- Continued small lot sizes requiring more time to set up then to run
- Inability to find “what used to be easy to find standard (materials, tools, holders, etc.)” (disappearing suppliers and products)
- Lack of lead time on jobs; Increase of lead time for needed materials
- Increase in rejects from remaining suppliers to our shops
- Too much to worry about, externally
- Regulatory uncertainty– HR, EPA, OSHA; approved and banned materials; Increasing local agency “oversight”
- COBRA
- Workers Comp
- Difficulty to get financing
- Inability to break through Voice mail at customers
- Uncertainty on pricing for needed materials
- Cost of capital to make investments to meet new regulations (cleaning and VOC’s in California, for example)
- Customer attitude that says you need to be financially strong before we give you an order; when everyone is in the same boat.
- Desperate competitors who take an order below their cost just to sustain cash flow.
These are not our favorite things.
Julie Andrews won’t be singing about these subjects anytime soon.
Speaking of Precision Blog 
Regarding the Item # 1, most of the time it could be easy at low cost to get shorter set up time only by changing the way to run the set up. Beetwen 1 to 4 hours. #2 The bigger companys like New Market Product, are still in business.