Technology-buying failures in advanced manufacturing rarely occur because an organization selects the wrong platform. They happen much earlier—when companies enter the request-for-proposal (RFP) process without clear strategic alignment, defined operational priorities or a shared vision for how technology should enable future manufacturing capabilities.

Today’s advanced manufacturing environments are undergoing rapid transformation. Smart factories, digital twins, AI-driven planning tools and connected production ecosystems promise unprecedented levels of visibility, automation and performance optimization. Vendors increasingly position their solutions as comprehensive platforms capable of transforming operations end to end.

Most technology buyers, however, experience only a limited number of operating models during their careers—often within the same organization or industry segment. As a result, they may understand their current production environment deeply but have limited exposure to how leading manufacturers structure future-state operations.

Against this backdrop, many organizations treat the RFP as the starting point rather than the result of strategic planning. They focus heavily on documenting current processes and addressing immediate operational pain points, which can lead to predictable and costly mistakes.

Read Advanced Manufacturing’s full article to learn the 10 Ways Manufacturing Technology Buyers Get It Wrong (Before They Ever Issue the RFP) according to JBF’s Strategy Principal, Tara Buchler.