Survival Guide for Small and Medium Manufacturers

Matt Weller
Co-Founder, Berlin KraftWorks Inc.

COVID-19 is forcing a rapid redistribution of resources, wealth and economic mobility. Only those firms who are willing to reinvent, shift, and act quickly will survive the wave. As a small or medium business, adaptability, agility, and collaboration will be the key to your success. Here are 4 steps you can take right now: 

1) Stop and assess on two horizons 

• What are the immediate needs for the survival of your firm? These should be based on data.  
• What are the likely realities, based on reliable information, in which the firm will need to exist /compete after the initial crisis? 
• How will responding to immediate needs restrict OR prepare your firm for the future after the crisis? 
  
  

2) Take Action 

• Connect and Network your environment. What resources exist that can help your immediate needs? What resources can provide reliable, timely information as situations change? What firms, including competitors, can you align with in the interim to leverage resources, fill gaps and respond to immediate needs (of your own firm and of others including calls for help by other industries). This works in other countries and isn’t new, our culture needs to shift quickly.
  
  
• Collaborate. Work with other firms to solve common problems, this maximizes resources and increases effectiveness. Solve your unique problems with the internal bandwidth you will acquire from this. 
  
  

3) Check the Results 

• Check your initial assumptions/data on your immediate needs – were they accurate? Are you getting traction?  
  
  

• What is the data from reliable sources telling you about the future horizon relative to your firm? Is it shifting or solidifying? Can you see future opportunities emerging that didn’t exist before? 
  
  

4) Act 

• In times of crisis, bias towards action (based on validated data) will always lead to a better outcome. 
  
  
• Act on adjustments identified and required by step 3 above and repeat the cycle. This will keep your efforts fresh and aligned to shifting constraints and conditions. 
  
  
• Bury personal biases, egos and politics, these are the great destroyers of progress in times of crisis. We stand together, or we fall individually. 
  
  

We’re here to help
We’re offering free consultations to help firms identify their current needs and next steps during the COVID-19 crisis. Our team have all navigated manufacturing operations through severe economic crisis before, and we’re happy to help and offer any other assistance we can. Give us a call at 519-588-2900 or email Matt Weller at mweller@berlinkw.ca.