Management | book review How to injection mould - profitably


Plastics Information Direct’s new book “Molding for Profit: The injection molding business in the 21st


talks readers through the process of improving business profitability


the custom injection moulding business has never been easy. these are the first words in a brand new book of advice for moulders published by Plastics information direct. its author, clare Goldsberry, has been involved in this business for 30 years as a practitioner, commentator and advisor. in that time she has learned that the biggest challenges for injection moulders are not technological but the business issues. typical problems include creating a brand when you don’t have a specific product, or making sure you target the right customers. the book has sections on


managing your business, understanding the industry, technological challenges and opportunities, and planning. it is readable and thought- provoking, providing informa- tion resources, practical suggestions, tools and action plans applicable to the reader’s own business. the following brief excerpts give a flavour of the pragmatic advice on offer:


What is marketing? Marketing is about creating demand for your business amongst those customers that value them and will pay for them. it’s about promoting your strengths and selling value. that is how you become profitable and customers gain a


www.injectionworld.com Century”


reliable supplier. Since most moulders do not have products they primarily sell services. these will increasingly include mouldmaking, building manu- facturing cells with automation, secondary operations, new product development assist- ance, assembly, packaging and other services that come with being a contract manufacturer today. Many of these are ‘value added’ services – going beyond just moulding parts and putting them in a box – and can generally increase the price you can charge. while moulders can


certainly offer a wide range of services to a variety of custom- ers and industries, it isn’t possible or desirable today to be all things to all people. You must discover what it is you do best and who for, create the demand for those things among customers who value what you do, and then do it better than anyone. You must uncover your ‘core compe- tency’ and market that to those oeMs who can best benefit, and create a demand for your


services among that group. why? Because it is those companies who will pay for what you offer!


Profitability checklist tracking and improving the following aspects of your business will help to maximise profitability: 4 Materials costs. Fixed cost contracts impact profitability. Are you passing price hikes on to your customers? 4 Added value. the more value you can add per employee (sales less bought-in materials and services) the more profitable you should be. 4 Margins. look at the margins on every job. Focus on customers and specialisations where margins are highest. Avoid ‘survival’ pricing. 4 Machine utilisation. this is only reflected in higher profits if all jobs are delivering a good margin. Some spare capacity is essential to offer a timely and flexible response to good customers. Permanently idle machines could be sold off to free up space and cash to invest


in higher value operations. 4 customer base. diversity protects you from sudden downturns when a business changes. A broad customer base in a range of markets can be good; but being ‘all things to all people’ is not. 4 inventory and resources. too much inventory affects cashflow. So does running out of materials and failing to deliver on time! look at resource planning, and the possibility of customers purchasing raw materials for bigger jobs. 4 cost of sales. Sales to new customers can be expensive to achieve, so make sure the margins are there. click here for more


information or to purchase. April 2012 | injection world 45


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60