Library

When looking for new opportunities for improvements in your operation, it is quite natural to ask for advisement from outside your company to give you a better perspective. Who you should trust to help you take your company to higher performance is not as clear cut as it may appear. Costly...

Think beyond the physical investment of trucks, equipment, and buildings when it comes to investments for improving the bottom line for 2021. If a company wants to improve the net profits, improving the project communication process can add serious dollars to the bottom line. Most companies...

Every month, I encourage our advertisers, industry professionals, and others to write what they would like to say to you. That, plain and simple, is the purpose of the open forum program we began 5 years ago when I started at The Advertiser. And, you are invited to say what you would like to...

Despite all the turmoil of the skyrocketing lumber prices, pandemic, and elections, the building industry is doing very well. Hopefully, your company is doing very well, and now your attention is focusing on potential growth for 2021. Most companies are looking for modest tweaks to their current...

Last month’s article, “Better Profits with Effective Employee Retention and Growth,” got a lot of attention. The labor shortage issues that companies are experiencing, despite the high unemployment numbers, are having a negative impact on many companies’ manufacturing...

In the almost 20 years of my consulting services, TDC has witnessed that the highest performing companies with the highest profit as a percentage of sales, generally in the high teens to mid-twenties, are the same companies with very low employee turnover. However, it is far more than just...

Nothing is more frustrating than dealing with poor services by a department within your company or a vendor when you need to resolve a problem or find information on a timely basis. However, what is even worse than the poor services is having that troubled group in complete denial about their...

Year after year, too many companies suffer needlessly with the same common problems. Even after making new equipment investments and receiving assurances that things will be different, the old issues keep rearing their heads. !  Even with the additional equipment investment, production...

Establishing a proper margin to maximize profits for your roof truss component sales is not as easy as most people think. Most do not have a clear understanding of how small changes make a significant impact on the company’s profitability. Making the most profits possible, no matter what...

It seems some people are upset that I made such a public statement with my latest advertisement – “Pairing a Linear Saw with Two Workstations with Each Having Two Assemblers will Cost Your Company Millions in Lost Net Profits.” Specifically, I’m talking about linking...

Theory of Constraints (TOC) is not often clearly understood, and it can be confused with Just in Time (JIT). Below is a simplified explanation with some examples about TOC that many should be able to relate to their operations. TOC is an offshoot of lean manufacturing principles. Every...

Our industry has been changing in a big way. Independents once dominated our industry, but now through mergers and acquisitions, that is no longer the case. Right now, some of the people reading this article are either contemplating or in actual talks about selling their business. From...