Is your roof giving you a headache? Have all the things that you have tried failed to solve the problem? If not, you should consider hiring a reliable Houses For Sale In Milwaukee contractor to help you. The following article is filled with useful articles you need to know about before you start working on your roof.

Safety should be a strong consideration with taking on a roofing project. Repairing a roof in bad weather is a recipe for disaster. Therefore, if you have a leak while it’s raining, put a bucket down until the storm passes. Once it does, you can then get on top of your roof to fix the issue.

If you have a contractor coming to remove your old roof, be sure to cut the grass beforehand. This will make things much easier to find if dropped. Even better, a magnetized nail finder will work at its optimum in short grass.

Do not give in to pitches by salesmen that do not sound reasonable. They’ll do anything to convince you to hire them to replace your roof, but you get the short end of the stick.

Due diligence is essential when seeking to hire a roofing contractor. Don’t just think that you should hire the first person that you find or one that’s the cheapest. Take the time to find out more about all the roofing contractors in the area. There are many ways to find good roofing candidates. You can get references from friends and family, research online consumer forums, or utilize a service to find reputable companies.

As you narrow down the field of possible roofing contractors to hire, make sure that you learn about each one’s warranty offers. You’re looking for a warranty which lasts between three to five years. The longer it is, the better. The warranty should deal with poor work and defective materials, and you should have manufacturer warranty copies too.

Damaged roofs are quite a big burden. Luckily, since you’ve read this piece, you know how to deal with roof problems. You can repair your roof. Make use of the great ideas found here, and roof repair success can be achieved.…

How to Increase Business Profit in a Bad Economy

Is your profit and loss report increasingly in the red? Many small to medium business owners and managers are watching the same sinking trend as they struggle to prop up business profitability. Here’s a powerful way approach to that problem that can revolutionize how you build your business.

Identify Key Factors: The first step in getting control of plummeting profits is identifying each key area of your business and recognizing how it affects profits. Many owners of small to medium businesses haven’t fully grasped the impact key business processes such as shipping and product pricing have on the bottom line.

This isn’t so hard to understand when you consider that the average small business owner wears multiple hats throughout the day. It’s hard to focus on a more profitable shipping method when you’re putting out fires in production and marketing.

Finding a good business planning tool is the first step in identifying what’s shrinking your profit margin. Easily understood online business tools are coming of age as small business owners race to maintain profitability. Find a business analysis tool that’s customizable for your situation and start feeding it information about how your business runs.

Analyze The Results: Once you’ve created an online snapshot of your business operation, it’s time for some analysis. Which business processes have shown a sharp increase in expenses, without adding income to your bottom line? Which departments are profit-neutral but play a key support role for other profit centers?

Here’s an example of how a business owner might analyze her key business factors: A mailing services firm finds her pricing is no longer competitive, but that they still lead the local market in delivery time. The loss of business to the competition has the owner wondering if employee layoffs are inevitable in order to bid more competitively.

With the help of an online business analysis tool, she documents a steady creep upward in packaging expense over the past two years. She also sees that the cost of fuel, vehicle maintenance and uniforms are primary factors in the firm’s declining profitability.

Make Decisions Based on Reality: With these trends well documented, this business owner can begin to make decisions about her business. Rather than immediately reducing her workforce, she uses her business productivity improvement system to project the impact of making changes in these areas.

Could she, for example, realize savings in uniform, fuel or vehicle maintenance expense by securing bids from other vendors? Is the increase in packaging expense really driven by the paper manufacturing market, or are other suppliers offering better pricing?

With those savings in hand, she can determine how much decreasing the rates she’s charging will impact her bottom line. The key is deciding which modification in the way she does business will improve business profit most significantly.

The need for this deliberate review and reflection about business profitability might seem obvious to some, but many small to medium business owners find it difficult …

Benefits Of Using Structural Industrial Racking Systems

A pallet rack is a single or multi-level structural storage system that is used to support the high stacking of single items or palletized loads. Pallet Racks are the main method of storage used by most company warehouses. Because warehouses house many different types of items of varying sizes, shapes, and weight, it is essential that a dynamic and structurally sound pallet system be used to store the items. Structural Industrial Racking Systems provide the best solutions for any type of warehouse storage need.

There are many benefits to using industrial racking systems. Because strength and durability are essential when choosing rack pallets, industrial systems are made with structural grade minimum 50,000 PSI steel. These pallet racks are also extremely versatile and allow a warehouse to increase storage density without limiting accessibility and compromising efficiency. As well, these high grade steel pallets come in varying sizes such as pallets that are suitable for small warehouses to larger multi-shelf systems for bigger warehouses. Also, the height of the pallet system can reach up to ceiling level resulting in better space optimization. Whether you require a simple racking method or a more complex and dynamic system, there are structural industrial racking methods to meet your needs.

Structural industrial racking systems are easy to add on to and expand so that as your business grows, so will your pallet system. Structural steel is far more resistant to abuse. There are systems that have heavier columns for companies who will be storing heavier and fuller loads. The structural industrial racking structure contain structural steel upright columns and load beams which make them resistant to minor impacts and thereby minimizing damage during regular warehouse operations. As well, their one-bolt beam to column connection increases system strength. Increased strength and durability are key features of structural industrial racking systems. They are able to handle high capacities which make them suitable for high traffic systems. Another important benefit of structural industrial racking systems is that it performs well in cold environments such as in refrigerators and freezer conditions.

Because companies are constantly looking for ways to improve productivity and reduce costs, structural industrial pallet systems have become an essential choice in many different types of industries. There are many reasons why pallet racking systems have been used for more than one hundred years. The advantages of using rack pallets include: better business management, maximized space utilization, improved SKU management, less on-hand inventory, improved safety, improved warehouse spacing, improved ergonomics, reduced labor costs, increased item protection, and easier accessibility to the items. You will find industrial pallet racking systems in such places as: manufacturing environments, distribution environments, retail stores, and even in archive and record storage.

Whether you are in need of a simple basic racking method or a more sophisticated system, there are pallet rack companies that provide secure, top quality, and cost-effective structural pallet racking systems that will meet your storage needs. It may be time to improve your …

A Re-Look at NAFTA – What Else Should We Consider?

Far too many people blame NAFTA on our nation’s economic problems and unemployment challenges, but I assure you, I personally am not one of them. Nor do I blame other nations for our economic ills. First, and foremost I believe we ought to look inward and into our own mirrors, and then consider what else we can do to make it more favorable for our jobs to stay here. Not long ago, I mentioned my ire to an out of state acquaintance, and she told me;

“I repeat, I do not see other nations as the root of all of our ills. I merely bring up the NAFTA point for the sake of discussion and as viewed perhaps through the eyes of persons it may affect.”

Sure, I’ve watched NAFTA over the years and I’ve watched industries like textiles, automobiles, glass, just to name a few. As those jobs went to Mexico, that was bad enough but now those jobs have moved to China, and they are helping our neighbors to the south, worse China is showing inflation, and now those jobs will move to places like Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, and other nations which are only paying one dollar a day, or a dollar 50 a day, rather than the two dollars a day of the growing Chinese middle class.

It seems that the industries are chasing low-cost labor from emerging nation to emerging nation to the lowest common denominator. In some regards this brings people up to the world, but it can also cause havoc with regards to inflation rates, and a tough transition from emerging nation to industrial nation. We went through our own problems, with our own Industrial Revolution, so we know.

Thankfully world leaders are getting better at making the transition smoother, as we bring everyone up in the world. That doesn’t mean it’s not without problems. Still, if things can be produced at lower cost in other nations, and they can do it more efficiently, then theoretically from a global trade perspective that does make the most sense.

And if this is happening to rapidly for some people, I would look towards the unions as much of the cause, along with piss-poor policy, over-regulation and a runaway lift to just environment. It seems we are not a country that is run for the people and by the people anymore, rather it is for the lawyers and by the lawyers.

If we are expecting jobs in America, and if 70% of those jobs come from small business, we are doing ourselves any favors by increasing regulations or allowing litigation to run wild. Nor are we helping the job base with the government puts barriers to entry on behalf of unions which are trying to block competition. If we’re going to run a free-market economy, we need to get with the program, and stop putting all this debris in between the right to free contract between companies, …

Productivity Improvement Requires Employee Engagement and Relentless Pursuit of Process Improvements

There is a productivity crisis looming for your organization and for North American economies. The Conference Board of Canada estimates that by 2031, only 23 workers will be around to do the work that 50 do today. To make this more concrete, take a look around you and imagine that only half your coworkers are left to do the existing amount of work.

Slipping productivity will also hurt your organization’s ability to compete because your competition will be striving to do more work for less cost, decimating your margins.

Because I am in the leadership development business, you can anticipate the first recommendation: Be an employer of choice. Great leadership will help you attract and retain great employees and those great employees can create the productivity you are looking for. Let your competition suffer from not having enough workers to fill the orders they have while your company enjoys sustainable profitability.

But even that will not be enough…

Recommendation number two: You need to relentlessly pursue ways to get greater output from the same number of workers. Labor advocates might fear this means asking employees to work harder. In reality that won’t solve the problem. Generally people put in the same amount of effort over time with occasional blips that are higher or lower.

So the solution is to look for ways to improve work methods and apply technology to get more output from the existing resources.

And that means mobilizing your workforce now to get on with those improvements. Getting ahead of the curve in the short run will allow you to grow without adding resources and boost your bottom line. As older workers retire and fewer younger workers are around to replace them, you will be able to stay in business when your competitors cannot.

Both of these solutions require both strong management and strong leadership.

Reflection Questions

What active steps is your organization taking to both boost the output of existing resources while creating a work environment that attracts the best talent? What will happen to your organization if it does not take this challenge seriously?

Action Items

Examine your existing leadership practices. Now is the time to create the kind of leaders great employees want to work for.

Help teams of employees make meaningful changes to eliminate unnecessary steps, introduce time saving technology and improve output.

Wherever possible redeploy affected employees to growing parts of your business to avoid them resisting improvements because of job loss.

If downsizing is a likely result of your efforts, consider making those adjustments earlier, then help remaining employees devise better ways of doing the workload under the new conditions. …

Warehouse Shelving: Your Ultimate Solution to Warehouse Problems

If you have space problems in your warehouse, there might still be one thing that you are not yet doing. It is the warehouse shelving or the industrial racking. This is the process in where you get certain materials to improve the organization of the supplies in it. Therefore, to end space problems, shelving is the ultimate answer to this.

However, this kind of approach is not as simple as getting any kind of furniture shelving you encounter in the market. It must be planned well enough to ensure that this works best for any warehouse problem.

Choosing the Shelving Unit

There are various considerations that you need to give attention to so that the shelving will end up successful. These considerations include the following:

Shelving materials. It is true that before, it is the wooden shelving that is the most popular. However, the wood shelves tend to easily crack and rot in time. Therefore, it is best to consider more modern materials such as steel shelving unit. With the use of metals like steel, you are assured that the whole unit will stand the test of time.

Coding regulations. The shelving units that you must place in your warehouse must pass certain coding regulations. This is necessary because if officers inspect your warehouse and it does not meet the requirements, you can end up paying certain fees for it. Therefore, what you need to do is to consult professionals to inspect your warehouse and recommend specific sizes of racks you need to purchase.

Warehouse equipment. If you have the necessary machinery that can be operated to navigate even the highest of the racks, you can purchase high ones. If you have a forklift, you can get one as high as 11 meters. This is to ensure that you make use of all the spaces in the warehouse. However, if you don’t have this kind of equipment, it is best to get racks that are smaller. All in all, you need to get shelves that can be navigated easily with the use of the equipment you have in your warehouse.

Other Benefits of Shelving

Aside from the giving more space to the warehouse, it can provide other benefits such as:

It makes the products to be easily organized and maintained. With this, it is easier for warehouse personnel to track and monitor the inventory of the supplies.

Shelving gives way to the separation of supplies by type, materials, and the like. For example, supplies with medical components must be separated from less harmful materials. If the warehouse has a good shelving unit, the safety and the condition of all the supplies are well-maintained.

A good shelving system in the warehouse also gives way to the speedy loading and unloading of supplies. If it happens that there are trucks and forklifts in the warehouse, a worker can easily spot where he needs to place the supplies being loaded or unloaded.

Definitely, the bottom …

First Stage Labor – How To Cope With Transition

You’ve now reached what can be the toughest part of childbirth, the third phase of first stage, of the labor and delivery process called the transition period, or Transition. Hang in there. It can be intense! But you’re getting so close to the end of your pregnancy. The birth of your baby will happen very soon.

Transition is often the most physically and emotionally challenging part of pregnancy and childbirth. Your contractions are very intense and usually coming every two and a half to three minutes, lasting at least a minute or longer. During this phase of labor, delivery may be a few minutes to a few hours away.

As your baby gets closer to birth, he or she has now descended deeper into your pelvis. You will probably feel pressure, as if you have to have a bowel movement. Many women will begin to feel the urge to bear down, or push.

Women who have had an epidural may or may not feel the same pressure, depending on the amount and type of medication that they received and whether the baby has descended into the pelvis or not.

Coping With Transition

If you decided to go through labor without an epidural, there will come a moment during transition when you’ll feel you can’t continue. If you suddenly lose faith in your ability to do this, it is a very common reaction-a classic sign of transition. You’ve come this far. Don’t give up now! This is the moment during childbirth when you need your birthing partner’s support the most.

Here are some tips on coping through transition:

A� Change positions. It may provide some relief. If you’re feeling strong contractions through your lower back, try getting on your hands and knees and rocking back and forth.

A� Try massage. Your birth partner can either give you a light or more firm massage, depending on what feels good to you. Keep in mind some women prefer not to be touched during childbirth.

A� A cold, wet washcloth on your forehead or a cold pack on your lower back might feel good.

A� Strong counter-pressure of your partner’s fists on both sides of your lower back also can help during contractions.

A� Go sit on the toilet. It may seem like an odd place, but you’ll find it’s easy to let go and can be a great place to labor!

A� Make noise! Moan, groan, hum, sing. Open your mouth and let it all hang out! Make those sounds low-pitched not high. It automatically stimulates your relaxation response, so go for it!

The last thing many women want before birth is a distraction. Music or even other people’s voices can suddenly become very annoying to a woman during the transition phase of labor. Delivery will happen soon, so focus your mind on your baby. You’ve made it through nine months of pregnancy, you are doing a fabulous job. You can make it through …

Business Process Improvement – Calculating the Labor Cost

Have you ever wondered what a business process costs an organization or what the largest cost to a company building a product is anyway? It is usually either labor or materials, depending on the type of business, and over the decades we have seen a shift where overhead is consuming a bigger slice of the “product cost” pie.

While this article discusses business processes, and not product creation, labor is still a big cost component. So knowing how much labor a process consumes will help you better understand the cost. This article provides the basic steps on how to calculate the labor cost of a business process, which include:

List the process activities and times.

Identify the annual volume.

Determine the FTE number to use.

Determine the salary and employee benefit rate to use.

Here is more detail on each of these steps. I will use developing a product quote as the example.

First, you have to know the process time for the business process in question. Determine this by identifying how long each step in the process takes and total the actual time consumed by the activities. So, let us assume that it takes 46.0 minutes for each quote. Translated into hours, this equates to.8 hours (rounded up) to produce each quote.

Second, multiply the time from step 1 by the annual volume. Let us assume that we produce 3,200 product quotes a year. In our example, multiply the.8 hours (labor per quote) by 3,200 quotes (volume). This equals 2,560 hours spent on the quote process in a year (annual labor hours).

Third, decide what full-time equivalent (FTE) number you should use in your calculation. While the definition of FTE varies by business, it generally means the total number of hours an employee can be paid for in a work year. If an employee works 40 hours a week, then one FTE equates to 2,080 hours in a year (52 weeks x 40 hours per week). Of course employees may have holidays, vacation, and sick time available to them. To arrive at the right labor calculation to use, subtract the number of hours your company grants your employees for vacation, sick, and paid holidays.

In our example, I use 1,880 hours as the standard labor hours. I arrived at this number by subtracting 80 hours vacation, 40 hours sick time, and 10 days (or 80 hours) of paid holidays from the starting point of 2,080 hours in a year.

Once you know the FTE number to use, divide the answer in step 2 by the FTE number. In our example, divide 2,560 (total annual hours spent on the quote process) by 1,880 hours (FTE number) and you get 1.36 FTE. This means that the quote process consumes a little over one employee and almost 1-1/2 employees. Using the FTE concept enables you to account for percentages of an employee’s time spent on a business process.

Fourth, multiply the employee salary by …

What Is Natural Childbirth?

The idea and philosophy of natural childbirth is based on the belief that women were designed to give birth, and have the instincts to do so without external intervention. Before the availability of hospitals women gave birth at home, most often with the assistance of a midwife. As hospital births became more readily available to all women it became more popular. With the feminist movement also came the push for a pain free labor and delivery. Today women have the option to choose what suits them best for the birth of their baby.

The benefits of natural childbirth are endless. This includes a shorter recovery time for mom due to fewer medical interventions such as c-sections, episiotomies, and complications from epidurals. For the infant their exposure to drugs normally used during labor is drastically reduced. Natural childbirth also generally means the baby is not immediately separated from the mother, increasing the bonding experience and generally resulting in more successful breastfeeding.

Many women may be scared of the idea of childbirth without the option of drugs for pain. What can these women do to have a successful natural childbirth? Birthing classes can provide the confidence needed to work through the birthing process naturally. Classes such as The Bradley Method teach focus and control through deep breathing. Any education the mom can get on labor and delivery will help her know what to expect when the time comes, and calm any fears she may have.

The team you choose to have at the birth can also be your best defense for dealing with any pain you may face during labor. Your team may include your midwife or OB, a doula, and your husband or partner. You may choose to have other family members there to be a support, but be sure to consider the decision of who will be there carefully. This will be an amazing and stressful event, and each person there should be ready to do anything requested of them. Making sure those who are there know what is expected of them can also relieve you of worry and stress during labor and delivery. Let them know your reasons for delivering your baby naturally, then when the time comes they will be able to remind you of why this is so important to you.

The majority of moms who are able to follow through with their wishes to have a natural childbirth feel very accomplished and proud of themselves, as well they should! Delivering naturally is an amazing first step into motherhood, making a choice that benefits both of you. Giving your child his or her first moments in this world drug free will be beneficial for everyone involved!…

Massage Therapy Career Overview And Opportunities

There is now a lot of demand for professionals to work in the field of massage therapy. In basic terms, this is an occupation that involves various hands on techniques to treat stressed tissue. Experts in this field can find openings with a range of employers, from spas and health clinics, to professional sporting clubs and expensive hotels.

If you have an interest in a career in this field, you will need to find a training establishment which offers a specialist program that has been accredited by a body such as the Commission on Massage Therapy Accreditation. Many states require that therapists gain licensing prior to practicing their skills, this would involve the successful completion of a national certification exam.

Individuals employed with this profile can work various schedules depending upon the demands of the employer. According to data made available from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, there is expected to be growth in opportunities this sector of more than ten per cent in the coming decade. As of May 2009, nearly eighty-five per cent of licensed therapists were female, it should be noted this figure is not down to any discrimination.

Finding work in this field is not unlike the approach that would be required for other forms of employment. It is important to be determined, passionate, well prepared, and professional. If you were to acquire a qualification from a well known school or training center, this would place you in a great position when applying for an opening.

You should always keep a record of the massage techniques you have been trained in. This would allow for an employer to quickly identify whether you have the skills and aptitude that they require.

It would be useful if you were to join a professional organization, for example the American Massage Therapy Association. This would allow you to have access to the latest resources and job leads. It would also help in creating a more desirable resume.

You will need to understand how to locate suitable openings. It is useful if the school or training center you attend has a job placement office that helps graduates find employment. There is also the option of contacting various employers directly. The internet is also a great way to quickly identify possible opportunities. Do not get disheartened if at first you get rejected for every position you apply to, the employer may keep your record on file and contact you in the future if another vacancy is made available.…