Often a business manager can identify problem areas in their business, though DBS can also do an initial overall study of your company and recommend areas to be improved. Typical areas of concern in business management include data management, inventory control, production procedures, efficiency, scheduling, cost analysis, and product or service pricing. Much of that involves simply applying organizational skills.

Data Management

In most cases, researching accurate historical data is essential for improvements to be effective. Your business information must be organized before it can be useful. I can assist you in identifying and classifying costs, revenue and business information as they relate to your business and its functions.

Inventory Control

Inventory control involves tracking your inventory, and facilitating the efficient ordering of raw materials and supplies. A good inventory control system will minimize the amount of inventory and its cost, while insuring you will always have adequate supplies to operate the business. IC factors in various costs, and forecasts future use based on past consumption. Consequently, a good inventory control is dependent on historical data to develop an accurate forecasting model. Furthermore, a good inventory control system maintains historical data so that the longer you use it, the better it gets.

Workflow analysis

Workflow analysis in an overall analysis of your order processing and production cycle. Workflow analysis attempts to identify administrative and production bottlenecks in both the plant and the office, and unify the efforts of individual departments in the processes.

Time and Motion study

Just as workflow analysis can improve the overall operation, simple time and motion studies can often identify individual processes that can be improved. Accurate time estimates are also crucial to estimating costs of production. These studies not only identify quicker ways, but easier ways of doing repetitive tasks. The biggest advantage of such studies is in improving employee morale.

Scheduling and Estimating

Scheduling and Estimating go hand in hand. It is essential to be able to estimate the time requirements before you can schedule work reliably. Good scheduling also has the potential to reduce unnecessary changes in production preparation.

Cost Analysis

With a good understanding of business accounting, the principles of algebra, reasonable time studies, a few other records, and basic statistical analysis, I can predict operating costs well enough to provide estimates with profits in mind. In a manufacturing environment, you can't afford to GUESS your costs.

Insourcing

Insourcing can have two meanings. The first implies doing things inside (i.e. bring it in-house) instead of purchasing the product or service from a third party. Different factors are used to evaluate the feasibility of insourcing. Cost, time requirements, reliability. If an in-plant, insourcing also involves doing in-house work for outside companies. Insourcing can improve the cost effectiveness of an in-house operation.