Small business learning advantage

A small business environment gives an owner the benefit of having to look at projects on a department by department basis. Each step in the manufacturing process is looked at with the eye of how it affects subsequent steps. An example is an extra minute of time in one department can save ten minutes in the next. An example of this is wooden boxes manufactured by DMI for a customer. On the first run of boxes, the concentration was on the speed of cnc machining. The resulting boxes needed far too much sanding taking any chance of profit out of the equation. The solution was to trade a few extra minutes in the machining process for a machined box that needed minimal time in sanding. Work smart, not hard. It gives the owner a chance to look at the skill level required to accomplish each step and work towards cutting the skill level. In many cases, a reduction in skill level results in a reduction of mistakes. A case in point was speeding up the finishing process by brushing the sealer coat on the boxes as opposed to the skilled finish sprayer applying both sealer and topcoat. The skill level for brushing finishes is much lower than the spraying of finish.