Spring 2008 Newsletter articles
Information in a box
Data warehousing can help you make better business decisions
If your company is like most manufacturing firms, you probably rely on several databases to keep your operation running smoothly.
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Manufacturer, know thy competition
The manufacturing industry is growing and becoming more competitive all the time. If you want to stay in the game, you need to know your enemy: the competition.
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The price of data storage
Data warehousing can significantly speed decision making and improve business performance. It can also become expensive.
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IRS changes rules for estimated taxes
The laws surrounding corporate estimated taxes have changed a number of times in the last 20 years, but the IRS has been slow to amend its rules to reflect those changes. As of August 2007, however, the IRS is up to date — and that means you need to be as well.
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Winter 2008 Newsletter articles
The up-front work matters - Due diligence is essential in any merger or acquisition
When a manufacturer wanted to expand its geographic reach, it acquired a smaller competitor in a neighboring state.
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How to get started finding a successor — and why you shouldn’t wait
Now that you’re the owner of a successful manufacturing company, have you considered who will succeed you?
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Do you know how to price your products?
You know how to make your products, and you know what it costs to produce them. But do you know what to charge for what you make?
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Fall 2007 Newsletter articles
Clean up your image: Building brand value
When you’re caught up in the day-to-day operational issues of running a manufacturing business, it’s easy to overlook the importance of branding.
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Use Section 404 deadline extensions to your advantage
If you’re a publicly traded manufacturer with annual revenues of less than $75 million per year, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has good news: You don’t have to incorporate management reports or auditors’ attestations into your internal controls over financial reporting until at least December 2007.
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The ties that bind - Dual sourcing can protect the supply chain
Supply chain management always is a concern for manufacturers. One hurricane or earthquake can break the chain and cause a disruption or, even worse, a complete shutdown.
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Summer 2007 Newsletter articles
7 tips for improving collections
One of the most important and least enjoyable aspects of doing business is collecting accounts receivable. But manufacturers operate on tight cash-flow margins, so they can’t afford to become their customers’ bankers.
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PPA makes automatic enrollment a retirement plan reality
Much has been written about the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA) since its enactment last August, but it may be a while longer before manufacturers understand the full effects of its provisions.
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P-cards pack purchasing power
When your staff needs ink for the office printers, how do they get it? If your organization is like a growing number of companies, you’re using purchasing cards, or p-cards, to streamline the process.
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Spring 2007 Newsletter articles
Face the future - Strategic planning can hone your workforce
As manufacturers fight to stay competitive, an aging workforce coupled with an increasingly global marketplace makes skilled employees more important than ever.
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Could 3PL lower your logistics costs?
Under constant pressure to control costs and streamline operations, many manufacturers are outsourcing some or all of their logistics functions.
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Getting to know you - Risk-based audit standards raise financial reporting bar
Risk-based auditing standards take effect for the 2007 fiscal year, and manufacturers should be prepared to undergo heightened scrutiny of their companies and the people who run them.
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Winter 2007 Newsletter articles
Modernize your accounting department - Pay yourself a dividend with automated A/P processes Manufacturers continue to increase their technological capabilities and knowledge but many still rely on paper to complete accounts payable (A/P) tasks. If you’re among them, it may be time to reconsider.
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MEP network gives small manufacturers competitive cachet
The Manufacturing Institute — the research and education arm of the National Association of Manufacturers — cites the manufacturing extension partnership (MEP) as a best practice for small and midsize manufacturers. According to the study, an MEP network can help smaller manufacturers stay competitive in a global market.
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SOA may be manufacturers’ missing IT link
Manufacturers working to improve their technology often run into a seemingly insurmountable problem: how to integrate multiple existing applications with new programs so that everything runs smoothly and is readily available to everyone who needs it.
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Fall 2006 Newsletter articles
Did You Miss Your Wake-Up Call?
It may seem impossible, but the clock for the 2006 tax year already is ticking, and now is the time to plan year-end strategies that will make your wake-up call a little easier.
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Flex Your Manufacturing Muscle With Flexible Systems
Increased globalization has opened new markets for manufacturers, but it also has carried some new demands.
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A Sales Force To Be Reckoned With
Is your sales force the right size and in the right places? A sales group’s most critical resource is the time available for face-to-face sales calls.
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Spring 2006 Newsletter articles
The Chase for Space
Trade shows highlight new equipment, stronger lifts and the latest electronics, which are generally far more interesting than mundane matters of space utilization.
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Finding the Warehouse Edge
Most warehouses support either a shop floor or a retailer — that is, a cash register. So warehouse choices can contribute significant competitive advantages.
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Open-Book Management Changes People
Working the press brakes on swing shift, Dewey misreads the gauge and overbends a dozen side panels.
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Winter 2006 Newsletter articles
The Domestic Production Deduction Is Here
A broad range of U.S. taxpayers will see an important change this year, as one set of incentives starts phasing out and another begins to take effect.
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Reward for the Long Haul
Compensation plays an obvious role in motivating employees — but to do what? That largely depends on how it’s structured.
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Should It Stay or Should It Go?
Save everything for seven years. That was the popular wisdom once, but retention of company records has grown more complicated.
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Stale Inventory Can Spoil Profits
The Ironbound, the Portuguese district of Newark named for the railroads that make up its boundaries, is famed for its huge consumption of fish. Fishmongers there need good noses — their customers, they say, can sniff stale inventory over the phone.
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Fall 2005 Newsletter articles
The High Costs of Poor Communication
When a company puts effort into its internal communications, it can achieve improvements in safety performance, advances in productivity and a strengthening of morale up and down the line.
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Collecting What’s Yours
No manufacturer decides to produce something for nothing. Yet it happens — when a business fails to collect on its invoices.
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The China Squeeze on U.S. Manufacturing Margins
Low-wage economies in other countries have always challenged U.S. companies, at least since steamships opened large-scale trade. But the price pressures that are squeezing U.S. manufacturing margins today are unprecedented.
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Adware and Spyware and Spam — Oh My!
It’s a dangerous world, but forget lions and tigers and bears. Today’s network security managers must defend against everything from mundane incompetence to full-scale criminal assault.
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Summer 2005 Newsletter articles
Hedging Bets on Foreign Operations
Offshore production often yields clear benefits. Lower labor costs and less stringent regulations can generate higher margins — or at least keep a manufacturer in the game as the “China Price” of a given product drops lower.
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Should You Self-Insure for Healthcare
When a company purchases health insurance, it transfers risk to the insurance carrier. The carrier calculates the risk and gives the company a price. But a company can also choose to keep the risk in-house by self-insuring. Small or midsize businesses usually look at self-insurance for one of two reasons.
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Spring 2005 Newsletter articles
To Market — With In-house or Freelance Talent?
Should you hire an internal sales force, or contract out your sales? Generations of B-school students have dozed through this debate, only to wake up 10 years later in a cold sweat. The Final Answer remains undiscovered, but experience has clarified the question.
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Beware the Ides of April — but as the federal tax wolf lurks, don’t dismiss state revenue departments as mere foxes nipping at heels.
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Competitive Intelligence: Information Is Power
Understanding your competition is a basic necessity. No, it’s not spying — but it’s not just market research, either. Why be a sleuth? Accurate information on competitors can help you measure demand, identify opportunities and threats, improve your value propositions and differentiate your offerings. At a higher level, understanding competing firms can help you define your own strategic direction.
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