By Mark Porter
Information is obviously very valuable because it identifies what is happening in your business.
For example how many estimates did you do last month. What did it cost you to run that job. How much revenue was generated by different job types. etc.
But Information can also provide tremendous value by telling you what is not happening in your business.
We often call these Exception Reports. They identify things that didn't or aren't happening in your company and this can be invaluable information.
Lets look at some examples.
What if every Friday afternoon you could get a list of all jobs shipped last week but not billed. This information can be determined very quickly and avoids the potential situation of losing revenue or the embarassement of billing a customer much later when the mistake is evetually discovered.
You can also avoid the even more embarrassing situation of Jobs Billed but Not Shipped.
Another example of identifying things that are not happening in your business can be in the area of No Recent Estimates or No Recent jobs.
You can identify when a customer is starting to move his business to another supplier. The sooner your company can identify this trend the greater your chance of correcting the situation and gaining back the customer's confidence and revenue.
It is great to know what jobs were shipped today but it is just as important to know which jobs were scheduled to be shipped to day and weren't.
Won/Loss Estimate Reports not only tell you the customers and job types you are doing well with but also identify customers and job types that are fading and again allowing you to identify that trend as soon as possible so that you can take corrective action.
It is always good to know what goods you received today but it is tremendous value to know as soon as possible which goods didn't show up. Goods that didn't arrive on time threaten delivery times and throw off production schedules.
Knowing which employees on the first shift clocked in can be useful but the real value is identifying how many and which employees didn't clock in so that you can adjust the production schedule accordingly or call in more help.
It is great to know which dies were used but it is also good to know which dies have not been used in the last 2 years so that they can be destroyed or sent back to the customer.
So we can see that Information can bring tremendous benefits by telling you what is happening in your business but it can also bring tremendous benefit by telling you what is not happening in your business
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Monday, October 1, 2012
FOCUS LEADS TO GREATER PROFITABILITY
By Mark Porter
I was reading an old article on the history of Estimating Software in the Printing Industry and found a very interesting fact that could benefit the Finishing/Binding and Diemaking Industries.
According to the NAQP (National Association of Quick Printers) in 2007 on average companies using estimating software reported $47,000 more in owner's compensation then those using manual estimating systems.
The estimating software forced the owners to look at their true costs of producing different jobs and this allowed them to identify and focus on the type of work they did most profitably.
I think this lesson can be applied to any job oriented manufacturing business whether it is printing, finishing, binding or diemaking.
The more you can focus your efforts and production resources on specific products the more profitable your business will be.
If you were to make a graph of all jobs you did in a given year and make the verticle bar PROFIT and the horizontal bar JOBS and then place a dot on the graph for each job based on its profitability the graph would propably look like this.
I was reading an old article on the history of Estimating Software in the Printing Industry and found a very interesting fact that could benefit the Finishing/Binding and Diemaking Industries.
According to the NAQP (National Association of Quick Printers) in 2007 on average companies using estimating software reported $47,000 more in owner's compensation then those using manual estimating systems.
The estimating software forced the owners to look at their true costs of producing different jobs and this allowed them to identify and focus on the type of work they did most profitably.
I think this lesson can be applied to any job oriented manufacturing business whether it is printing, finishing, binding or diemaking.
The more you can focus your efforts and production resources on specific products the more profitable your business will be.
If you were to make a graph of all jobs you did in a given year and make the verticle bar PROFIT and the horizontal bar JOBS and then place a dot on the graph for each job based on its profitability the graph would propably look like this.
The dots above the horizontal line are profitable the ones below are not. We must minimize the types of jobs that fall below the line and maximize the type of jobs that appear above the line.
By identifying what distinguished the most profitable jobs the companies could try to replicate those conditions to get more and more of their jobs into this category.
Estimating not only helps you identify your true costs but it also allows you to analyze estimates to ensure you maintain your market advantages in the profitable products.
Won/Loss reports based on product type helps you monitor your valued markets against potential competition.
Won/Loss based on customers allow you to ensure that customers are staying happy with your service.
Daily listings of estimates to follow up ensures you don't lose any of your high profit jobs for stupid reasons.
Estimate listings by salesreps ensure that they are chasing the profitable work.
When I look at our customers the most successful ones are allways the ones with specific markets and product niches.
One of the most impressive things I have heard in an estimating department is "NO BID" because the quote did not fall into their desired product mix.
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