As many business owners know, there is a cost incurred between product concept, design, and manufacture that is not reimbursed until a specific number of products are finished and sold. There are ways to alleviate this damaging deficit, such as asking interested parties to pay a small percentage of the final cost to secure their purchase. Or, you could limit your production to just manufacturing on demand.
This, however, could cost you more money in the long term if demand is not what you thought it would be or if you have employees sitting idle due to lack of work.However, there are ways in which you could limit this scenario, keep work moving and orders coming in.
#1 Planning from Start to Finish
Plan your product from initial research into what the customer is looking for and at what price, through each stage of concept, design, and manufacture. If at any stage you can see an issue with cost, then you can work it out ahead of time.
You may find that the use of a 3D printer could help you in seeing the design in scale before you go into the expense of manufacturing. When working out time schedules,you must provide your workers with additional time for processes, just in case of unforeseen issues arise.
#2 Provide Education
Provide plenty of education for your workforce before the start of production. This will limit on-the-job training that will take time and decrease your profit margin until your production team is running at the right speed. It is not just this that product education is vital. In teaching your employees about the item or product that they are creating they will be more scrupulous about their quality, proud of their work, and will be able to spot when inferior products are handed to them.
This is very important when working with flowlines for instance, as it is much cheaper to scrap a unit part assembled than one fully made. Additionally, part units may also be able to be reworked at minimal expense to the company, rather than a full-scale investigation and dissection of a completed unit.
#3 Ensure Communication Links Are Open
Providing your employees with open communication links not only between production staff and their managers but through to technicians, mechanics, and design staff is a must, especially when launching a brand product.
It is not just verbal communication that is important. You should also provide your workers with the ability to have speed and information at their fingertips, whether it is opening and working with applications or having access to databases on your cloud. Sometimes, applications are hard to load or open and this can be frustrating to your employees that require fast access to the information that they hold, let alone costing you more time wasted, which could set your launch day awry. However, there are api solutions that will enhance the running time of your applications, as well as communication channels with your cloud regardless of where your workers happen to be.
#4 Release Teasers to Your Established Customer Base
Although releasing teasers or applying a countdown scenario to your established customer base or your potential customers is theoretically getting your product to the market quickly, it can mean that when your product hits the stores it will sell fast.
Some products launched in this way not only have long waiting lists but even have customers queuing outside stores for hours and sometimes days before release. This means that you have customers waiting with money in their hands to relieve your financial deficit as quickly as possible and provide you with a profit in a super quick time.
