Well,

I know I have been a little absent from my regular blogg writing.  I hope you have enjoyed and been able to use some of the information in the first 6 parts of the discussion on "Soaring Canadian Dollar, Energy Costs And Global Competition; Eating Your Profits? -

Look at the up-ward swing the Canadian dollar took this past week - Unbelievable!!!

I thought I would take a break from the series to discuss the economical recovery from a management consultant's point of view.  Management consulting is one of those fields of employment that is usually first to go when a recession or major economical impact hits - like September the 11, 2001 ("911"). People have a tendency to close their wallets and wait for a sunnier day before they try to improve productivity or efficiencies. Companies cut back on what they see as "Nice-To-Haves" and focus on the "Must-Haves".  In the US the wallets have been hard to open for the last 3 years.

One of the first signs of a recovery is companies exploring the cost to improve productivity and efficiencies; so they can remain globally viable.  Well if the number of requests for quotations coming over my desk and other management consultants desk from US based companies is any indication; I am guessing, the start of the US recovery will come sometime in 2010. Now don't get too excited.  I saw in the re-start after  "911" there was a couple waves of these requests before we actually started to see the recovery.  Also just like the 1990 and "911" recoveries it is looking like the jobs lost in manufacturing during this recovery will not come back quickly.  Companies are looking at ways of producing more "First-Time-Through" quality "widgets" with the same number of employees they currently have.  There is one major change I am seeing with the quotations coming over my desk from the US companies this time.  They are NOT looking at technology to solve their problems.  They are looking at improving Morale and productivity efficiencies through engaging their current employees and trying not to spend a lot on Capital out-lay. This does not hold well for the machinery OEM sector.

So as a Canadian manufacturing company, have you started to look at ways to improve productivity so you can compete in the global economy?   I would strongly suggest you start thinking now about ways to improve.  Get some ideas, pricing, time-frame for implementation and energy involved for a sustainable improvement that will improve your organizations chances of successfully competing in the global economy.  Now is the time to be looking to the future!

Note: The information contained in this blogg is the opinion of the author and is intended for discussion purposes only.