Working within heavy industry often comes with a few more costs than most other entrepreneurs need to account for. As far as sectors go, this is one where your operational concerns are more than just about what you can do to boost your business.
It’s about staying safe, being environmentally friendly, and ensuring that no downtime period will tank your profits so low you’ll be unable to come back from it. It’s a sector where high risk often equals high reward, but it’s something you need to approach with a level head.
And it doesn’t matter what kind of heavy industry company you want to open, whether you’re interested in construction, running a new steel line manufacturer, or you’re keen to work in the deep-sea space. You need to be both efficient and affordable in everything you do, with little room for error.
As such, we want to highlight a few of the best methods for meeting these two targets both currently and in the long term. Using practices like these within your heavy industry business could make all the difference to how soon you’ll be able to make a profit.
You’ll Need to Work Sustainably
Sustainable choices in heavy industry are essential to both the sector’s future and the planet’s.
Pollution rates are high for companies like these, and it’s often in your best interest to control for environmental pollutants and carbon emissions from the moment you put your business plan together.
This can create a lot of social credit amongst your customer base. Companies want to know their materials are coming from sustainable suppliers, and you’re likely to secure more custom just by presenting a green solution.
And when you have the ability to work in as green a way as possible, you also keep your costs lower in the long term.
Indeed, you could be generating your own energy via solar panels or heat pumps, which lowers utility bills. You could also be operating energy efficient machinery, which uses less energy and makes operating cycles last longer.
These are all amazing benefits to have for your business, even if they seem like large upfront costs.
Find a Replacement Part Supplier ASAP
You’ll never be able to keep your heavy machinery running 24/7 (or 12/5) without a bit of maintenance and repair. As such, you’ll want to get ahead of the downtime dips by having a replacement part supplier on the books from the beginning.
When you already have a supplier to order from, you don’t have to waste time needing to research who’s got the right parts or the right price point. You already have a company in mind, and you may even be able to get an exclusive discount from them if you sign up ahead of time.
Take the chance now, when there’s no pressure involved, to find such a supplier. Make sure they have at least a majority of what you might need, as well as insight into where you can find the last few parts they don’t carry.
The most effective choice here is to find a supplier who stocks the brand names you know and trust. You don’t want just any old parts for the job; you need quality assurance during your repair operations.
These names tend to be specific to sectors, so the right supplier shouldn’t be hard to find.
For example, companies that work in the marine sector are likely to use machinery made by Cummins, and will want easy access to replacement parts like a Cummins Rebuild Kit.
Alternatively, agricultural businesses will want replacement parts made by John Deere if they operate heavy vehicles like tractors and loaders that come from the same brand.
Second hand parts can be suitable, but you’ll want to work with a legitimate, trusted platform when sourcing those. So overall, even if it’s cheaper to do otherwise, go with what you know will work.
You’ll Be Selling B2B, Rather Than B2C
If you’ve never run a B2B company before now, this is quite the sharp learning curve. Any products you create, whether this is simple ground material or key technological parts, will usually be sold onto other companies to make use of.
The principle remains the same here. You’re going to need to market your business, and provide excellent customer service. But the arena you’re operating in will feel very different.
It’ll feel like you’re coming up against monoliths and trying to sell your services to them. When you’re contacting a company and trying to sell, you’ll likely deal with a variety of different people.
But instead of having multiple clients to secure, it’s just the one client you’re hoping to walk away with. That tends to put a lot of extra pressure onto the deal.
But at the same time, there’s more security in selling B2B. Businesses rely on you to create their products, which they’ll then sell B2C. That makes you an invaluable part of their supply chain.
All you have to do now is a good job. B2B companies need to run a service that can be believed in, more so than any other kind of business. Provide quality, be flexible with the way you price, and be responsive and you’ll have cracked it.
Operating in Heavy Industry: Growing While Keeping Expenses Minimal
A brand new heavy industry business has a mountain of work ahead. Your operations can’t stay small for long. If you want to make a good profit and see a chance for ROI, you’re going to need to grow at an exponential rate.
But that’s hard to do while staying affordable. However, it can be done when you take the considerations above into account.
Be green from the get go, make sure you have a replacement part supplier noted down and ready to take action, and focus on your B2B clients. And for the latter, always keep in mind that developing the right sales manner is crucial to impressing a fellow business.