Re: paul
Originally posted by Mease Performance
Well paul, that pretty much sums it up in a nutshell, but just remember the mistakes we have made and learn on them. You cannot make promises you are not absolutely sure you can keep, that is the bottom line and our mistake in our previous dealings. <SNIP>
Thanks! We (as manufacturers) get to learn things that most others would never ever find out about, or believe. Here's a couple that might help someone out there:
If the supplier says he will have your material/components/service done in 2-3 weeks, add 50-200%.
Expect to send back 1/3 of it because it wasn't done right or it's the wrong stuff.
No matter how confident you are that you have it all for one project, something's missing or wrong every time! We could just ship it & let the customer deal with it & prolong the final "correct" shipment that way, but not our style. We go for the perfect fitting, everything there, no hassle installs
If you priced the final product based on all current costs, expect to get hit with rising costs from one or all places at any time. from 5% to over double! And of course, you can't just add in extra costs to consumers expecting it, and can't pass them on after the fact without hurting sales or losing to competitors that can absorb it or don't see the change quick enough.
And just when things start smoothing out & catching up, something happens to put you behind again. Guard against it any way you can, it still will happen. I hurt my back last week, and between my neck & back & drugs, I lost a whole week of production. And when you are the one doing everything, the biz comes to a screeching halt. And if you take time to contact everyone to let them know what's going on (like we should), you fall further behind.
And when you get the big order (750 swaybars would be nice
), even if you quote it, order stuff, produce them, etc, PERFECTLY, the above issues seem to double or triple! And then, most think with a big order like that, just hire a bunch of people & get it done. Well, that can't happen because you can't afford to take time to interview, hire, train, re-train, oversee, inspect, re-train, dicipline, re-train, etc. Also, can't afford it cause the new increase in qty means you need to purchase more material & components, which eat up all (& then some) of the cash flow in the biz.
And another thing that get's in the way of shipping schedules for me & a rare few others
is, we NEVER sacrifice or cut quality of the product, components, or the processes to be able to just ship faster. I personally would rather take the heat for shipping late than get the rep for shotty or even half-arsed quality. Decent & nice are really below our level
We now go by a few rules that seem to help:
Multiply any reasonable expected forcast for shipping by 1.5 - 2 for customers, and it will be much closer to actual.
Find help for the time consuming tasks that others can handle without too much supervision (give up all the easy stuff).
Even though we get taxed at a MUCH higher amount for FINISHED inventory on the shelf (vs materials & components) at the end of the year, it is an absolute necessity to have all items in stock.
Start getting ready for events/shows 3 days sooner than the 2 days sooner you are already doing.
Never take payment for products before they are shipping (or within a few days), unless the customer offers & is OK with doing it, even if there is a delay in shipping.
Ask the customer if there is a drop-dead date that must be met for some reason. Many times the consumer (most of you guys
) want it yesterday, and I am one like that too. BUT, when we finally get a few to ship, we don't know whe REALLY needs one & who could wait a few more days. And as murphy's law would have it, we usually cover the wrong ones & take the heat.
Explain to the customer that 2 day service is almost double in cost, and next day is 4-5 times cost. Most people don't realize that shipping charges are going up, and RUSH shipping is outrageous!
ORGANIZATION in every aspect of the biz is more important and helpful that ever imaginable. I am the type to plow thru a project as fast as possible & pick up the pieces afterwards. That takes less time in the long run and helps other things going on at the same time by putting each thing away as you go thru it.
Get financing behind you ready to help tackle those fluctuations and/or big orders. We actually have the ability to take on big orders for hundreds of everything, but can't afford to grow that fast without destroying what I have going now. The "just do it" mentality does NOT work at all in those cases. Many businesses go out of biz doing that. Business partners help in a lot of ways, but usually cause more damage than it's worth in the long run. I may look at selling some stock off in the future or some other way to raise funds to cover a lot of these issues. I would of course have to offer stock ONLY to fellow club & TB.com members
Money usually cures a lot of issues & in theory should increase the ability to sell more, as long as the sales come in to cover it.
To help in the future, we plan to have a current customer update center on our website. This way, we can post one time to let everyone know what's on schedule & what's behind at any given moment. Just takes the dicipline to do it on a regular schedule & be honest with you guys & ourselves. We want to tell you a date that is asap that we *should* be able to hit, but the x2 multiplier date is not as appealing but usually more accurate & causes less poop down the road for all. We don'e tell people 2 weeks to get the sale & then ship in 6 weeks when it's ready on purpose, it just works out that way for sometimes for the many reasons above.
PS- Keith, either your site is down or you changed the address!
PPS- For those that think I should be working on my own products instead of writing these long posts, well, FYI I am laying on my side with an ice pack on my back & can't do much else. Just thought letting people see & hopefully understand the "tip of the iceburg" typed above, might help out. Ohh yea, forgot to say:
No matter how hard we try, can't please 100% all the time. Things get misplaced, fall threw cracks, issues pop up, etc. Only way to avoid dealing with it (for us) would be to drop all retail sales & not sell at the events, phone, or internet. Just sell thru vendors. Then THE VENDORS would get the calls & e-mails asking where their order is. Of course then we would have to raise prices (aprox 30%) to cover their necessary profit margins, since we just about break even selling to them now. We do 95% selling direct, which allows us to keep our prices lower. Guess we could always switch into the Ford & F-body & import markets & make more profits & volume..... Naaaah!
Couldn't EVER drop out of the Buick scene, love it too much! ....
even though us Buick enthusiasts want 200% quality & performance, at at group discount price
Have a great weekend all! Taking another valium now
