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Having saved up enough money to get your manufacturing business off the ground, you might think that the hardest part of your work is over with. Unfortunately, you would be wrong. This is only the beginning of the project! As many successful entrepreneurs can tell you, good planning is one of the keys to success.
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Find the Right Location
You will need to look first at finding the right business space. Depending on exactly what you are manufacturing, you might have been operating out of your home at first. This option becomes nonviable as the business grows.
You need to determine what kind of equipment your employees will be using to manufacture these goods. Consider how much space those machines will take up, and how much space the employees themselves will need. At this point, you may be tempted to just pull out a piece of paper and begin scribbling figures. That is one way, but a better way is to go to the location with your notebook and a roll of masking tape. Using this, you can plot out exactly how much space is required and where everything should go.
What About Your Power Needs?
Now that you have your business space and your equipment, you will need to think about your power needs. It is easy to neglect this area because most of us don’t use a whole lot of electricity on a day-to-day basis. However, once you begin running a manufacturing plant you will be in a position where everything depends on electricity. If your manufacturing machines (which are probably electrical) have no power, your business is dead in the water.
Remember, every day that your business is closed amounts to lost money. Make sure you hire the best electrical contractor that you can find. Then you can rest easy, knowing that you have effectively dealt with these problems before they arise.
Think About Plumbing, Too
That brings us to the plumbing. Of course, you already know that you will need public bathrooms for your employees. However, you might not have considered all the issues. You will need pipes and other plumbing hardware that is a little more heavy duty than the standard pipes and fittings that are used in most homes. Therefore, you need to find a good plumber who can install what you need at a reasonable cost.
Learn the Applicable Laws
You must also do some serious research on your local laws and codes. There are certain laws and building codes that only apply to business owners. Moreover, there are some that apply only to manufacturing businesses.
If your kind of business is considered “dirty,” or is otherwise considered to be persona non grata, you should consider another location to avoid regulatory hassles. If people do not want your plant in their area, they will find ways to make your life difficult. Who needs the trouble?
More to the point, no one wants to deal with hefty fines or jail terms. This is just one reason for why location is so important to a fledgling business like yours.
Establish a Financial Cushion
Before you fling open the doors and tell your employees to get to work, make sure that you have a financial cushion. By this, I mean that you should have a fund set up for dealing with unexpected business expenses. You never know what sorts of issues will arise to interfere with the orderly operation of your facility. However, you already know that fixing those issues will almost certainly require some money.
Give yourself a little bit of breathing room by preparing ahead of time. It will help you sooner or later.
Keep Your Manufacturing Facility Secure
You will also need to consider security. That shed where you keep your industrial chemicals? Someone might rob it so that they can sell the chemicals to a local drug lab. That stockroom full of paper towels and janitorial equipment? If someone is desperate enough, they will steal these things for their own use if nothing else.
This makes it essential to install a good security system with experienced security experts to run it. Of course, some businesses need security far more than others, but every business needs to at least equip themselves with the basics.
Conclusion
By doing some advance planning, you can set up your new manufacturing plant to have a good shot at success.
