Stepping Up During Tough Times
Consider Insourcing or Outsourcing. Insourcing involves bringing in work from another company or organization. If you have a well managed operation and have available capacity, bringing in external work can leverage your assets and provide a means to subsidize your costs.
An alternative to consider is outsourcing. Ask the following questions: Do we have a high-quality, low-cost in-plant? Is our company committed to the in-plant and keeping up with best practices and industry trends? Is our company willing to invest in vintage replacement of equipment? If your answer is "yes" to all these questions, then keeping the in-plant is likely the best option. But if you have any "no" answers, outsourcing the operation to a vendor or another in-plant may be the best choice.
Wes Friesen is a proven leader and developer of high performing teams and has extensive experience in both the corporate and non-profit worlds. A former in-plant manager, he is also an award-winning university instructor and speaker, and is the president of Solomon Training and Development, which provides leadership, management and team building training. His book, Your Team Can Soar! contains 42 valuable lessons that will inspire you, and give you practical pointers to help you—and your team—soar to new heights of performance. Your Team Can Soar! can be ordered from Xulonpress.com/bookstore or wesfriesen.com. Wes can be contacted at wesmfriesen@gmail.com.
