It is getting much harder to compete in the worldwide marketplace that we all live in. Whether you are making motorcycles or widgets, there is someone out there trying to produce them cheaper and faster than you. But the question is if they are building a better part? For some consumers, it doesn’t matter, cheaper is good enough even if the item doesn’t last as long. It is bizarre and unfortunate, but cheaper has become the catchphrase and the word of choice for many people and organizations. Yes, cheaper is better, but cheaper doesn’t always work out for the best. So the objective is to make a superior, high value item and to make it of high worth to your customers. The producers of the product do not establish what they makes’ value; the buyer does. What is the consumer prepared to pay for your product and how much of a demand for your product is there? There are different ways to increase your profit for your product.
You can always increase the price and pass it off to the customer. But there is a better way, a longer term approach that can raise revenue and keep your organization running lean and efficient. It all starts with removing unnecessary waste in all parts of your company. Waste comes inlots of forms and it costs every organization more cash than they would care to admit. Waste is when employees are just standing around, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t orders to be made. It mightsimply mean that they are waiting for parts to be completed in the assembly department or it might mean that they are waiting for product from a supplier. These are procedure issues that can directly influence the end product and the quantity that you can produce. When employees are sitting around, inactive and waiting for the work to come to their area, they are not productive. They are idle and are in effect merely wasting money and time. It is the same when you have machines being idle. What is the point of having a expensive automated machine if it is not being run for hours a day? Would it be more efficient to do the job by hand, sell the robot and buy a piece of equipment that will be more fruitful? What about the area that the machine is taking up, could another work station be put there and more work actually be completed without the machine? You can’t say that you don’t want to get rid of equipment because you might 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 If you are not utilizing it or it is obsolete, then it is taking up room and not contributing to the development and profit of theorganization. It can be tricky to admit that buying that robot was a bad idea, but if it does not and doesn’t assit build the company, then it is time to move forward and discover something that does. It is named adapting and going ahead.