When should the owners of a business start succession planning?  NOW!

Successful business succession was a vital move for the overall success of Wiegel Tool Works.  Aaron's advise is that you can never start the planning process too early.  Marty Wiegel started thinking about succession planning for Erica, Aaron and Ryan while in his 50's.

Aaaron suggests that unsuccessful succession planning sets a company many years behind.

WiegelToolWorks.com

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In our Manufacturing News segment, Jim and I vent and rant about an article in Forbes that states "Slow US Manufacturing Growth Doesn't Actually Matter Very Much".  Let's state some facts about this article by Tim Worstall:

* He acknowledges that he has "opinions about economics, finance and public policy."  I'm glad that he is up front about this, but unfortunately, many people believe what they read on the internet especially from a site like Forbes.com.

* Tim is from the United Kingdom, not the United States...couldn't Forbes have found someone from the United States?  Maybe this is an acknowledgment by Forbes that most people don't read articles or look into the expertise of the author...we mostly scan titles.  The idea that US manufacturing doesn't matter is what Forbes wanted to convey.

* Tim doesn't acknowledge the multiplier effect of manufacturing, which I found stated from 1.35 to 1.92.  This multiplier means that for every dollar spent in manufacturing, there is another $1.35-1.92 in additional economic activity.  In the case of manufacturing job multiples, Jerry Jasinowski found that a single manufacturing job supports 1.58 other jobs (see links below).  To put this into real life terms: when manufacturing grows (or shrinks), associated businesses grow (or shrink) with manufacturing to a greater degree than any other industry.  So, the more manufacturing GDP, the more jobs for bankers, lawyers, marketers, waiters, writers, etc.

* Based on the content from Tim's blog, we do not know if he is even qualified to write an article about manufacturing in the United States.

He makes a valid point that the impact is different now compared to when the economy was 40-50% manufacturing GDP; however, as technology and the business climate has changed, manufacturing companies are consuming from service businesses at a much greater rate.  During the period that Tim references "not all that long ago", most manufacturing companies did not have a marketing budget.  Now, every manufacturing owner that I talk to is engaged with and spending a significant amount of money on marketing.  This is just one example that US Manufacturing Actually DOES Matter Very Much.

Some relevant manufacturing economic information:

U.S Manufacturing In Context

by Manufacturing.Gov

The Magic Job Multiplier of Manufacturing

by Jerry Jasinowski (Fmr. President of the National Association of Manufacturers)

The Competitive Edge: Manufacturing's Multiplier Effect -- It's Bigger ...