Uncover the Twelve Hidden Costs of the Factory!
Competitiveness, especially small and medium-sized factories and developing enterprises, they always encounter bottlenecks in development in a certain period of time, always feel that the cost of operation has been rising, but it is difficult to find the "location" of the cost, we call it "" Hidden Costs". This is like a disease implicit in the living body. It cannot be cured for a long time, and it will not go away. It has become a thrust for factory operators to frown. If these "hidden costs" can be found, it is undoubtedly like finding "pathogens", then the next step of "prescribe the right medicine" must be the time to take off again. If you can summarize the various "hidden costs" that enterprises often exist, enterprises can conduct self-examination by comparison. Today, are you still "invisible"? 01 Factory talent flow costs Many factories are very lacking in human resource management. They believe that talent is unlimited and become an "iron camp", and employees will naturally become that "Water Soldiers". It must be said that the departure of a factory technician is a considerable cost to the company. Because the company has to bear the upfront cost of recruiting new employees for the position, and also bear the risk of whether the new employee is suitable for the position, the new employee also experienced a running-in period before adapting to the factory's process. The departure of important old employees may lose important internal data or information, and after their departure, they are likely to enter their competitors' companies. Therefore, the loss of employees, especially old employees, will undoubtedly bring expenditures several times higher than their income. Many small factories have been operating for many years, and you will find that they have always been such a small team, and except for the boss, no employee has stayed from the beginning of the company. I think this may be an important reason for its failure to develop. 02 Overtime cost Many bosses always think that it is a phenomenon of dedication that employees "work overtime" after get off work "forgetting food and sleep". As everyone knows, this can be very costly. There are three reasons: First, the reason for working overtime is not necessarily because the work task is too heavy, but the low work efficiency of employees, and overtime means low efficiency. If the objective work task is really heavy, then the company should add new personnel and positions in time to achieve real development and progress. Second, overtime consumes more energy and physical strength of employees, and seriously overdraws the health of employees. In the long run, some important employees will not be able to perform their functions for a long time, and there is a hidden danger of burdening the company. For example, some machinery operators Working overtime for a long time can lead to mental disorders and accidents, and companies will pay a heavy price for this. Third, employees who work overtime are not necessarily "doing their jobs properly". Some employees get off work overtime in their spare time. They use the company's resources to engage in their personal affairs, and at the same time receive the company's overtime pay. Many companies suffer important losses and data loss. It all happens during off-duty hours, and overtime has become a dead end for the company to "hide dirt and filth". 03 Manufacturing process cost Factors are chaotic, and many of them are due to the process, which is a common problem in enterprise management. For any slow-growing enterprise, the process must be chaotic or unreasonable. They bear a high cost for this, but they have been turning a blind eye. Process is the industrial chain of enterprise operation. Just like an assembly line, without a scientific and reasonable manufacturing process, the systematic control of various processes will be lost, many jobs will be abandoned halfway, and many jobs need to be reworked. But I have to admit that this will become a mess that wraps the factory's forward feet. 04 Meeting Costs The operation of a factory is nothing more than a race against time. Meetings are collective activities for factories to solve problems and issue orders, but they are also a costly business activity. Because this activity is often a collective activity that many leaders participate in. Every passing minute means the number of minutes of the total number of participants, and many managers of enterprises have not mastered the skills of meeting, and there is a problem of "no preparation before the meeting, no theme during the meeting, no execution after the meeting, no need to attend the meeting, time There is no control, no limit to the speech.” The Six No Phenomenon. 05 Position dislocation cost There is a famous saying in human resource management, "put the right person in the right position". In some factories, technicians are arranged to spend a lot of time every day mopping the floor, cleaning, and wiping the machine. Some leaders also take the lead in participating, which seems to be a good thing. I can't help but sigh, this factory is engaged in manufacturing, how can it pay such high wages to hire unprofessional cleaners. In fact, this reflects a very clear mentality of the bosses. They believe that these employees are only for use when they are recruited. As long as they have someone who can do it, they don't need to spend more money to do it. But we found that they paid a high price for it. 06 Purchasing cost Purchasing has different methods in different companies, but this is an important part of the cost that affects the operation of the factory. Often we focus this cost only on the price and quantity of purchases, and it is difficult to see other factors beyond that. There was once a product branch of a mold company. When working on a new project, the daily operating cost of the project team was 80,000 yuan. However, on the eve of the product launch, the purchasing department spent a week in order to purchase more than 100,000 yuan of packaging. time, the reason is to find low-priced suppliers to save purchasing costs. The entire marketing team therefore waited an extra week before signing up with customers. And this phenomenon actually exists in many enterprises. The blind pursuit of reducing the direct cost of procurement ignores the coexisting "hidden costs". Of course, reducing the direct cost of procurement has no conflict with this article. Here, we are talking about the procurement department of the enterprise. Only by comprehensively weighing various indicators from the perspective of the overall operation can we truly control the cost of procurement. 07 Communication costs In today's turbulent economic environment, the factory's operating rhythm is also becoming faster and faster, but everything has a certain limit, and the fast-paced operation has also brought a lot of trouble to the enterprise. Communication is an important part of business operation. Many companies are doing a lot of system training and spiritual training, but most of them do not have "communication ability" training. In most factories, you will find that in the process of communication between colleagues, there will be serious distortions, or the words do not convey the meaning, or the answers are wrong, or a hundred people have a hundred answers... This phenomenon, said to be small, makes many processes Become an ineffective process, or lose many important opportunities. If it is too big, it may bring hidden dangers to the enterprise. This is a classic cost increase due to poor communication. 08 Stagnant resource cost Stagnant resources can be said to be the most extensive "hidden cost" in an enterprise, such as idle equipment, overstocked inventory, low-utilization jobs, idle funds, and shelved business. Although they may not continue to consume the company's investment, they are part of the company's assets, and the company will bear hidden costs such as interest. Therefore, in an enterprise, the amount of stagnant resources reflects the level of enterprise resource utilization. 09 Cost of mold corporate culture Some people say that corporate culture is like the soul of an enterprise, which will be reflected in the spiritual outlook of each member. This kind of culture is established in the early stage of the establishment of the enterprise. He is influenced by the culture, habits, skills, occupation, likes and dislikes of the founder of the enterprise. Therefore, some people say that the corporate culture is the boss culture. But saying that corporate culture will become a cost, many people may disagree, but it is the truth. We will find that the employees in some factories are lethargic and extremely inefficient. No matter how good employees enter, they will either leave soon, or they will become like that. We can't help but say that this is an "environmental" problem. And this "environment" is the corporate culture of the company. Corporate culture, like the life of an enterprise, will accompany the life of an enterprise and can only be adjusted, not recreated. 10 Credit cost This is a cost that involves long-term returns, and operating with integrity is like being a person with integrity. We have found that many factories are accustomed to defaulting on payment to suppliers, wages to employees, deductions from others, and default on bank loans, etc., thinking that this can reduce the pressure on corporate liquidity. But in the long run, this will become a serious hidden cost of business operations: First, suppliers will definitely include time costs in their quotations, and such enterprises cannot purchase raw materials or services at the lowest price. Secondly, employees who are in arrears in wages and violate labor laws are in danger of being punished. And defaulting on bank loans and deducting others will greatly reduce their creditworthiness, and when the company encounters difficulties one day, it will be embarrassed on all sides. Undoubtedly, the factory has to pay a heavy price for this, and in fact it does not benefit from it. 11 Cost of Risk Putting a business on the fast lane is every entrepreneur's dream. But the risk factor also increases simultaneously. Especially large and medium-sized factories, although they are developing rapidly and earning a lot of money, once a crisis occurs, it will be disastrous. A number of cases have proved that many of the risks of enterprises are caused by insufficient expectations or poor management, and hidden dangers have been buried long before the risks occur. And many large enterprises or well-known enterprises died because of a risk. It can be seen that risk is a significant hidden cost. And this phenomenon is not obvious. 12 Entrepreneur cost "Entrepreneur cost" refers to the cost brought by the owner of the enterprise to the enterprise. There is a good saying, one soldier is roaring, and one general is roaring. Entrepreneurs are like the leaders of an army who are themselves the most expensive employees of the company. The bosses of many private enterprises have turned themselves into the "emperor" of the enterprise. However, the defect of the entrepreneur's personal factors will increase the heavy cost burden for the enterprise. This phenomenon is mainly reflected in small enterprises, but it also exists in large enterprises. We can also extend this cost to every department and even every employee of the enterprise. Because everyone is responsible for their own work, we often emphasize that in your sphere, you are the leader and you have the power to make decisions. And many leaders have been self-centered, which will greatly reduce the combat capability of the team and increase the high invisible cost. I remember saying to a boss who complained about the lack of talents in the company: "What your company lacks is not talents, but the wisdom to discover and make good use of talents." It can be seen from the above that factories are often burdened with many burdens in the operation and management, and hidden costs are the heaviest burden among them. Discovering and effectively reducing the above hidden costs may be a powerful measure for factory progress, which is also the real drawback of many factories.
