Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1515304
46 SMT007 MAGAZINE I FEBRUARY 2024 Feature Article by Dan Beaulieu D.B. MANAGEMENT GROUP What oen surprises me when working with contract manufacturers (CMs) is that many of them, especially the ones earning less than $25 million a year, have not done much planning for their future. I've realized that many started to build a specific sub-assembly as offshoots of a larger company. One company, for example, started as an off- shoot of Caterpillar, which promised them unlimited business if they would start a small company nearby to service their needs. e same was true of several smaller contract man- ufacturers in the Phoenix area that were started to serve Honeywell. In the Seattle area, Boeing was surrounded by these smaller "satellite" com- panies that started up to serve the airplane giant. Around the world, these small CMs were promised all the business they needed into the "unforeseeable future." Now that unfore- seeable future is here, and aer several years, "all the business they would ever need" has dried up. It's now time for these companies to do what they have never done before: Plan for their future. Even just five or six years ago, these contract manufacturers really didn't need to spend their time thinking about strategy, direction, brand- ing, marketing, or sales. ey had a strong base of business they could rely on, and the rest of their backlog came automatically over the transom. at has changed. ese companies now find themselves in dire need of strategic plan- ning and ever ything that c o m e s w i t h g e t - t ing their names into t h e m a r k e t p l a c e : Becoming known, finding and wooing the right customers, c r e a t i n g a c c o u n t plans, and growing their businesses.