Bottom Lines

I spent about 15 years working in manufacturing plants so I got a firsthand appreciation for what it takes to work in operations and the impact that it has on the bottom line for a typical consumer products company. There are endless opportunities to reduce costs and improve productivity and the companies that succeed do this continually.

I was reminded of this once again when I talked with an adhesive manufacturer at ICE USA. This company was bringing out a line of laminating adhesives that it said could increase filling line speeds and reduce working capital. These are both significant opportunities to improve operating expenses. The idea is that a faster curing adhesive would allow pouching and filling operations to occur sooner, so that less work-in-process would have to be held before the next processing step (a definite plus for Lean Manufacturing 101).

I don't know if this adhesive cost more, but even if it did, it could easily pay for itself when all manufacturing and logistics concerns were considered. I had a flashback to my days working with procurement folks. These people don't take real kindly to a salesperson coming in with higher priced materials—the procurement function is typically measured on its ability to reduce acquisition price. Because of this, I really appreciated procurement types who understood the big picture and made decisions accordingly. Because, on the flip side of this, materials that might be acquired at a reduced price could actually hurt the bottom line when the same factors (manufacturing line productivity, quality, and logistics) are thrown into the mix.