Manufacturing startups are often disenchanted when they begin manufacturing products which simply aren’t performing as they had anticipated. This could be anything from consumer goods to tools and parts used by other manufacturers, but things aren’t moving along as quickly as they had hoped.
Yes, there is a need for what it is they are manufacturing and yes there is a market. What is it that they are missing? Here are three things every manufacturer needs in order to succeed in business.
1. Timely Fulfilment of Orders
One of the biggest mistakes many new manufacturers can’t quite come to terms with is the importance of filling orders timely. You can’t promise the moon to get a new client to contract your services. Be realistic in giving time-related quotes, and sometimes, timely fulfilment may even be more important to a customer than cost! This is especially true when the shipment they are expecting is holding up their entire operations. It could be a part, a piece of equipment or even materials used in their processes. No matter what it is you are manufacturing, don’t promise delivery in a shorter period of time than you can handle. This will quickly earn you a long list of unhappy customers.
2. Ability to Turn Statistics into Useable Data
With the preponderance of ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) platforms out there, more and more businesses are contracting Cloud-based software like NetSuite. These resource planning platforms have evolved to such a level that they are now able to quickly gather data from the Web with the intention of giving businesses the data they need to better plan their resources from personnel to materials and everything in between. Unfortunately, having this data doesn’t help if there is no one on staff who is able to read and analyse the data being gathered. Many manufacturers would benefit from having one administrator who holds an MSc business analytics degree. Being able to convert statistics into useable data is key to operating in the here and now, as well as planning future operations. Schools like Aston University Online offer flexible courses of study to make it possible for working professionals to gain the knowledge needed to excel within their field and for your company.
3. Healthy Balance Between Quality and Cost
Obviously, cost is always going to be an issue. Keeping costs low in order to sustain a profit is critical but when quality suffers as the result of using inferior parts or materials, real financial issues could arise. Some customers will return entire orders as being defective while others will simply look elsewhere when ordering in the future. Again, keeping costs low is important, but there needs to be a healthy balance between quality control and production costs.
Some manufacturers simply can’t survive because they don’t operate with sound business principles. You may manufacture the best product on the market but without having market/consumer data available, you may be launching in an area where there is no demand. It is vitally important to fill orders timely and to be able to plan resources according to a sound analysis of the data you’ve gathered. Time and quality control are critical, as is understanding your market. Get that right and success is just around the corner.
