Manufacturing companies are seeking relief from a trifecta of pain: high tariffs, Customs delays and Covid-19 fallout. Due to the irritation of paying a 5-25% premium (tariff) for parts & products, and then being forced to wait through customs-related shipping delays, U.S. Manufacturers were already trying to manage their threshold of pain. Then along came Covid-19. Ouch!

Even in the most disinfected industrial workplaces, factory and front office workers have succumbed to the infamous positive test, followed by an instant directive to go home, quarantine and recover. Many employees infected with the virus are unable to return to work for several weeks, and sometimes months. So, what happens to the products your customers are expecting? Yep, you guessed it. Delays. And more delays.

Enter Manufacturing Services. (Almost) instant relief may be just around the corner. By turning to a reliable partner, companies can outsource everything from Product Design, Complex Assembly, Precision Metal Fabrication, Equipment Integration and Co-Manufacturing or Virtual Manufacturing. This allows manufacturers to focus on their core competencies and activity around growing & retaining business. The main advantages of partnering with a Manufacturing Services firm include:

• Scalability – adapt quickly to increased demand.
• Obtain new customers that require high quality, Class 1 certifications (i.e., ISO9001 & AS9100).
• Access engineering or re-engineering services and expand creative capacity.
• Maintain business continuity when times feel uncertain.

As it turns out, one of the best kept secrets to surviving this pandemic may just be your neighbor. Often overlooked in the race to better/faster/cheaper is a local partner. The lure of ultra-cheap labor and/or parts in foreign countries has proven to be costly, and now the pandemic “icing on the cake” has brought many companies to revise their strategy playbook. When was the last time you drove around the block to take inventory of nearby companies? Do you know them, and do they know you? More importantly, do you understand their capabilities and they, yours?

In the classic fable, Acres of Diamonds, Russell Cromwell tells the story of an African farmer who sold his farm to seek riches in other nations, only to throw himself into a river and drown. The man who bought his farm located a large diamond on the property. The moral of the story? Check your back yard thoroughly before you seek treasure in distant lands.

At ATRON Group, we have discovered a real-world solution that may work for your team, as well.  Take up Diamond-Mining as described in this Nightingale-Conant article: Click Here. Create your own set of questions and seek answers that will carry your company beyond the Covid-19 crisis.  What does the so-called New Reality look like for your organization?  The answer to that question will become your very own success formula.

Moral of this blog? The grass always has been greener on your side of the fence.  Your job is to find out why.

For more information contact the author, Lori Ward at [email protected] or (214) 292-9840 ext. 127