You may have untapped talent
When filling critical shop positions, the best candidates might be right under your nose.
Author
Keith Jennings
Keith Jennings is president of Crow Corp., Tomball, Texas, a family-owned company focusing on machining, metal fabrication and metal stamping.
Manager's Desk Columnist
Get the word out on your shop
Are you positioned to be found when someone urgently needs a shop? If not, positioning your shop to be found is what's important
Working less can boost productivity
With fewer employees handling more duties, workplace stress can take a toll on productivity. Keith Jennings finds a simple solution.
When not to listen
Repeat work is great, but shops have to guard against the comfortable complacency that such work can generate at the expense of diversifying its customer base. Said diversification is essential to a shop's growth.
Show vendors some love
Finding ways to meet, interface with and show appreciation for customers and vendors can help any business. With Spring, and the hope of nicer weather upon us, CTE Manager's Desk columnist Keith Jennings is eager to leverage the season for promotional and "we appreciate you" events, such as luncheons and open houses.
Protect proprietary company information
Complying with sensitive information requests may be necessary in some circumstances, but it's possible to provide too much information, which might expose proprietary processes and technology and put a company at a competitive disadvantage.
Owning company communications
Manager's Desk columnist Keith Jennings underscores the need for shop owners to remind their staff that it is the company—not its employees—that owns all business calls and electronic communications.
Learn and don’t repeat
Whether or not you believe in New Year's resolutions, starting any new year with optimism and a positive attitude is a worthy idea and can't hurt anything. An important element is applying key lessons learned from the previous year.
Shop owners need to review costs of services at year’s end
Here's something that every shop should consider doing from time to time: a careful evaluation of the many business services and internal processes required to operate a successful company.
Shop owners help fellow shop owner after hurricane
Keith Jennings, who writes the Manager's Desk column for Cutting Tool Engineering, shares his thanks for being able to work after surviving the epicenter of Hurricane Harvey in August.
Manager’s Desk: Shop owner deals with theft
Keith Jennings, who writes the Manager's Desk column for Cutting Tool Engineering, never experienced being sad and mad at the same time until recently, according to his September column. The cause? A trusted employee who wasn't so trustworthy.
Manager’s Desk: Time to awaken the shop
Much of 2016 and 2017 has been a stressful roller coaster ride for our shop and me and my family as we have fought through a difficult economy—the worst in 30 years. Challenges remain, and business isn't completely wonderful again, but we have more optimism than a year ago, writes Keith Jennings, the Manager's Desk columnist for Cutting Tool Engineering magazine.