It is getting much more difficult to compete in the worldwide marketplace that we all exist 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 building a superior part? For some people, it doesn’t matter, cheaper is better even if the part doesn’t last as long. It is strange and regrettable, but cheaper has become the catchphrase and the word of choice for many consumers and organizations. Yes, less expensive is better, but cheaper doesn’t always work out for the best. So the object is to produce a first-rate, high value product and to make it of high worth to your buyers. The makers of the parts do not decide what they makes’ worth; the customer does. What is the consumer prepared to pay for your product and how much of a demand for your part is there? There are different ways to boost your profit for your goods.
You can always raise the price and pass it off to the buyer. But there is a better way, a more long term method that can increase earnings and keep your organization running lean and efficient. It all begins with eliminating unnecessary waste in all parts of your organization. Waste comes in many forms and it costs every company more revenue than they would care to confess. Waste is when workers are just hanging around, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t orders to be built. It mightmerely mean that they are waiting for parts to be finished in the assembly department or it might mean that they are waiting for parts from a vendor. These are process problems that can directly affect the end product and the speed at which you can produce. When workers are sitting around, unused and waiting for the job to come to their station, they are not producing. They are unused and are in essence just wasting money and time. It is the same when you have machines being unused. What is the point of having a fancy mechanized machine if it is not being used 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 space that the machine is filling, could another work spot be put there and more work actually be done without the machine? You can’t say that you don’t want to get rid of parts because you may want it. If you are not using it or it is old, then it is taking up space and not contributing to the development and profit of thefirm. It can be uncomfortable to admit that buying that machine 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 called adapting and moving forward.