One of the biggest things that it often on the mind of a business owner, when their business is growing and expanding, is how they can more effectively become independent from things that they once relied on when they were just starting out. One of the most common of these is the manufacturing of your product. The reality is that many small startups simply don’t have the resources to manufacture their product themselves and have to reach out to other organizations to help. However, as your business grows you might find yourself in a better position to take back this side of things. Of course, there are still going to be plenty of challenges that you have to deal with. Here are a few things that you need to consider if you want to embrace in-house manufacturing.
Equipment
If you’re going to be manufacturing your products yourselves, then you need the equipment to do so. Of course, this is going to depend pretty heavily on both the kind of budget that you have available to you and the kind of product that you’re creating. If you don’t think that you can afford the kind of equipment that will produce the best possible product, then it might be a good idea to wait for a while before trying to take on this area of your business. It’s also important to remember that you need to have solid access to maintenance and spare parts. Whether it’s access to precision machining components or to the kind of software that actually allows you to use your equipment, you can’t afford not to take the best possible care of your equipment. If you do, then you’re basically counting down the clock until something goes catastrophically wrong.
Space
It shouldn’t really come as much of a surprise but, if you want to start manufacturing things in-house, you’re going to need the space to do it. If you’ve currently been working out of a relatively small office, then the shift towards the need for something like a warehouse can be pretty jarring. However, it’s important to remember that you’re investing the money that you spend on a larger premises in the potential that your business has to grow and become even more successful. Again, it’s incredibly important that you consider your budget as carefully as possible. The last thing you want is to put a great deal of money into new premises with an attached warehouse, only to find that you’re using up all of the potential profits on trying to pay everything off. Again, if it seems as though taking on the manufacturing of your product is going to limit your business, it might not be worth it to try just yet.
Know how
The truth is that no equipment is ever going to be worth it if you or your employees don’t know how to use it. The key is to make sure that you’re as qualified as possible to really make the most of the manufacturing equipment that you have. Luckily there are plenty of things like supply chain management online programs out there that can give you all of the expertise that you really need. That way you can be sure that you and your manufacturing equipment are always working together.
It’s important not to go too far when it comes to pushing your business in this kind of direction. Become more and more self-sustaining and independent is great but if you push your business too hard to expand, then you run the risk of the whole things collapsing under its own weight. Sustainable growth can be a challenge, but it’s too important to ignore.
This post is contributed by Jason Dirkham
