Recently, I have spoken to many companies who have taken the
approach to hunker down and wait for the storm to pass:
taking the path of expense cutting, halting any capital or
discretionary spending, and reducing sales and marketing
initiatives. Although for some, this is the prudent move, for
many an opportunity has presented itself. We all know, and
history has shown us, that the economy will rebound and in most
cases, manufacturing businesses will be there after the
storm.
So in these down times, what can we do and what can we gain?
A few potential ideas:
- Examine all process and procedures for:
- Redundant or double data entry
- Highly manual processes (high potential for errors)
- Examine the use of spreadsheets in production (limited
visibility)
- Data availability to the appropriate parties (executive,
back-office, customers, vendors)
- Utilize technology to solve the above issues
- In most cases using the systems already owned
- Potential manufacturing business gains:
- Increased market share when business increases
- Increased profitability through a more scalable business with
no expense increase
- Improved operational efficiency for a clearer view of data for
better decision making
- Broader view of all data across the entire business
- Improved process can allow for reallocation of over staffing
and head count
It is not always for the faint of heart to make bold moves in
difficult times, but more often than not, they will be rewarded for
their foresight with a more dominant business.
The link below is to a blog post from the President of SGIA, he
agrees that the time is right for business and process
improvement.
Last to Move - First to Lose