Manufacturing Competitive Edge

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BUSINESS BASICS & BEST PRACTICES BULLETIN

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Competitive Knowledge for Manufacturing People 

Competitive Edge
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June 27, 2005

Hi [[firstname]], welcome back. 

One of the realities of the business world is that if 
you're not winning the battles, you're loosing the war. 
Companies that see no need to change or are afraid of 
change and consequently, continue to do things the old 
way, almost always lose market share to their 
competition and end up with products that cannot 
produce healthy profit margins.

In the competitive business world of today, it is 
imperative that a company and their people continuously 
improve their ability to deliver value to their 
customers. We need to focus on the battles of speed, 
quality, costs and customer satisfaction. These battles 
can be won only through the strain of change.

At your company, it is important that your people never 
close their eyes or minds to new ideas and methods that 
could improve business processes. They must be ready 
and committed to trying out new ideas, tools, techniques 
and systems in the continuous improvement of their day-
to-day activities. On the job creativity is the most 
powerful resource that a company has in its pursuit of 
a sharper competitive edge.

Our lead article today "Maintaining Your Competitive 
Edge" identifies four activities that customers consider 
important in their selection of business partners. Be 
sure to share it with your people. 

Have a nice day, keep the faith, and stay connected.

Bill Gaw
Business Basics, LLC
Bg@bbasicsllc.com
760-945-5596
Competitive Edge

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MAINTAINING YOUR COMPETITIVE EDGE

Visits from key customers usually provide some 
important insights into what is important in 
maintaining your company's competitive edge. Be sure 
that you not only communicate with your customers but 
encourage them to visit. In my experience, customers 
will discuss in detail the following activities that 
they consider important in their selection of and 
continued relationship with business partners.

TECHNOLOGY: Innovate or be made obsolete. In this day 
and age it is not possible to survive long on past 
inventions and patents. Innovation must be an on-going 
process and carried out in a time sensitive environment 
that is responsive to customer needs. Marketing windows 
open and close quickly in today's world, suppliers must 
pick opportunities wisely and execute product 
development programs effectively.

QUALITY: A supplier's ranking is determined to a large 
extent by the quality of its products and services as 
perceived by its customers. There is little opportunity 
for competitors to sell their products to a customer 
that is convinced he is currently buying from the best 
quality supplier. A sure way to maintain one's market 
share is to earn recognition as the best quality 
producer.

CUSTOMER SERVICE: Excellence in after the sales 
service is the first step toward repeat sales and a 
key to closing the doors to competitors. Quality spare 
parts delivered on time, timely execution of upgrade 
programs, responsive maintenance and repair and 
providing product enhancements in line with customer 
requirements are crucial to new business development.

PRICE AND DELIVER: Manufacturing companies must 
continuously reduce their product costs to assure that 
products are price competitive. Only when pricing and 
quality are optimized does a company establish a 
foundation of healthy company growth and individual 
security.

An ever-present challenge in the manufacturing business 
is the necessity of being able to meet tough customer 
delivery requirements. The ability to produce quality 
products "inside of standard lead times" is a must---
if manufacturers focus only on the easy jobs, they'll 
lose their competitive edge and say good-bye to their 
leadership position in the marketplace.

Being the best when it comes to balancing speed, 
quality, cost and service is a challenge that each 
person in the company must address in the execution of 
their day-to-day activities. Actions carried out in 
daily work routines should promote team dynamics that 
optimize this crucial balance.

I think that most people are motivated by competition. 
Maintaining a competitive edge must be an important 
company, quantified objective---it must also be 
transformed into exciting team and personal goals. The 
future success of any company as well as its people 
will to a large degree be determined by how well 
they step up to the challenge of their competitors.

How can you contribute to improving your company's 
competitive edge? Why not review my article on the
"6-Change Initiatives for Personal and Company 
Success." Then select the one that would best benefit 
your company's pursuit of growth and profits and put 
it in the hands of someone that can champion an 
implementation program. 

If you didn't save the article, you can find it at:

http://bbasicsllc.com/6-initiatives.htm

Competitive Edge

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You are welcomed to print and share this bulletin with 
your manufacturing teams, peers and upper management ... 
better yet, have them signup for their own copy at:

http://bbasicsllc.com/subscribe.htm

With the escalating spam-wars, it's also a good idea 
to WHITELIST our bulletin mailing domain via your 
filtering software or control panel: 

cknsubscribers@getresponse.com

This will help guarantee that your bulletin is never 
deleted unexpectedly.
Competitive Edge

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Business Basics, LLC
6003 Dassia Way, Oceanside, CA 92056
West Coast: 760-945-5596

It's the "how to" that really counts!

Lean Manufacturing - Balanced Scorecard 
ISO 9000:2000 - Strategic Planning - Supply Chain 
Management - MRP Vs Lean Exercises - Kaizen Blitz 
Lean Six Sigma - Value Stream Mapping

All at one Website: http://bbasicsllc.com

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  STAY CONNECTED

To stay current on bullet-proofed manufacturing solutions, subscribe to our free ezine, "The Business Basics and Best Practices Bulletin." Simply fill in the below form and click on the subscribe button. 

We'll also send you our free Special Report, "Five Change Initiatives for Personal and Company Success."

Your personal information will never 
be disclosed to any third party.

Manufacturing leaders have a responsibility to educate and train their team members. Help for developing a self-directed, World Class Manufacturing training program for your people is just a click away:

http://bbasicsllc.com/training-modules.htm

You are welcomed to print and share this bulletin with your manufacturing teams, peers, suppliers and upper management ... better yet, have them signup for their own copy at:

http://bbasicsllc.com/subscribe.htm

With the escalating spam-wars, it's also a good idea to WHITELIST our bulletin mailing domain via your filtering software or control panel: 

bizbasics@getresponse.com

This will help guarantee that your bulletin is never deleted unexpectedly.
Competitive Edge

Manufacturing Knowledge you’ll not find at offsite 
seminars nor in the books at Amazon.com

Lean Manufacturing - Balanced Scorecard 
ISO 9000:2000 - Strategic Planning - Supply Chain 
Management - MRP Vs Lean Exercises - Kaizen Blitz 
Lean Six Sigma - Value Stream Mapping

All at one Website: Good Manufacturing Practices

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Your company can reach its full potential in all aspects of the business. All you need is the right knowledge and training. You will find much of it  it here, at the Business Basics' Website:

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Business Basics, LLC
6003 Dassia Way, Oceanside, CA 92056
West Coast: 760-945-5596