New Year’s Resolutions

I stopped making New Year’s Resolutions some time ago. Like most people, I found myself forgetting about them only a month or two into the new year with the hustle and bustle of running a business and raising a family. Instead, I set goals, short-term and long-term, personal and professional, which I review regularly and especially with the onset of the new year. The way I commit to my goals is to write them down and tell them to someone. That way I can be held accountable. So if you find yourself already forgetting about your New Year’s Resolutions, try setting a couple of goals for yourself and your business. Write them down and tell them to someone. Then seek the resources you require to reach them.

One of our goals as a trade magazine publisher for the plastic shapes industry is to be a resource to help you better compete in the international marketplace. Over the past two months I have spoken with a wide variety of manufacturers, suppliers, distributors and fabricators and across the board the feedback has been fairly positive. One common thread of great concern however is the continued loss of business to China combined with the increasing costs of many raw materials due, in large part, to China’s rapid growth.

Consumers want low prices so companies are forced to consider options. However the continued loss of our domestic manufacturing base and the erosion of our service base is hitting all levels of our industry. With Chinese labor rates of 30 cents an hour and the ability for a chair manufacturer, for example, to have their entire product cut on a CNC router and shipped to the U.S. for assembly for only $25 per unit when it retails for over $400, how can anyone compete? And worst of all it’s a one-way street. The cost to export products to China is high, while we as a country do little to even the playing field. If this syndrome is not directly affecting your business yet, don’t wait for it to happen. Most Americans appear to be apathetic as the lowest price for goods and services is all they seek. This is a dangerous combination and will not be easily reversed. Learn more about this issue, resolve to contact your legislators.

One of the magazine’s goals this year will be to increase coverage of this issue as it relates to our industry. Good luck with your goals for 2005. Let us know if there is anything we can do to help you compete in the global plastic shapes fabrication industry.

Enjoy the issue,