Why it should be top of mind given the current political atmosphere.
It’s something you hear all the time now: “They don’t make them like they used to anymore” or “Another product made outside of the United States.” In fact, to some extent, there is a ring of truth to these sentiments; Unfortunately, many areas of the trade, particularly the aforementioned electronics sector, are widely outsourced to countries like China, so much so that many consumers feel that value has paid the ultimate price. Case in point: The home audio enthusiast market has seen a turntable resurgence over the past decade, fueled by a millennial demographic that was just getting its feet wet in the “vinyl revival” crowd, but in the insane struggling to compete and produce these turntables as fast as they were being bought, many major companies outsourced their specifications to entities based in Asia who ended up cutting corners to meet a selling price.
As a result, more than a number of turntables from this particular brand suffered from poor construction, unreliable drive motors, design issues like warped platters and more, all of which critically compromise the performance of a vinyl playback system.
Of course, this is just a broad and random example, but our point is that quality in manufacturing and services, especially in our current somewhat heated political atmosphere, should come first and foremost, a sentiment that has not passed unnoticed by President Donald J. Trump, who has given US manufacturing representatives a different point of view to consider when it comes to consumer-made products.
In short, President Trump wants American manufacturing to step up, and he begins and ends with “the Q word.”
Why should this be first and foremost when taken in a manufacturing context? It’s easy to waver in an upbeat market and revel in manufacturing optimism; To be frank, it is the only sustainable pillar that drives business excellence. Value in a company that makes goods not only helps the economy meet customer and industry expectations, it can also keep costs down. Managing excellence is crucial for small businesses in particular, because well-constructed products help maintain customer satisfaction and loyalty while reducing the risk and cost of replacing defective products.
Let’s take a quick look at the main elements of this theme:
• Meet customer expectations: Customers expect a company to deliver great products, and when it doesn’t, they quickly look for alternatives. Distinction is critical to satisfying customers and retaining their loyalty so they will continue to buy in the future.
• Managing a reputation: Excellence influences a company’s reputation, as poor construction or product failure (such as the turntable example mentioned above) can generate negative publicity and damage reputation.
• Meet industry standards – Accreditation to a recognized standard may be essential to dealing with certain customers or complying with legislation.
• Cost Management – Poor features increase costs, as we mentioned, because without an effective control system, a company may incur the cost of analyzing nonconforming goods or services to determine root causes.
For manufacturing companies, it’s important to increase process training, management commitment, and participation across all teams when improving purity control, and it wouldn’t be a bad idea to take a look at suppliers as well. Research, study, and evaluation alone will improve this area, and premium quality parts and products will match long-term sales, all while eliminating consumer mistrust of manufacturing.
President Trump has put us on the right path… now we all must do our part to improve American manufacturing.