As larger manufacturing companies move toward a more globally integrated business model, they will need to increase spending this year on collaborative technologies, including social networking systems such as wikis, in order to manage their businesses more effectively, according to a new report.

This growing emphasis on developing collaborative business networks enabled by newer technologies is at the heart of a set of 10 manufacturing industry predictions for 2008 issued today by research firm Manufacturing Insights, an IDC company. MI says that large manufacturing companies are becoming increasingly global in nature, with many reporting 60% or more of their profits from outside their home bases.

Similar to the findings of other research firms, as well as a new reader poll by Managing Automation, MI signals the possibility of a recession in the United States this year. But the increasingly global nature of the large manufacturing companies, MI says, should help insulate them against the full brunt of a downturn.

"A recession in the United States no longer guarantees worldwide trouble, and many of the largest manufacturing firms in the U.S. now earn more than half of their revenue and profit from outside the home market," the MI report states. "And a weak dollar means that U.S. manufactured goods are price-competitive in foreign markets."

But the key to leveraging the evolving global business models is building IT-based collaborative decision environments, a challenge faced by many large manufacturing companies as 2008 begins.

"To take advantage of [the] globally integrated economy, a manufacturing firm must have a globally integrated organization," MI reports. "Manufacturing firms previously evolved from being 'international' — centralized production and management with physical distribution channels — to 'multi-national,' with each region having its own product variations and management. Now companies are looking to become globally integrated where locally tailored products can be designed anywhere, made anywhere, and sold anywhere — and be managed by anyone anywhere."

Central to this effort, said MI Vice President Robert Parker in a briefing, is greater investment in collaborative business network technologies, including semantic information repositories, analytical and predictive engines, and social networking technologies such as wiki tools.

Evolving global business models also provide the context for some supply chain-related predictions MI makes for 2008. The research firm says that it expects supply chain IT spending to rise in 2008 to support the movement to global integration, but that the focus of this spending will be on what it calls "fulfillment execution" capabilities.

In addition, MI says that manufacturers dealing with global supply chains will re-emphasize supply chain fundamentals in the year ahead. "Experienced personnel, supported by corporate operating standards, will be asked to help educate the growing number of employees and suppliers in new regions on both basic supply chain principles and the company's methods," the MI report says. "Markets that support education on the supply chain basics will draw more investment than those that don't."

Other predictions by MI for 2008 center on product lifecycle management, RFID, environmental compliance and corporate responsibility, the aging-workforce problem, and machine-to-machine technology as an enabler of service delivery.