Manufacturing: Improving The Customer ExperienceManufacturing: Improving The Customer Experience

Things may be looking up in the manufacturing sector. Durable-goods orders climbed in July for the second month in a row, while orders for nondefense capital goods rose 0.4%, the third-consecutive monthly increase. As business comes back, manufacturers want to be ready with technology to improve the customer experience.

Such efforts have helped many companies weather the economic slump. Customer Web portals have made it easier for clients to do business with Menasha Corp. Since implementing the portals this year, Menasha has seen sales increase by about $20 million. The maker of packaging and plastic products and components says the quick return on investment from the Web portals was particularly important during the economic downturn.

"We were focused on letting customers feel that they were truly special, and we wanted to give them the flexibility to look at content in the format they wanted," says Ed Wojciechowski, CIO of Menasha. The company has more than 400 customers working with personalized Web portals that provide quick access to customer-specific data on orders and shipments.

Building-wire and utility-cable producer Southwire Co. also has concentrated on making its business relationships more convenient, including rolling out self-service portals that provide 24-hour access to product pricing, ordering, and delivery status. While other customer-service projects have added overhead, this effort has quickly resulted in improved service and bottom-line savings.

"We had a few customers who had asked us to create something like this, but it's been like a Field Of Dreams," says Bruce Gore, EDI and computer-operations manager at Southwire. " 'If we build it, they will come.' Virtually all of our customers have really appreciated it." It shows: Southwire says its E-commerce sales increased to more than $200 million last year from $14 million in 2000.

Motion Industries has deployed Web applications to its branches as well as to trading-partner Web sites. Its inMotion site was created for suppliers to view inventory levels, purchase and receipt history, open purchase orders, and download item-level information.

INDUSTRY LEADERS Rank Company Revenue in millions Income (loss)
in millions IT
employees 11 Snap-on Inc. $2,109 $106 365 14 Chamberlain Group -- -- 58 26 Emerson $13,824 $122 1,055 43 Standard Register $1,028 $33 500 47 Lockheed Martin Corp. $26,578 $500 30,000 49 Herman Miller Inc. $1,337 $23 238 58 SPX Corp. $5,046 $127 200 77 Southwire Co. -- -- 67 90 3M Co. $16,332 $1,974 2,450 100 Parker Hannifin Corp. $6,410 $196 944 110 The Boeing Co. $54,069 $492 8,000 117 Unifi Inc. -- -- -- 151 Flowserve Corp. $2,251 $53 260 168 Haworth Inc. $1,320 -- 250 196 Timken Co. -- -- 540 216 Agco Corp. $2,923 ($84) 265 218 Hon Industries Inc. $1,693 $91 150 228 Northrop Grumman Corp. $17,206 $64 23,000 232 Honeywell International Inc. $22,274 ($220) 1,800 239 Smurfit-Stone Container Corp. $7,483 $65 322 244 Owens Corning $4,872 ($2,809) 170 248 National-Oilwell Inc. $1,522 $73 94 263 Caterpillar Inc. $20,152 $798 3,500 302 United Technologies $28,212 $2,236 255 312 Harsco Corp. $1,977 $90 80 314 Acuity Brands Inc. $1,973 $52 126 319 MeadWestvaco Corp. $7,242 ($389) 700 323 Menasha Corp. $1,100 -- 150 327 Deere & Co. $13,947 $319 1,800 329 Tecumseh Products Co. $1,344 $51 230 339 APW Ltd. -- -- 79 371 Tyco International Ltd. $35,590 ($9,180) 4,500 373 Armstrong World Industries Inc. $3,172 ($2,143) 242 385 Sealed Air Corp. $3,204 ($309) 400 386 Briggs & Stratton Corp. $1,529 $53 95 396 Textron Inc. $10,658 $364 1,000 398 Fleetwood Enterprises Inc. $2,318 ($71) 62 400 Eaton Corp. $7,209 $281 837 404 Sonoco Products Co. Inc. $2,812 $135 150 406 Varco International Inc. $1,335 $80 83 424 Ametek Inc. $1,041 $84 80 440 Leggett & Platt Inc. $4,272 $233 240 450 Owens Illinois Inc. $5,640 ($460) 214 456 Crane Co. $1,516 ($11) 154 463 IGT $1,848 $271 151 469 Pactiv Corp. $2,880 $148 -- 486 Metals USA -- -- -- 491 Stanley Works $2,593 $185 -- 498 Swagelok Co. -- -- -- 500 Steelcase Inc. $2,587 ($266) 370 Financial data is from public sources and company supplied.
Revenue is for latest fiscal year.
Employee data is from information 500 qualifying survey.

SNAPSHOT INSIDE COMPANIES Average portion of revenue spent on IT 2% Average percentage of industry applications and business
processes that have Web-based front ends 27% Companies with real-time business processes in place 77% HOW COMPANIES DIVIDE THEIR I.T. BUDGETS Hardware purchases 17% Services or outsourcing 13% Research and development 3% Salaries and benefits 33% Applications 19% Everything else 15% INDUSTRY FINANCIALS Average year-over-year revenue change -0% Average year-over-year net income change -149% DATA: information RESEARCH
See year-over-year shifts in business-technology practices for this industry. Compare and contrast this year's data with last year's.

Return to the 2003 information 500 homepage