“Geoff Forester photograph, courtesy of the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund”.

Many of you are familiar with, or subscribe to MFG.com, the online manufacturing community where Buyers (purchasing and sourcing professionals, engineers, etc.) and Suppliers (contract manufacturers, factories, distributors, job shops, etc.) connect, exchange information and do business. As one of the services to to our community, MFG.com maintains a manufacturing blog, MOJO, where opinions and comments about manufacturing are flowing. Recently, MOJO’s blogger, AJ, came across Graphicast and explored our social media strategy. He felt our use of Social Media could be a model for other manufacturers to follow, as he concluded (and I paraphrase), “Graphicast is a small manufacturer that gets the Web & Social Media. You don’t see that everyday.” Thanks for the review, AJ!

“Geoff Forester photograph, courtesy of the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund”.

We’re closing in on the end of our fiscal year. This year was about the same as last year from a sales volume standpoint. However, the level of activity and optimism we’re seeing indicates that we should be off to a good start for fiscal year 2011. Here’s a snapshot of views from our sales reps around the country:

“Business is good now. Economy is good and seeing a lot of projects to bid.
I know already that I’m losing some business, so I need to replace that with new business.”

“The pipeline for next year is getting filled with five new die castings, three permanent mold jobs, six new sand castings, and three new powdered metal parts all so far this year. All this work should get me back to fiscal 2008 level. It’s been a roller coaster couple of years but it looks like a nice upswing right now.”

“Customers seem to have a more positive outlook than in the past year and we are seeing orders from customers that have been quiet for some time. It appears that they are willing to consider new ideas and ways to manufacture parts but we are also seeing orders for parts that have been basically stagnant for a long time.”

So there you have it. Real news from real people. I hope the rest of you are seeing similar optimism.

“Geoff Forester photograph, courtesy of the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund”.

Graphicast began its social media journey almost one year ago. My personal journey began about a year earlier, but I was a passive participant in the process, looking in and observing from the outside. Although I was somewhat skeptical when I attended a business oriented social media overview given by Kelley-Sue LeBlanc of Aleuromedia, I was very excited by the end of the hour long session, as I saw a great opportunity for Graphicast to expand its message and its influence in our markets via social media. A few weeks later, we hired Kelley-Sue to help us on our journey.

To me, the key to success in using social media is making the leap of faith that sharing information increases your influence and the interest in buying from you. It also, as some fear, reveals information about you to your competitors.  So what? They can get this if they want to anyhow, and this downside is a small price to pay for the upside. This is a variation on the same message I have been telling people who work for me. Many of them think that  hoarding the knowledge they possess is their key to job security. If they keep it to themselves, their indispensability is preserved. I have tried, with varying degrees of success, to convince them that their indispensability is preserved by sharing their information with the rest of the company. By sharing, they become the “go to” people, the people of influence and the people with the highest value to the company. The others, the hoarders, usually don’t last.

Sharing within the company is one thing. Sharing with the entire world can be a scary thought. However, through the analysis and preparation we did for our social media programs, I recognized that there was much more to gain than to lose. The only way to create influence and become more than the four walls of the building is to try to become a “go to” company to the world. We’re trying. From the activity and comments we’re seeing, I think it’s beginning to happen.

National Optronics, a manufacture of eye glass lens grinding equipment ,looks to Graphicast to make value added components for their equipment.  Graphicast often reviews part and assembly prints for their equipment with them to determine if we can achieve cost savings by combining multiple parts into a single casting.  Other savings are found when it is more economical to machine a casting than to machine a component from bar stock.

More than your average win-win situation, this has become a rare and appreciated relationship.  A few years of review, understanding and design collaboration has lead to strong and fluid communications between the organizations.  Today, projects are developed start to finish with relative ease, savings are realized, and at the end of a project, well, speaking for Graphicast, we are happy to have completed another job for National Optronics.

“Geoff Forester photograph, courtesy of the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund”.

I recently heard from a contact in Europe about an opportunity for ZA12 castings. One of our customers in the United States suggested to an affiliated European company  to look into ZA12 castings for some of their component needs. Through a nationwide search effort for a supplier, my contact saw the inquiry and quickly directed the European company’s buyer to our website and our videos on YouTube. Interest is growing and there may be opportunities for both Graphicast and my contact to supply this need.

Having content about Graphicast on various sites on the web is one of the benefits of using social media outlets. Through the many networks of contacts you can establish, and a little  dedication to keeping those networks updated, a company can achieve a global presence through social media.