May 30, 2014

Goal of the Exchange Process 1. Help each Member professional to expand their business networks in order for you to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of how you tackle you job functions. 2. Provide Members with a dynamic and reliable resource to help you solve problems and find new implementable ideas

Rules of Engagement 1. Do not use your HOLD button on your telephone – hearing elevator music in the next 60 minutes is not good! 2. No body language signs – please be aggressive and speak your mind and thoughts. 3. Please identify yourself with name and company before speaking. 4. Take Notes about who is saying what… 5. Warning: My goal is to facilitate aggressively so we can cover as many topics as possible. 6. Last but not least, I need your feedback on how to make this process better for you and the participants.

What to do when our kids skip school?

If you were retiring in one month, what would be the most important thing you could do for your successor?  Reduction of hours over the last three months of tenure?  Dan: We have been meeting for an hour a day for many months to ID areas that he may not have direct insight.  Daryl: Access to the person leaving is key. Also, allowing communication to be a two way street. Have went as far to allow the one leaving access to financial information.  Missy: What is the long term calendar that captures things like patents, debt maturation…things that are not dealt with on a routine basis. (To be qualified for a defense contract, you must attend a consortium based meeting.)  Dave J: Had patents in the company that expired. Transition plan with much golfing planned! (Financial audits, reports that the controller has to make, and other common things that need to have. Certification of incorporation…where are the important documents? Advice on Cap X…Success in financing partners.

Incentive for sales professionals?  John T: Hire people that are motivated by money. If you have a team that is not motivated to earn more, they are probably not going to be successful. If you are selling on price and price only, than I don’t need a sales person. I need a sales professional who is going to ensure solutions are present in order to establish relationships. We ensure gross margin percentages. Could try X gross margin at X sales. Maybe special incentives…establishing short term goals and rewarding them for reaching them!  Scott T:  Dave J: Can earn up to 25% of their salary based on the profitability of the overall company. 10% in the first half of the year. This seems to work the best. 

Question: General Business trends/status? (Kelly Goodsel)  Kelly: On record sales pace. Automotive has been on a steady pace up since Last 18 months it is very stable and predictable. Car builds going up 2-3% year to year. Because the OEMs didn’t die in the recession, over the last 3-4 years, they have spent time designing and bring new models on board. New vehicle launches lead to adjusting selling prices and margins.  Dan: YTD sales up over last year and holding very steady  Daryl: Highway type of equipment, we are up 20% over last year but have concerned for the future months. We started out well last year but the last half fizzled out. (Very concerned about US economy.)  Dave J.: Very steady. Growing about 5-20% per year.  John:  Missy: Very consistent with everyone else. We are quoting more new business than in other years. Pretty solid that this year will surpass last. We are seeing lead times on tooling being more manageable. This seems to have calmed down a little.  John: We are up double digits, but we are solid! Please with the fist quarter,  Scott: 2 nd half of this year will be a little soft. 1 st 6 months has been better than we anticipated. Good inquires from the medical side of the business.

Question: How are molders addressing international needs of customers? (Kelly Goodsel)

Issues: The new SDS format & not revealing our fomulas – sell uncured rubber (Dave Jentzsch)

Question: Raw material pricing discussion? (Kelly Goodsel)  Scott: Pretty stable overall. We did get some small increases on less than 5 resins out of 200.  Missy: Month or so ago, saw a push for a few cents in the PC area. Most engineering grades are simply flat.  Daryl: Engineering materials have been

Issue: Automation & Robotics – use of new robots for custom injection molding. (Michael Cirone)

Question: New Water system – should we use a water tower or a chiller? (Charlie Braun)

Additional Questions?

The next scheduled Peer Networking Webinar will be in 6 weeks – July 11 Also, be sure to check the Events Calendar for the next Plant Tour Events! MAPP: July 24 at Nicolet Plastics ARPM: August 7 at Veyance THANK YOU!