Six Steps To Make Your In-plant 
Financially Fit

To earn a "Buy" rating, your in-plant must score well in the following six areas:

1. Strong Financial Contribution

This is the foundation of any in-plant. Since in-plants are typically cost centers, management should view the "financial contribution" as cash savings—15 percent is a minimum, but ideally a 25-30 percent savings is expected. In the past several months I have seen a number of in-plants that are generating contributions of 30 percent and higher. Another important consideration is that continued savings (or growth in financial contribution to management) is in jeopardy if your supervisors don't understand the contribution you deliver, then make strategic decisions that adversely affect the in-plant. To earn a "Buy" recommendation, your contribution must be seen as growing. It most likely is based on your providing higher value-added services and high-quality work below market cost.