It is getting more and more difficult to compete in the worldwide marketplace that we all live in. Whether you are building baseball bats or widgets, there is somebody out there trying to build them cheaper and faster than you. But the question is if they are building a better part? 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 catchphrase and the word of choice for many people and organizations. Yes, cheaper is better, but cheaper doesn’t necessarily work out for the best. So the object is to make a first-rate, high quality part and to make it of high worth to your potential customers. The producers of the product do not determine what they makes’ value; the customer does. What is the customer prepared to pay for your part and how big of a demand for your product is there? There are different ways to boost your earnings for your product.
You can always elevate the price and pass it off to the customer. But there is a better way, a more long term method that can increase earnings and keep your organization working lean and efficiently. It all begins with eliminating unnecessary waste in all parts of your business. Waste comes inlots of forms and it costs every organization more money than they would care to confess. Waste is when workers are just standing around, but that does not mean that there aren’t orders to be made. It might just mean that they are waiting for parts to be completed in the electrical department or it might mean that they are waiting for parts from a supplier. These are method issues that can directly influence the end product and the quantity that you can make. When employees are sitting around, idle and waiting for the job to come to their area, they are not productive. They are under used and are in essence simply wasting cash and time. It is the same when you have machines sitting unused. What is the point of having a fancy automatic machine if it is not being used for hours a day? Would it be more cost effective to do the process by hand, sell the robot and buy a piece of equipment that will be more productive? What about the area that the equipment is filling, could another work area be put there and more jobs actually be done without the machine? You can’t say that you don’t want to do away with parts because you might need it. If you are not making use of it or it is old, then it is taking up room and not contributing to the growth and profit of theorganization. It can be hard to admit that getting that equipment was a bad idea, but if it doesn’t work and doesn’t assit grow the company, then it is time to push forward and discover something that does. It is called adapting and going forward.