A New Year's Resolution

Like millions of Americans, many of us make New Year’s resolutions to lose weight, stop smoking or spend more time with family. Have you made any resolutions as we enter 2009 to improve the health of your business?

Do you have all the answers to the problems that face your business on a daily basis?

PMPA’s mission to "lead progressive members toward global competitiveness and sustainable success..." includes helping your company. PMPA members share their expertise to support the health of the entire industry. Is going it alone—with all of the challenges we face today—worth the risk?

Do you have a plan for every crisis that comes your way? Reduce your risk and exposure by joining
the PMPA.

As the leading association representing your industry, PMPA will provide you with tools such as complimentary access to PMPA’s e-mail Listserve member network. This tool provides you with distributed problem solving so you can get timely and thorough answers from peers, supplier experts and PMPA staff. Issues cover everything from machining, information technology, quality and human resources to sales/marketing, finance and much more.

Would you like to drastically reduce the resources you spend looking for information to cut downtime and improve profitability?

Members directly benefit from the weekly, monthly and quarterly economic analyses, benchmarking data and business intelligence supplied by the association. Comparing your company’s performance to best-in-class manufacturers (your peers) will help make management decisions based on hard data. PMPA provides you with the tools and the data.

The market is complicated and global. Is what your suppliers tell you good enough to help you make your business decisions?

Keep an eye on rising raw material costs with PMPA’s Raw Materials Impacts Report. This bi-monthly report tracks the seven major commodities and provides in-depth analysis on the reasons for fluctuations in raw materials pricing. This data is invaluable when communicating with your customers on raw material cost and availability issues.

Are you receiving requests for quotes with foreign raw material specifications? PMPA’s Raw Materials Grade Translator will convert those raw material specs to their U.S. equivalents, saving you time and money. For grades not listed, you can get personal assistance from our staff expert. This service is available to PMPA members at no charge.

Can you run your day-to-day business and still stay up-to-date on regulations that affect you? Are you up on the latest legislative and regulatory issues? PMPA provides members with timely information on such issues through information supplied by the Franklin Partnership, the association’s Washington, D.C. lobbyist. Members also receive assistance with labor law compliance via PMPA’s retainer agreement with Millisor & Nobil, LLP.

With so much uncertainty in today’s challenging economic times, can you really afford to go it alone anymore?

Not only does PMPA provide tools you can use from your desktop, it also brings together its membership at more than 80 local meetings annually. Networking with peers keeps you up to speed on the latest developments and opportunities in the industry.

PMPA’s three national-level conferences for management and operations personnel provide unique opportunities for your key personnel to learn and grow through interaction with other owners, managers and suppliers to this industry.

If you only keep one resolution this year, make sure it’s the one that will help your business navigate through the challenges ahead. Take a step to intelligently manage risk by joining the PMPA.

Contact PMPA’s membership director, Matt Dougher, at mdougher@pmpa.org or by calling (440) 526-0300. To join online, visit www.pmpa.org/join/.