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Gold/Mining/Energy : Big Dog's Boom Boom Room -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bearcatbob who wrote (142827)	12/22/2010 12:51:24 AM
From: I_C_Deadpeople	Respond to of 206191

Yes, when the Loonie was at $.70 there less of a need to watch expenses, but as the Loonie climber companies were forced to get efficient or get out. I don't think wages in most places were cut per se, but the annual increments were reduced to COLA or less. On the production side, companies were forced to strive for efficiency gains. We utilized lean manufacturing for example, and achieved a 15% improvement in units produced per man hour. I have to say though that efficiency gains in some industries were needed well before the Loonie rise due to far east competition. One of the biggest issues with competing with the far eats is the lower quality they sell here for a cheaper dollar. You have to convince your customers to pay more up front for a longer term better product. These are a few examples, there are many in each company which is why the productivity statistics are just to generic for my liking. Our company is fortunate in that our labor costs are a small portion of the total cost so far east competition is not a factor. When the Loonie started rising i also started buying Raw materials based in US dollars so I created a natural hedge. Our company now sells more internationally than it does in the US. You have to have a unique product to do that or a resource someone covets.