Breathe New Life into Packaging Automation Projects Stuck in Limbo

How many quoted packaging equipment projects in your pipeline are stalled because your customer’s financial decision makers aren’t blessing the automation acquisition?  Is there really nothing you can do about that? Removing chance from the equation Impressing your operations contact with the value of automating is one thing.  But after that so much is left up to chance; there are so many factors beyond your control:  You hope your operations contact will convey an accurate and complete picture to and has a good rapport with their finance department.You hope the finance department can look beyond the cost on your quote to see the value of automation – even though they... Read More

Maximizing Packaging Equipment Opportunities Using ROI

Are you using all of the tools in your tool box to help speed up your customer’s decision-making process? This isn’t about how your customers pay for equipment.  Whether your customers pay cash or finance is immaterial if they aren’t convinced they need the equipment to begin with. So the crucial issues to address are: How do you convey what automation will do for your customer? Who are you presenting the machine solution to? The key to answering the first question is to begin with the second question. Who do you really need to convince? Your contact in operations is a good start.  After all, they use the equipment and can understand the impact of automation. Unfortunately,... Read More

U.S. Manufacturing Rebounds in January

The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) announced today that the Purchasing Manager’s Index (PMI), a key indicator for the health of the manufacturing sector, improved last month from 47.8% to 50.9%. A PMI of less than 50% means that the manufacturing sector is contracting, and a PMI of more than 50% means the manufacturing sector is expanding. PMI fell below 50% in the middle of 2019, largely on trade concerns. The return to growth was likely driven by the signing of the “phase one” trade agreement between the United States and China. You can read the entire ISM report here. Link: Read More