Five Things to Consider When Choosing New Suppliers

/in /by

StrategyDriven Tactical Execution Article |Supplier Choices|Five Things to Consider When Choosing New SuppliersOne of the most important decisions that you can make in your business is who will supply the parts or materials that you need for your products. Your supplier choices have a direct impact on the success of your business and without a good relationship with yours, you’re going to have fewer sales and this results in a poor service. In fact, the worst case scenario here is that you could end up with a failed business – all because you didn’t choose wisely when linking with new suppliers.

If you are searching for butterfly valves and need a supplier, you need to take some things into account. These options can be said for pretty much any product or piece you are looking for. The right supplier is going to make a huge difference to the way that you work, so here are five things that you should be considering right now.

  1. Cost. The very first thing that you would need to factor in is the cost of a supplier. You don’t want to choose someone JUST based on cost, but you do need to stick to your budget and find the best supplier that fits. Once you have a figure in mind, you can choose the products that will fit the costs you are willing to pay.
  2. Quality. Another priority here is to know the quality of the product you are looking at. The better the quality, the more you will be willing to liaise with that supplier. Know that your expectations are going to be met and that the quality goes beyond the product itself, but the supplier, too.
  3. Reliability. You need to know that the supplier you are paying is reliable and can give you what you need. You need references, and you need to know that they are going to live up to expectations. The suppliers that you choose will reflect on your business, and if you’re not choosing the right one, it’s going to make you look bad. Don’t forget this in your quest for the right people!
  4. Culture. Not only do you need a supplier who will meet your expectations, but you need to be the kind of customer who holds their end of the deal. You will likely have a supplier ask you as many questions as you’re going to ask them – so make sure that you are prepared.
  5. Location. You need to be close by to suppliers if you want to make sure that you are all on the same page. Sure, you can choose to have a supplier that sends you products from abroad, but this isn’t easy. You want to be able to meet them face to face and know them as people as well as a supplier who sends you the materials that you need. Finding the supplier you need in the right location is a must!

Sourcing your supplier may take time, but it’s 100% worth it going forward in your business. Ask your questions and be prepared for a fruitful relationship!

Will You Take These Services up on Their Offers?

/in , /by

In order to stay ahead of the competition your business must utilise the best options offered to it. In this day and age, there are a whole host of companies and services at your disposal to make use of in order to make sure you’re getting the best assistance and the best value for money. Maybe it’s time you took a look at some of the services below and how they can help your business succeed, better their area and field, and how they too can better your wallet.

Virtual receptionists are an example of just how much technology has killed, or begun to kill, the professions of old. VRs take it upon themselves to simply answer calls, but do so in a manner that could make the need for a receptionist a thing of the past. They mean a call is never missed; they retain the ‘unique-ness’ of your business by answering and responding in a way that you tell them to; they are open 24/7 which can mean you are perceived as being ‘open’ 24/4 by any ringing customers; and they are cheap — some offering their services for a mere quarter of what you’d pay a receptionist per month. Also, advances in cleaning and hygiene services have improved two-fold. Also, with janitorial services offering an effective clean and hygiene levels that blow a quick vac and polish out of the water, the need for an in-house janitor or cleaning team may be over. But are there cons to utilising such services?

StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article | Entrepreneurship

A big one is that they could take a job off of someone who has done it for years and proved themself to be extremely loyal. It could be tough for you to get rid of a trusted employee in order to replace them with a service, but it’s your business, and you must do what’s best for it. if a service offers much more, for the same or even less of the price, then it’s a no brainer.

Something else that joins the whole host of things that have been killed by technology is the need for cold, hard cash. Merchant Services, a type of bank account that allows businesses to accept payments in a multiple of technology driven ways, means that trips to the bank for coins and notes may soon become a redundant exercise. With the pace of change in the U.S. payment market showing that over the past five years the credit card has proved itself to be the generally preferred method of payment, merchant services are ones that must be optimised if a business owner wishes to retain custom. This means you should have a card reader and atm machine on site at all times so that you are able to take a customer’s payment when they don’t have notes or spare shrapnel on their person.

So, there you have it. A few modern day services that are on offer to you, the business of owners of today. It’s now up to you whether you take them up on their offers.

9 Uses of Dams in Civil Construction

/in /by

StrategyDriven Tactical Execution Article|Dams in Civil Construction|9 Uses of Dams in Civil ConstructionCivil engineers design dams and the final product is amazing. Dams are majestic but they also serve many purposes. Here’s a look at what dams are and the structures’ many uses.

What Is A Dam?

Dams are barriers built across a river or stream. Engineers design dams so water pools behind the barrier. Water is collected on the upstream side of the dam and the water is called a reservoir. The other side of the barrier is called downstream. Municipalities who plan to build dams need civil engineering services.

There are many types of dams including embankment dams. These are artificial dams made with a semi-plastic structure and a mix of sand, soil, clay, and rock. Gravity dams are huge and are made of stone and concrete masonry. Earthen dams are made of soil while timber dams are made with wood.

#1 Irrigation

Results of a recent study show half of the world’s large dams were built for irrigation. Moreover, over a billion people around the globe depend on reservoir-generated irrigation. Egypt sits in the middle of the desert and crops have been depleted by droughts. The Aswan High Dam was built to protect farmers by controlling water flowing in the Nile River. An agreement between Egypt and Sudan allows Sudanese farmers to use some of the water.

#2 & #3 Water Supply

Some water from reservoirs is used to supply fresh water for commercial and residential use. Further, dams are often used to control water flow in rivers. Warragamba is an Australian dam used to supply water to millions of people.

#4 Hydropower

Hydropower is popular because it’s environmentally friendly. The U.S. is one of the largest producers of hydropower, followed by Canada. Dams produce up to 12 percent of the U.S. power supply. Brazil’s Itaipu Dam is the world’s largest hydropower dam.

#5 Flood Control

Flood control dams hold floodwater and prevent it from getting to residential areas. They’re usually built in areas where flooding happens regularly. For example, The Tennessee Valley Dams, help to control flood on the lower Mississippi, lower Ohio, and Tennessee Rivers. Floodwaters are either released downstream or stored for future use.

#6 Navigation

Navigation dams are used to allow ships to travel in certain rivers. The dam is designed so the river maintains a depth deep enough for ships to pass. Bonneville Dam, located in Washington State, is a river navigational dam.

#7 Debris Dam

A debris dam is used to store debris from river water. River water may contain sand, rocks, and wood. The water on the dam’s downstream side is clear.

#8 Recreational Purposes

Most dams serve more than one purpose. Indeed, the building of some dams created booming recreational areas. These areas would not exist if the dam hadn’t created the reservoir of water. Some communities built beaches adjacent to the reservoir along with boat landings. The Russell Dam was built on the border of South Carolina and Georgia in the 1970s and 1980s. The dam created Russell Lake which is the center of recreational activity. The dam’s original purpose was flood control and hydropower.

#9 Mine Tailing

Mine tailings are by-products of certain mine operations. Mine tailings disposal is a major environmental concern. The tailings have to be stored permanently and dams are the perfect repository. Previously, mine tailings were dumped in rivers and contaminated the area.
Civil engineers design many types of dams. Most dams serve many purposes including flood control, irrigation, and a source of hydropower. It’s easy to see why some dams are major tourist attractions.

Valuable Natural Materials: Three Things to Keep in Mind About Limestone Extraction

/in /by

StrategyDriven Tactical Execution Article |Limestone Extraction|Valuable Natural Materials: Three Things to Keep in Mind About Limestone ExtractionLimestone is a great building material for exteriors and interiors of buildings. Limestone is also an ingredient in concrete and other products. Limestone has been a popular building material for centuries because it is relatively common and easy to extract and make into building materials. A limestone quarry is a kind of open-pit mine where blocks of stone are cut and moved to a location where they can be made into slabs that are then polished and cut into tiles, countertops, and building facing material.

What is Limestone?

Limestone is a natural stone consisting of carbonate sediments containing skeletal fragments of long-dead sea creatures such as coral, mollusks, and foraminifera. The minerals in limestone are aragonite and calcite. This stone is formed over millions of years of sedimentation. During the formation process, it is soluble to water and weak acid solutions. Because of this, cave systems and karst landscapes are formed.

Limestone contains impurities such as sand, clay, iron oxide, organic remains, and other materials that give it its pattern and color. For this reason, limestone will have unique colors and patterns at each extraction site. Limestone is a popular building material because it is fairly common and easy to work with. Limestone can be cut into building blocks or thin plates used as a building facade.

Quarrying Limestone

Limestone is a natural product of the earth and must be extracted by different methods. Limestone Quarry methods determine the quality and beauty of the limestone. Quarries or open mines are used to extract limestone and many other types of rocks used in the building and other industries. Methods of extracting rocks in the quarrying process include digging, heating, wedging, and blasting. The blasting process includes drilling holes with machines and filling them with explosive powders and tamping materials such as ash, clay, fuses and wiring. Then, an electric power supply is used to fire the fuses and explosives. The explosions help to remove sections of limestone from their natural bed.

There are different methods of running quarries and of safely extracting limestone. The best manufacturers use quarrying methods that result in the best slabs of limestone with the least damage to the area surrounding the quarry. When all the limestone has been extracted from a site a large hole is left which can fill with water forming a lake.

Before a quarry is started there will be an analysis of the resource to determine if there is enough good-quality limestone to make the quarry economically viable. This often involves a geological study. The quarry must be licensed and meet local environmental requirements.

Three Considerations For Limestone Extraction.

Three considerations for choosing and using limestone include:

  1. Is limestone suited to the building project? There are other natural stone products to consider. Some are harder than limestone and some have different textures and colorations. Consider the pros and cons of each material. For instance, limestone is susceptible to acids so using it on the exterior of a building where there is acid rain might present maintenance problems over time.
  2. How was this limestone quarried? Some limestone extraction companies use quarrying methods that are bad for the environment. Architects and builders should use suppliers of limestone building materials that use environmentally friendly methods of extraction and manufacture.
  3. Is the chosen stone within the budget and is there sufficient quantities of matching material? This is a natural material and if the job runs short, it is not possible to make more to match.

When the right limestone material is chosen for a building project, the results can be very durable and attractive. Limestone is fairly common and therefore budget-friendly. It is a durable attractive choice for building projects.

How Businesses Can Leverage Fulfillment Companies during an Economic Downturn

/in /by

StrategyDriven Tactical Execution Article |Fulfillment Company|How Businesses Can Leverage Fulfillment Companies during an Economic DownturnThe pandemic has sent shockwaves all around the globe at a time when everyone was still reeling from the hangover of welcoming the New Year. People knew about the novel strand of Coronavirus that had been silently creeping into their lives and causing severe damages to their health. But no one ever fathomed in their wildest dreams that the whole world would come to a halt because of this virus. Industries started shutting down, and companies soon got out of business. This led to the economy to tank, and not just in one country but of the entire world. As a means to cut down on expenses and save the slump in the economy, industries started downsizing employees and resorting to alternative means to go about their business in as less money as possible. One of those means that we attempt to talk about in this article is a fulfillment company. Not many of you might be aware of what a fulfillment company is and what its functions are. And that is why we shall clear a bit on that part before discussing how companies have been using the 3PL strategy to manage the economic downturn.

What is a Fulfillment Company?

A Fulfillment Company is also known as a 3PL (third-party logistics) company that tends to take care of certain vital business criteria. This kind of company forms an integral part of the demand-supply chain of any business and also helps a business in its cost-cutting endeavors. Therefore, roping in a 3PL company in distressing times can come in handy for several industries. Now that companies are having a hard time to stay afloat, more and more enterprises are turning towards a fulfillment company to fulfil their basic requirements. In other words, a 3PL company is a resort that businesses can outreach to and get some of their very important functions related to supply chain fulfilled. Now, if you have been wondering about how a 3PL company works, here is what you need to know. A fulfillment company receives inventories from manufacturers and then follows the specific instructions about shipping the products to the consumers.

The Need for a 3PL:

3PL companies have more than just one use, and their demand has skyrocketed now more than ever, in the times of pandemic. However, even under normal circumstances, the role of a 3 Pl company is indispensable. There are mainly three reasons why you mighty require the services of a 3PL company. The first reason why you might need a 3 PL company is if you have more than 20 orders to take care of in a day. It might not be possible for you to handle the bulk on your own, and therefore, the need for a 3PL company becomes imperative. You will also require the services of a 3PL company if you find yourself running out of storage space. Storage spaces can be extremely costly, and in these trying economic times, when you are looking for ways to cut down on costs, 3PL services might just be the way to go. Finally, you might also need a 3PL service if you are expecting a spike in the volumes of your order. You might not have enough resources to handle the volume yourself and therefore, might want some additional help.

Types of 3PLs:

Now that we are in the midst of a pandemic and companies are looking for ways to cut down the expenses to stay afloat, it is important to learn a bit about which 3PL services would come handy to save the situation. There are a number of 3PL services. Full service, Warehousing, Transportation, Distribution, and Shipping and Receiving are some of them. 3PL services are eclectic in their approach and have a myriad of solutions up their sleeves. For instance, a full service will meet your end-to-end requirements and come in as a package, whereas warehousing will only take care of the requirements of the warehouse, meaning, these services would seek to store, ship and return products. To trim down the expenses, you could opt for one of these services and manage the rest on your own. Companies are also laying off employees to opt for a full-service facility from a 3PL company.

Conclusion:

These are extraordinary times, and nothing like we have seen or experienced before. Difficult times, therefore, call for innovative measures. Life shall continue to thrive, and people shall learn to live alongside the virus. Businesses shall, therefore, require smart ways to function and with the discussion that followed in this article about a 3PL company, it seems like these services are wise options. Roping in a reliable 3PL company shall not only help a business stay afloat, but also make the supply chain seamless.