Business Development

A quote from an article sent to me this morning really got me to rethink an assumption I've had for years. The quote:

"If you suck at meetings in person, you're only going to 'virtually suck' online."

Here's a hypothetical for you:

Simple? Sure. But take a minute to check out Job Shop Jim - it's a 58-second video that hits the high spots of the value of MFG.com for Suppliers, shops and manufacturers looking for new business, new customers, new industries and new prospects:

This past week, I was interviewed on CNBC for MFG.com, regarding the emerging trend of backshoring manufacturing production to the U.S. from low-cost countries. Here's the video:

This video is of a presentation from early 2008, a lecture given by Dr. Patrick Dixon on the future of Supply Chain Risk & Management. It's quite good, and it speaks to an interesting condition that likely effects all manufacturers at one time or another: Institutional Blindness.

According to Dr. Dixon, organizations condition us to become part of the system, which stymies new or original thought. Take a moment to watch this, and ask yourself if you or your organization suffer from Institutional Blindness, and miss opportunities to grow, change or improve:

Last week, MFG.com COO Steve Cook presented a webinar titled "Lean Manufacturing For Your Enterprise," as an introduction and overview for manufacturers considering embarking on a Lean journey.

There's been more action on the backshoring / reshoring / onshoring front this week, as more U.S. and western manufacturing OEMs are not only rethinking their extended supply chain decisions - many are acting by taking a hard look at domestic suppliers and shops.

I spent an awesome 45-minutes on the phone today with Johannes Schmoelz, sales manager, all around cutting tools guru and drag racing fanatic at K&Y Diamond, Ltd. K&Y is a unique Canadian manufacturer for a number of reasons, and its success offers all North American small- and medium-sized manufacturers (SMMs) some strong medicine in the way of inspiration.

In this video, Cliff Waldman, and economist with the Manufacturer's Alliance, is interviewed about why companies like Caterpillar and GE are reassessing their original offshoring decisions based on total landed costs - extended supply chain, logistics, intellectual property protection, training and other unexpected costs. More and more companies are finding that onshoring or backshoring production and rethinking the US as a production platform actually save money.

A recent article that advises Buyers and sourcing professional on the challenges of offshoring without the proper due diligence can also help suppliers and small- and mid-sized manufacturers (SMMs) construct a strong case for "backshoring" work nearer to a Buyer's core.

A Buyer that uses MFG.com spells out some great suggestions for Suppliers to be more successful while quoting and collaborating in the marketplace. These are based on real-world experiences.