Today's MFGx guest blogger is Anita Berlanga, CEO of Bear Boring LLC, a custom machining shop in Wyoming, Illinois.

"What does not kill you makes you stronger," to paraphrase an oldie.

For small-to-midsize machine shops, the current economic recession - coupled with shocking fuel charges - will either kill us, or we will prevail and possibly even grow.

The media would have us cowering in our shops, scared to buy a paperclip, let alone explore inventive ways to maintain our customer base as well as grow during these difficult economic times but I posit that these are actually times of OPPORTUNITY for small-to-midsize machining and manufacturing businesses.

One example: As few as 5 years ago it looked as if we were on the ropes due to offshore sourcing. The current cost of fuel (coupled with other offshore difficulties) is allowing companies to reconsider shops that are more geographically desirable. How do we present ourselves to buyers to maximize this potential? What are the opportunities therein for the small jobshop or midsize manufacturer?

I don't have all the answers or I'd be in Tahiti, sipping a pina colada ... so I'm putting it to you, cyber-colleagues: what are YOUR plans to weather the current (and developing) conditions ... and maximize opportunity during these difficult times. Let's share some ideas:

One of our solutions is to provide our customers with value-added services. The big guys are sweating so you can imagine what your smaller customers are going through. Chat with your customers, find out what their concerns are, then see what you can do to address those concerns.

For example, we have a customer about 2 hours away with several processes to end-use. When we first teamed up with him we found he was sourcing casting 4 hours away from him (6 hrs from us), machining with us, powdercoating with yet another shop ... and these are relatively large parts ... if you look at this, it's easy to see that it rapidly becomes cost-ineffective for him to do business all over the tri-state area - shipping alone was eating him alive and that was before gas spiked over $4/gal!!! Our solution was to work with our local foundry and powdercoater to supply him with quotes for casting, etc. within our local area (a 20 mile radius). Now, instead of hundreds of dollars in shipping charges all over the place he has one shipping charge - back to him. In helping him keep his costs down we are hoping to help him stay in business, in general and with us!

One of my favorite phrases is: SOLVE THE PROBLEM. Most companies can get a machine shop - we're all over the place. It's harder to find a partner- one who can help the customer solve the problem. People tend to stick with their partners. In these perilous economic times, what tactics are you using to partner with your customers and help them solve their problems?

I thought it would be interesting to hear from some of you on this. We don't need particulars - just some ideas you might have for making it easier for small shops to take advantage of this economic downturn.

And that's another thing ... how do we help each other solve the problem? We can all survive this if we work together. Another example (I'm full of 'em): I just had an interesting chat with my painter - he's a tiny shop and often he's the only one there. He just had surgery on a badly damaged hand. Wrangling heavy beams is out of the question for a while. We had 2000+ lbs of frames that had to be powdercoated NOW and I suggested that I send one of our guys to help him lift the beams and he said 'well, it's my problem'. Bull - it's OUR problem. If the parts aren't done my customer will bite ME, not him. So it behooved me to get somebody over there to give him a hand. We met our deadline, the customer loves us and we solved the problem!

These economic times will cause us to react in one of two ways - we can hunker down and hang on tight to what we know, or we can explore other avenues of thinking how to do business. Do you collaborate with other machine shops that, perhaps, have a client base where processes can - and need to be- shared? If not, consider it. There is actually more business to be had with collaboration than exclusion, even amongst 'like' shops. Consider putting together an ad-hoc consortium. We have scored several HUGE jobs that way (you can have your attorney draw up a limited non-compete and you sign one, too! Works both ways). The lead shop is responsible for quality control and liaises with the customer - no cheating!!! One job we closed in the past month kept the doors open for 3 different shops, including our own. If our colleagues reciprocate, that's great. But if not, we're still all making money we wouldn't have made on our own.

This may sound all Pollyanna and everything, but consider this: the companies that are coming back onshore have been doing business with giant offshore shops with cheap labor. Even if that is changing, it's still their current benchmark so we have to be creative to give them a translatable value (it's unlikely we are going to be able to match their labor rates!). Communication, customer service and collaboration and problem-solving are all qualities that will help quantify your value and make your shop a viable contender.

And don't listen to the media - we will can prevail and grow during these times. But only if we work smart...and possibly work together.

Let's hear your thoughts on this!