Ten key issues that must be addressed when starting a business in custom automation

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This post was last edited by 3983596_FPPZ on 2019-3-22 at 10:09. I came across this material today and couldn’t help but share it with everyone. Starting a business has never been an easy task; I hope this will be helpful to those who want to start one. 1. Is my self-positioning accurate? Whether you are a sales expert or a technical specialist, assess for yourself whether you can secure orders Can you guarantee quality and deliver on time after receiving the order? Many technically skilled people who were overconfident rushed into starting their own businesses, only to fail to secure any orders; they couldn’t hold on for a year and ended up going back to working for others. I’ve interviewed quite a few such people. 2. Work alone or in partnership? It depends on oneself; there is no right or wrong. When forming a partnership, it is essential to find a partner who can complement one’s own strengths – seek a partner with technical skills if you lack them, one with market knowledge if you need it, and one with financial resources if capital is a concern. By finding such a partner, it becomes easier to survive and thrive. Working on your own is more demanding, but one must persevere. At the beginning of a business, there may be no orders for a long time – can one really hold on? How long can you hold on? Think it through. 3. What are the advantages of your company? For companies in the field of custom automation, if they lack any advantages, trying to do the same things as others, imitating them, following their lead, and engaging in price wars and fierce competition is a path that will lead to disaster. Do you have any products with your own advantages? Are there skilled technicians? Are there a few clients with strong relationships? If there’s none of that, then you really need to work hard! 4. Do you have the courage? If you’re only 60% confident in being able to do a task well with a piece of equipment, would you still go ahead and do it? The profit margin on a single device might be only 10% – are you willing to take the risk? Customer relationships are complex; installing a device requires dealing with many people. Are you willing to go through that? When there are no orders, employees still need to be paid, and customer relationships must still be maintained; the financial pressure is huge – can you handle that? 5. Are you persistent enough? New clients don’t give you orders; they just ask you to create proposals, and then they use those proposals for other clients. They’ll come to you again for proposals next time – will you do it? The chances of a new customer placing an order on their first attempt are roughly the same as the odds of winning the lottery. Often, customers require you to bid alongside them 2 or 3 times, or even more, before giving you a chance – can you hold on? 6. Does your family support you? Are you filled with enthusiasm, and does your family wholeheartedly support you, each one doing their best to give you a push? Or was it a basin of cold water that chilled you to the core? If your family does not support you, and even if you push through and try, no improvement is seen within a year while family conflicts intensify, what choice do you have? 7. Do you understand the process of developing and manufacturing custom equipment? Are you familiar with this entire sequence of tasks: understanding customer needs, coming up with solutions, providing quotes, allowing the customer to compare prices and negotiate, placing an order, signing a contract, designing, purchasing materials, processing, assembling, testing, inspection, shipping, and following up on payments? If not, it needs fuel! 8. Do you have suitable machining supplier resources? Do you have suppliers who can produce large equipment panels? Are there any suppliers capable of welding equipment frames? Are there any good suppliers for sheet metal work? Are there any surface treatment suppliers? Are there any heat treatment suppliers? Are there suppliers that produce precision parts? Is the quality good from these suppliers? What is the level of integrity? 9. Do you have qualified supplier resources for standard parts? Do you have suitable supplier resources for the commonly used components on equipment, such as cylinders, electric cylinders, motors, sensors, bearings, linear guides, vibratory feeders, conveyor belts, screws, and so on? If possible, the factory should be located near hardware wholesale markets, as this will make it convenient to purchase standard components. 10. Do you really like this industry enough? Running a business is difficult, and running a company that produces custom automated equipment is even more difficult. Managing a business is tiring, and doing so in the field of custom automated equipment is even more exhausting; if you don’t like this industry, it’s simply agonizing. Non-standard equipment development is essentially a process of experimentation, trial and error, and making corrections; problems arise every day, and they all need to be addressed and solved. Those who don’t like this process had better avoid it! If you answered yes to most of the above ten questions, congratulations – you’re almost ready to get started. On the contrary, I advise you to think it over again, get ready, and learn*. To conclude, borrowing a phrase from the stock market: non-standard assets carry risks; one must be cautious when entering this field! For general information: Non-standard products refer to those that are not manufactured in accordance with **established uniform industry standards and specifications; rather, they are products or devices that are designed and manufactured according to specific operational requirements. Moreover, its appearance or performance is not listed in the **equipment product catalog. To meet the needs of large-scale industrial production, mechanically engineered equipment that has been produced and proven to have good performance is standardized and serialized, resulting in what are known as standard products. As requested by users, products that are manufactured, modified, or customized on the basis of standard products are referred to as non-standard products. Standardized and serialized products are mainly suitable for general mechanical equipment. However, when designing a new industrial installation, some equipment is specialized and cannot be found in existing serialized options; it requires separate design and manufacturing, and it will not have high versatility in the future. Such equipment is referred to as non-standard products. Currently, the fields where non-standard products are frequently mentioned are mainly the chemical and petrochemical industries. Due to the large number of products in this industry and the great variety of manufacturing processes, there are also many non-standard products.