David Marshall

  • How to Stay Competitive in a Global Market

    • April 24, 2024
    • Posted by: David Marshall
    • Category: Innovation, Management
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    Staying competitive in a global market means finding what your customers want and your competitors don't make.

    We are truly in a global market these days, and the cost of production in the United States makes cheaper overseas production much more attractive to a lot of buyers. Despite the push to “Buy American” and other campaigns, overseas manufacturers are slashing costs and paying their workers a less-than-optimal wage. That makes it a

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  • The 5 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) Every Manufacturer Should Measure

    • April 17, 2024
    • Posted by: David Marshall
    • Category: Management, Manufacturing, Productivity
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    If you're not measuring your KPIs, how will you ever know if you're succeeding or falling behind? Do you even know what your KPIs are?

    Every manufacturer keeps track of their output and how many units they’re making and selling each month. (At least I hope they are! I’ve seen some operations where that’s a valid question.) But not every manufacturer measures the same KPIs, but they’re absolutely critical to keep track of on a monthly, weekly, or even daily

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  • New Tech Doesn’t Always Solve Old Problems.

    • April 10, 2024
    • Posted by: David Marshall
    • Category: Business, Management
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    Before you invest in inventory management software, you should have a reliable inventory management system in place.

    Last week, I talked about how I made sure our organization had the right discipline when it came to adopting an inventory management system. My concern was that if we didn’t have the right processes in place and the discipline to stick with them, then a new piece of technology wasn’t going to solve the

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  • Adopting a Smart Approach to Inventory Management

    • April 3, 2024
    • Posted by: David Marshall
    • Category: Business, Digital Transformation
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    You need to establish a solid inventory management plan so you know EXACTLY how much you have at any given time.

    Remember the old days of inventory management, when you had to walk up and down the aisles of the warehouse, carrying a clipboard and counting every single piece of inventory, comparing it to what you had on your printout? Everyone rejoiced when software companies came out with inventory management software, and they clamored to introduce

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  • How Managers Can Keep Unions on Their Side

    • March 27, 2024
    • Posted by: David Marshall
    • Category: Leadership, Management
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    I always tried to keep unions on my side by never surprising them and making sure they agreed with my decisions.

    I had a rule as a manager that I would never take union leadership by surprise. If anything, despite the traditional “management versus the union” conflict, I always believed they were an important part of my team. For example, if I was ever thinking of initiating a new process or major idea, I would share

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  • How to Develop Good Habits as a Leader

    • March 20, 2024
    • Posted by: David Marshall
    • Category: Leadership
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    Good leaders are always open to new ideas about how to become better leaders.

    Good leaders are always open to new ideas about how to become better leaders. They don’t assume they know everything, especially as they ascend to higher and higher positions. They know their strengths and work to make them even stronger. They know their weaknesses and work to make them, well, stronger, too. You don’t have

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  • How Do You Plan for a Disaster or Crisis?

    • March 13, 2024
    • Posted by: David Marshall
    • Category: Leadership, Management, Manufacturing, Safety
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    It's important that you plan for a crisis or emergency so you can get your operation back up and running right away.

    Planning for a disaster for your business is never fun, and it can even be a little depressing. That’s because planning for a disaster or crisis is basically dreaming up all the scenarios that can befall your business and then imagining the worst-case scenario. Then you have to come up with all the things that

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  • Perform an Annual ABC Analysis to Find New Profits

    • March 6, 2024
    • Posted by: David Marshall
    • Category: Management, Productivity
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    An ABC Analysis involves the Pareto Principle where you identify your best-selling items and cut the lowest-selling items.

    According to the Pareto Principle (also called the 80/20 rule), you’re wasting a large portion of your time on items and customers that don’t actually have an ROI for you. That is, 20% of your customers bring in 80% of your results, and 20% of your inventory brings in 80% of your sales. Conversely, 80%

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  • How Can You Address the Skills Gap and Workforce Development?

    • February 28, 2024
    • Posted by: David Marshall
    • Category: Management, Manufacturing
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    You can address the skills gap in your operation by recruiting at the local trade schools.

    It’s getting harder and harder to find skilled workers for the manufacturing segment. Too many recruiting strategies are based on hiring people away from other companies, keeping them for a couple of years, only to have someone else hire them away from you. If you want to address the skills gap and improve your workforce

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  • What Role Do Public-Private Partnerships Play in Your Strategy?

    • February 21, 2024
    • Posted by: David Marshall
    • Category: Business, Manufacturing
    No Comments
    Public-private partnerships can be beneficial to your manufacturing operation, but proceed with caution.

    Many private companies and governmental agencies tout the benefits of public-private partnerships, but I’m a little leery of engaging in them. One thing experience has taught me is that developing a public-private partnership is a very expensive business. The public funding you receive is certainly not without its challenges and a lot of compliance requirement

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