Nortel is in the news again!

A giant in the IT Industry and Canada’s one time largest employer have been force to sell off it’s assets due to bankruptcy. This time it is their wireless network infrastructure to Nokia Siemens Networks. IT is an industry ripe with innovation and Canada needs innovation in order to compete in the world marketplace. How can Canadian Industry compete with cheaper overseas labour and the economic down turn? Many companies turn to government programs like the SR&ED (Scientific Research and Experimental Development) tax credit program to help fund their innovation.

Many SME’s in Ontario capitalize on the 41.5% return on labour and material costs incurred from R&D. It is important to talk to an expert in SR&ED to gain the most from a your claim. An SR&ED consultant can assess if you actually have SR&ED eligible projects, what you can expect to get in return and prepare you for future SR&ED claims. Claiming SR&ED on a yearly basis can reap financial rewards for your company’s innovation and keep you manufacturing in Canada.

Without a consultant you could end up claiming less than you otherwise would have. The CRA, who administers the program, has said that a majority of the claims they see claim far less than what they should. You may not be able to identify all the projects that qualify, where a consultant can be that second pair of eyes that can catch any additional projects. A consultant should look at all the areas in your business and not the areas that are most prevalent with SR&ED activities. Areas that have SR&ED some of the time may incur the most labour and material expense because SR&ED does not happen there regularly. Most importantly a consultant works for you and it is in their best interest that you have a viable SR&ED claim – that way you will continue to claim for years to come.

We’ve spoken a bit about continuous improvement on our blog, but we haven’t yet talked about WHY exactly it is important for manufacturers, and how exactly you can apply it to your business.

As a brief reminder, continuous improvement is the process of constantly making your business run more efficiently, with better effectiveness and producing better quality. On the most basic level, it is a series of small changes to improve your business, with the belief that building on all of these small changes will make a great bettering of your business. It is perhaps best stated by Edward Deming, as “the need to improve constantly and forever the system of production and service to improve quality and productivity and thus constantly decrease costs.”

This process is important for manufacturers, especially in our economic time, because it can help us to cut costs, to produce higher quality products at a faster rate, to reduce the amount of waste and deficient products we produce, and to remain competitive with other companies (both on a national and global stage).

Sounds like a great thing, doesn’t it? And there are many different ways in which you can apply continuous improvement in manufacturing, some of which are very successful and have become very popular. These include Kaizen, Just-in-Time and Lean manufacturing.

How are you applying continuous improvement in your business?

Sometimes, travel is necessary for your job – especially if you work in sales, or are an executive of a national company with a number of different locations. While travel costs can add up quickly, there are some easy ways to cut back on travel costs, whether you’re just driving to a nearby city for the day or flying a couple of provinces away for a week.

1. Car Pool. Whether it’s the full distance to a meeting, or only part of the drive to the meeting, car pooling can cut back on the gas costs.
2. Drive the Speed Limit. As tempting as it can be to speed your way down the highway, it’s more efficient on gas to drive the speed limit – when gas is as expensive as it has been the past few years, the more gas-efficient our driving is, the less often we actually have to buy gas.
3. Bring a thermos or travel mug of coffee or tea instead of stopping at Timmies or Starbucks. Coffee or tea doesn’t take long to make in the morning – especially if you have a percolator with a timer. You can even get travel mugs that plug into the power adapter in your car to keep your coffee warm during your traveling.
4. Videoconferencing or conference calls. One easy way to cut down on costs when you are on the road is to cut out the traveling altogether. If possible, meet with your clients over the phone or through videoconferencing.
5. Schedule meetings in the same area for the same day. If you have a few clients on the other side of the country and are planning on going out to meet with one of them, why not meet with all of them? It will save having to travel back out to that area of the country at another separate point in time.
6. Book flights in advance. Flights are usually cheaper if you book them about 3 weeks before your travel date. (Of course, they are cheapest if you try to get one last minute and are on standby, but you’re not guaranteed a seat.)
7. Cut unnecessary hotel costs. Room service is extremely expensive, as is anything from the minibar. When possible, go somewhere a little more friendly on the pocketbook.
8. Check out the web for hotel pricing. You can sometimes get discounts through a hotel’s website. As well, this is a quick and easy way to compare pricing between a number of different hotels in the same area and will help you choose the best priced hotel for what you require.
9. Get a good phone plan. If you’re constantly on the road and having to make phone calls back home or to the office, make sure that you have a good phone plan for long distance minutes. One possibility is to use Skype for your long distance phone calls.
10. If you need to rent a car, don’t rent one at the airport. Usually these cars cost more to rent – consider an off-airport location.