Are you having a hard time improving the profitability of your machine manufacturing business? For today’s manufacturing industry, the impending uncertainty of the pandemic, the cost of implementing automation, and skills shortages can affect growth.
On a lot of occasions, manufacturers have had a hard time trying to modernize their approach to keep up with the competitive and fast-paced industry and improve profitability.
Your profitability is a metric that you should always keep track of. There is a reason for this. Profit margin answers vital questions about your business.
These questions include if you’re pricing your products properly or whether or not you’re making money.
However, it is important to keep in mind that your profitability is something that you shouldn’t simply measure. It is a metric that you have to improve constantly.
There is a huge possibility that your machine manufacturing business is not thriving if your profit margins are not increasing.
Manage Your Expenses
Close management of your expenses can improve your profit margins. Almost every machine manufacturing business can look for some wastage they can eliminate.
However, you should not cut expenses that will sacrifice the quality of your services and products.
Do you know what your key cost areas are? Well, here are some things to consider:
- Production
Have you tried to cut waste and lower the expenses of your materials? You should evaluate whether you can change your production processes to make them more streamlined.
This includes using fewer resources or working hours to lower labor expenses.
- Location
Try to check if you’re getting the most out of your space. Perhaps you can rent some unused areas. Are there more efficient ways to utilize your location?
- Finance
Are you effectively using any overdrafts and loans? Do you have to review your finance facilities?
- Suppliers
Is your business getting the best deal from the Asian industrial valves & instruments supplier? Can you negotiate better terms or do you have to find a new supplier?
One effective approach to finding the real cost of your particular business activities is to use activity-based costing.
This shows you how much it costs you to carry out a particular business operation by assigning proportions of all your expenses. This includes raw materials, premises, salaries, and much more.
The initial analysis might require a bit of time. However, using activity-based costing sometimes shows up expenses that you won’t normally uncover using classic costing methods.
Enhance Your Online Presence
Establishing a machine manufacturing business is based on relationships. Prospects will simply not trust your brand if your online presence is not up to scratch.
Surprisingly, a lot of manufacturers view marketing as an unnecessary expense within their industry. However, that shouldn’t be the case.
We’re rapidly moving to the digital age. Thus, if your machine manufacturing business does not have an online presence, you will not improve your profitability.
Set-Up and Manage Your MRP II Properly
Almost every manufacturing business uses Manufacturing Resource Planning (MRPII) to help them plan the work through the business.
If you’ve got an MRP II that is properly managed and set up, it can help deliver your products on time, lower stock levels, and minimize administration.
If you don’t do this, you can face delivering products late or producing the wrong quantities.
Lower Your Overall Direct Expenses
Lowering your overall direct expenses will have a major influence on your gross margin.
One way to lower your direct expenses is to negotiate better discounts or prices for everything you purchase. Still, you have to make sure the quality of your products and services are still the same.
Getting rid of unnecessary purchases is another way to lower the direct expenses of your machine manufacturing business. All you need is to know DIY tips on how to lower direct costs.
A comprehensive review of your direct expenses should showcase any areas where you spend too much of your money.
Lower Your Inventory
One way to improve cash flow and streamline your machine manufacturing business is to control stock.
Doing so will help you avoid fewer losses due to discontinued or expired inventory. Aside from that, you’ll also spend less money on slow-moving inventory.
Ordering more frequently enables you to compare prices and take advantage of overstock discounts or seasonal clearance.
Look For New Clients
New clients can help grow your machine manufacturing business.
For those who don’t know, it costs 8 times the amount of money on average to obtain a new client as it does to retain a loyal one.
The easiest and most affordable approach to get new clients is to provide incentives to your current clients and motivate them to recruit referrals for you.
This is useful since the strongest form of marketing is word of mouth, especially in the machine industry.
Buy More Effectively
Buying more effectively is one of the most obvious ways to improve your business’s profitability. It’s a wise move to review regularly your supplier base and see if you could purchase the same raw materials at a more affordable price.
Still, try to guarantee that you maintain or improve quality.
Figuring out your key areas of spending will show where you spend the most money. After you determine where your money is going, you need to look around for options.
Think about utilizing your status as a loyal client to agree to long-term contracts or realistic yearly minimum spends with regular suppliers. This helps you obtain lower prices.
For instance, if you’re planning to buy hand sanitizers from your long-term supplier, you should ask if they can lower your price since you’ve been a loyal client for a long period.
Conclusion
To greatly increase the profitability of your machine manufacturing business, you do not have to always make major changes.
Oftentimes, a simple tweak in the pricing or a phone call to your supplier can help you increase your profitability.
