u/justlurking9891

Context: Production Manager of a small manufacturing business 10 employees of niche products. Some imported products but with the ultimate goal of producing 80% on site. I got brought on as a process engineer first to basically fix or identify all our processes and get the products running more efficiently. Got moved to production manager when he quit which was always the plan from when I was hired by the MD. We won a job too big for us to produce so we got it made in China and also went over there on a research expedition to see how our manufacturing stacked up. Got back from the trip with that information and now I'm going through the costs of making all our products and it's looking terrible.

The business produces niche products so sometimes we can charge through the earth but at the moment everything is being squeezed. If we add value to our products we might be alright, another thing I have to look into after I'm done.

I'm going through our costs and the majority of our products we make have such low margin it's looking like we shouldn't bother. 80% of our product should really be made in China. If we make them the cost is so large it basically means when we add margin we price ourselves out of the work. If all that manufacturing moves and we are mostly adding value to products from China there's no point in employing me, you could employ a workshop supervisor for 20k less import products from China do the little bit of manufacturing here and add value to those products.

Just feel like I'm going to basically tell the owner nothing is worth making here, cut your workforce down and focus energy's to this part of the business. I can find a new job but I don't want to. Anyone else been in this type of situation? Any advice?

I also think the MD is going to be very against this idea as well. He's been set on making it on site for the last 8 years. It'll definitely be a failure from that point of view.

More context because I keep thinking more. The MD is almost retirement age and needs this business to be sold before he'll be able to retire. He a bit fucked too.

Has anyone done these numbers? Probably a long shot.

Or at what point do you generally get passed up because you may be too close to retirement etc.

I've heard plenty of stories or older guys in their 40s plus getting passed up for physical jobs because a younger guy would be stronger/quicker. Or atleast the perception is there anyways.

When does that happen in middle management? Or is there a perceived age bracket for the perfect middle manager, not too young, not too old?

It should be obvious this is only asking when age discrimination starts to become a big problem. Not that they can't do the job and be bloody good at it etc.

Context here:

Polyam, wife and partner. Partner is long distance-ish supposed to meet like once a fortnight but when life happens it gets stretched out. She's been going through alot this year so it's been rather spread out recently. Alot of cancelations = let down.

Wife has chronic pain so alot of times sex is denied or kept to a standard position/whatever which is good but I want to do more. I'll suggest something different and it'll either happen just the one time or it'll be yeah we could do that and it never happens. It seems like extra effort or the need to spice things up is left for other partners.

Just alot of let down. I could get another partner but I don't think that really helps and is more of a distraction or avoidance of the issue. Long distance thing sucks but not much I can do about it, sadly as well we don't get to talk much either because she's usually way too busy with life. Forcing my wife to do things when she'll have a flair up of pain doesn't seem like the best solution either.

Don't know man, any suggestions, even communication methods that don't make it feel like they're just doing it to make me happy?

Buy a piece of land, whack some solar panels on it and try get it to pay the mortgage?

Maybe build your house of the land when you've had enough of it.

Manufacturing. One big job we are just struggling to get right and then we have to start using another machine as back up to get other jobs out. I want to motivate the guys and stay positive but where's the tipping point when you have to say, we are failing if something doesn't change now we're fucked!