The Power of Sales Follow-Up

The Power of Sales Follow-Up

We often think of good salespeople as those people who have charisma, great product knowledge, and the ability to hold...

CASE STUDIES IN THROUGHPUT

CASE STUDIES IN THROUGHPUT

  You’ve seen several articles on these pages over the years discussing and defining the management accounting...

BATTEN DOWN THE HATCHES

BATTEN DOWN THE HATCHES

Everywhere we turn these days, it seems the headlines are all screaming “Recession Ahead”.  In various areas of the...

DECISIONS DECISIONS

DECISIONS DECISIONS

 One of the great things about this industry is that there are so many machine and technology and software and...

PLANNING FOR SUCCESS

PLANNING FOR SUCCESS

So, you’ve taken all the advice in our Slippery Rock Gazette articles for the past year, your business is running more...

WHAT IS THE BEST SOLUTION?

WHAT IS THE BEST SOLUTION?

Have you ever had a problem in your business and you took action to solve that problem only to find out several months...

IS THAT ALL THIS DATA IS GOOD FOR?

IS THAT ALL THIS DATA IS GOOD FOR?

Have you ever had a month when sales were strong, you worked harder than ever, yet your month-end Profit and Loss Statement (P&L) showed poor results? There can be lots of reasons for this.

HOW DO WE FEED THIS BEAST?

HOW DO WE FEED THIS BEAST?

Someone once asked me how to know if a business had grown too big for the owner to manage. I think the answer is, if you can’t get your business to generate consistently good results, or if you have management problems in your business that you don’t know how to resolve, the business may be outgrowing your ability to manage it.

Whose Job Is It Anyway?

Whose Job Is It Anyway?

Someone once asked me how to know if a business had grown too big for the owner to manage. I think the answer is, if you can’t get your business to generate consistently good results, or if you have management problems in your business that you don’t know how to resolve, the business may be outgrowing your ability to manage it.

How Much Work Can YOUR Shop Handle?

How Much Work Can YOUR Shop Handle?

Someone once asked me how to know if a business had grown too big for the owner to manage. I think the answer is, if you can’t get your business to generate consistently good results, or if you have management problems in your business that you don’t know how to resolve, the business may be outgrowing your ability to manage it.

Would You Rather Have a Sales Problem or a Production Problem?

Would You Rather Have a Sales Problem or a Production Problem?

In a growing economy, job growth outstrips the supply of good labor – and the effects of the pandemic have only made the situation harder to manage. So, it’s no surprise that everywhere I go and in every type of industry, companies are struggling to recruit and retain good people.

ARE YOU STILL…Having Trouble Finding Good Help These Days?

ARE YOU STILL…Having Trouble Finding Good Help These Days?

In a growing economy, job growth outstrips the supply of good labor – and the effects of the pandemic have only made the situation harder to manage. So, it’s no surprise that everywhere I go and in every type of industry, companies are struggling to recruit and retain good people.

How Do I Control the Chaos?

How Do I Control the Chaos?

What do you want from your business?
If you want January 2023 to feel much better than January 2022, if you want a better work experience, if you want less chaos and more sanity in your business – then you must change how you run our business.

How Much Time Is Left On YOUR Company’s Game Clock?

How Much Time Is Left On YOUR Company’s Game Clock?

What do you want from your business?
If you want January 2023 to feel much better than January 2022, if you want a better work experience, if you want less chaos and more sanity in your business – then you must change how you run our business.

Change Is So Hard – Why Should I Bother?

Change Is So Hard – Why Should I Bother?

What do you want from your business?
If you want January 2023 to feel much better than January 2022, if you want a better work experience, if you want less chaos and more sanity in your business – then you must change how you run our business.

The 12 Days of Christmas

The 12 Days of Christmas

If you’re like most fab shops, the holidays are beyond stressful. All the normal challenges of the rest of the year — last minute order changes, employee absenteeism, machine breakdowns, late material deliveries, site issues that impact template and/or install — these all get compressed into about 8 weeks of chaotic activity.

How Fast Does Your Business Generate Cash?

How Fast Does Your Business Generate Cash?

If you have implemented the recommendations that I have posted here and published in the Slippery Rock Gazette for the last year, then your business should be a cash-generating machine. You should be generating much more cash each day than you are burning. Life should be good!

In fact, life can be so good at this level that a lot of companies stop improving. They are really happy with where they are. They don’t think it can get any better. Yet, there is a whole other level of ‘better’ to be had for those who are willing to go for it…

Are You Still Working IN Your Business?

Are You Still Working IN Your Business?

Has your business has hit a certain size that it just can’t seem to grow beyond?

Have profits stagnated and you just can’t seem to move that needle?

Has the level of noise and chaos in your business reached a fever pitch and nothing you do seems to reduce it?

Do you find yourself working harder and harder and you still can’t keep up?

Then, you may be suffering from “working IN your business and not ON your business” syndrome.

Is Your Front Office Helping or Hurting Your Business?

Is Your Front Office Helping or Hurting Your Business?

You’ve seen lots of articles about how to optimize your value-creating processes: template, fabricate, and install. You see more articles on this part of the business because this is where the magic happens. This is where the value is created that your customers pay you for.

But what about sales and the front office?

So, what’s the difference between a GOOD idea and a GREAT idea?

So, what’s the difference between a GOOD idea and a GREAT idea?

So, what’s the difference between a good idea and a great idea?

Two companies decided to purchase and install their first CNC router. Company A installed the CNC, the shop is running well, and they are making more money than ever.

Company B struggled to install the CNC and is constantly having problems as a result. Jobs are running late. Customers are upset. Profits are taking a hit. Read this Blog to find out more…

Sacred Cows May Be Killing Your Business

Sacred Cows May Be Killing Your Business

If your business is not improving – increasing profit, decreasing remakes and callbacks, improving on time delivery, reducing stress and chaos – then, quite possibly, your business may be in the process of failing.

In working with many fabricators and other business owners to improve their businesses, it is very common to make good progress only to have things stall out. While there can be several reasons for this, the most common reason is the improvement process has run up against a Sacred Cow in the business.

ARE YOU STILL…Having Trouble Finding Good Help These Days?

Having Trouble Finding Good Help These Days?

In a growing economy, job growth outstrips the supply of good labor – and the effects of the pandemic have only made the situation harder to manage. So, it’s no surprise that everywhere I go and in every type of industry, companies are struggling to recruit and retain good people.

Stop Counting the Square Feet You Produce

Stop Counting the Square Feet You Produce

If the primary measure you use to evaluate the success of your fab shop is how many square feet produced, then chances are you are not making as much money as you should.

How to Love a Bottleneck

How to Love a Bottleneck

Production managers attack bottlenecks.  Since a bottleneck in the flow of a fabrication process limits the output of...

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