It is becoming more and harder to compete in the worldwide marketplace that we all dwell in. Whether you are building baseball bats or widgets, there is someone out there trying to produce them less expensively and quicker than you. But the question is if they are producing a superior item? For some people, it doesn’t matter, cheaper is better even if the item doesn’t last as long. It is strange and regrettable, but cheaper has become the motto and the word of choice for many consumers and organizations. Yes, cheaper is better, but less expensive doesn’t always work out for the best. So the object is to build a good, high value product and to make it of high worth to your potential customers. The makers of the parts do not establish what they makes’ value; the buyer does. What is the customer ready to pay for your product and how much of a demand for your product is there? There are different ways to increase your earnings for your product.
You can always raise the price and pass it off to the buyer. But there is a better way, a longer term approach that can raise profits and keep your company working lean and efficiently. It all starts with eliminating unnecessary waste in all parts of your organization. Waste comes inlots of forms and it costs every business more money than they would care to disclose. Waste is when employees are just standing around, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t orders to be filled. It might just mean that they are waiting for parts to be finished in the electrical department or it might mean that they are waiting for parts from a supplier. These are process problems that can directly influence the end product and how many you can produce. When employees are hanging around, idle and waiting for the work to come to their area, they are not productive. They are unused and are in essence just wasting cash and time. It is the same when you have machines sitting unused. What is the point of having a costly automatic machine if it is not being run for hours a day? Would it be more efficient to do the job by hand, sell the machine and purchase a piece of machinery that will be more industrious? What about the area that the machine is filling, could another work spot be put there and more work actually be finished without the equipment? You can’t say that you don’t want to get rid of tools because you may want it. If you are not utilizing it or it is obsolete, then it is taking up room and not contributing to the development and profit of thefirm. It can be difficult to admit that buying that robot was a bad idea, but if it does not and doesn’t help build the company, then it is time to move on and discover something that does. It is called adapting and moving forward.