Mine Your Own Business

A Surprising Fact about American Manufacturing

Those of you who read this blog or are familiar with Tacony Corporation know that we brought production of vacuums back to St. James, Missouri some time ago. We recently brought production  of sewing cabinets from Australia to Chicago, Illinois so we are continuing to support manufacturing in the United States. We were under the impression that China had surpassed us in manufacturing and so posted Bucking the Trend in December of last year.

Imagine our surprise when we ran across an article titled the U.S. still leads the world in manufacturing productivity that describes how America is still number one in manufacturing and that we outproduce number 2 China by a whopping 40%. I'm sure you're thinking how is this possible, after all almost everything we buy has Made in China on the box.

The article goes on to explain that the reason for this is two fold. First, U.S. manufacturers have been ranked near the top in productivity gains for the last thiry years. Second, we've also focused on producing expensive and complex goods (think health-care products, jet engines, etc.) and left low profit margin consumer electronics, clothes, toys, and shoes to other nations.

We have another example of production in the U.S. and why it hasn't moved overseas. Tacony poduces a lot of CDs and DVDs both to sell and to support our many products. Several years ago we determined that we could save a lot of money by bringing the production in house. We bought autoloading duplication equipment and two autoloading thermal printers and the savings have been substantial.

The two thermal printers are made in the U.S. so that falls into the category of expensive and complex goods mentioned above. There is another reason as well that the production is still in the U.S. as opposed to China or even Europe. I asked the vendor why no other companies had tried to copy these excellent printers. They explained that the manufacturer was very aggressive in defending their patents and that they had come up with a specific technology for high quality thermal prining on CDs and DVDs.

 

The Closer

One of my favorite television shows is The Closer, thanks to the magic of digital video recorders I never miss an episode (if you are curious about the history of DVRs follow this link to the history of this great invention). When I ran across an article from Inc. about creative ways for making goals for 2011 and following through on them, it made me think of The Closer for two reasons. The first is that we are closing the door on 2010. That may make you happy or sad depending on how the year was for you and your business.

The second reason I thought of The Closer is one of the suggestions mentioned in the article, which was to purchase some poster boards and visually illustrate the steps in your goals for the coming year. This is the very technique that is used on every episode of The Closer (that I have seen anyway). They set up an evidence board to help them figure out who was the perp or perps for the crime they are investigating. I thought since it always works on the tv show, maybe it would be helpful for some of you in generating goals and following through on them. By the way, there are four other suggestions in the article as well, so one of them should be helpful for you.

Bucking the Trend

At Tacony, we love manufacturing and are trying to buck the trend.  We are proud to have brought manufacturing of our Simplicity and Riccar vacuums from Asia to St. James, MO and of our Koala sewing furniture from Australia to West Chicago.  Likewise, we are pleased to have grown our commercial floorcare manufacturing for Powr-Flite and Tornado in our Ft. Worth and St. James factories.  Made in the USA does make a difference and we are glad to be a small part of US manufacturing.

America surrenders to China

Bill Hinderer

Tacony Corporation - President, Chief Operating Officer

Inflation Warning

If you believe that inflation is at our doorstep, read this to learn how to prepare. The author of this article is very concerned about possible upcoming government inflationary policiies and the posting provides some of the reasons for his concerns. He feels that inflation is especially rough on small businesses since they don't have some of the tools available for a larger business.

One fo the first recommendations in the article is to keep essential price increases small and frequent as opposed to larger, less frequent price increases. Here are a few more of the tips in the article that especially are applicable for small businesses.

• Continue to keep overhead low
• Watch your margins carefully
• Pay down variable interest loans as soon as possible.

The article provides more detail on these tips and a few more as well  The advice on keeping overhead low is something we mentioned last week in Mine Your Own Business in the posting Put Your Business on a Diet.

Walking and Aging

Everyone has heard how beneficial exercise is, after all it is on television, radio, newspapers, magazines, etc. Now comes a new article from HealthDay about research from the U. S. National Institure on Aging that showed walking six to nine miles a week can help maintain a healthy brain. The study began in 1989 following 300 healthy adults with an average age of 78. All the participants started with good physical and mental health.

During the study, the exercise patterns of the participants were tracked and those who walked at least six to nine miles a week retained more of their brain size. The study also found that the chances of developing memory impairment were cut in half. Sounds like making sure you keep active as you get older is even more important than we previously thought. There is also a great link to the U. S. National Institute on Aging at the bottom of the article.

 

Pursue Your Potential

So what are some ways you can determine whether you driven to achieve  your maximum potential either as a leader or to make sure your small business is the best it can possibly be? Here's an article that gives 6 signs that indicate you have this drive.

1. You're comfortable revisiting the basics of your profession.
2. You work hard to manage your own brand.
3. You are genuinely interested in what others have to say.
4. You are genuine.
5. You view power as the means to the right kind of more.
6. You recognize that success comes in many forms.

So do any of of these signs seem to apply to you, or do you have some other ideas on signs that show you are really interested in achieving your maximum potential?

Cloud Computing Warning

So I'm sure most of you have heard of the new cloud-based technologies, but if aren't familiar with the term it is technologies such as Facebook, Gmail, Twitter, and one I wasn't well versed on, Salesforce. For a very thorough discussion of the history and pros and cons of cloud computing you can visit Wikipedia. Cloud computing may be sometime in the future for your small business, but one figure a recent article from Bloomberg Business Week really caught my attention.

Ponemon Institute conducts research on privacy, data protections, and information security policy and their annual study reported that the cost of a data breach rose to $204 for each compromised customer record. The article makes the very valid point that for a small business any breach of security  could be a terrible blow. The article provides five tips for safeguarding your network and data, so it might be a good idea to check them out before your business engages in any part of cloud computing. After all as Miguel de Cervantes once wrote:

Forewarned, forearmed; to be prepared is half the victory.
Miguel de Cervantes

Small Business Study

So why did you start your own business? Was it the idea of being your own boss, to make more money, or did you get downsized in the current economy and decided to try start your own business out of necessity? There was a recent article that stated that most business owners were interested in making more money and achieving financial independence. Whatever your motives were for starting your business what steps can you take maximize the value of your business?

There was a recent Business Value Drivers Study that was designed to help small businesses do this very task and there is a link to the study in the article. It takes 15 to 20 minutes to complete and is primarily designed for small businesses with 5 or more employees that have been in business for 5 years or more. Some interesting results for the study as of July 2010 were:

• 34 percent indicated they have more than $1 million in annual revenue.
• 79 percent are over the age of 40.
• 48 percent know when they want to retire.

You can read the article for some more interesting results. Based on an analysis of the results of the study, the article provides some recommendations that any owner can implement maximize the value of  their small business. There are also several links to other resources that can help with growing your business.

Fairy Tales and Small Business

So the relationship between small business and fairly tales is not the first question that might come to mind to any small business owner. Now that your curiosity has been aroused, there was a recent article  Productivity and the Seven Dwarfs that described several workplace productivity killers. In case you don't remember the seven dwarfs (and I didn't) they were:

1. Sneezy
2. Sleepy
3. Dopey
4. Doc
5. Happy
6. Bashful
7. Grumpy

The article further analyzes all the positive and negative attributes of all the dwarfs and how together they are productive in the mines despite all their differences (a sometimes overworked term, synergy comes to mind). A final thought is what negative attribute is the most drag on productivity. Is it Sneezy, Sleepy, Doc, or Grumpy? Some are more of a drag on productivity than others depending on your specific small business.

Shopping Locally

Small businesses have had a particularly difficult time during the Great Recession (which is what a lot of people are calling it). We've posted frequently in Mine Your Own Business on many plans to encourage your customers to buy locally such as the 3/50 project. Now comes an article that takes it a step further. Not only does it suggest encouraging your customers to buy locally, it suggests you buy goods and services for your small business from fellow small business owners.

The article suggests several things that can be purchased for your small business from local stores instead of going to Wal-mart or some other outlets of big corporations, and I'm sure you can think of some additional things. The article concludes with a good point, by supporting other local small businesses you are indirectly supporting your own as well.