Sales, Costs, & Personnel Top Problems

John Wolz

What were your company�s biggest problems during 2003?
No single problem dominated the list of top company problems in the FIN Survey, after “sales” became the chief complaint in 2002.
Sales continued to be a problem for some FIN Survey participants, who blamed their woes on “lack of sales,” “lack of business,” “lower sales,” “reduced sales,” “sales price per pound,” “sales, topline,” “low dollar value per order,” “slow sales,” “growth” and “weak sales.”
Sales problems also resonated in marketplace comments, such as “depressed market,” “economy,” “low demand,” “slow manufacturing” and “weak construction market.”
“China” and “Asia” were a top problem for some, with a few participants listing “Asian prices,” “China” and “Customers moving operations to China” as chief concerns. Other versions included “imports” and “importer prices.”
Others reported personnel issues as topping their list of concerns. Versions included “employees,” “finding salesman,” “people,” “qualified people,” “quality of applicants” and “staffing.” Personnel issues dominated the list of top company problems in the FIN Survey for several years.
Survey responses ranged from humorous (“idiot competition giving away the farm”) to helpless (“OEMs taking their business to China”).
Cost was another major problem for many. Participants reported problems with “decreasing margins,” “electricity increase,” “transportation costs,” “fast-rising prices,” “gross profit,” “health care,” “health costs,” “health insurance,” “medical costs,” “price increases,” “plating costs,” “cost-cutting attempts by customers,” “profitability” and “profits.”
Price of steel was another big problem. Some listed “increased steel prices,” “steel costs,” “stainless cost increase” and “steel delivery” as concerns.
Overall raw material issues also ranked high, with variations including “delivery,” “late shipments from suppliers,” “material,” “material cost increases,” “raw material prices” and “short of materials.”
A sampling of other problems includes: “cash flow,” “competition,” “customer bankruptcy, “customer demands,” “customer finances,” “customer loyalty,” “delivery,” “getting parts,” “inventory,” “manufacturing plants closing and reducing production,” “restructuring,” “transactions per day down 40%” and “warehouse.” \ �2004 FastenerNews.com