4 Ways Custom Manufacturers Lose Productivity, and How to Get It Back

Made-to-order manufacturing can easily turn into a nightmare even when Halloween isn't just around the corner, learn how to get off the scary path. 

If you advise a manufacturer that builds to order, you have probably heard some version of this at month-end: "The numbers will be ready once we figure out where that job landed." Make-to-order and engineer-to-order shops do not sell from a shelf. Every job is a little different, so the usual inventory-driven playbook does not always fit. The productivity losses tend to follow a few familiar patterns, and each has a practical fix.

1. The job that looked profitable until month-end

A job is quoted at a healthy margin. Material prices shift, the shop floor runs extra hours, and rework slips in. Nobody sees the margin eroding until the books...