Prepare your metal fabricating business for the future

A metal fabricating business can't predict the future, but it can take steps to make it more prepared for the uncertainty that awaits. Getty Images

Let’s review the past 18 months of business:

1. A new year means new opportunities, and 2020 starts off on a good note.
2. In the late winter, word starts trickling out about a pandemic that has the potential to overrun hospitals and bring down the medical system.
3. By spring 2020 we all know about the coronavirus, and shutdowns start as elected and health officials try to contain the virus. Layoffs occur, and manufacturers keep skeletal staffs as most of the economy grinds to a halt.
4. By late spring, manufacturers get back to business as many of them are deemed essential businesses.
5. Summer means more people can go outdoors, where the COVID-19 virus isn’t transmitted as easily. In the meantime, manufacturers have figured out how to work safely, and business continues to rebound.
6. In late 2020 metals prices start their historic climb. Manufacturer struggle to find workers as business continues to strengthen.
7. In spring 2021 vaccines become available. People are re-entering society. Government funds are injected into the market. Supply chains can’t keep up with demand for products. Metals prices keep rising, making quoting difficult for metal fabricators and postponing some projects.
8. As of this summer, supply chains continue to be stretched, and now shortages are common. For example, the automotive industry can’t get key electronic parts. Some metal fabricators even report difficulties in getting raw materials.

It’s been quite a ride, but the surprises aren’t going to end there. Metals prices won’t recede dramatically until possibly 2022, and supply chains remain in flux as multinational manufacturing companies wait to see the official end of the pandemic. Change is a constant, but it is rarely this tumultuous.

Information really is a company’s main weapon in combatting these uncertain times. Access to real-time data gives an organization the ability to take immediate action—not wait to see how things turn out. This type of responsiveness helps to keep customers satisfied and profits up.

Aptean, a developer of enterprise resource planning software for metal manufacturers, calls access to this type of real-time information one of the ways to make a fab shop “future-ready.” Timely and smart business decisions help companies remain agile when responding to ever-changing market dynamics.

Andy Pickard, a senior solutions consultant with Aptean, will discuss four steps every manufacturing business should take to prepare for the critical challenges to come in a webcast on Aug. 17 at 10 a.m. ET. If you’d like to register for “How to future-ready your manufacturing business,” visit here.

A metal fabricating company can’t predict the future, but it can learn how to best position itself to take on the unknowns.