Posts Tagged ‘inventory reduction’

Turnaround time versus on-time delivery rates

July 24th, 2012
By: Tim Heston

For years economic growth has been stuck in neutral. Economists are lowering their already low GDP growth projections for 2012. Regarding this, Julia Coronado, chief economist at BNP Paribas, gave Bloomberg an intriguing insight. “Things are so lean and mean, there aren’t a lot of excesses that need to be reduced.” Although such efficiency hasn’t been able to pull the economy into high gear, it also has insulated the economy from a dramatic downturn.

That’s good news--sort of. Neutral is better than reverse, I suppose. But it does mean that the economy probably won’t be pleasant for companies that aren’t lean and mean. The good news: Plenty of fabricators I’ve seen are lean.

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Fabricating just enough, just in time

April 15th, 2010
By: Tim Heston

Two weeks ago I talked with one fabrication shop owner who has what last year would have been considered an unusual problem. Bankers were lined up, eager to give the small business owner a loan--only he didn’t need one. Work is coming in the door, but it’s mostly small jobs, nothing to warrant a huge expansion.

That’s a real-life example of the glass-half-empty adage: Bankers are eager to lend you money, unless you need it.
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