Horizon-Gazing: A Goal for 2000.

With this issue now in your hands, I guess we can both proudly say that we survived the momentous turning of the 2000 clock. But just in case this finds you reading by candlelight, I'll get to the point.

A lot of questions abound for 2000, including varying pictures drawn up by forecasters. But most any job shop whose memory is only as short as the past several years (remember, the last 7 years all exceeded what we entered the 1990s with) is bound to feel a softening. And as a result, some plants may quickly start exercising the tightening of the belt.

modern casting has shared resolutions on this page over the years, but this time we do so in the new year, since a lot of promises made over champagne toasts are often forgotten by the time the head clears. If some of you in certain market sectors begin to see your mold lines working a little slower and are pondering your next step, listed below are a few things to keep in mind. Each activity might put you farther ahead in the long-term than reacting with a quick scurry for a couple of low-margin jobs, payroll trimming, or the other ways that slows in demand have traditionally been dealt with.

* Participate in matters critical to your future, like the OSHA proposed silica permissible exposure limit. Don't thinksomeone else will fight the battle for you. Participate in studies to share current performance and the future economic impact of Beltway initiatives. We're sometimes lucky to get even one shot to state our case--and it needs to be done right.

* Stomp out that mantra of "it's always been done this way." Change is taking place everywhere and no person, department or thing should be afforded untouchable status as a result of past methods.

* Budget in some "tinker-and-trial" time. You know that technical service rep's plea to let him tackle that irritating quality problem with a newer product or technique? Or that stack of other proposals you've been too busy to evaluate or trial? Your competitors may be finding the time to give such new developments a look.

* Determine which of your people are worthy of building around, and do an inventory of their training needs to strategically plan their growth. By utilizing relaxed times for long-overdue training, you can come out with a talented and prepared team capable of more than would be possible had business continue to roll.

* And then, put that investment and your employees' fresh perspectives to work by encouraging them to stretch their wings. Seeing this progression is important to employees, customers and tomorrow's potential foundry buyer.

* Put together market, production and continuous improvement plans like never before. Analyze where your plant should be in 3, 5 and 10 years, and set the milestones that must be reached to get you there.

* Deliver the service that your customers expect. Study their current and future needs and how you can help them be successful, rather than zeroing in only on that next order. Enlist your sales team to be market developers rather than closers, and your entire foundry to be problem-solvers rather than solely the executor of predrawn plans.

* Hold fast to your profitability needs. Avoid perpetuating OEMs' commodity mindset, especially if things tighten. Just this week I heard of an entire family of patterns (cast for years at a well-known foundry) being opened forbid. The foundry, in viewing the "opportunity cost" of the jobs on its machines, told the OEM it didn't wish to do the work at the required lower price and instead suggested other foundries for which the work was a better fit. A tough stance to have to take, but, as the foundry realized, the best for the long-term.

* Know all your costs. Understand how all those "touches" on the floor are, in effect, taping dollar bills to castings as they're shipped. A detailed cost analysis will red-flag those self-imposed non-value-added activities-those things your customers wouldn't consider essential to producing their castings.

* Involve your whole shop in business dynamics. For one, help them understand the domino effects of global competition and how it is affecting your customers and your plant. When everyone understands the "whys" behind the urgency, together you can stretch the plant to put it a step closer to where it needs to be.

* Be fiscally responsible, but in a prioritized, "eye-on-tomorrow" manner. Slashing for the quick fix will require digging out later. There's a lot of savings to be had simply be revisiting practices prior to the "fat, dumb and happy days" some have grown accustomed to.

Michael J. Lessiter

The theme here is simple: don't allow yourself to be held to short-term thinking, even if you begin to feel some heat over the next year or two. We still see foundries working to correct some of the self-induced problems that thinking for the short-term brought in the early '90s. While the short-term commands your immediate attention, your response should be weighed for its future impact. Plus, marketers are calling foryet another peak cycle for 2004. You can't be ready then if you don't continue to invest in your operation to keep raising the bar for it today.

Editor/Publisher