Fabricate or Buy In

This is my first blog and I wanted to air some thoughts on the window industry.  We all know that times are tough out there and that some companies are struggling.  The question that I wanted to bring up is should a small business fabricate or buy in their products.

There are pros and cons with both but when you get down to it is a small company who fabricate and install their own windows are really doing themselves justice.  All companies should have a focus and a core to their business.  Fabricating is a specialist area that requires investment, time, manpower and orders.

Are smaller fabricators better off concentrating on getting orders and doing what they do best - selling windows.  This frees up manpower - cashflow - time - energy and most of all focus.  A business that is manufacturing less than 200 windows a week has a large investment to make to get thse windows out of the door each week.  Could that money / resource be channelled in a more productive way?

The key question I would pose is this.

Would you rather use your resource to sell 300 windows and buy these in or manufacture 200 windows with all the associated headaches?

If you manufacture the windows the overhead is there regardless of what is sold.  If you buy in the overhead is gone and the investment is their for sales.