The Thomas Blog

A Veteran's Manufacturing Story

There are an estimated 230,000-245,000 enlisted service members who separate from the military each year. 

More than 70 years ago, Richard McCarthy was in the middle of such a transition. After serving in the Pacific during World War II, the 21-year-old veteran headed back home to Pennsylvania, eager to start the next phase of his life. He not only did that; he started a career, a business, and a legacy for his family.  

Here is his story.

What is Growth-Driven Design?

Your website is your biggest marketing asset and is the centerpiece of all your marketing activities. It is often the first place people go when looking for more information on your products or services so it should be where all of your marketing efforts should be driven to.

But traditional web design can be a daunting endeavor; in fact, many industrial companies opt not to upgrade their websites at all because of its complexity.

Thankfully, Growth-Driven Design (GDD) is the answer to traditional web design woes and has significantly changed the website design landscape, allowing for intuitive, efficient design that even novices can navigate with ease and increase conversions.

What's The Problem With Volume Commitments?

You just signed a contract that you feel will produce significant savings for your organization through category-level discounts.

Across the table is a supplier who is excited about guaranteeing increased spend. It sounds like a win-win. However, there’s a catch – the contract includes a volume commitment – and it could potentially damage your relationship between you and your supplier irrevocably.

7 Online Programs For Supply Chain Management And Manufacturers

The manufacturing and supply-chain industry has been going through a transformation, with concepts like IoT, additive manufacturing, and e-commerce quickly advancing the industry. With these new technologies come new skills that manufacturers and supply chain professionals need to learn.

Fortunately, many manufacturers and supply chain professionals can refresh their skill set from the convenience of their own homes with online courses. Whatever your career goals are, there are online course options to help you along your career path.

Social Media Definitions For Manufacturers

For today’s industrial marketers, content is critical — but it’s not enough to simply publish a blog post. Once a piece is written, you need to help it reach as many people as possible. One of the easiest and most effective ways to amplify distribution is through your company’s social media channels.

Whether you’ve already hammered out a sophisticated social strategy or you’re just getting started, this glossary of social media terms will provide the keys to optimizing these channels.

Learn How to Reset Password on Thomasnet.com

Wonder how you can reset your password on Thomasnet.com? Follow our easy step-by-step guide.

How To Successfully Make A Career Change Into Supply Chain

Deciding what you want to do with your life can be overwhelming, especially when that decision is made early in your career. In fact, an astounding majority of people don’t find their calling right away and trends are showing people are no longer working for one company their whole career — the average person changes jobs an average of 12 times during his or her career. 

But making that switch can be daunting and confusing. There are so many options, and the wrong move can set you back in your career and in your finances.

However, switching to supply chain can be a great option. The field is broad enough to be a fit for people with a variety of technical and soft skills. It's also a growing industry, with millions of new employees being added to the workforce.   

7 Strategies To Help You Overcome Supply Chain Disruption

Your supply chain is delicate. If just one link in the chain is disrupted, it can have a significant impact on multiple aspects of your business. So what steps can you take to maintain business continuity and minimize the impact of unforeseen disruptions?

While there's no single answer to truly prevent supplier disruption, the key is is to not be caught by surprise and minimize its impact. Strengthen your logistics operations and be prepared with these ways.

Leveraging Omni-Channel Marketing For B2B

Today’s marketing world is filled with many terms and buzzwords. From acronyms like “KPI” and “CTR” to rising industry trends like “big data” and “hyperlocal,” sales and marketing leaders in the manufacturing space constantly find buzzwords left and right. So when you come across the word “omni-channel,” you may be quick to dismiss it.

That would be a mistake.