I Made the Top Story Again! I Like This Gig!!!

[M.D. Holloway]

Check Out www.manufacturing.net

Look for the article 'Blue Light (Not So) Special' - let me know what you think.

[scottmandue]

Good article, reminds me of my first real job as a stock-boy at J.J. Newberrys...

Anyone else see some scary similarities between Kmart and our current American government?

Problem 1: Upper Management Takes Away Control Of The Floor

Problem 2: Reduce Compensation And Eliminate Your Experience Base And You Will Eliminate Your Business

Problem 3: Break A Company’s Spirit And Break The Company

Problem 4: Inability To Use Technology

[Joeaksa]

Can we have your autograph??

Joe A

[M.D. Holloway]

Sure...for a Maverick PCA Badge! JK

[azasadny]

Mike,
You're a real celebrity!

[M.D. Holloway]

I do OK but I'm no Jack fer sure...

[Aurel]

Ha ! Now I understand why you were interviewing your pelican fellows on manufacturing in a thread not so long ago...

Aurel

[lowyder993s]

Good article...passed it on to my brother...couple of points are very salient to us right now...like compenation and the soul of a company.
Never too early to build an exit strategy.

[jim72911t]

Excellent article, Mike. Thanks for the link, as well. I've been in manufacturing for 15 years and have somehow never come across this site. It's bookmarked now.

(btw, know anyone who needs a manufacturing/process engineer/CNC programmer?)

Jim

[Moses]

Nicely done!

[efhughes3]

What's up with this? Moonlighting or just a hobby thing?

[artplumber]

Couldn't find it, are you sure that's real? ...foolin

Interesting take Mike. I wonder about your choice of examples w/WalMart, don't they have a very similar mgmt style to the probs you describe?

[M.D. Holloway]

Originally posted by efhughes3
What's up with this? Moonlighting or just a hobby thing?

Method to the mad'ness - the teaching of specific courses at a specific university, the writing on specific topics (both published in a focused site and the ghosting), the daily experiences in all sorts of mfg plants, the formation of an LLC...

Hopefully turning a passion/hobby into something to generate income.

[legion]

Originally posted by artplumber
Interesting take Mike. I wonder about your choice of examples w/WalMart, don't they have a very similar mgmt style to the probs you describe?

WalMart is starting down exactly the same path. Their executives are more and more becoming prognosticators of "one size fits all" management policies. Witness their recent decisions about selling firearms in stores.

[lendaddy]

Great article Mike, hits home for both myself and my buddy(both running spiraling companies though his is 5X larger).

But, what is the alternative if massive revenue losses come up quickly? You can't just bleed money for long periods, finite resources and all.

The obvious answer is increase/improve revenue so you don't have to cut elsewhere, but that doesn't happen overnight. There is a "dead-man" roadblock for many businesses when it comes to negative flows. If the fork in the road reads "close doors or decrease personnel", what else can you do?

I've chosen to lose all BUT key employees entirely while my buddies company (large board of directors) has chosen an accross the board 20% salary cut and layoffs.

Neither of us get much sleep right now.

[M.D. Holloway]

Len,
I can't imagine what you are going through. It sounds pretty rough. I know of the companies I was with in the past, the ones that failed seemed to be something they were not or didn't settle in and focus. The business I am in now is showing incredble growth in a very competitve, price sensitive business. We just decided to focus in on a few, somewhat conservative sectors. Prove out the concepts and translate to bigger markets. It gets a bit complicated.

The stuff you guys are going through is complicated for sure and there are more than likely several reasons why things have gone from bad to worse. I won't even pretend to have the answers but I would be very interested in the climate and the dynamics at play. What do you think happened? Would your guys agree? What do you think could have been done different? Remember Nokia? They didn't start out making cell phones you know.

[lendaddy]

Originally posted by LubeMaster77
Len,
I can't imagine what you are going through. It sounds pretty rough. I know of the companies I was with in the past, the ones that failed seemed to be something they were not or didn't settle in and focus. The business I am in now is show incredable growth in a very competitve, price sensitive business. We just decided to focus in on a few, somewhat conservative sectors. Prove out the concepts and translate to bigger markets. It gets a bit complicated.

The stuff you guys are going through is complicated for sure and there are more than likely several reasons why things have gone from bad to worse. I won't even pretend to have the answers but I would be very interested in the climate and the dynamics at play. What do you think happened? Would your guys agree? What do you think could have been done different? Remember Nokia? They didn't start out making cell phones you know.

Well, the easy answer is to say I'm in automotive [at this point people usually put a hand on my shoulder and nod knowingly]. But the reality is that some are still making money at this game. So..... I see our biggest flaws as lack of any sales infrastucture (we never had to sell, it came to us), and indeed a lack of focus or purpose. It's like a bad dream and you can't see through the fog.

I desperately want to switch to another market, but we have very little experience beyond the actual manufacturing side of things.

I have spent the last year or so juggling money and it consumes me. We are selling our building and leasing it back (closes in a week or so) and will have a very small amount of breathing room to turn things around. I do not absolve myself or my company, countless mistakes have been made. I imagine this must be what it feels like to stand at the gallows..........just get it over with already

In reality I know we can do something, I just need to get my head around it. As you stated it's a matter of focus but my nerves are effin shot right now.

Edit: Just reread that and it comes accross that I'm very depressed and have given up, that is not the case. I was more or less venting.

[M.D. Holloway]

So your a tier II or III? Tow the big 3? Plastic or metalparts? Any partial assembly? How good at prototyping are you guys? What would you say you guys do best?

Establishing a sales force is actually easier than establishing a technical foothold in a competitive industry.

[lendaddy]

Originally posted by LubeMaster77
So your a tier II or III? Tow the big 3? Plastic or metalparts? Any partial assembly? How good at prototyping are you guys? What would you say you guys do best?

Establishing a sales force is actually easier than establishing a technical foothold in a competitive industry.

We're a ways down the food-chain, though we have had/have a few tier I and II customers.

We deal mainly in metals, everything from brass and aluminum to stainless. We do a lot with stainless tubing (precision cutting, end finishing, bending, etc..)

We have done a lot of assembly including production welding. And we have done a ton of prototyping, in fact our prototyping has gotten us some of our best jobs. We come up with a process to solve our customers problems...they reward us with a year or two of orders (before they take it in house or farm it overseas).

It is just that which we are good at, unique manufacturing solutions and their subsequent production. If a customer is having a problem with a current part we will kill ourselves coming up with solutions in the HOPE that we'll get the job

The problem with a sales team is that I have ZERO seed money and the commission reps I've talked to have too many vendors chasing too few jobs as it is.

[M.D. Holloway]

The type of product/service that you could peddle would require someone with some engineering chops. Expensive and timely to bring in, forget farming out. Do you have a guy or two that has some skills and knows how to make a friend? You guys sound like your running lean. You may feel like you couldn't spare anyone but in your woods a good machinest would be far easier than someone who has worked in your shop and knows the business.

Do you have someone internal? All is it takes is 1 good rep with the desire and confidence. Believe me, it starts with one.