We celebrate...

By Gary Weldon (Staub Manufacturing Solutions)

Not a historic happening.

Not a past president or a prominent figure.

Not an expression of faith or political milestone.

No, this one is for...

You who labor daily with little kudos or fanfare, providing for your needs and the needs of others with the strength of your mind and skill of your hands, quietly doing what you do well, strengthening our economy, making this nation great and leading the world in productivity.

Yes, this celebration is for You... the American Worker.

Relax, Enjoy. You deserve it! This is YOUR moment!

Have a great Labor Day!

There is no substitute for hard work. (Thomas Edison)

The man who rolls up his shirt sleeves is rarely in danger of losing his shirt. (Anonymous)

All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence. (Martin Luther King Jr.)

It is appropriate, therefore, that the nation pay tribute on Labor Day to the creator of so much of the nation's strength, freedom, and leadership — the American worker. (U.S. Dept. of Labor)

10 Ways to Know if Your Crystal Ball is Working (Part 2)

By Gary Wygal (FocusCFO)

Is your business vision focused, working? Here are five more ways to make sure your “road less taken” is the road more profitable!

(See the first five ways here)
Perspective- Knowing your business is key….not knowing the rest of its market and the world in which it operates is deadly. How can a business know if its market vision is correct operating in a vacuum? The world is full of commentary, guides and advice on how to manage a business. Read, learn, absorb, and apply! More than ever, external forces influence local operations. A vision without a perspective of the rest of the world is fundamentally flawed. Assignment: A great way to gain perspective is in providing it…joining another firm’s Board pays back in perspective(s) gained through your mentoring process. “That would work at my business too!”…is often the benefit of helping others.

It’s out there- While sales staff can advise how the market views a firm, crafting and executing a vision needs on the streets working knowledge. There is no substitute for direct customer contact. Vision is the process of taking these transaction level experiences and expanding them to a product offering . All too often, the original source and need for the business, the customer, is forgotten in less relevant activities. Warning: Some other firm is getting to know your customers better than you!

10 Ways to Know if Your Crystal Ball is Working (Part 1)

By Gary Wygal (FocusCFO)

Whether you have an informal notion of where you are taking your business or a formal plan based on sound business practices….business vision is subject to distortion from “rose colored glasses”! Plans are not static, they are a continuing process and as such subject to ongoing “forks in the road”…and like Yogi Berra said so well…when we get to one…take it! Which road to take? Is the vision focused, working? Here are TEN ways to make sure “the road less taken” is the road more profitable!

Find Time- Heads down rowing hard is admirable. However, working hard alone won’t get your business to where it can go! Force yourself to find the time to think, calmly, objectively and without the bias of the day’s grind. The long view is the clear view. Symptoms are not the issues….somehow, anyway possible you need to find a way to pull back and see the forest! Observation: The process of finding more time, might lead to delegation of tasks to people who should be doing them anyway…and more time for the rest of your life!

Fundamentals- While every business is unique, certain things hold true in every business. Ignoring basics is a dangerous path to follow. Your product needs to solve a real problem, in a unique manner, cost effectively….and at a profit. Internally, adequate capitalization, policies and procedures must be in place. Avoiding fundamental issues will only delay their inevitability. To-Do: Make a list of these key issues and be sure that your business vision addresses each now….otherwise you will be dealing with them at some future date!

MadeInDaytonBLOG.com Founder Featured In Commercial

By Gary Weldon (Staub Manufacturing Solutions)

The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) recently filmed a TV commercial featuring Steve Staub, President of Staub Manufacturing Solutions and one of the founders of this blog.  The commercial cites the need for less government regulation and interference in the manufacturing industry.  During the spot, Steve speaks about the current climate of manufacturing while the ad shows several statistics about how government regulations have hurt our industry.  If you have not seen the commercial, which is currently airing throughout Ohio, you can watch it here or below.

17 Tips to Maximize Trade Show ROI (Part 2)

By Debbie Wanamaker (B2B Marketing Consultants, LLC)

(Continued from Monday's post)

Trade shows are expensive but they can be a good method to 1) attract new customers, 2) connect with current customers, and 3) grow your business if planned and executed properly.  Using these 17 Tips will put you on the road to success!  

Working the Show

11. Have enough people working the booth that each person can take frequent breaks. This way the people working the booth will always be fresh and motivated.

12. Initiate conversations – talk about the attendee’s needs – you’re there to find solutions to their problems - not to hard sell your product / service.

13. Make your literature available but not necessarily to anyone and everyone. Literature costs money – you want to put it someplace that you can easily hand it to someone you have been talking with or where someone truly interested in your services can access it, but not available to your competitors or every college student who wanders through.

17 Tips to Maximize Trade Show ROI (Part 1)

By Debbie Wanamaker (B2B Marketing Consultants, LLC)

Trade shows are expensive. Add it up:

Trade Show Signup +
Booth Setup (carpet, tables, etc.) +
Booth Design (your company’s) +
Travel / Lodging Costs +
Salary Costs +
Literature / Giveaway Costs

A Whole Bunch of $$$$$

Trade shows can (and should!) bring in more than enough profit, over time, to more than cover their expenses, but for many companies they don’t.

If you are considering participating in a trade show, these 17 tips will help you maximize your return on investment:

To all those who say Manufacturers Don't Need Social Media...

By Gary Weldon (Staub Manufacturing Solutions)

It's true.

You're right!

Yes, there are 150 million business professionals using LinkedIn, 900 million people on Facebook, and 500 million on Twitter. But none of those people are likely to do business with you. All people talk about online is what they had for lunch, anyway.

True, there are 160 million blogs out there. But nobody goes to blogs for up-to-date industry information. They would rather read the newspaper and printed trade magazines. I mean, all manufacturers really need to stay connected these days is a basic website and a good Yellow Pages ad.

Planning is not enough!

By Dave Sullivan (Shamrock Group, Inc.)

It’s a new world and few of us saw it coming. None of us had experienced a global downturn like this before. Businesses stopped functioning effectively and temporary paralysis set in. Unfortunately, two years later, it seems too many businesses are still waiting for the antidote to counteract this paralysis so they can get moving again.

It would be unfair to say nothing is being done. Some businesses are improvising. They are falling back on past practices and experiences to navigate their businesses through these turbulent times – hoping and praying things will get back to normal. This time, that may not be good enough! By definition, improvisation is a stop-gap measure employed until a real solution is found. It helps alleviate short-term pain, but it does not ensure long-term viability or a return to prosperity. It just lets us survive a little longer. That brings me to the point of this article.

Planning is only a stop-gap measure – not a solution.

Experts wanted!

By Steve Staub (Staub Manufacturing Solutions)

Are you an expert at what you do? Do you have the respect of your peers and competitors because of your vast knowledge? Are you willing to share some of that knowledge to the world? Well, MadeInDaytonBLOG.com is looking for people to write articles on their area of expertise (not their company's expertise, but their own).

As part of our goal to help make all of us better business people, we want to run articles on all different types of items and processes affecting our industry. Think of these as sort of  an “Ask The Expert” kind of article, but the experts are writing them!

Remembering the CIG-ROLL-ETT

By Steve Staub (Staub Manufacturing Solutions)

Now, I’m not a smoker, so frankly I don’t quite appreciate the need for this product. To me it looks fairly simple to roll your own cigarettes, but I think that John Kappeler might disagree.

You see on February 3, 1932, Mr. Kappeler (a Daytonian) filed an application with the U.S. Patent office for the CIG-ROLL-ETT, a fancy tool to roll cigarettes. As stated in the patent “The principal object of the invention is the provision of a cigarette roller of simple construction, incorporating means for compressing and rolling the tobacco into cylindrical shape, and for applying a paper to the rolled tobacco.” Apparently the U.S. Patent office agreed with Mr. Kappeler and on September 24, 1935 he was granted patent # 2,015,312.

Are you LinkedIn to manufacturing in Dayton?

By Steve Staub (Staub Manufacturing Solutions)

We are pleased to announce that MadeInDaytonBLOG.com has started a new LinkedIn group - Made in Dayton. We'd love for you to check it out and join!

I’m sure the first question that you're asking is, why, and second, what is the benefit to me? 

Let’s first talk briefly about what MadeInDaytonBLOG.com is (and isn't). It isn't a political party, an association, a government funded group or a Chamber of Commerce. Those things already exist and they are great at what they do. Why should we re-invent the wheel? Instead we are a grassroots movement started to promote the industry by people that are passionate about our region and about the manufacturing industry.

By following MadeInDaytonBLOG.com you can benefit from:

Which one is your favorite?

By Steve Staub and Gary Weldon (Staub Manufacturing Solutions)

It has been eight months now since we launched this blog and we have been thrilled with the response and the support it has received. We have published 101 posts, received hundreds of comments and have had over 32,000 page views.

Thanks so much for helping us get off to a great start!

As you might expect, some of our content has been more popular than others. We thought we’d take a moment today and highlight the Top Ten most-read posts on MadeInDaytonBlog.com.

Let's count them down:

#10 Government Supporting Manufacturing Through Taxation?
This opinion piece sure generated a lot of discussion!

#9 An American Original
Did you know the infamous KitchenAid mixer is still made right here in Greenville, OH?

#8 Halftime in America?
This Superbowl commercial follow-up will really ‘make your day’.