Aaron J. Crowley

Stone Industry Consultant

Let’s say you could have all the work you wanted. How much would you take on? How would you decide? How would you manage it? 

These are not hypothetical questions posed merely for the sake of conversation as fab shop owners all over the country are feeling and experiencing a surge in demand for custom slab counter tops. Without question, it’s a welcomed change from the still felt effects of the Great Recession and much good can come of it.

But a surging wave of sales on the shore of a super lean fab shop can create more bad than good for the owner who fails to anticipate and prepare for the subtle changes that will inevitably occur.

Because most fab shop owners (myself included) will add work to the schedule before they add capacity to the operation, they will inadvertently set into motion a sequence of events that can leave them wondering why they ever took on the additional work.

The sequence progresses like this:  change – uncertainty – confusion – chaos. It unfolds quietly and without detection and has the potential to instantaneously erase profits that seem so certain with a boost in sales and output.   

When changes in workload occur, most employees will request the temporary assistance of a co-worker before they complain to the boss and most co-workers are happy to help.  If the excess workload persists, the job sharing will continue and it will become uncertain as to whose job it is and whose turn it is to do it.  

The next stage is confusion as the well-meaning employee who originally agreed to “help” his overburdened co-worker finds himself choosing between the job he knows he was hired to do and the one he has informally assumed. Once employees are choosing between tasks, chaos has arrived.

This is where the highly anticipated profits begin to disappear rapidly as critical tasks slip through the cracks creating a hectic and frenzied environment where employees must work even harder to make up for mistakes and oversights in the interest of meeting deadlines.

So how does a fab shop owner change the game to reduce the chaos of expanded sales while retaining profits?

Start by establishing limits and defining exactly how much you will take on beyond your current capacity and learn to say no to any more than that. If a shop is doing 10 kitchens per month, it only takes one more kitchen a month to achieve a 10% increase in sales, which is ambitious. Furthermore, having established a new target of 11 kitchens per month makes it easier to pass on #12!

Second, hire the necessary capacity. If the sales are there and you are going to expand your output by 10%, then the number of labor hours must increase too. Verne Harnish, a consultant to fast growing companies says that complexity in a business increases exponentially with growth, so hiring/acquiring additional capacity will need to exceed your growth target.

Third, communicate constantly. Meet regularly. Ask your staff if they are experiencing new and unexpected stresses. Do not make the mistake of assuming that everyone on your team has a balanced workload, they assuredly do not if you have taken on more work to do.

A final thought on growth is that our decision to take on more work should never be made just because the work is there, but to increase the bottom line profits and to adequately serve our customers. That decision should be made carefully and thoughtfully with the full knowledge that growth changes the complexion and complexity of a business in ways that are hard to predict and control.

So enjoy this unique opportunity in time where you can choose to take on more work or not. Decide what is more important to you and your team.

Aaron Crowley is a stone shop owner, author, speaker, and consultant to mid-size stone companies. Contact him at aaron@fabricatorsfriend.com