“Manufacturing punches above its weight”

Supply chains, out for the count. If you survived the last five years you have to be doing something right. Think back to 2008 and remember the world’s largest economy contracting like a blown front tire by 3.9 percent (fourth quarter 2007 to third quarter 2009) marking the worst economic slump since the Great Depression and the first decrease(s) in the GDP in 17 years. In spite of all that, the m...
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Engage customers for the right finishing order

Do you spend more time talking about you’re capabilities than asking questions? If you’re not engaging with customers around their very individual finishing problems you’re simply adding to them. Change your habits and you’ll build stronger, longer-lasting relationships and you will attract more business in the process. Standing out from your competition comes with the package. Stop taking orders ...
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Robotics: the basis of a paradigm shift

Rethinking what we already know It’s quite possible that we’ll look back on these times as nothing more than the period when robots saved our butts. It will have been the last chapter of the impulsive off-shoring experiment (see more). Hopefully we’ll see it as the time that we made that end run that moved us from fixating on symptomatic job losses to experimenting with new realms of efficiency an...
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End-users Drive RV Market—2 Trends Secure It

The market for RVs virtually left the highway in 2009 when shipments dropped to below $5 billion from a high of nearly $15 billion in 2006.* But in a steady turn, the industry has enjoyed substantial momentum in the 3 years since 2009. The Recreational Vehicle Industry Association (RVIA) is projecting shipments to reach $11.7 billion in 2013. In the first five months of 2013, RVIA reported ...
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What Difference Does Your Finishing Business Make?

Looking for an extra edge? The finishing business is like a house of cards—an achievement of delicate balance in spite of facing an array of factors stacked against you. Change the smallest thing and you risk the calamity of total failure. Yet conversely, the smallest incremental competitive difference can yield a huge and positive impact on your outcomes. In fact, when you’re challenged, chan...
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Trending: Supply chains shift from efficiency to responsiveness

Earnings grow from enriched customer engagement Demand for increased responsiveness is one trend we didn’t mention in the Bastard’s previous post, 21 Tipping Points (or Tripping Points). But for the supply chain the trend is real and the need for information is real-time. It’s a signal to lean from being simply efficient, to becoming wholly responsive to customers. In that post, I cautioned that i...
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Industry Opportunity: Switching From Solvent-Based to Water-Based Coatings

By Mike Manetta, Target Account Executive This is a major industry shift that is becoming commonplace. If you have yet to make the shift, now is the time to put the wheels in motion. Potential benefits Switching from solvent-based to water-based coatings has a lot of benefits for industrial and wood customers. It can lower your carbon footprint, improve the health of your workplace, dem...
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Mistake 6: Allowing Complacency in the Workplace

By Les Yoder, Account Executive Getting complacent with who you work with and failing to innovate is easy to do. It’s also easy to quickly lose your competitive edge. We have seen too many people have an attitude of “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it” that gets them into trouble. Potential risks Your competition is innovating and changing to build their businesses and increase their mar...
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Mistake 5: Choosing a Coating That Has More Features than You Need

By Les Yoder, Account Executive While we don’t think you should choose a coating based on price alone, we want you to be as profitable as possible. That means avoiding spending money on coatings that deliver more bells and whistles than your project requires. Potential risks You want to deliver an end product that is high quality and competitive in the market. If you waste money choos...
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Mistake 4: Making Decisions Based Solely on Price Per Gallon

By Les Yoder, Account Executive From our experience working with and evaluating coating manufacturers and their products, the old adage holds true: you get what you pay for. In this market, it’s tempting to go with a paint that is a few dollars cheaper than another one, but that isn’t always the best idea. Potential Risks To use a wood example, you can take the best built piece of furnitu...
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