How U.S. Manufacturers Can Compete Globally

The economic recession has hit a lot of businesses hard. This is certainly true in the manufacturing industry. Factories that produce products for many different industries have started to cut back their employee’s hours or shut down entirely. They simply can’t stay afloat during a time when people aren’t buying as many of their products as they used to. This is made more difficult by the fact that manufacturers in other countries can offer products at a much cheaper rate than U.S. manufacturers can. Luckily there are some things that manufacturers in America can do to reduce the problem and there are several other groups of people who can help.

People Are Looking For Deals Right Now

The biggest problem is that the economy is forcing everyone to try to get the best deal. Businesses that might have previously been willing to pay a few extra pennies to work with an American manufacturer are now looking at getting their products from developing nations in order to save some money during these tough times. This makes it difficult for American manufacturers to stay in business since they’re losing their customers to places that can afford to keep their costs lower than U.S. businesses can.

What U.S. Manufacturers Can Do About This

There are a few key things that manufacturers in the United States can do to try to compete with global businesses during this time. Those things include:

• Keep costs as low as possible. To do this, it is important for the business to review the different ways that it can keep costs down. The American business doesn’t simply have to cut back on labor costs. It also has to look at all of the different ways to reduce the cost of supplies and shipping and to keep prices low for consumers. This may include using non-traditional methods of shipping (such as ports to ship by boat instead of air shipping with planes) to reduce total expenditures by the company. It may even include taking a hit on profits to pass on a deal to customers. This isn’t an easy decision to make but if it keeps the customers coming back then it might be worth it during the recession.

• Encourage customer loyalty. A key thing that manufacturers must do right now is to develop and grow the relationships they have with customers. Customers that feel a connection to the business will feel a sense of loyalty to help them stay in business during these tough times. Customer loyalty can be encouraged through offering deals to repeat customers, providing incentives to customers who bring you new business and working to add that extra personal touch when dealing with customer service and / or tech support issues.

• Promote the fact that you’re an American business. A lot of people just aren’t thinking right now about the value of supporting the American economy. Instead, they are thinking about their own savings accounts and how to get the best deal. That’s why outsourcing is popular with people. If you promote the fact that you are a U.S. manufacturer then you can help to remind people of why it’s important that they support local businesses. There are a lot of good reasons to buy American; you just have to remind people of what those reasons are.

• Specialize in a certain area of manufacturing. The main advantage that developing nations have in the manufacturing business is their low cost of labor. The main advantage that we have in the United States is the ability to produce machinery and products that are highly specific to certain industries (such as the medical industry) and which may require a higher standard of construction than other products do. Manufacturers in America that make at least part of their business off of this type of specialization will be able to compete better than those businesses which don’t do so.

• Stay flexible. Overall, it’s just really important for manufacturing businesses today to stay flexible about how they’re going to keep costs down and keep customers interested in working with them. Creative solutions are going to be the ones that actually produce results so engaging in out-of-the-box thinking is important.

What Else Would Help

Manufacturers can do a lot of things to help level the playing field so that they can compete in the global manufacturing industry. However, it would help a lot if they got help from these three key areas:

• Government. If the government offered incentives and assistance to American manufacturers during these tough times then it would be possible for these businesses to stay active. This is useful to the nation since it keeps workers employed; unemployment rates are already far higher than they ought to be!

• Other small businesses. Businesses need to support one another in the effort to keep work in the United States. Manufacturers work with distributors, suppliers and merchandise retailers. If these people make an effort to continue working with American manufacturers in spite of some of the financial benefits of working with manufacturers in developing nations then everyone will be able to weather the storm a little bit better.

• Consumers. Consumers have to do their part to try to purchase products that are made by U.S.-based manufacturers. This allows those retailers and other small businesses to stay motivated to keep working with American manufacturers.

In other words, it’s everyone’s responsibility to do their part if we have a concern about keeping manufacturing jobs available to people in the United States.