It is getting much tougher to compete in the global marketplace that we all exist in. Whether you are building baseball bats or widgets, there is someone out there trying to build them cheaper and faster than you. But the question is if they are making a superior product? For some people, it doesn’t matter, cheaper is good enough even if the part doesn’t last as long. It is weird and regrettable, but cheaper has become the slogan and the word of choice for many consumers and organizations. Yes, less expensive is better, but less expensive doesn’t necessarily work out for the best. So the objective is to build a superior, high value part and to make it of high worth to your buyers. The builders of the items do not establish what they makes’ worth; the customer does. What is the buyer ready to pay for your item and how big of a demand for your part is there? There are different ways to boost your profit 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 way that can boost profits and keep your organization working lean and efficiently. It all starts with removing unnecessary waste in all aspects of your business. Waste comes innumerous forms and it costs every company more revenue than they would care to disclose. Waste is when workers are just hanging 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 finished in the electrical department or it might mean that they are waiting for parts from a vendor. These are procedure problems that can directly influence the end product and the speed at which you can produce. When workers are loafing around, inactive and waiting for the job to come to their station, they are not useful. They are idle and are in effect simply wasting money and time. It is the same when you have machines standing 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 efficient to do the job by hand, sell the machine and buy a piece of machinery that will be more fruitful? What about the area that the equipment is filling, could another work area be put there and more labor actually be done without the robot? You can’t say that you don’t want to get rid of something because you may need it. If you are not using it or it is outdated, then it is taking up space and not contributing to the expansion and profit of the company. It can be hard to admit that purchasing that machine was a bad idea, but if it doesn’t work and doesn’t assit build the company, then it is time to move on and find something that does. It is called adapting and pushing forward.