The Thomas Blog

Thomas Index Report: Printed Circuit Board Sourcing Trends

More B2B buying activity takes place on THOMASNET.com than any other resource on the planet. In fact, a buyer evaluates a supplier every 2 seconds on our platform.

To help buyers and suppliers stay ahead of the latest shifts and emerging trends in the digital industrial economy, we constantly analyze all of the buying activity taking place on the platform. This powerful, proprietary data fuels the Thomas Industrial Index.

Here’s what we’re seeing on the Index this week:

4 Steps To Get Started With Social Selling

Looking to generate leads and connect with more customers? Of course you are!

All manufacturing and industrial companies want to grow. Unfortunately, many of them are missing out on an amazing resource that can make this goal a reality — social media.

If you don't have any social media profiles, or if you're just using them to share updates about the company softball team, then it's time to get started with social selling.

At Thomas Marketing Services, we've helped hundreds of companies just like yours turn social profiles into sales generators. Based on our experience, here are some first steps that can put you on the path to social success:

Digitizing Our Buildings & Facilities: How To Create Intelligent Environments

Businesses are transitioning to LED lighting in the 5.6 million commercial buildings in the United States. And, in many regions, the addition of solar solutions for energy independence is also underway.

7 Social Media Mistakes Industrial Companies Need To Avoid

When done right, maintaining an active social media presence can have a significant impact on your business, helping to increase web traffic, establish stronger relationships with customers, and, perhaps most importantly, increase revenue. Social media should therefore be a pivotal part of your inbound marketing strategy.

Unfortunately, when not done right, social media can still make an impact on your business — but not in a good way. One social snafu can cost you customers and do serious damage to your brand’s reputation, as you’ll see in the examples below.

Avoid these setbacks by steering clear of these seven common social media mistakes: 

Video: Fruit And Animals Will Pave The Way For Safer Industrial Equipment

Safety on the shop floor is about to get better, and you can thank fruits and animals for their help. Groundbreaking research from BMW's Bio-Inspired-Safety Systems (BISS) Consortium is leading the way to create new safety prototypes based off of natural models. 

Manufacturing Industry Jobs Update: June 2017

At THOMASNET.com, we are big champions of American manufacturing and reshoring. In fact, we work with suppliers who produce amazing products made in America every day, and we play an instrumental role in helping small- and medium-sized suppliers grow.

But how can we measure growth for the industry overall? A good barometer is the state of the manufacturing workforce. That’s why we will be regularly diving deep into the latest information from the Bureau Of Labor Statistics to take the pulse of hiring in the industry and to highlight sectors that are growing.

Here is our Manufacturing Industry Jobs Update for June 2017 (scroll down for previous releases):

Bringing Manufacturing Back To The U.S.: A Discussion With Thomas CEO Tony Uphoff

Manufacturing is essential to the American economy. Every 100 jobs in a manufacturing facility creates 250 jobs in other sectors. Unfortunately, however, many of these manufacturing jobs – as many as two million according to estimates — will go unfilled over the next ten years.

To combat the problem and close the skills gap, the federal government is investing in apprenticeship programs. 

Forklift Sourcing 101: Know Your Options, Save Money

Though they serve as critical elements in many material handling operations, forklifts can come with many potential hidden costs, such as maintenance and operator salary — in total, costs can reach as high as $250,000 annually per machine!

Despite these expenditures, more and more companies are making use of forklifts; a recent Peerless Research Group survey of material handling managers found that 69% of respondents planned to acquire a new forklift in the near future, with a per-respondent average of seven planned purchases, up from six the year prior.

The Shift To Electric Vehicles Is Accelerating – And Suppliers Should Take Notice

While electric vehicles (EVs) account for less than 1% of all vehicles sold in the United States today, two new forecasts show that this number will skyrocket in the years ahead. The shift will have a profound impact on automakers and their suppliers.