The
Manufacturing Extension
Partnership (MEP), a program of the U.S.
Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards
and Technology (NIST), is encouraging small businesses to
start the year off by making a New Year's resolution to
invest in cost-saving and productivity-increasing measures
that can positively impact a company's bottom line.
The
MEP is a nationwide network of 400 resource centers located
in all 50 states and in Puerto Rico that assists small manufacturers
in becoming more efficient, productive and competitive.
"For
many small business owners, there is never a right time
to invest in their company," said Kevin Carr, MEP's
director, "but doing so doesn't have to be expensive
and can lead to gains that can have a substantial impact
on a company's bottom line all year long and for years to
come."
MEP's
top 10 business New Year's resolutions for 2002 include:
1. Re-examine
your marketing approach. Many industry pockets are experiencing
rapid growth. Is your company taking steps to identify these
areas of growth? A marketing assessment of your company's
product and the markets you can sell your product to can
help you determine opportunities in growth areas that you
might not have previously considered.
2. Profile
your best customers. Wouldn't it be great if you had
more of your best customers? Make a list of your customers
and focus on the ones that provide the best work at the
best margin. Look for patterns or similarities. The result-a
profile of your ideal customer-can be compared to marketing
databases to find prospective customers ideally suited to
your company and services.
3. Invest
in sales training and technology. Make the most of existing
technology, marketing databases and software to give your
sales force the support they need. Send your sales force
to a sales training course. Explore purchasing contact management
technology to help get the most out of each sales call.
4. Refresh
your business perspective. Get fresh ideas on your business
by getting an objective, outside view of your company. Strategic
assessments are useful in identifying improvement opportunities,
informing about business practices used by other companies,
and sharpening your company's game plan by providing practical
ideas.
5. Streamline
Your Business Strategies. Lean business strategies help
companies identify and eliminate waste in the business cycle
and can help a small firm attain gains that would normally
be associated with a much larger company. Using lean business
strategies can lead to better space utilization, quality
improvement, enhanced team work, and effective communication,
all of which affect productivity. And, more importantly,
they provide efficiencies that translate into cost savings
and increase bottom-line profits.
6. Upgrade
your network security. Computer viruses are increasing
in frequency and complexity. Take steps now to ensure the
security of your business data and computer network.
7.
Review your disaster plans. The Sept. 11 attacks impacted
a variety of business supply chains. Regardless of the cause-a
natural disaster, customer loss or other issue-a disruption
of any kind can be better managed using a well-articulated
disaster plan.
8. Invest
in employee training. Promote people from within by
providing them with skills that prepare them for the next
job. Research the skills or technologies your customers
need next. Ask your vendors what training opportunities
they may have to teach you about their products and services.
Whether it's a computer software course, management class
or technology training, employee education pays off.
9. Take
stock of what you measure and why. Are your measurements
aligned with your business strategies? If you're looking
for focused measures, consider inventory turns and on-time
delivery performance. These two indicators often provide
clues for future cost-savings and improvement opportunities.
10.
Engage your employees. If you're not asking your
employees about ways to improve the company-and listening
to the answers, you're missing out. Engaging your employees
at the grassroots level, whether it's through informal hallway
discussions, employee surveys or monthly staff meetings,
is one of the easiest ways to reap big rewards.
As a
non-regulatory agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce's
Technology Administration, NIST strengthens the U.S. economy
and improves the quality of life by working with industry
to develop and apply technology, measurements and standards.
The
MEP has assisted more than 107,000 firms to date nationwide.
For more information, visit www.mep.nist.gov. To contact
the MEP center nearest you, call 1-800-MEP-4MFG.
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