Manufacturing Survival

Again these are random thoughts on the current economic situation. I, by no means, have any answers or magic pill to help anyone overcome the current situations. I am just offering up babble at this point and hoping something sticks to the wall!!

Suppliers are taking a hard look at production costs and looking to trim cost to widen margins and more importantly win new business. It is a hard time and the survivors will be those that can find cost trimming solutions in their manufacturing. So what is the answer? How do we cut costs? I have cut as deep as I can go! Sound familiar? This is what I am hearing, and the survivors are those that can compare their costs against competitors pricing and find that one last spot to trim. Based on current projections it is likely that suppliers will be in the 1% or less profit range for the next couple of years. Seems reasonable at this point that if you can live within that range and be competitive with the competition, then you can point out the differentiator's that make you stand out. You know...the "I produce a quality product", and the "we provide good customer service" kind of things.