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There are many people out there in business that believe that manufacturing is declining in the US, but it’s still a big part of the economy and has a place in the country. Manufacturing is an industry that is buzzing with ideas and innovation, and creative business owners are finding that there is plenty of room for success in the industry itself. There are, of course, places around the world where manufacturing costs will be cheaper. That’s going to be a given, considering costs fluctuate depending on the individual country. The thing is, with lower costs outside the country you live in comes higher costs of import and export – it’s all about balance!
When you have a great idea for a product that you know is in demand, you have the chance to go far in manufacturing it. You just have to know where to get started, how much finance you need and what equipment you need for creating your product and getting it to market. There are a lot of things that you need to know to get your manufacturing business off the ground, and we’ve put a few of them together for you here:
Location
When you start a business, the first thing you should always think about is where you’re going to base yourself. You also need to decide on where the product that you make will be sold. Location is a huge part of the decision, because while your startup endeavours will begin from your home, you cannot keep that up in the long-term. As your business gains traction and popularity, you need to have a good production base with space for large amounts of equipment used to speed up the production line. You should always look at the cheapest option that fits what your business needs. Keeping the costs low at the start of your business is important so that you can ensure you have the right outgoings vs your income. You can expand as time goes on, and find the cash to do so within the equipment you invest in for your business. You can find out more at equifyllc.com about how to use your assets to finance further business expansion. When it comes to selling your product, you may choose to open a second location if you don’t want to sell solely on an ecommerce website. You can use an ecommerce store to get your product into large chain stores, which will benefit your business in a huge way.
Staff
Any good manufacturing company needs to have a dedicated staffing force that can work seamlessly together. It’s important to impose a LEAN way of thinking when it comes to your business, and the reason for this is purely the fact that companies can easily waste time in processing and lose a lot of money doing so. By having a workforce that understands how to create your product and get it to the right places at the right time, you can rely on them to ensure your profits do not suffer based on human error. When you start out, you may not have many people on your staff rota, as you will do a lot of the initial start-up activities such as IT, accounting and marketing yourself. Never discount the benefits of outsourcing your business processes for these, if you prefer to just concentrate on the general running of the business. You should hire a management team who is happy to work with you and make sure you find a mentor so that you can get the right advice as and when you need it.
Cash
It doesn’t matter what industry you work in, cash is an important factor. You need to afford premises, equipment, materials, insurance, wages; the list can be seemingly endless. As a start-up, you will require a huge amount of capital behind you and it’s not going to be likely that you can get going without a loan or heavy investment. When you are creating your business plan, you need to ensure every possible cost is accounted for right down to the tiniest detail. The reason for this is that you don’t want to end up with less finance than you require to get going. You also want to be watertight with your numbers when discussing the possibility of someone investing in you. If there any holes in your figures, an investor will pull out straight away and that can be the kiss of death for your new company idea.
Sales
Ideally, you will have brought in some expert sales people to get your product onto the shelves of the stores you need. Selling your product idea to companies is probably the most difficult part of the process, but in the same way, you cannot start making a product if there isn’t a market for it. Ensuring that you heavily invest in market research is important, as if you have the evidence and research to back up your ‘why’ for selling, you can go further than you expected. You have to convince people that they need your product and why they need it, which isn’t always the easiest to do. While you’re doing that, you also have to convince people that they need your product on their shelves. This all can happen with selling online, personally selling face to face in your own store or approaching bigger chains to take big orders of your product. It won’t be easy, but once you’ve established who can sell your product for you, you can start to look at ways to improve things so that you can expand and evolve.
Owning and beginning a manufacturing business is stressful, but it’s going to show strength of character if you can stick with it. There will, as with any business, be failures and knock-backs, but tenacity is important here. You need to believe in the product you have and know that with perseverance you can get it where you want it to go.
