You’re irreplaceable, indispensable and unique. You’re also one of the most stressful parts of your business. As the owner, you make all the critical decisions and bear all the risks. Here are some helpful tips for reducing your business’ dependence on yourself so it remains healthy and sustainable even in times of duress. 

Are we in the early stages of an emerging and viable hydrogen economy?

In previous articles in this series, the key concepts and structures of developing a cost model were discussed. Important ideas to review are granularity, processes, level and special process cases.

Supply chains and logistics are an integral and important part of a successful manufacturing operation. They have always been so, but with the advent of the COVID-19 virus and its having shut down the world’s economy for a time during a period of global quarantine, supply-chain issues have since taken center stage for consumers and manufacturers alike.

You are ready to begin building your cost model, or perhaps you are in the process of electing/upgrading your ERP software and want to plan through how it will support your cost model. 

Yesterday I bought a simple, gas-powered Craftsman lawnmower with a Briggs & Stratton engine. It wasn’t very fancy, it wasn’t self-propelled and it didn’t have a lot of “bells and whistles.” It did, however, happen to be exactly what I wanted – a basic workhorse lawnmower to cut grass at my daughter’s rental property.

In prior articles (December 2021 FORGE and February 2022 Industrial Heating), we discussed the reasons behind the importance of understanding margins (price minus cost) for the seller of any product or service. Your Cost Model is the framework for calculating costs.

As an editor in business-to-business media, I have watched for more than 30 years as good-paying manufacturing jobs slowly disappeared from the United States toward foreign countries eager to build up their economic prospects through basic manufacturing and job creation.

The goal of most businesses is to make money. Doing so is simple if you sell your offerings for more than it costs you to acquire, make or provide them.

Welcome to my inaugural column in Industrial Heating. I have long been listed as a contributing editor for IH, and I am happy and privileged to make my columnar debut.