If you’re in manufacturing, I don’t have to tell you the kinds of pressure you feel on a daily basis.
Eric Willis follows my blog and is a manufacturer of fasteners in the UK. Eric works as a distribution manager at EJOT UK providing high tension custom fasteners to the aerospace and defense market. EJOT’s global distribution network makes it one of the largest fastener suppliers based in Europe.
He’d like to share his insights on how to stay ahead of the game.
How to Stay Ahead of the Game in the Fastener World
The volatile and unpredictable economy we live in today has wreaked havoc not only for consumers but also for businesses and offices in all markets and industries. The global recession has brought about certain impacts and effects that have rattled businesses to their knees and has made business stability seem like an utter dream.
In the fastener manufacturing market, the level of competition is high and continues to escalate in rampant proportions. It looks as if new manufacturers and suppliers of fasteners are established every day. Unfortunately, the rates of consumers and prospective buyers looking for these materials and supplies have not significantly increased throughout the course of time. This has made the level of competition fiercer than ever.
So what do you do? In the mind of a true businessman, staying ahead of competitors are of paramount concern, one that should be above all else in your list of priorities as a business executive or owner. Staying ahead of the game in the world of fastener manufacturing and distribution is something one cannot simply plan overnight even for the versed and experienced owner or director. To stay ahead and ensure that traffic flows come your way, meticulously planning and perfectly executing the plan is of key essence, and can make or break your business.
For people who know little or have no familiarity or knowledge at all regarding the market or industry of manufacturing fasteners, you won’t likely think of the difficulty owners face when competing with each other. Making sure your business is always competitively operating in multinational markets is also very difficult with lots of variables outside of your control. With the ubiquity of outsourcing and the access of global resources in today’s modern day and age, the manufacturing world is actually in a consistent struggle with rivals.
Here are 3 tips and guidelines on how you can add a competitive edge on your game in the vast and “dog-eat-dog” world of manufacturing, in this case manufacturing of fasteners.
First, lower the expenses of your business. In a simpler and more comprehensible context, if you can make the fasteners while consuming fewer funds for the same quality and quantity as compared with rivals, you’ll be able to provide more savings and discounts to your consumers and tilt the game to your advantage. Several of the most effective means of lowering expenditures involve tactics like outsourced manufacturing of the product, correctly forecasting to allow demand-based manufacturing, eliminating all delays in prefabricated parts and creating shared utilities. When provided with respective applicability to your facility, these techniques may yield a substantial benefit over competitors who opt not to play strategically.
Secondly, understand the standards and demands of your clients. Avoid leaving any worries or doubts in your customer’s mind when they opt to work with you in the future. Meet your client’s needs and demands by rendering them with the fastener supplies they need quicker and cheaper as compared with rivals.
Thirdly, find or create a unique selling point. These could be large brand awareness campaigns through supplying high-profile events such as F1 cars, Prototype Aeroplanes or Extreme engineering designs. Brand awareness in a saturated market can be the difference between stagnated growth and true development of a business.