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New Age POP Companies
01/01/2009
New Age POP companies approach the industry from a slightly different point of view. These companies are leading edge professionals in the design and production of displays and store fixtures, but they don't own any production facilities. No, they are not "Brokers". Brokers in the POP industry are usually one or two person offices that bid out jobs and have little control over the production or quality of the product.
New age companies have a full staff of designers, engineers, production managers, and inventory management specialists, everything except a factory. A small core of partner manufacturers with specialized skills handle the production under the control of the New Age company's staff. Using these partners, these companies usually deliver quality products faster and at lower costs than most old line companies.
What most buyers of POP don't realize is that there has always been a group of companies that specialize in wood, metal and plastic manufacturing. These companies are to the trade only and we all use them. Sometimes it becomes humorous, as you can call one of these companies with specs for a quotation on a project and they can immediately give you an answer. How did you do that, you ask? The reply is, "This is the third time we have quoted this job today". New Age companies have harnessed the power of these companies and use them to a great advantage.
Years ago owning factories established credibility, giving lawyers, purchasing departments and CEO's a warm and fuzzy feeling of confidence. This type of thinking still occurs in many major corporations, narrowing their choices in obtaining the best value for their expenditures. In this economy it also gives a head start to forward-thinking competitors.
Companies that own production facilities must keep all of their departments busy or periodically suffer the overhead of idle machinery and manpower. This leads to several disadvantages for their customers, as they tend to design to their manufacturing capabilities and department workloads, rather than what is best for the client. Keeping everyone busy year round is an almost impossible task for any company in this industry. Overhead for all departments then becomes an integral part of pricing every job. Someone has to pay for the down time... and that someone is you.
Timing is also a factor. Only so many jobs can enter the pipeline at any given time with little flexibility. You may need your job in six weeks, but because others are ahead of you it becomes eight weeks or more. Sometimes bigger jobs for major clients jump ahead of yours for further delays.
Flexibility and fast turn-arounds are an everyday happening with new age companies. Pipelines do not get clogged because with more than one partner for each step in the manufacturing process, scheduling is quite easy.
In this economy, New Age companies should flourish, with less overhead they can offer lower costs for quality work and fast speed to market.
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