Achieve Target Price and Earn Profits Too!
January 25, 2012 1 Comment
Whether launching a new product or expanding capabilities to accommodate our clients growing needs, meeting the target price is a significant barrier to earning new revenue streams and potential profits. Sometimes we take on new business opportunities as a way to gain market share, deepen relationships or to gain an advantage over the competition. While these strategies for new business serve their purposes well, it remains essential not only to meet the target price, but also to be profitable at the target price.
Fortunately, approaching target price challenges from both a design improvement and process improvement perspective allows us to open ourselves to a path toward meeting our objectives. A design and process improvement course can make taking risks less emotional and bring us into the realm of rational decision making. What if a design and process improvement method was consistently employed, and the data collected from these efforts demonstrated that a 10%, 15% or even 30% gain in profitability is likely.
One step in achieving a data driven decision-making model is to create processes that deliver reliable data needed to incorporate into an existing decision making and forecasting model. A process that generates and delivers this kind of information is presented below. It is an iterative process that synergizes with a well known Six Sigma concept, Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control (DMAIC).
Step One: Define Base Process
- Define base process
- Create value stream map
- Delineate sub-processes and assign cycle times to each
- Identify and document opportunities for improvement
- Present per product price and improvement opportunities
Step Two: Perform Project, Provide performance Feedback and Improvement Opportunities
- Actual cycle times
- Yield reporting
- Constraint analysis
- Feasibility study
- Incorporate actual data to engineer design for manufacturability model
- Material & equipment suitability
- Yield and process time optimization
Step Three: Adopt New Process
- Define new process
- Create new value stream map
- Delineate sub-processes and assign cycle times to each
- Identify and document opportunities for improvement
- Present per product price and improvement opportunities
Step Four: Perform New Process, Provide performance Feedback and Improvement Opportunities
- Actual cycle times
- Yield reporting
- Constraint analysis
- Feasibility study
- Incorporate actual data to engineer design for manufacturability model
- Material & equipment suitability
- Yield and process time optimization
This iterative process continues to deepen, creating an improvement perspective and can continue until all potential waste is removed, or can be finished when a desired target price and profit is met. The data gathered from the process can then be integrated into our decision-making models.
While the decision-making model currently in use may not be well structured and documented, we are making decisions and are therefore using some sort of model. Enhancing our awareness regarding how we go about making decisions and adding a rational perspective to our new business strategies can support our efforts to increase revenues and profits.
Click Here to download a case study supporting this model.
Click Here to begin a conversation on how ASAP can help meet your target price initiatives.
Assembly and packaging processes, sometimes referred to as secondary processes, can be difficult to define, measure, analyze and control. Labor-intensive, secondary processes performed by us humans seem to present the most challenges. The unpredictable nature of human performance can be overwhelming, making it seem impossible to feel confident about the accuracy and consistency of our processing methods.
Meeting sales goals is one of our highest priorities, and productivity is a determining factor in whether or not we meet those goals. The degree to which our manufacturing processes are productive affects our capacity to generate revenue. Since our organizations exist to serve the demands of our customers, measuring productivity and understanding the degree to which productivity affects sales performance is worth exploring.

Damaged product is simply not acceptable. Whether our products are OEM or retail, customer interaction with product packaging and the product is critical. Retail customers, like you and me, do not buy products that have dents, broken shrink-wrap, or torn labels. Likewise, OEM customers do not want to deal with fallen over pallets, banged-up outer cartons or ripped open bags. This kind of damage greatly reduces an OEM’s ability to be efficient and creates questions about the quality of the goods received.


A lot of time and resources are spent on branding efforts. Brand recognition and brand loyalty are considered assets and are tracked and measured. We chose images; colors, shapes and text that we believe will help communicate the kind of experience our target market is going to have when they purchase our products. In short, we are making promising to our customers and working to earn their trust.
A good place to begin removing complexities in our manufacturing operations is in our secondary processes. Often there is a clear delineation between a primary manufacturing process and a secondary process. For example, an organization that produces plastic widgets may identify its primary manufacturing process as injection molding, the conversion of plastic into a widget. Processes such as separating, assembly, packaging and finishing are considered its secondary processes.
