The average manufacturer spends the first 7 hours and 54 minutes of every 8-hour production shift covering operating costs, financing and depreciation on equipment, and taxes. Proceeds from the remaining 6 minutes go to product development and exploring new markets – in a business environment characterized by rising costs, rapid technological change, currency volatility and increasing global competition.

When every minute counts, there’s more pressure than ever to ensure that one manufacturing component moves quickly and reliably: communications. To keep orders filled, the supply chain on track and the entire business moving forward, your people need to connect and collaborate more efficiently – with each other, with customers, and with suppliers and other key partners

The challenges are many. Teams need to work together across desktops and between remote locations, often using disparate technology platforms with limited interoperability. They have to share information with partners while ensuring that company data remains secure. And they need to properly time deliveries and shipments while communicating with colleagues in different time zones, operating in diverse business cultures and often speaking several languages.  The issues need to be resolved faster. Your multiple sites need to be connected together and constantly networking to simplify communications and reduce cost.

Allstream has the IP networking expertise – along with the in-depth sector knowledge – to get your people better connected and help you streamline every step in the production process. We begin by converging your voice, data and multimedia applications onto a single high-performance private network. With all of your communications platforms fully integrated and your people and sites working together more efficiently, you can focus on innovation, responding to customers’ needs and getting ahead of trends instead of reacting to them.

Our flexible communications solutions are the key to solving every business challenge, whether you need to:

• improve customer service
• work better with suppliers
• align production with changing demand
• expand sales and distribution channels
• launch products more effectively
• streamline sourcing and inventory management.

Allstream’s experts work with your IT people to ensure that your network and applications always deliver what you need – and position you for long-term growth.

Get better connected with customers and partners.
Allstream’s 30,000 km fibre-optic network eliminates bottlenecks to information flow, enabling faster, richer voice/data communications and real-time collaboration from coast to coast. With our advanced IP connectivity solutions in place, you can:

• improve communications across time zones and adopt "follow-the-sun" methods to accelerate time to market

• work with design and engineering partners, as well as suppliers, without having to meet in person
• communicate more effectively with suppliers to get the best possible support on materials, maintenance and distribution
• maintain stock levels more precisely to ensure you meet customer demand and fill orders on time
• improve post-sales service, boosting customer satisfaction and retention
• expand training and development cost-effectively using digital technologies and audio, web and video conferencing.