4/21/2013

Increasing The Bottom Line Might Require Batch Invoicing Delivery

By Patty Summers


Running any size business is difficult, from deciding on the product or service to offer to the real work of actually producing the goods. Once the grand opening is over, the effort to improve should begin, looking for any possible means to eliminate waste and do things better. One means is to employ batch invoicing delivery instead of the traditional one at a time pattern.

On venerable notion about production is that the goal is making something that works as designed and selling it for less than the customer anticipated. While this is a lot like saying all the team needs to do is outscore the opponent, it has some truth in it. The missing idea is getting the customers input before the product or service is even designed, so one produces what the customer wants, not what business wants to sell.

American manufacturers made the biggest mistake of the last century when they were at the top. They lorded over the largest manufacturing boom the world had ever seen, and every company was profiting in a big way. The mistake was believing it was because they were so good at making things no one else could compete.

Everything was working in favor of the US business monarchy, plenty of labor available, massive production capacity and a more than willing market, the only problem was satisfying demand. The mistaken lesson learned was a collective arrogance that the success was due to superior management and work ethic. The idea that the war had not been fought on US soil did not make a big impression, until a few decades later.

At about the time the world experienced the first oil shock, foreign products took the American market by storm. Smaller, more fuel-efficient automobiles began appearing on the highways, and the shelves of audio stores filled with stereo system with names difficult to pronounce, and they were of a very high quality. American production took a body blow and management went on a journey of discovery to see what had gone wrong.

Taking a closer look, they discovered that much of the problem lay in in the processes they employed in their own factories. They also found it is very helpful to get the customer to help design a product, they are much more likely to purchase it. Perhaps most startling was the notion that the methods the Japanese used were imported from America in the form of two management experts.

One hurdle is senior leadership convinced they needed no help, certainly not from its own employees. But with such clear evidence, many companies made changes for the better. But with the salary discrepancy showing a US CEO making 380 times the average employee salary, while a Japanese CEO makes just 4.8 times what his employees make, there is still much to do.

So too, the notion of looking at long successful production one step at a time to eliminate waste is revolutionary, but often shows obvious ways to make production more efficient. When companies are brave enough to challenge their own tried and true procedures they can find success. One surprisingly effective idea is using batch invoicing delivery to save man-hours and workload.




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