The Blessings of Destruction " The Missing"

" The Missing"

A hoodlum tosses a brick through the window of a baker's shop. A crowd gathers and stares at the gaping hole left in the shattered glass window. Now the baker must pay the glazier $500 for a new window. Some of the "philosophicall-inclined" begin to muse: "Perhaps this isn't a proble, after all. Without this vandalism, the glazier wouldn't be getting $500 and the people he, in turn, pays for services, wouldn't be seeing more work." The crowd concludes the vandal really has unwittingly contributed to society. The glazier now has employment from the baker's broken glass window - as do all those he patronized from his $500 gain. Let's take another look. The problem in business is so often we don't see "the missing." In this instance, the crowd concluded the vandal act produced business and stimulated the local economy. But did it? Their conclusions missed something. The baker is out $500. Now, he doesn't have the means to acquire that new desk he needed. His loss is also the furniture store's loss. And the furniture owner can't get the new gift for his wife. Those economic transactions were missed by the crowd precisely because they never happened. They only concluded from what they saw. There was gain for the glazier - but loss for the baker. The economy has not benefited overall. Contract Manufacturing: Same Old Lesson for All of Us I am always amazed when I go into manufacturing businesses that need a variety of chemical solutions. Customizing solutions for fluids problems is what contract manufacturing is all about (for industrial manufacturing coolants, rust inhibitors, industrial cleaners, vibratory compounds, and other fluids). Industrial manufacturers face a myriad of problems which can easily be overcome (in most cases): -foaming -malodors throughout the plant, -skin problems (dermatitis) caused by additives, -sludge buildup, -contamination from additives -downtime for cleaning machines (sludge buildup), -rejects from sales which were contaminated (which never should have happened to begin with) If the problems can be overcome for industrial manufacturers, why aren't solutions offered to them by the very ones who should know: corporate contract manufacturers? Two reasons: 1) Industrial manufacturing clients who need customized solutions (contract manufacturing, also called toll blending, contract blending) aren't given many options and are left believing these problems are permanent - they come with industrial manufacturing. 2) Large contract manufacturing corporations have high overhead to account for. To pay for that, they must offer short term solutions so that they can generate multiple sales to each industrial manufacturing client, who comes back for more and more of same. I have seen this time and again. Contract manufacturing customizes solutions for these problems. But, all too often the contract manufacturers don't want longevity for their clients; they want short term solutions for which the industrial manufacturer must come back soon. Worse, I have actually been told this by reps of some large corporate contract manufacturing providers (off the record, of course). But, I really didn't need anyone to tell me. You see, these problems have solutions the large corporations could easily find for themselves. But they don't. Such solutions provide longevity for clients. That in turn would mean less sales for contract manufacturers and less expense for industrial manufacturing clients. But, like the crowd, many think this is good for the economy. Business is stimulated and stockholders are happy. Bu,, what's the missing? Industrial manufacturers, already hard-pressed to find crafted chemical solutions so as to comply with existing and impending regulatory and business requirements, have the same problem as the poor baker: They are out the constant expense from short life fluid additives inflicted upon them by some contract manufacturing companies - with all the complex problems generated in the industrial manufacturing field. True Story Not too long ago, one industrial manufacturer specializing in stamping and drawing made a decision to stop losing money. How? They were stamping and drawing heavy gauge steel parts with drawing oil that contained chlorinated paraffin. Their customer required the parts be clean, so they were running the oily parts through their two-stage washer. The result was that the chlorinated paraffin, being heavier than water, would be removed from the part, and sink to the bottom of the wash tank, forming sludge. As this sludge layer accumulated, it would reach the intake opening of the circulating pump and would begin to re-deposit the sludge back onto the parts being cleaned. That's like cleaning dishes in dirty dish water. Within 30 days or less, the washer had to be shut down and drained, and the sludge shoveled out. Result? The rejection rate for parts shipped to their customers was over 50% due to the re-deposition of the sludge, causing the parts to fail to meet cleanliness specifications. Downtime on the washer was one full day including: -System drain -Shoveling sludge, -Disposal -System reboot -Additional overtime for the backlog of parts needing cleaning ...and this occurred one day EVERY month!

Their contract manufacturing suppliers didn't help them. No one seemed to know how.

The 50% rejection rate of parts, rejected for lack of cleanliness, really hurt the company (they also had additional freight charges and overtime returning dirty parts from Kentucky, back to Pennsylvania for rewashing, then returned to Kentucky). They just couldn't find a solution.

A distributor found the problem and brought them a customized solution. That product, combined with a re-formulated oil that floated (instead of sinking), solved the problem.

Results: That Company NOW sees less than a 1% rejection rate for the parts, and has a downtime of one day ... once every EIGHT months! That's contract manufacturing at its best.

It's also honest.

Jim Stuart is a contract manufacturer specializing in customized, longevity based solutions for industrial manufacturing fluids problems. Toll Free: 800.236.8040 New Age Chemical EnginAll 1-866-735-5871 The revolutionary Oil Performance Blend.

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