- Continued small lot sizes requiring more time to set up then to run
- Inability to find “what used to be easy to find standard (materials, tools, holders, etc.)” (disappearing suppliers and products)
- Lack of lead time on jobs; Increase of lead time for needed materials
- Increase in rejects from remaining suppliers to our shops
- Too much to worry about, externally
- Regulatory uncertainty– HR, EPA, OSHA; approved and banned materials; Increasing local agency “oversight”
- COBRA
- Workers Comp
- Difficulty to get financing
- Inability to break through Voice mail at customers
- Uncertainty on pricing for needed materials
- Cost of capital to make investments to meet new regulations (cleaning and VOC’s in California, for example)
- Customer attitude that says you need to be financially strong before we give you an order; when everyone is in the same boat.
- Desperate competitors who take an order below their cost just to sustain cash flow.
Julie Andrews won’t be singing about these subjects anytime soon.
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