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Mold Maintenance/Repair 42 MoldMaking Technology November 2014 Who Is ROI Anyway? By James Bourne Making the argument for bringing polishing and repair work in-house. ew technology, tools, machines, equipment and training have the potential to improve your day-to-day opera- tions and should be studied, understood and implement- ed whenever possible. The problem is they all come at a cost and often represent a significant investment. At home, when your spouse wants a new dishwasher, you determine how much you can afford and go buy one that matches the other appliances. When you need a new car, you may give it a little more thought than an appliance, but most people figure out what they can afford and what they like, and then do a little research to confirm the wis- dom of their decision, hop- ing to make the best deal possible. Obtaining the necessary resources to invest in new equipment or training for the workplace is not as easy. There are other people who need to be convinced that what you claim is a need actu- ally has some provable valid- ity. At home, your desires, convenience or status may be the only things that need to be assuaged. In business, the bottom line needs to be potentially impacted in a positive manner to untie the purse strings. In business, ROI is the acronym that stands for "What's in it for me?" (actually, "return on investment"). When I was new to shop management, providing justification for purchases seemed a difficult task, but, in reality, it is not. All that is needed is a lit- tle data, some reasonable discussions and a good track record. What seemed to be a significant sum for training was fairly simple to get approved, and as predicted, the benefits showed immediately: improved turnaround time, better quality in polish work and reduced headaches. Following are three instances where making the argument to bring work in-house proved successful. Polishing One of my early goals was to reduce the number of repairs sent out and the attendant costs associated with outsourcing. Although I don't recall keeping records on our outsourcing part of a larger plan, I intuitively knew that it would cost the plant less if we could accomplish more repair work in-house. In the first two years, we sent a total of 52 jobs out for polish repair at a cost of about $26,000. I pushed the limits a little, took some calculated risks, expressed confidence in staff skills, and in the next two years we reduced outsourced polishing by 63 percent. That was a $20,000 reduction in the amount of money spent during the previous two years. In the process, I obtained a pretty good understanding of our skill levels and began to make the case for polishing train- ing. I recorded relevant data, explained our skills deficiencies, assigned a percentage to the number of repair workorders that entailed polishing and made a reasonable case that improving our polishing skills would continue to reduce our outsourcing for this type of work. What seemed to be a significant sum for training was fairly simple to get approved, and as predicted, the benefits showed immediately: improved turnaround time, better quality in pol- ish work, and reduced headaches and heartburn (for me). Fixing Leaks When hydraulic leaks occurred in our valve-gated hot runner manifold systems, we always relied on a local auto parts store to quickly get hoses made. I realized I was running to town to get a hose made too often, so to avoid the scramble, I settled on four average-length hoses that would work for most of our repairs, had them made and stocked them in our toolroom. N IN THE TRENCHES