Here we are – a few months into 2025. How are those New Year’s resolutions going? Here are my thoughts for a more successful New Year.
1) Outsource: Obviously, no one does everything well, yet far too many companies get into serious trouble because they attempt to do everything. You are in the PVF business. When non-PVF work needs to be done, go outside. Outsource payroll, printing, accounting, Web design. This feels expensive – but doing those things badly, wrong or not doing them at all – is truly costly.
2) Understand your strengths: To paraphrase Tom Peters, stick to PVF. Outsource that other stuff and focus on what you do well, where you make your money. Once a year (like now!) perform a SWOT analysis, (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats). Involve the staff. Talk to your customers. PVF expertise, ready-to-ship inventory, and exceptional customer service are all strengths. Make your strengths even stronger. You can charge for excellence.
3) Change: Change isn’t inherently good, but not changing is fatal. The business world and yes, even the PVF world is littered with companies that started brilliantly and then didn’t adapt to customer and market needs. Compare your high revenue customers of 10 years ago to your current high revenue customers. I bet the list has changed. Customers in changing industries will have remarkably different needs. They’ve changed, have you?
4) Technology: Technology is happening right now. You can’t track inventory, deliveries, A/P or anything else on paper. Paper is labor intensive, error-prone, and slow. Go willingly into Tech or get dragged in. ERP systems exist that are designed for manufacturers. Armed with the right system, you can track and measure everything: salesman productivity, inventory turns, customer buying patterns, etc. By the by, your competition is doing this.
5) New blood: Family and friends are a great resource – but Uncle Joe may not be the right person to run the warehouse. Employ people based on competence. Go outside the industry from time to time. The pipe world can be downright myopic and incestuous!