Don’t keep the playing field level

If you have ever had a child participate in a team sport then you understand the highs and lows. You’ve probably heard “winning isn’t everything” dozens of times from their coaches – or said it yourself as a coach or parent.

However, try telling a child that winning isn’t everything after losing a game and you’ll find that most kids don’t really like those words. It’s not any easier for a professional athlete to process those words either.

A phrase often said, from school to sports to the workplace, is that it’s best to keep the playing field level. Laws are in place to make sure there are level playing fields in how education is handled for students with disabilities. Equal opportunity laws exist in the workplace to ensure companies don’t discriminate and give all qualified candidates – regardless of race, gender, or religion – a chance to be hired. Even in youth sports, organizers will have drafts to ensure that every team has the chance to be made up of good, average, and poor players, so the playing field is level when the kids hit the field.

Everyone wants to make sure that regardless of their size or financial capabilities, they and their competitors are following the same rules and have an equal opportunity to compete.

In manufacturing, a contract manufacturer bidding on a job for the production of medical devices or components wants to make sure it’s not a waste of time. Developing quotes is costly and time-consuming, so companies hope they are entering on a level playing field, having a chance at winning the job.

This hope for a level playing field may exist is in an ideal world, but in manufacturing, bidders need to have secret weapons in their pockets to win jobs. Who would want to quote a job knowing they have no advantage to offer the customer on why they should win the job versus a competitor? A level playing field is something individuals, or companies, should strive to exceed, not meet.

This can be achieved by always staying abreast of what new processes, machines, materials, and technologies are available. Reading what technologies job shops are implementing to cut metal, to keep the chips flying, to increase spindle up-time is what can advance a company. Training and educating the workforce also leads to upping a company’s success in the market.

As you turn the pages in this issue, take some time to compare where your shop stands compared to the advancements other companies are implementing. Do you want to compete on the same level playing field or are you ready to take the leap to advance your operations, invest in new technologies, and exceed what your competitors have to offer? If you opt for the latter, you’ll soon realize that winning really is everything and level playing fields are for those that want to maintain the status quo.

How are you changing up the playing field? Is winning everything? Drop me a note at emodic@gie.net and let me know.

– Elizabeth