I am a bad, bad kid!
It has been literally weeks since I have updated my blog and I am sure you are wondering where the heck I went!
Well to be really honest, I have been running around like mad, most recently in Los Angeles this last week, trying to get business moving in my territory. The economy is not cooperating much at all.
I am hearing from businesses that, yes, they are ALMOST ready to expand/buy/invest BUT...
...business is still slow and we need to amass capital
...we are waiting for year-end to better see how our budget will hold up
...we don't want to spend all our capital in case the economy slows again
...we are waiting for our current system to fail completely before we invest in more equipment
Yes, there are a lot of "wait and see" attitudes out there to be sure. Unfortunately, "waiting" in business means sliding inexorably backward. Many of your competitors are not waiting. They are seeing this as an opportunity to add the capabilities they WILL need, before they need it. To stay ahead of the curve means starting fast out of the gate when business springs back.
I would love to hear someone say to me "Yeah, business has been really slow, so we are taking the time to upgrade our equipment and train our people so when things come back to life, we can hit the ground running, more competitive than ever!"
I'm reminded of a story (oh god... a story... here it comes!) of an engineer friend of mine I worked with in the industrial ultra-sonics industry. This was back in my early days, just out of high-school, but I was working in the product development division. He had big dreams for a new instrument and had a project moving forward. Things were working out well! I had finished the LCD display system and it was showing data in real-time, the system was cursor controlled with soft-buttons and a smart knob... we were 60% there!
Well, tragedy strikes. The stocks went down, the company lost value, the market went soft... Oh the horror!
His project was "suspended" due to "lack of funds" (lack of will is more like it... I noticed that there were lay-offs, but management didn't take a cut and the "pet" employees and projects hummed merrily along) and development stopped. (and don't even get me started about cutting marketing when the economy suffers! THAT is the single best way to ENSURE you fall off the map!)
When the market returned, and things bounced back and his project was funded again, we started where we left off, but the market had moved beyond us as we "waited for things to get better". Our competitors introduced a similar instrument before we could even get ours ramped back up! We waited, they didn't. We lost, they won. We were poised to be first, but wound up being a "me too".
My biggest concern is that companies will wait to get their competency updated for the next wave of business. But like a surfer late to the beach, the big waves will be carrying those who were prepared to new success, while many (maybe you?) are still paddling out from the perceived safety of the shore, or worse, being tumbled in the surf by forces you could never control and can no longer adapt to...
Geez! SO DARK! Well I guess that's how I am feeling today. Sorry if I am a downer today my friends, but the economy will only recover if we make the decision to do what we can to help. Sitting on money isn't the answer. Investing in ways to better withstand the next storm (enhanced competencies, better efficiencies, higher quality) are what will keep us in the game, and when demand and costs are low, that is when to strike!
In this case, knowing your metals is about finding ways to squeeze pennies from scrap or shave cost off production, and you don't do that by waiting for better times, you do it by making better time!
Have a great day!
Walter
P.S. Look for a big update to http://www.know-your-metals.com/ within the next few weeks, because my baby site is about to grow up a bit! And as always, if you need to get information about analytical equipment for metals, contact me at walter@know-your-metals.com or go to http://www.know-your-metals.com/ and take a look. Be sure to see what we have to offer at http://www.verichek.net/ too, you won't be sorry!
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