Investing for the
Future
Paul Morette, Sharp Tool
H
as
the economy turned the corner? We would like to think so.
Is the job market better? I'll get back to you on that one!
Investing in new machinery, products and other opportunities is your most
important tool in staying ahead of the competition. Over the past several years,
we put a great deal of thought into how we are going to invest. We ask
ourselves: What do we invest in? How do we invest our time and money? What are
the risks and rewards?
As I brainstormed on how I was going to write this article, the thought of Ralph
Kramden ( Jackie Gleason ) from the Honeymooners came to mind. He was constantly
developing hair brain schemes about how to get rich quick. He would rush home to
tell Alice his latest idea, only to have Alice ( the voice of reason ) tell him
how dumb it really was.
What I am trying to get across is that Ralph kept plugging away, dreaming about
how to make the future better. Although his ideas were sometimes idiotic, his
heart was always in the right place.
We all want a better future. How do we invest in such a rough economic climate?
In my opinion, the condition of our industry should have no bearing on your
desire to improve your company. Does it limit the amount of resources you can
put into machinery, product etc? Of course it does. However, you cannot sit back
and use this as an excuse. You must find other ways to invest, whether it’s
going after new customers more aggressively or exploring new markets. Investing
for the future is more important now than ever. But how does one go about it?
Like Ralph Kramden, you always have to start with the glass half full. You’re
actions, thoughts and decisions should always be backed by your optimistic
attitude about the future. Developing an optimistic outlook will allow you to
approach situations in a certain manner. You’ll no longer have tunnel vision,
which once stalled your decision-making capability. A pessimistic outlook about
the economy or our industry will do nothing but hurt your operation. Bottom line
is that you must move forward, regardless of the economic conditions.
Part of moving forward is investing in new equipment to make your operation
more competitive. Whether its eliminating labor costs or simply producing a
better product, new equipment can separate you from your competitors. However,
this can be a very difficult decision.
I am a firm believer in one simple philosophy: you have to
spend money to make money. Staying idle is not an option. If you are
idle, you are taking steps backwards. Now is the time to take risks and gain that competitive edge.
Over the past several years, Sharp Tool has invested over a million dollars in
new equipment. This is all in an effort to provide our customers with a better
product at a cheaper price. We have invested in new pretinning machines,
brazing machines and grinding machines. All of the machines mentioned above have
automatic loaders.
We installed new Face, Top and Side Grinding Machines with automatic loaders
to improve our saw manufacturing capabilities. Other than setup time and the
occasional reloading, we run the machines non-stop. They handle all of our new
saw orders, as well as several of our large service customers. Prior to the
automatic loaders, we were limited on how much work we could do in a given week.
Having the automatic grinders have allowed us to pick up several new crucial
customers. In the end, the machines eliminate labor, cut costs and produce a
sharper blade.
We have also purchased a new brazing machine that also does the pretinning of
saw tips. The machine has a wide rage of capabilities and helps us handle the
large volume of strob saws we manufacture. Nearly as important, it helps us with
our increasing demand for pretinning.
With our sales of saw tips and related carbide items increasing dramatically,
we had no choice but to find another way to pretin. This has led us to purchase
two more robotic machines (Due to be delivered in
October) that will just do pretinning. This machines are extremely fast and cost
efficient. We not only expect them to cut down labor costs, it will be more
efficient with silver consumption. As many of can relate, looking over that
silver bill every week/month can be heart breaking.
As I explained before, staying idle is not an option. You must move forward
and find ways to improve your company. Staying positive and not being
intimidated by the current conditions in our industry is imperative. Since 2008,
we have seen our industry take a nosedive. This is your chance to grab that
competitive edge on your competition.
What will you do? Sink or swim?
You can contact Paul at
800 221 5452
or paul@sharptool.com
