Investing now to control overhead
In the past couple of months, I have written about the challenges of higher energy costs, longer lead times and the challenges that poses to a small company. In addition to the passion we have for our products, we go through our financials pretty rigorously to make sure that costs are not moving in the wrong direction (and like the salt shaker on my kitchen table, we always have to scale back spending on a couple of items to get them back to the ‘center’ of the table!) Even though business has been good, with $4 gas we are expecting the ’shoe to drop’ and business to slow down. Increasingly, we are looking for ways to automate and to outsource actions to limit the growth of staff to both protect our downside as well as handle additional sales while maintaining our overhead costs.
Right now, we are looking at automated cutters with computerized stops, new software and updated computers. The technology which is available is affordable and can have a meaningful impact on productivity as well as help to give better service and make better products. It also takes time to evaluate and implement which takes time away from product development and being with customers, but right now we feel an urgency to focus on these internal improvements to protect us against downturns as well as give us capacity for future growth.
I would be interested in how others look at their business right now and what steps you are taking for the future.