Manufacturing Business

Engineers develop cost-saving repair for damaged helmets.
Engineers were also asked to investigate the manufacturing process of display units to determine if any materials and processing practices were contributing to failures and whether particular changes to discovered materials and processing deficiencies may lead to a more rugged, robust system. By developing a method to repair currently damaged assets, engineers said they have eliminated the need to replace damaged systems, estimated at $60,000 per unit. With the current number of damaged assets, a repair cost of only $1,000 per unit translates into a cost avoidance of $18 million. Just as important, the engineered fix prevents a JHMCS display unit shortage. According to AFRL”s Erik Ripberger, the materials research engineer managing the program, military fighter pilots wear HGU-55/P helmets modified with a JHMCS.more

Global Trade Initiatives Launches Sourcing Service in Vietnam.
Global Trade Initiatives, an international sourcing and manufacturing company, has announced the launch of its new Vietnamese sourcing company: ?Sourcing in Vietnam?. ?Sourcing in Vietnam?, has been set up to cater to foreign businesses looking to manufacture products in Vietnam. The company is promoting manufacturing in Vietnam; a country that many times is overlooked in favour of China and other Asian countries. ?Sourcing in Vietnam? is headed by Mr. James Snee as Managing Director. Mr. Snee brings in eight years of local experience and knowledge from sourcing and quality control in Vietnam. He said: ?Vietnam?s future as a global leader in manufacturing is very bright. Despite the current global economic crisis and competition from other countries, Vietnam?s exports will still grow into 2009 and beyond.more

Need to have close cooperation between users & mfg for gwth.
This is a tremendous opportunity for the Indian manufacturing industries to capitalise on this’.

The first technical session of the conference saw presentations made by speakers from various organizations about issues, requirements and the expectations from the valve industry.

Mr. S M Jayawant, General Manager (Commercial ? Naval Projects), Mazagon Dock Ltd said that, ‘Despite having some big players in the manufacturing sector, the valve industry is not meeting the requirement of special valves’. Indicating to the few manufacturers present in the conference, he lured them by saying that the requirement for valves per ship would be about Rs. 50 crore’.

‘While there has been improvement in all aspects, I strongly feel that valve manufacturing has a long way to go and needs substantial improvement’, said Mr.more

Banks, GM help Wall Street rise modestly.
GM is down 87 per cent on 2008 and analysts warn a bankruptcy for the manufacturing bellwether is not out of the question yet. Leading the gains for large banks was Bank of America, up US78c, or 6.1 per cent, to $US13.53, and Citigroup, up US26c, or 4 per cent, to $US6.78. In the holiday-shortened session, the Dow rose 48.99 points, or 0.58 per cent, to 8468.48 but remains down 36 per cent on the year and 4.1 per cent on December. The broad Standard & Poor”s 500 index added 4.99 points, or 0.58 per cent, to 868.15. The Nasdaq Composite rose 3.36 points, or 0.22 per cent, to 1524.90. ‘The market is now at “Santa Claus rally” time, the seven-session stretch from the last session before Christmas through the first two sessions of the new year,’ said Phil Roth, chief technical market analyst at Miller Tabak.more

The economy has set records for the number of home foreclosures and late payments for mortgages and such. More people than ever are finding their credit scores drop and paying their monthly bills is a challenge. Personal bankruptcies are increasing. Small business owners are struggling along with the economy. When the economy slows down, so do the customers. Suddenly, the ability for businesses to make a profit is slimmer.

Some owners are turning to business bankruptcy as something that just needs to happen. Most often, it isn’t that the business owner wants to file for bankruptcy, they feel that they have no other options. The creditors are knocking at the doors and wanting their money. The owners start to avoid taking phone calls because the amount of profit that they’re seeing simply isn’t enough to pay for the bills any more. There just isn’t as much of a profit to be made.

Business bankruptcy can be as difficult or as simple as you make it. Of course, the best way to achieve business bankruptcy is to hire a lawyer. Keep in mind, if you’re going to be including your credit cards on your list of debts to discharge, you may not be able to pay with a credit card. It is possible that the chosen attorney will require a retainer or a fee upfront. Depending on where your business is and what state you live in, it may cost a small business owner around $2,000 to file for business bankruptcy.

Sure, you could save yourself that money and do all of the filing on your own. If you have the intelligence and experience to file for business bankruptcy, perhaps you can on your own behalf. However, it is always a wise idea to hire an attorney to finish all the details. If you don’t know the ins and outs of bankruptcy laws, hiring an attorney may save you a lot of grief in the long run. If the tiniest of details isn’t taken care of, it may just pop up someday in the future and come back to haunt you. Have an attorney take care of as many details as possible.

Make sure you check around for lawyer fees though. While court fees and paperwork may all cost the same, a lawyer’s time and own fees could end up fluctuating quite intensely. While you don’t want some attorney who isn’t organized and could end up messing everything up for you, you certainly don’t want to spend too much money on at attorney. After all, you’re considering business bankruptcy because you simply don’t have enough of money - not to accrue more debt to carry into the future.

Though choosing business bankruptcy can be a very emotional and difficult decision, it isn’t the end of the world. Know that times are tough and a lot of people are in your shoes and experiencing your same stresses. No regrets - move forward and learn from your experiences.

Sid Nelson is a Agent for one of the largest merchant card loan companies in the world. Discover how to acquire a no credit check business loan based solely on your business’s future credit card receivables. Please go now to http://MerchantCardLoans.com for more information on how receive funding in 5 to 7 days without tax statements or fixed payments.

Business letter closings are part of a standard format but are subject to several variations. Sometimes called the “complimentary close”, business letter closings vary by geography, type of letter and sometimes relationship of the writer to the recipient. In learning how to write a business letter, pay attention to all three in choosing your close. Your choice can change the tone of your business letter, creating a more or less formal or friendly message. Depending on your standing with the recipient, as well as the part of the world you are both in, this can make a difference in how your message is received.

Geography

In the U.K., business letters almost always adhere to long standing tradition and close with Yours faithfully, while in North America and Australia, Yours sincerely is the norm. You’ll also see Yours truly on some letters.

Type of Letter

Formal business letter closings generally use the complete phrase, such as Yours truly, and sometimes it will be amplified to Yours very truly. Letters to professionals of high standing, such as judges or senior government officials, may close with Respectfully. In diplomatic circles, business letter closings can be quite elaborate and unusual, e.g. Your obedient servant!

Relationship

When writer and recipient know each other well, more casual closings are acceptable in North America and Australia, and sometimes even in the U.K. Popular choices include Best Regards, Regards, Cordially.

In all variations of business letter closings, the first letter of the first word is capitalized, but the second is not, e.g. Yours sincerely, not Yours Sincerely.

Helen Wilkie is a professional speaker and author specializing in workplace communication. Visit her blog for more on how to write a business letter. For more on all aspects of business writing, check out Helen’s writing course on CD.

Innovation drives new business. As a small business owner, you need to constantly and consistently think of new, creative and imaginative ways to market and sell your existing products. The more uses for your products and services you create, the larger your potential target market and potential revenue. Product innovation is a great way to grow your small business.

Let me provide you a great example of product innovation from the baby food industry. A larger and well-respected baby food manufacturer at one point in their history was selling a good deal of baby food in Southern Florida. Generally, new mothers buy baby food and this area of the United States did not fit that demographic. A good number of retirees lived in this part of the country. The company was happy that their product was selling in a new market and they wanted to understand why.

Their original thought was that these older Americans were using the baby food to feed their grandkids during visits from out of state. This assumption was very wrong. These seniors were buying the baby food for themselves. Some of these people had more sensitive stomachs and digestive problems and the baby food was easier for them to eat.

This is a great example of consumer-driven innovation. The company used these findings and created a whole new line of products specifically targeted to seniors with sensitive stomachs. This product line was very successful because the company used innovation to create a new product from an old one.

Think about how to innovate your product line. Taping into the power of innovation provides you a powerful tool to help you grow your small business.

Could you use more tips like this to accelerate the growth of your small business? Achievement thinking is a powerful concept that Mark Mikelat, the founder of Building Aspirations (http://www.BuildingAspirations.com) uses to coach his small business clients to double or even triple the size of their businesses. You can learn more and take advantage of a free strategic analysis at http://www.BuildingAspirations.com/BusinessSuccess.html Also, you can view his books on Amazon.com

“Without the strength to endure the crisis, one will not see the opportunity within. It is within the process of endurance that opportunity reveals itself.”
Chin-Ning Chu

Crisis is often an entry point; an opportunity to get real, tell the truth about our selves and our business. Definition of Crisis -The moment in which we know without a doubt that if we don’t make changes with ourselves and in our business we will lose. Unfortunately, at this point we usually have already lost quite a bit, which is what makes it a crisis!

Understandably no one hopes for a crisis. Certainly this applies to our business or organization. Most of us as leaders would probably say one of our primary responsibilities is to prevent a crisis from ever occurring.

However, I have found that powerful lessons for all of us can be found in the middle of a business crisis. It isn’t uncommon for a leader to say, “Our staff has never pulled together more than when we were facing a crisis.” Possibly it’s the very real prospect of going out of business, facing a public relations catastrophe or even a natural disaster that causes people to unite.

And although this may not seem surprising, it does beg the question, “why?” Why do people set aside their usual disagreements and petty politics in the midst of a crisis?

I found one possible answer while contemplating teams and organizations that live in a perpetual state of daily crisis. Consider firefighters or soldiers in the midst of war.

At those moments, these are certainly some of the least political and divisive teams that you’ll find. For them, disagreement about budgets and lines of responsibility are ludicrous, or even worse, deadly. And that’s the point. When the stakes are clear and high, you know …life or death. Well-intentioned people can’t help but focus on the prevailing task at hand. Which is exactly what happens to businesses in crisis: they get focused around a compelling, over-arching goal. They put aside their egos and differences for the common good of the team or business.

We innately know this about ourselves and people which is why I personally believe some businesses create an ongoing atmosphere of chaos or crisis. Consider that there is another way, another option for focusing on the important and the common good. A way to stop avoiding the issue(s) and address what is not being said.

It starts with clear purposeful reasons to be in business, to do the job and to get the result. As the leader, it is your job to make sure your people have these:

• A Vision

• A Business purpose

• Goals

• Key measures for success in their own roles

• Individual plans for growth and development

“The Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word ‘crisis’. One brush stroke stands for danger; the other for opportunity. In a crisis, be aware of the danger-but recognize the opportunity.” John F. Kennedy

Alicia Fruin brings a wide range of experience to Training, Consulting and Coaching! As owner of Profit Consulting Co., Inc. Alicia has designed over 80 training programs and led custom training programs for hundreds of business owners in a variety of industries across the country.

In addition, Alicia has coached managers, presidents and sales people in how to build a business truly worth having! She has been instrumental in the success of other business coaches through her relentless focus on mastering the basics of coaching and business.

When disaster strikes is your small business ready? Unfortunately the answer is that disaster can strike at any time and it is often an unplanned event. All businesses need a business continuity strategy, unfortunately most businesses do not even know what a business continuity plan is.

I was talking to a small business owner last week and asked her if she had a business continuity plan. Her answer was, “no, I don’t need one - I’m not planning on retiring for another 10 years”.

What I meant by business continuity plan wasn’t a succession plan or an exit strategy plan but rather a plan for your business to continue operations in the face of disaster striking.

Why does your business need a business continuity strategy? Because typically disasters don’t announce that they are coming and that means that your business would likely not be ready for disaster.

What type of disasters can affect businesses: fire, flood, earthquake, hurricane, tornado, tsunami, terrorism, and more. Unfortunately the list is long.

Note: if you are a one-person business you will need a condensed version of the outline below. Have a shorter to-do and to-keep list. Keep a copy of your business continuity plan in a safety deposit box (across town if possible), or with someone you trust who is reachable in case of emergency but not your next door neighbor (since the disaster may strike both of you at the same time).

If you run a small business with more than 15 employees you may wish to have a plan for each department (e.g. administration/finance; sales/marketing; operations/human resources, etc.); and have each department head responsible for their department’s plan. However the plan needs to be integrated into a master document that you, as the small business owner, need to manage and control.

Your plan must consider how you will manage the impact of a disaster on your business. Will your employees be able to get to your place of business? Will your business be operational? How will you contact your customers and suppliers; or how will they contact you? Do you have your business records on a management information system that is backed up daily and stored offsite (way offsite - some business owners store this data in cities across the country: downloaded backups are transferred by script to professional backup services).

What your business continuity plan needs to include:

• A Communication Plan: How will you communicate and who will you communicate to? Your contact lists need to include all key stakeholders: employees, customers, suppliers, your insurance agent, your lawyer, your accountant, your software provider, your banker, your property manager or landlord if the building is not owned, shareholders, and others important to your business.

• Consider using your website to get messages out to stakeholders. When you start phoning staff, suppliers, customers, tell them that you will be posting updated information on the company website (if you don’t have one, set up at least a one-page site as a place holder). Ensure that you have a website host who can do the updates to your site for you - you will be busy elsewhere. This will save you and your people time in getting the message out.

• Adequate Insurance Coverage: Ensure that you have business income interruption policy coverage: you want to be covered in both upstream or downstream loss scenarios. Upstream could be the interruption you would incur if one or a number of your suppliers was affected by the disaster and could not deliver necessary supplies. Downstream could be the loss you incur when a key customer is affected by the disaster and stops ordering your product or service. Ensure that you have appropriate insurance to cover other related issues: for example, on-site injuries to employees or visitors or for loss of your customers’ goods or materials.

• Inventory List: Ensure that your business continuity plan includes an itemized inventory of equipment and the supplies you regularly use.

• Business Recovery: Build a business recovery plan. What will you do first, second, third? How will you get started? Consider contacting your competitors for help (yes, that hurts but in the end if you support your customers through this they will remember). If you run a manufacturing plant, consider the equipment you would need and how quickly you could replace the most important pieces (e.g. consider asking your equipment supplier if they have any demonstration units they could lend you until your new equipment is shipped). If you’re in the inventory business, make sure you keep inventory-turn lists and supplier information in your plan documents.

• If you own the building you might want to keep a list of pre-approved professional engineers (these will be in demand if the disaster has hit a large area) and consider an out-of-town engineer. If the building is still standing after the disaster you still may need or want a structural review before restarting operations.

Depending on the extent of the damage and the disaster, you may not want to rebuild your business. Do not make that decision too quickly. There will always be a strong emotional response to disaster. Your emotions may cloud your ability to make a good business decision. When you write your business continuity plan now - also include why you run your business and why you got into the business. After a disaster strikes, carefully review the reasons for rebuilding or not rebuilding your business. If you have a strong business continuity strategy built into your plan, it will make the decision to go forward much easier.

Kris Bovay is the owner of Voice Marketing Inc, a small business and marketing services company. Kris has more than 25 years of experience in leading in large, medium and small businesses. For more small business management and strategy information, visit http://www.more-for-small-business.com For a more comprehensive business continuity plan outline, visit http://www.more-for-small-business.com/business-continuity-plans.html Copyright 2008 Voice Marketing Inc.

5 ways/steps to get rich from your own home business; you can start any home business you like, but unless you set up a time management plan, and financial budget, you will not get far. Investments must be considered as well. You will need to consider the type of business you want to operate.

The 5 ways and steps to get rich from your own home business depend on strategies, investments, financial budget, and your time management scheme, and your effort. If you combine all elements to your home business solutions, you will go a long way and perhaps in time get rich.

Time Management schemes involve budget, schedule, short and long-term goals, etc. Financial budget involves your expenses, investments, emergency funds, revenue, stocks, and so forth. Strategies range, if you intend to operate an online home business, the 5 ways and steps to get rich from your own home business depends on your needs. If you intend to operate an online store, you will need a web site, which you will need to fit this into your budget. You will also need to hire an expert SEO company to optimize your web site, or else add to your time management a plan to learn effective search engine optimization solutions.

The 5 ways/steps to get rich from your own home business:

Step 1: Choose the type of business you want to operate

Step 2: Set up a time management scheme

Step 3: Set up financial budget

Step 4: Investments

Step 5: SEO

This is your first 5 ways and steps to get rich from your own home business, but you will need to consider more steps.

Fabian Tan is a well-known Internet Marketing expert and the author of the popular 45-page Report:

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