What To Look Out For When Starting A Manufacturing Business

Posted on Sep 15 2016 - 5:19pm by Editorial Staff

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Image Source – Pixabay

The complexity of starting a manufacturing business should not be underestimated. There are several factors that people forget to consider here. Here are a few of the things you need to be careful about when developing a manufacturing startup.

Getting taken seriously

When you start up here, you’re going to be a very little fish in an ocean filled with humongous carnivores. This can be said for many types of industry, of course. But in manufacturing, you need to take extra care. With so many big manufacturers out there, it will be tough for potential clients to take you seriously.

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Image Source – Pixabay

This is why you need to put an emphasis on standing out from the crowd despite your size. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t ensure you have all the hardcore manufacturing resources you can get. But you’re going to need to wow potential clients with some innovative approaches.

Adjusting expectations

Of course, you need to be careful about the kinds of clients you’re aiming for in the first place. There are companies out there who want to work with manufacturers but have the money and prestige to work with bigger fish. Basically, you’re not going to be landing million-dollar contracts right out of the gate.

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Image Source – Pixabay

A lot of the clients will work with you because they don’t have the resources to work with a more famed company. It might sound harsh, but it’s the truth. Still, that doesn’t the client will start working with a new manufacturer once you help them grow. If you work very well together and you do quality work punctually, they may continue to contract you to do work in the future.

Getting the right resources

Manufacturing takes a lot of resources. How much you can get will depend on the capital you have, which we’ll look into a bit later. I’m not talking about monetary resources for now. I’m talking about the variety of tools and materials you’re going to have at your disposal.

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Image Source – Pixabay

There may be perfect planning and detailed specifications from the client. But there’s always going to be new requirements. Changes to design during the manufacturing process are frequent. This goes double if you’re helping a client develop a prototype. You need to know exactly who to turn to when it’s time to buy new materials. This helps you develop a network of resources and suppliers. Finding a place to buy aluminum drops, or machinery, or sustainably-sourced wood… Whatever you’re working with, this sort of thing is important.

Money worries

Of course, before you can get started, you need to get money. Acquiring capital is tricky regardless of what business you’re in. It’s not only because convincing investors to help you out with capital is, in itself, a challenge. It’s because you need to be careful about who’s investing.

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Image Source – Flickr

Your best bet is to look into investment methods that will see limited involvement from the investor in question. Business decisions in this field are best left to you. Manufacturing is a sensitive business, and if an investor wants to start calling some shots they could make severe mistakes. Either look into limited investor involvement, or work with investors with strong manufacturing knowledge.

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Editorial Staff at I2Mag is a team of subject experts.