Financing Matters

Maneuvering the financial landscape in manufacturing can be complicated. It really doesn’t matter whether the operation is a large multinational company or a single job shop, making the right financial decisions has a tremendous impact on the bottom line. With that in mind, Cutting Tool Engineering is launching “Financing Matters,” a new column that will focus on how the world of finance impacts business owners within the manufacturing industry. (See the inaugural column on page 28.)

I’m particularly pleased to announce this new column not simply due to my role as the chief financial officer of Cutting Tool Engineering, but because the manufacturing industry falls within the purview of commercial and industrial (C&I) lending. That was my forte. I thoroughly enjoyed visiting client shops to get a tour in order to more fully understand how they operated their business. A thorough understanding of a company’s operations is a necessary requirement of any good lender.

Finding a reliable commercial lender is paramount to facilitating a smooth-running business. This is especially critical in the manufacturing industry where supply chain issues have been wreaking havoc for both large and small operations. The production process cannot be completed if all of the necessary materials or parts are not available. Such a scenario is precisely why a financial vehicle known as a working capital line of credit exists. The line of credit is there to carry the company through the period of time when the production process is slowed by outside variables. Having the right commercial lending partner who possesses the right experience can have a positive and meaningful impact on the success of your company.

This month’s column addresses obstacles to lending that are caused by 10 common business mistakes. For future installments we will engage other finance experts and reach out to businesses to discuss and explore financial solutions in terms of what’s working and what’s not.

Ultimately, this column is for large and small companies and everything in between. The larger companies will likely have more complicated financial solutions while the smaller companies might have more traditional ones. My experience has predominantly been with middle market to larger corporate clients. However, the banking professionals who will be participating in this column will be well versed in current finance matters. We plan to cover everything from SBA financing to revolving lines of credit to equipment financing and much more.

With this new column, our thought process at CTE is simply to leverage my C&I lending experience within the banking industry to present our readers with an engaging and exciting series of articles intended to make the world of finance more accessible.