November, 2004   

The Best Sites You May Not Have Seen

Forgive us if you have seen any of these, but they're likely useful to you as a manufacturer—for reasons you may not have expected.

Institute For Supply Management (www.ism.ws)—The ISM (formerly the National Association of Purchasing Management) represents a group you may want (or have) to deal with: purchasers. Love “em or hate ”em, they represent channels into the supply and manufacturing chains of corporations that you likely want to work with. Learning about what they're thinking and what they look for can help you with your business strategies, your marketing and sales efforts, and even your own Web site. The ISM site contains a great deal of information about these creatures, much of it in the form of surveys or studies commissioned or conducted by ISM and Forrester Research. This is a great site for due diligence that you should explore.

IRS' Manufacturing Page (www.irs.gov/businesses/small/industries/content/0,,id=100647,00.html)—Before you freak out about the source and the awful URL, visit this site to see what the IRS has presented to help manufacturing businesses with tax info. Included are tax tips, audit technique guides, tax laws and regulations for manufacturing, and more.

Employment Laws Assistance for Workers and Small Businesses (ELAWS) (www.dol.gov/elaws)—The Department of Labor has created this site to help you (boy, does that sound familiar) understand your rights and responsibilities under the employment laws and regulations. ELAWS accomplishes this with “advisors” in three categories: retirement and health benefits; safety and health; and wage, hour and other workplace standards. The site is straight-forward and easy to understand; however, the path to each "advisor" is a bit long. Allow for some time to see what is relevant to your business.

Job Shop Site Of The Month

“Simple, yet effective” best describes the Web site of Ohio-based Precision Components, Inc. (www.precision-component.com). PCI is a “full range” contract manufacturer, specializing in grinding, turning, CNC milling, solid carbon EDM and product design support. Its site consists of little more than 12 “pages;” but through effective descriptions, excellent categorization and creative use of photographs, PCI’s site says more than other sites do with twice that much space. If this site provided specifics about what PCI has done for customers in their core disciplines and industries—such as how they improved products, performed beyond expectations and overcame challenges—this would be the best contract manufacturer’s Web site we’ve ever seen. Still, this site is rife with strong, positive examples of what your site should say.

To have your site considered for Job Shop Site Of The Month, send your URL to otw@mmsonline.com.

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