We all know that, if we want our business to improve, we have to change something about how we run it. While it can be tough to know what to change, it can be even tougher to begin the change process. Even more challenging is implementing changes that will truly last. Join Ed as he walks you through a simple process to not only help you decide where and how to start this change process but also ensure the changes stick around.

Even if you don’t need to increase sales for your shop today, you soon will if we hit the recession that the newsreaders are forecasting. If that happens, you are going to need a sound marketing strategy and implementation plan that doesn’t rely on pricing to get sales leads. You will also need new sales techniques to effectively convert those leads to booked sales. This podcast discusses options you can execute.

We don’t know when it will happen, but this phenomenally tight labor market will eventually loosen up. Until then, we still need to run our shops profitably. This requires taking a different approach to how we utilize the people we already have as well as how we recruit and retain new employees. Listen to this session with fellow fabricators as they discuss how to make the most of the people you already have and how to make sure your new hires are successful – by reinforcing them early and often.

This session with Countertop Fabricators discusses how to really differentiate your shop from others by having a strong marketing strategy, one that is not just based on ”low price”, but on understanding the purchase from the customer’s point of view and building stronger relationships with these customers.

HOW MUCH WORK CAN YOUR SHOP HANDLE? Another in the series of podcasts taken from Fabricator’s Coach webinars. These are designed to cover topics that help Stone Shop Owners to manage their business better so that they make more money, lower the chaos, and get their lives back.

The fewer jobs in your shop (work in process – WIP), the shorter your lead time.  Having a lot of jobs in your shop means your lead times may be longer than you like. Lean is a popular process improvement tool and it pushes for the lowest inventory to generate the shortest lead times possible – and, therefore, great competitive advantage.  So, if we want short lead times, then this must be the best business solution, right? WRONG! The lower your WIP levels, the more you are impacted by variation in process performance. Variation comes from: Inconsistent machine performance due to wear and tear Different process times due to different materials Tool wear   Inconsistent human performance  Absenteeism All production operations have inherent variation and, while it can be managed to some degree, this variation cannot be eliminated. Worse still, that variation accumulates through the steps of your fabrication process rather than averaging out. The result is a whip effect that makes it difficult to predict customer install dates. Since this variation can’t be eliminated, lowering WIP too much can hurt your ability to hit your promised install dates and hurt your ability to delight your customer! Since we can’t completely stop the variation, how do we keep output of the plant consistent so we can meet our promised install dates and still make a profit – all while having short lead times? Listen to this podcast to hear a discussion of how to get predictability and control of your countertop shop, and additionally, how to increase capacity utilization by 30 percent or more AND shorten your lead time. The article that is the basis of this recording can be found at: https://www.slipperyrockgazette.net/index.cfm/pageId/4081/Increase%20Inventory%20to%20Increase%20Profit/

Would you like to be able to process 10 percent more square footage through your plant every day – without capital investment, without adding people, and without working additional hours?

Some days your shop runs pretty smoothly, but many days are filled with entirely too much chaos. This session discusses how to have fewer of the chaotic days and more of the sane days.

This episode discusses the article of the same name published in The Slippery Rock Gazette in December of 2020. It is taken from the webinar in January 2021 that discussed Bottlenecks and selecting your Constraint - and answered questions about the article and applying the process in your Fab Shop.

This podcast comes from the February 18, 2022 webinar of the same name. If you want to find out more about how to implement measures that you can share with your whole team, and use to drive better company performance and better control of your business, this is your Podcast!