Marketing On A Budget

Entrepreneurs need to look at where they're spending their money -- especially when they're first starting out. Budgets are usually tight and money can't be spent without planning and forethought. That being said, you do need to have a marketing plan in place or you won't be able to grow your business to the point where you can earn a living from it. 

What can you, as a new entrepreneur or an entrepreneur going through budget

constraints, do to market your wares? Here are some of my tips for marketing on a budget: 

• Get out of the office and have a face to face meeting. There is no better way to build a business than through a handshake and an in person meeting. 
• Word of mouth. Talk to current customers and ask them for referrals or testimonials. People want to do business with a known entity and if you are a known entity through a business connection, you will have an in. 

Technologies For Your #Manufacturing Shop

I found this post on the Modern Machine Shop website and wanted to pass it along.
The post talks about five  "Go-To" technologies that can make a HUGH impact on your productivity and your goal of reducing the overall cost of your jobs.

If you wind up using even one of these technologies to your shop, you'll see the difference.

What technologies do you use in your shop? Have you seen a return on your investment?

Cash Is King In #Manufacturing

I think you will agree that one of the biggest problems for companies is cash flow. After all, cash is the lifeblood of your company .You buy your supplies with it, you pay your employees with it and of course you get to pay taxes with it.

However, many companies are lax with their cash flow management, which is very dangerous in these days when loans are harder to come by to tide you over.

4 Ways to Improve Your Cash Flow:

1. Try to do credit checks before you start up with a new customer. Folks who pay others promptly will probably continue to do so. The ones that pay slower, well you get the idea.
2. Send out invoices promptly. Again, this seems pretty straightforward but I’ve seen companies wait until the end of the week or even a month before they invoice. GET THE BILL OUT QUICK and YOU’LL GET PAID QUICK!
3. Improve your quality by making good parts the first time and they won’t be rejected. Seems counter intuitive but if you are not constantly, crediting and rebilling your customer’s accounts for bad parts you do make, your cash flow will improve and you won’t be wasting time doing paperwork.

Is Your #Manufacturing Business Ready For Growth?

Guest post by Robbi Hess, #WrittenMarketingExpert 

Business growth is what entrepreneurs seek, but it needs to be done strategically. If your business suddenly explodes with growth and you don't have a strong foundation on which to house it, the

business will surely fall under the weight of that growth spurt.

Here are steps you can take to plan for strategic #manufacturing business growth:

• Determine how much (how large) you should grow
• Decide how you will grow
• Determine your financial capacity for growth
• Take stock on whether you have the "correct" people in place to help with the growth 
• Start looking now for people you will need to fill spaces in your potential growth
• How will your company's growth impact your company culture, customer service delivery and the company's overall financial stability

Are you prepared for business growth? 

Do You Want To Buy My #Manufacturing Company? Valuation Information

From our newsletter archives:

Do you want to buy my company? This is a question, that when I hear it from a business owner what I truly suspect they want to know is... how much will you pay me for my company. The problem is that many owners have only a vague idea of how much their company is worth and will actually get quite upset if you run a number by them that isn’t what they had in mind.

What these owners don’t know is that there are very simple but detailed methods to determine the value of a company. The other fact is that the buyer will most likely be going to a bank for money and they also will be using these methods to value the business. It doesn’t matter that you clean the shop every week or that you just painted the walls. Great job but in the financial world they only look at the books for the initial value. Only after the offer is accepted and the due diligence starts will any weight be given to aesthetics and other subjective matters.

So what are buyers and banks looking for?

#Manufacturers: Is All Change Good?

I was recently at an IT seminar and heard something about change that really got me thinking.

Obviously, change has to occur for a business to evolve. But, what should you change?

The speaker's answer was: "Only change or improve those processes that impact your ability to deliver outcomes." Pretty profound.

Think about what that means to your business and how you've been thinking about how, or what, to change.

I'd like to hear from you if you have any thoughts about this statement and/or what the changes are that you're considering making . I'd love to help you "change."

Email or call me to discuss.

About David: One of his key strengths is ability to listen to people and his desire to help them improve their practices and better utilize resources. He works effectively with all levels of employees, from shop floor technicians to the CEO, establishing an atmosphere of trust and open communication that can enable change to happen quickly and productively.

Do Something In Your #Manufacturing Business NOW!

In a recent newsletter I wrote about how many business owners are... too busy running their businesses to take time to manage it. The management of your business is critical to its long term

success. You need to know what's going on back at the plant as well as what's going on with your competition. 

Just taking the time to think about what you want from the business is vital if you are to succeed. As they say, "Failure to plan, is planning to fail."

If you find yourself spending so much time running your business that the management of it has fallen by the wayside, give me a call to discuss how we can get you back on track and get your manufacturing operation back to being a smooth, well-oiled machine. 

Are You On The Verge Of #Manufacturing Business Growth?

It's a great problem to have -- your #manufacturing business is on the verge of growth. Are you ready? If so, what can you do to make certain you and your staff are truly ready for this forward momentum? 

If you believe that your business is teetering on the verge of a growth spurt, here are three questions you will

want to ponder before you take the leap into that growth:

1. Are you competitive with those in your niche market? Consider that if you've been operating "under the radar" and if this growth will propel you into the spotlight you need to be prepared to make certain your business stands out from the crowd. 
2. Will growth mean you will have to jettison some of your smaller (in most cases, the loyal customers who helped you get where you are today?) clients?  Is it your smaller clients that helped you get where you are today? Will your new business model mean you will now only work with clients on the XYZ level where in the beginning you worked with everyone from A to Z? Will growth mean you lose your loyal base? 

Why and How to Fire a Customer

For many companies, the mere mention of “firing” a customer is unthinkable and even sacrilegious. I say if you can’t or won’t consider it, then you must stop complaining, suck-up all the problems and get a big bottle of your favorite medicine for headaches. You’re sure to need them.

On the other hand, if you are concerned about your bottom line and mental well being, there are a few things you need to consider and then do.

1. I’m going to make the assumption that you’ve already exhausted the communication route to resolve the issues. Most problems develop slowly over time and we let them slide until they are overwhelming
   
   . If no solution(s) can be found, you’ve got to move on to the evaluation/decision phase.
2. I’m also going to assume that you are doing at least a quarterly if not a monthly evaluation of the profitability of all of your customers. If not all of your customers, then at least those comprising 80% of your sales. If possible this analysis should also look at individual jobs by customer as well. If you aren’t doing this analysis on a regular basis, then you need to do one immediately for the customer that is in question.
3. Look at how you are doing. Is the profit for that customer high enough to justify the higher “maintenance” you are putting in? Make sure that you not only consider the direct labor and material, outside purchase and fully loaded hourly costs but also add in how much extra unpaid time (times an hourly rate) you and your employees are expending. Be fair but be honest. This would include the phone call time, uncharged expedite costs and the cost of your mental anguish of dealing with these folks.

Giving the Customer What They Want

I hear a lot of things in the customer service area in regards to how to satisfy a customer. Some say “Under promise and over deliver.” Others talk of exceeding their customer’s expectations. While these are lofty goals, I’m going to go out on a limb and call “BS” on these and other similar comments.

Certainly, you’ve got to satisfy your customers to remain in business. However, in the manufacturing world, customers contract for a product at an agreed upon price, to be delivered on a particular date that meets the blueprint and purchase order requirements. That’s it. Simple enough.

Here’s the rub. Let’s say you’ve got a dimension on the print that has a fairly open tolerance. Many choices are available on how to measure this dimension. These choices may range from a simple set of calipers to a sophisticated coordinate measuring machine that is capable of inspection to millionths of an inch. Both will give you acceptable results. What do you do?

I know of many companies that will put these parts in the CMM and measure away. I say it’s a gigantic waste of time and MONEY. I submit that all you are required to do is comply with your purchase order at the least cost to you. You’ve got to be able to document (as required) what you made. But other than that, you’re done.

I had customers in my gear #manufacturing business that only wanted to know that we had put the right number of teeth on the gear. Others wanted everything. (Those of you that do this kind of work know what that means)

What I’m getting at is that by attempting to satisfy by over delivering, you are wasting money and time that could be better spent on exactly meeting the expectations of all of your customers

First Things First For Manufacturers

Doesn’t it seem like everybody is extremely busy these days?Do you find it impossible to get someone to call or email you back?

My belief is that there is an information overload going on and most people act upon the latest fire that is in front of them. People get so engrossed in their seemingly immediate needs that they lose sight of the things

that need to be done including things like:

• Strategic planning
• Business transition planning
• Reviewing your Balance sheet and P & L sheet
• Taking a vacation?

 So, you ask, what can you do?

As someone who has, at times, had difficulty focusing on “real” needs instead of dealing with the last phone call, I found that the surest way of keeping on track is to setup times in a calendar for working on essential tasks. You don’t have to schedule times for the entire list of tasks everyday. 

How Productive Are You At Work?

Guest post by Social Media Manager ~ Blogger, Robbi Hess

Whether you're in the #manufacturing industry or in any other industry, being productive at work is crucial to success. What can you do to be more productive at work? 

Here are my five tips: 

Why Kanban Doesn’t Work For #Manufacturers

For many #manufacturers, Kanban is a way of life. It assures minimal inventory and costs of goods sold. They’ll produce only what parts are needed for the next operation or shipment to the customer. On paper, this is terrific. In practice, well, here’s the rest of the story.

For manufacturers that have predictable requirements AND have done research to determine the proper lot size to release in terms of time required and cost for that number of parts, Kanban works pretty well.

Here’s the rub. Many manufacturers adopt Kanban releases without considering how the new system will impact the internal and external systems. For example, let say this manufacturer got a firm order for 1,000 parts from their customer with deliveries of 100 per month for 10 months. However, their internal processes

to make, buy and/or assemble this part are not predictable and may even be described as erratic. For instance, they are not able to process 100 parts per month through their system making or buying these parts. In addition, the time required to make 100 or even 200 parts exceeds a month.

What they should do is have an honest internal discussion and face the reality that only putting 100 pieces at a time into the system causes both higher per piece costs and delivery issues. A second step would be to increase the release size to take into account the completion and needs variations and suck up the inventory costs to carry parts that can’t be delivered.

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly #Manufacturing

I thought I’d borrow the title of a great movie and talk about a couple of presentations I heard that discussed the state of our economy and its future. As the title suggests, there is good, there is bad and boy, oh boy, is there ugly.

The Good:

Contrary to what you may have heard, the economy is improving. The Federal Reserve Board is predicting that this trend will continue for the next several years and that our economy has turned the corner in the

recovery from the “great recession” of 2008-09. Energy production, especially natural gas drilling, will help our economy by keeping costs low and providing jobs. New home construction is up and will exceed our population growth and takes into account the natural loss of older homes or those destroyed or damaged beyond repair.

The Bad:

While our economy is improving, it is not improving at a rapid pace and continues to lack the growth that is needed to really get all our unemployed people back to work. In addition, our growth, while weak, is better than that of the rest of the world. Not a good trend. The energy production boom will only be sustained if oil stays at a price above about $55-$60 per barrel (now at $101/barrel). Since there are old laws on the books that prohibit the export of raw oil products, we will continue to need to refine any oil that is produced here in order to export its byproducts.

Manufacturers: You Gotta Do Something!

Reading this title you might get the idea I think people don’t do anything. Not true. What I do mean, is that

many manufacturing companies, both in Arizona and across the country, get so caught up in the everyday hustle and bustle that they wind up putting out fires over and over without addressing the lingering and nagging problems that are draining their businesses of valuable time and money.

If you don’t start focusing ON your business, you will most likely need additional fire extinguishers to handle the increasing number and size of problems that will continue to rob you of your time and ultimately your satisfaction in owning a business.

Is Your Management Style Conducive To Your #Manufacturing Firms' Success?

If you're the owner or operator of a manufacturing business, you likely have face to face contact with your employees and management staff on a daily basis. Because of this, have you ever wondered whether your management style was conducive to the productivity of the operation as a whole? It's something to think about as the new year has rolled in and you might be making changes in your plant to make it more profitable and productive.

Taking The Pulse Of The US Manufacturing Industry

I'm continually out talking with presidents and CEOs of manufacturing companies and have been hearing the same refrain: "I think we're on an upswing!" This is great news for them, their companies and the manufacturing industry in America in general.

I came across an article about the state of manufacturing and I wanted to pass it along:

Profit Power $eries: The Best Manufacturing Workforce Money Can Buy

Whenever I talk to business owners about their operations, we invariably wind up talking about HR issues.

The two most common are

1. How to manage the employees I have and,
2. How do I hire good people? 

It turns out these two apparently diverse concerns are closely related.

How you ask? Well, if you hire good people, you don’t have as many HR issues day-to-day. But David, people say, how do we hire the “right” people that “fit” our company?"

U.S. Needs To Up Its Manufacturing Industry

I came across this article the other day and have to say I agree with the information. How can the United States remain at the forefront if innovation isn't a priority? The manufacturing community also needs to step up and be part of the solution, don't you agree?

Check out the article on To Continue Innovating, the U.S. Has To Manufacture Things.

I'd love to know your feelings.

Four Key Considerations of Handling Rejected Manufacturing Parts

If you’ve been in manufacturing for any length of time, you’ve gotten some product back from a customer.

Regardless of whether you are a small shop or large, all manufacturing companies take rejects very seriously (as they should).

After the box gets opened and you’ve had the traditional informal meeting of everybody who isn’t busy at that time to see what’s up with the rejection, it is my belief that this event must be treated with care and urgency.  Here are four thoughts to keep in mind when handling rejects:

Paperwork
The paperwork has to be forwarded through order entry quickly and the type or response (repair, re-manufacture or replacement) be determined to allow the shop to turn the parts around.