Are Your Salespeople Selling Your Company into Eventual Bankruptcy? Todd Drummond Most people have a mistaken belief that my services are all about making component manufacturing more efficient. Actually, more than half my time during a consultation is taken up reviewing things like management practices and the sales process. Fact is, sales—correction, healthy... Read More June 2018 Issue #10227 Page 30
A Tale of Two Dealers, and Why One Far Surpasses the Other Todd Drummond Most think lack of time is their biggest barrier to achieving their goals, but they are mistaken. “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” This quote by Peter Drucker is one of my favorites. While providing consulting services for over one hundred companies, I have witnessed and... Read More May 2018 Issue #10226 Page 30
Why It’s Time to Add Component Manufacturing to Your Lumber Business Todd Drummond We’ve all seen the predictions: Component manufacturing is going to grow ever bigger as labor remains tight and big builders get more efficient. And with component manufacturing gross margins being higher than what you get for selling commodities, it’s a good time to ask:... Read More April 2018 Issue #10225 Page 18
How the DMAIC Lean Method Can Be Applied to the Sales Process Keith Parker Last month’s article, Using the DMAIC Lean Method to Accomplish Improvement and Take the First Steps to New Goals, used a case study to explore the DMAIC Lean method. This month another case study will be used to demonstrate how this process can be implemented in your... Read More April 2018 Issue #10225 Page 66
Three Key Obstacles to Overcome to Improve Your Operations Todd Drummond Every consultation is different, yet some things remain the same. People are creatures of habit, and some of the issues that are dealt with during the consultations are very similar. Three key obstacles or areas are so common that I have yet to find a company not struggling with each of... Read More February 2018 Issue #10223 Page 30
Change Your Pricing Formula for 2018 and Make More Net Profit Todd Drummond Let us assume that you are having problems with a truck’s transmission and it must be repaired or replaced. The local mechanic explains the hourly rate for service and that the cost of any parts needed to fix the transmission is extra. The hourly charge he is billing is to cover his... Read More January 2018 Issue #10222 Page 30
Skills Play a Vital Role in Lean Management Ben Hershey Part 8 in our TIMWOODS Series Our journey through the various waste topics in Lean brings us to the final letter in our series on TIMWOODS: Skills. Many companies, managers, and supervisors forget when improving their operations to look at their team and review how their skills are being... Read More November 2017 Issue #10220 Page 44
Robotics, continued Joe Kannapell Automation is advancing around the world, but will it yield the quantum leap promised? And how big a margin will it provide over conventional processes? Let’s first assess how various systems affect non-direct-labor inputs to the production process. Later we’ll balance these against... Read More June 2017 Issue #10215 Page 6
Three Practical Ideas for Better Margins and Net Profits Todd Drummond Too often a repeated mantra within our industry is that everyone sells components at too-low margins. The blame is always on the other guy, meaning the competitor, for selling at a lower margin than what should be market pricing. Well, what can your company do to raise margin pricing? During... Read More June 2017 Issue #10215 Page 24
Lumber Briefs: The Real Cost of “Not Discounting” Invoices Matt Layman Part Four in the Save Money Series Back in the good old days, when I was a rookie lumber broker, central zone SYP producers offered wholesalers a 5% discount which gave us incentive to work their wood outside Mississippi and Alabama. I offer that just to be aggravating. Also, back in... Read More February 2017 Issue #10211 Page 58