering the strong Purchasing Managers Index, which clocked in at 58.7 in November. In fact, he believes that manufacturing will grow at an even higher rate than the GDP next year. 
• Big data: Like business software before it, big data and cloud computing will be the movement that takes the manufacturing world by storm in 2015. Connectivity is the way of the future, and more and more manufacturers are coming to realize that as time goes on.
• Predictive analytics: On a related note, Zegers projects that "connected factories will allow for greater opportunity to implement predictive maintenance technologies that will cut downtime and boost bottom lines" by evaluating information, identifying industry trends and making suggestions on how to move forward.

Manufacturing's evolution, like much of the business world's, has accelerated in the recent past. More change has taken place in the factory in the past decade than in the fifty years prior. So how to keep up with this constantly in-flux field?

Manufacturing software is the first step. Installing a capable ERP can go a long way towards keeping your practices modern and efficient. Give us a call at Accent Software, where our expertise with Microsoft business software Dynamics NAV will help you through that process.