This fall we saw that Hurricanes and Nor’Easters can strike at any time leaving devastation behind.  When Mother Nature shuts down your manufacturing facility, how do you get things up and running again?  Are you prepared to maintain business continuity and mitigate damage? Some of the critical steps are outlined below. Find the full article on our website.

How to quickly react after a storm and how to prepare for the impact:

• Assess and document the damages for insurance claims.
• Evaluate the impact of the storm on your supply chain.
• Evaluate the impact of the storm on facilities and how that impacts ability to  fulfill product demand.
• Immediately begin the rapid response planning for physical transfer to alternate production sites.
• Address the contingency planning to maintain or ramp up production capacity with reduced employee availability or a spike in demand.
• Facilitate the temporary transfer of production to other contract manufacturers.
• Evaluate the emergency preparedness of your facility.

Advanced planning is critical to both avoid and survive the aftermath of powerful storms or ever worse,  natural disasters.  Before your manufacturing company faces disaster, ask yourself…“Have we developed and implemented business continuity and damage mitigation plans?”

Would you like to bring your manufacturing back to North America?  The costs for Asian manufactured products have risen 15% to 20% in the last four years, and are projected to continue to rise.  Some estimate that China’s labor rates will be increasing at 20% per year for the next few years and China is under pressure to revalue their currency.  Many companies continue to be impacted by poor quality and communications, slow or late shipments, high transportation costs and higher inventory – all resulting in higher total cost of ownership.

Today, the same automation in China is as cost effective in the US.  Not only can you save on the cost of traveling to China – valuable time and money – you benefit from other protections such as leakage of valuable IP.

Kevin Kennedy Associates can help you identify the right suppliers.  If you want to begin your own manufacturing, we can provide the expertise you need to develop the facilities, the production processes, the quality systems, and the business processes for almost any type of manufacturing operation.  Some of the specific tasks include:

• Build new or refurbish an existing facility
• Develop the production line, overseeing the selection, installation, and startup of all equipment
• Develop the business infrastructure / operations support services including such areas as order management, production planning/scheduling, purchasing, inventory management, quality assurance, packaging, shipping, and your ERP system
• Establish your local supply chain
• Redesign your products for more effective manufacture
• Manage the overall program to ensure that change efforts deliver the desired results

You can reclaim “Made in America” on your labels and in your advertising.  We can help you define your ability to meet the FTC’s standard.  Call us at 866.371.4988 to let us demonstrate how our experts truly offer a value-added service.