If you’re a business owner or general manager, maybe your goals are more general in nature. You may find yourself saying, “This year I am going to work more on my business, instead of in my business.” In other words, you see the need to work more strategically than tactically to grow your business. Now I have never owned my own business but I have been around many small business owners, and from these experiences I might guess that this is far easier said than done. While we could find many aspects of successful entrepreneurship to discuss, I just want to hit on a couple of things that might be worth thinking about.

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Custom powder coaters face two primary alternatives when considering the sale of their business to third parties: the sale of 100 percent of their business to a strategic buyer or the sale of 60 to 80 percent of their business to a private equity firm. This decision can be complex. Thus, before beginning the process of selling, owners should gain in-depth knowledge of the value these business relationships can offer and whether a strategic purchaser or a financial partner is a better option.

First, know how each type of buyer operates and which one will enable your business to meet its objectives. Let’s examine the options:

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The goal in every production process is to keep it simple. To do this there is a need to break the process down to simple steps. Steps that are easily documented can be consistently repeated and are easy to teach.

When it comes to masking, however, the reality is far from that. “We aren’t sure how to mask them as Joe normally does those,” “I’m not sure how we did that batch last time,” “Didn’t we…?”

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When it comes to metal fabrication, L&W Engineering in Middlebury, Ind., is said to be one of the best in the business. With humble beginnings in 1975, L&W has experienced significant growth in the past 40 years, now building quality parts for a multitude of unique customers and earning annual sales in the $40 million range. The company is able to assist customers in every stage of the process—from research and development (R&D) to packaging and delivery.

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On the television show “Chopped,” accomplished chefs compete by preparing meals using a mystery basket of unorthodox and difficult-to-work-with ingredients. The chefs’ experience and ingenuity is needed to whip up recipes when they don’t have access to a full pantry of ordinary items. Today’s pretreatment chemists face the same kind of challenge. How do they develop effective pretreatment using only a basket of strange new ingredients? Like chefs, these chemists’ years of experience and ingenuity allow them to create the perfect recipe. So, pull up a chair and learn about three specific avenues of research in the chemical pretreatment kitchen.

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