Production Protection Plan
Updated: Jun 25, 2023
Interest rates are scheduled to be raised again, and companies face further economic downturns this year due to demand destruction.
I recently presented a well-received RMX Network webinar about increasing Profitability through Productivity in the wide-format printing industry. One of the things I emphasized was having a “production protection plan” in place before disaster strikes.
What caught my eye was this prescient article by Walter Frick, published by hbr.org in May-June 2019, almost a full year before the 2020 pandemic panic shutdown. Frick writes that research showed that in previous downturns, “…the top 10% of companies studied didn’t merely survive; their earnings climbed steadily throughout the downturn and continued to rise afterward.”
Frick explains that “Among the companies that stagnated in the aftermath of the Great Recession, few had made contingency plans, according to the Bain report.”
Having a “production protection plan” will mitigate the effects when disaster strikes. An unexpected supply-chain breakdown could jeopardize a large-capacity project. A trusted trade backup will be critical if you suddenly cannot get the media needed to complete the project. Similarly, when your most-used press decides it’s time for an “unscheduled maintenance event,” pivoting quickly will save the day and the client’s trust.
Considering no two downturns are the same, which “production protection plans” make sense in 2023?
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