How to Find 10% More Capacity in Your Plant – for Free
Could you use an additional 10% production capacity right now? Would you like to be able to process 10% more square...
Pass Your Competition with Key Sales Management Practices
Co-authored by Ed Young, Fabricator's Business Coach and Tiffany Brooks, Sales Leadership Coach and Trainer with...
PODCAST OF WEBINAR: Do Your Own Pushups To Build a Great Business
CLICK TO LISTEN This podcast comes from the August 17th webinar of the same name. Listen to fellow fab shop owners...
Do Your Own Pushups to Build a Great Business
There’s a Facebook post that has been making the rounds lately and starts with the line “I’m not ignoring you. ...
PODCAST OF WEBINAR: The ONE Thing to Know When Hiring Your Next Manager
CLICK TO LISTEN This podcast comes from the July 27th webinar of the same name. In this webinar we discussed the most...
The ONE THING to Know When Hiring Your Next Manager
When hiring key managers for your stone business, stone experience should be the least important of your criteria....
PODCAST OF WEBINAR: WHAT WILL YOUR SALES BE IN SEPTEMBER?
CLICK TO LISTEN This podcast comes from the June 22nd, 2023 webinar of the same name. In this webinar with some of...
PODCAST/VIDEO OF TRAINING SESSION: COVERINGS 2023 Planning for Turbulent Times
CLICK TO LISTEN TO THE PODCAST We all listen to the news, and every day there is something about the economy that...
PODCAST OF WEBINAR: CASE STUDIES IN THROUGHPUT
CLICK TO LISTEN This podcast comes from the May 26, 2023 webinar of the same name. In this webinar with some of your...
CASE STUDIES IN THROUGHPUT
You’ve seen several articles on these pages over the years discussing and defining the management accounting...
PODCAST OF WEBINAR: HOW TO CLOSE EVERY SALES PROSPECT
This podcast is from the webinar with Ed and Steve Brooks, coaching Fab Shop owners on ways to gain more closed sales by changing the approach to sales.
ISFA PODCAST: PRO TIPS FOR SHOP PROCESS IMPROVEMENT
This podcast is from the webinar with Ed coaching Fab Shop owners on the 7 steps to a great business plan, and through the free tool that helps construct the plan.
HOW TO CLOSE EVERY SALES PROSPECT
Ed Young, Fabricators Coach Steve Brooks, Sales/Management Coach Do you follow up on all your quotes? If not, you...
BATTEN DOWN THE HATCHES
Everywhere we turn these days, it seems the headlines are all screaming “Recession Ahead”. In various areas of the...
CULTURE EATS STRATEGY FOR BREAKFAST
Are you frustrated with lack of consistently good results from your business? Are your employees a little too good at...
PODCAST OF WEBINAR: CULTURE EATS STRATEGY FOR BREAKFAST
This podcast is from the webinar with Ed coaching Fab Shop owners on the 7 steps to a great business plan, and through the free tool that helps construct the plan.
TISE 2023 PRESENTATION “TOP FABRICATORS ARE PLANNING FOR TURBULENT TIMES”
Ed presented at the 2023 TISE Event in February 2023. In this presentation, Ed discusses your options when looking at...
ISFA BEHIND THE SURFACE PODCAST WITH ED YOUNG & JUSTIN SHAW, JANUARY 2023
This podcast is one of the January 2023 podcasts done by ISFA – interviewing Ed Young and Justin Shaw.
DECISIONS DECISIONS
One of the great things about this industry is that there are so many machine and technology and software and...
PODCAST OF COACHING SESSION: PLANNING FOR SUCCESS IN 2023
This podcast is from the webinar with Ed coaching Fab Shop owners on the 7 steps to a great business plan, and through the free tool that helps construct the plan.
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...
PODCAST OF COACHING SESSION: WHERE WILL YOU BE WHEN THE MUSIC STOPS?
With economic changes, would you rather “guess” when the music is going to stop – when this super strong demand for countertops will end? Be prepared for whatever this economy throws at you.
WHERE WILL YOU BE WHEN THE MUSIC STOPS?
Will you have a place to sit, or will you be “out’ of the game? In the game of musical chairs, we have to guess...
HOW DO WE GET TO THE NEXT LEVEL?
Do you feel like your business is running you into the ground? Do you feel like you always have to be at the shop just...
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?
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.
NSI Women in Stone Program
Help the Natural Stone Institute grow the Women in Stone program! Encourage your colleagues and peers to join the...
PODCAST OF COACHING SESSION: HOW DO WE FEED THIS BEAST?
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 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.
PODCAST OF COACHING SESSION: Whose Job Is It Anyway?
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.
PODCAST OF COACHING SESSION: How Much Work Can My Shop Handle?
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.
PODCAST OF COACHING SESSION: Would You Rather Have a Sales Problem or a Production Problem?
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.
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?
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.
PODCAST OF COACHING SESSION: 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.
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?
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.
PODCAST OF COACHING SESSION: 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.
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?
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?
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
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?
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?
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?
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?
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
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.
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
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 Much Money Can Your Shop Make? The amount of money your shop can make is limited…
Your shop does not have an infinite amount of capacity to make money – it is limited. You can only get so many kitchens or so many square feet through your shop in a day. Even though your capacity is limited, there is always room to improve. So, the question is: Are you making all the money you can from your shop?
Customer Success Story Video – SolidTops
Annie Kruger: People didn't know what they were supposed to be doing. We didn't have chain of command. We didn't have...
Customer Success Story Video – StoneWorks
Charles Arriola, Sales: Lead times were really just a moving target. It was hard for our clients to know when we were...
Customer Success Story Video – Wade Egnor, EuroStone Machine
Wade Egnor: When we met Ed, had about a six-week lead time, which was standard in our industry but that's a long time...
StoneWorks Case Study
Situation StoneWorks services both residential and commercial clients and...
Cost Reduction is Killing Your Profits
When I ask fabrication owners or managers: How do you improve profit? - the most common answer is: Reduce cost....
SolidTops Case Study
Situation SolidTops had a profitable business but was struggling with customer satisfaction due to long lead times and...
Increase Inventory to Increase Performance
Short lead times are a tremendous competitive advantage. Lower work-in-process (WIP) inventories directly correlate...
How to Love a Bottleneck
Production managers attack bottlenecks. Since a bottleneck in the flow of a fabrication process limits the output of...
Having Trouble Finding Good Help These Days?
It seems everyone is struggling with this issue. In a growing economy, growth in jobs outstrips the supply of good...
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