The successful business plan by Rhonda M. Abrams

Author:Rhonda M. Abrams [Abrams, Rhonda M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: New business enterprises -- Planning., New business enterprises -- Management., New business enterprises -- Finance.
Publisher: Oasis Press/PSI Research
Published: 1993-06-17T19:00:00+00:00

If, on the other hand, you are seeking conventional financing (e.g., bank loans) or investment from less knowledgeable sources, then your technology description should be fairly general. If your plan is for internal use only, your technology section may be very detailed and include sensitive information about product development. In this case, be extremely cautious as to how the plan is distributed; you don't want it to fall in a competitor's hands.

Assessing Your Production Plan

Two worksheets on the next few pages help you evaluate your production process. The Production worksheet covers the major aspects other than equipment, which is handled on a separate form, the Equipment Schedule worksheet. You may wish to include the Equipment Schedule in the Appendix of your business plan. If yours is a manufacturing business, you might also wish to include a flow chart of your production process in the Appendix.

The aspects covered in the Production worksheet are:

■ Labor/Variable Labor. What kinds of and how many employees do you require to produce your product or service? How do you utilize them? How are decisions reached in the workforce? What is the chain of command? Do you use variable labor — employees hired only when you have certain orders in hand ?

■ Productivity. Productivity measures how long and how many people it requires to produce your product or service. This can have a major impact on your profit margin.

If you can produce more goods in less time, you increase the amount of profit earned from every dollar spent on salaries, equipment, and rent. What methods can you use to increase productivity without reducing quality?

■ Capacity. Capacity is the measure of how much work your current facilities, labor force, and equipment can handle. If you have excess capacity, you have the ability to produce more than you are currently selling using your current work force, equipment, and plant.

Excess capacity represents a waste of already paid-for earning potential. Can you find ways to use or reduce excess capacity? If you are operating at close to full capacity, what plans do you have for expansion, to handle growth ?

■ Quality Control. All the various measures you take to ensure that you maintain the same standards with each product or service come under the category of Quality Control.

Such activities include regular inspection throughout the production process, occasional testing or sampling of randomly-selected goods, employee-involvement training and reward programs for quality assurance, and solicitation of customer comments.

"To plan for change, you must build flexibility not only into the process, but into the workforce as well, because team members will be called on to do many jobs."

Michael Darner New United Motor Manufacturing Inc.

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