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Discover the possibilities of industrial lacquers
RANGE OF ‘CONTRACT WORKERS’ DEVELOPS WITH TECHNOLOGY THE LOGIC BEHIND THE SUCCESS OF OUTSOURCING IS SURPRISINGLY SIMPLE
Photo – Mapo Group
‘Subcontracting’ or ‘outsourcing’ basically means that a trader entrusts one or more aspects (subtasks) of an economic activity (service provision or production) to an external partner. The concept is as old as economics itself and is applied in scores of sectors. In the realm of the parquet industry we find various specialities: knowledge of chemical products, how they react to various wood sorts, various forms of drying technology, etc. ‘Contract workers’ have the big advantage of working for various clients so they acquire the combined knowledge of all their clients. They have experience in a greater variety of situations than manufacturers which only make their own product.
Why outsource? There are lots of reasons for outsourcing a particular activity. The three most common reasons are that someone else can do the job cheaper, faster, or just better.
Financial reasons and timing There are various sorts of financial reasons for outsourcing an activity. Some requests from clients may deviate from a normal production process. In that case manufacturers can meet those requests only by temporarily adapting the normal production process. That often costs more than outsourcing and, furthermore, a lot of time is lost. New forms of technology (e.g. UV drying) can also emerge which obligate manufacturers to invest in order to remain competitive. That, too, can lead a trader to consider outsourcing to someone who has already
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made the investment. Bodywork in the vehicle industry is a good example of that. Bodywork jobs and repairs after an accident comprise only a very small proportion of the work done by garage owners. It is not worthwhile for them to invest in an expensive spray cabin.
Knowledge and expertise Anyone who is skilled in a niche activity usually develops into a specialist. It is undoubtedly a fact that outsourcing a specialist part of the production to such an external partner offers greater likelihood of top quality. Examples which apply to the parquet sector are legion: knowledge of chemical products, how they react to various sorts of wood, various forms of drying technology, etc. Contract workers have the big advantage of working for various clients so that they acquire the combined knowledge of all their clients. They have experience in a greater variety of situations than manufacturers which only make their own product. That raises the question: Isn’t it more worthwhile for a garage owner to pay a bodywork specialist to repair bodywork damage from time to time?
What do they offer? Applied specifically to parquet, outsourced operations take place between the time when rough floorboards leave the production line and the time when they appear in the store or show room.
Interventions with the production Some contract workers carry out grinding, planing, and milling work, but probably the most commonly requested operation is that of
