Regardless of whether you are just starting out or have been running your manufacturing business from your garage, there are some areas that you are going to need to look into either at the start or as your business outgrows your current location, and knowing your financial circumstances before you carry out any of the steps below is paramount.
The Perfect Premises
You will need to look for your perfect premises. This means obtaining somewhere that will house your manufacturing business now at the start and give you room to grow without leaving too much empty space initially.
You will also have to work out how much storage area you will need for your warehouse and where your employees will be able to park their vehicles as well where you are going to store any company vehicles that you may have or feel that you are likely to have in the near future.
Although some people will say that zip code is everything, when you are just starting out, you are going to want to watch your finances closely. Remember, the more desirable the zip code, the more pricy the rent will be.
Equipment and Machinery
You must get all the machinery and equipment that you will require to run your business and perform the tasks that are going to require. Buying these items from new can be excruciatingly expensive and may very well cripple your business financially. Luckily there are plenty of places where you can purchase second-hand or refurbished equipment and machinery or even hire out machinery such as those needed in a warehouse environment.
When you have the machinery your business needs, you must invest in the right products to use with them in order for you to get the most out of the machines and have them working properly for you. For instance, if you have a baler on site, you must get the correct baling wire for the job in hand as well as for the baler itself. There is a wide variety of balers available on the market, and they do not do exactly the same or even are suitable to work with all products, and this goes for the baler wire that should be used with them.
Skilled Operatives
Although you may feel that there is a big saving in hiring unskilled workers (which inevitably there is), having a team of skilled operatives from the start will save you time and money when it comes to training them and should there be any production issues arising while your business is settling into its new surroundings.
This is because skilled operatives will already have an understanding of the task that you want them to carry out and will therefore be able to highlight any issues before a project gets too far into production, whereas an unskilled operative is more than likely not to notice any faults and more likely just to carry on with the job unwittingly leaving any mistakes or issues for another member of the team to find.