Saving American Manufacturing
Those of you familiar with Mike Collins first book The manufacturers Guide to Business Marketing know he s the real thing he s been there and done it not just another consultant trying to sell books. Beyond this, however, his new book is a well-reasoned treatise on the state of manufacturing in the U.S., ranging from manufacturers own failure to embrace good business practices taught in business schools, such as having insights into costs and margins, customers, markets, and competitors, to the U.S. educational system s failure to teach the 3 r s, and to the federal government s liberal trade policies and lack of tax and industrial policies to not only sustain domestic manufacturing but to motivate innovation as well.Rather than offering recommendations to over come these systemic issues, Collins has focused his energy like a laser solely on the manufacturers that s it s really up to them to take matters into their own hands by getting back to basics costs and margins, customers, markets, and competitors by focusing on the right customers, products, and markets that will most benefit their income statement and balance sheets.His book presents numerous back of the envelope examples and exercises showing how a manufacturer, mostly with information and data already within the company, can identify its most valuable customers MVCs that represent the core business opportunities for value, profit, and cash flow and how the business can find more new customers like the MVCs. When a manufacture does this, it becomes a target marketer that operates for profit not just sales volume. --Charles France - Manager of Strategic Services- Enterprize Innovation Institute.Mike Collins latest book, Saving American Manufacturing is an outstanding and exciting offering from America s foremost authority on the competitiveness of our nation s small and medium-sized manufacturing companies. The book not only provides well-developed insights and theories on competitivenss and globalization, but also provides a detailed strategic plan for focusing an organization on establishing the proper course for survival and growth.This book is an invaluable summary of competitive dynamics, interpretation of future trends in business, and a guidebook for how to ensure organizational success in the new economy. Everyone working for a small or medium-sized manufacturer should read this book and discuss the ideas presented within its pages. It is by far the best offering ever on the topic. Outstanding, insightful, informative, and useful in every way. --Yurij WowczukWhen the student is ready, the master will appear.Mike Collins has put together an exceptional book on industrial manufacturing that is must reading for any one owning or managing a industrial company of less than 500 employees.If your idea of manufacturing is the products you see at Wal-Mart, and/or if your idea of tooling is screwdrivers, pliers and a crescent wrench, this is not the book of you.This is the book for small to medium manufacturers (25 to 500 employees) that make the industrial parts (tooling) that go in the machines that make the OEM products. The book is written in the mode of This is what we did and This is the why we did it .The introduction gives a short history of how we got here (as a country) and the two questions that industry asked itself after the oil shock of 1973. The questions asked were: 1. Why do we really need these big, oily, expensive chunks of iron on the floor? And2. Why do we need the army of unionized labor that swarms over the machines to keep them running? Isn t there a simpler and cheaper way to do this?The rest is history.If you own an industrial manufacturing firm, this is the book you need on your nightstand. It provides proven techniques for identifying, analyzing, and fixing modern business problems. For those people with more urgent needs, like staying in business or combating a particularly aggressive competitor, there is a section on Growth Planning and Turnarounds. It is particularly beneficial to pay attention to the Quad Planning tool..Written by someone who has been there, done that, and has the scars to prove it. This is must reading for any small manufacturer wishing to grow their business in the future. --Louis Peck