Should you buy in or manufacture materials?

Checklist for the pros and cons of in-house manufacturing.

At Connected Accounting we can provide businesses in the St Albans area with assistance and advice on a wide range of business issues. The following checklist might help when deciding whether to buy in materials or manufacture them yourself...

Sometimes, manufacturers have difficulty in deciding whether to manufacture materials for a finished product in-house or to buy them in from outside.

Although the principal consideration is financial, there are also other factors that need to be weighed.

The following checklist will help you focus on the most important factors:

	YES	NO
Does demand for the finished product seem relatively buoyant for the foreseeable future?
Does demand for the finished product tend to fluctuate?
Do you have unused plant and labour that could be utilised to manufacture the materials?
Could you achieve greater economies of scale by manufacturing in-house than you could by buying in?
Would manufacturing in-house give you greater control over such things as the quality of the materials and delivery time?
Could you manufacture in-house without having to recruit extra labour?

Every 'Yes' answer is a case for manufacturing in-house.

If you are in the St Albans area and are looking for support and help from experienced accountants and business advisers, contact Connected Accounting.

Latest News Keep up with the latest business news stories

23 Jul 2021

FSB urges government to provide SMEs with better access to support and advice

In a new report, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has called on the government to provide small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with better access to business support and advice.

22 Jul 2021

UK to overhaul funding of research and development

The government is to review the bodies it uses to finance research and development (R&D) in the UK.

21 Jul 2021

HMRC launches consultation on basis period reform

HMRC has recently launched a consultation on how basis periods can be reformed for income tax for the self-employed.

20 Jul 2021

CIOT urges government to make tax system easier to navigate

The Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) has urged the government to use its tax administration review to make the UK tax system easier to navigate for taxpayers.

19 Jul 2021

CBI calls for urgent solution to 'crippling staff shortages'

The government must make immediate changes to the current self-isolation policy as businesses face 'crippling staff shortages', according to the Confederation of British Industry (CBI).

16 Jul 2021

Over 40% of UK employers planning to increase investment in skills

More than 40% of UK employers are planning to increase investment in training compared with pre-COVID levels, according to the 2021 Confederation of British Industry (CBI)/Birkbeck, University of London Education and Skills Survey.

15 Jul 2021

Job vacancies increase to over pre-pandemic levels

There are more job vacancies now than there were before the pandemic, according to the Official for National Statistics (ONS).

14 Jul 2021

High Street sales bounce back in spring

Retail sales bounced during the spring with the quarter from April to June showing record growth, according to the latest figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC).

Call us