IV. Operating Plan
The operating plan should describe facilities, location, space requirements, capital equipment, and labor force that are required to provide the company’s product or service. The discussion guidelines given below are general enough to cover different businesses. Only those that are relevant to your particular business should be addressed in your business plan.
- Describe the planned location of the business and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the site in terms of wage rates; labor availability; proximity to customers and suppliers; access to wholesalers, distributors, and transportation; state and local taxes and laws; utilities; and zoning.
B. FACILITIES AND IMPROVEMENTS
- If yours is an existing business, describe the facilities currently used. If your firm is new, describe how and when the facilities to start business will be acquired. Discuss how and when space and equipment will be expanded to the capacity required for future sales projections. Discuss any plans to add to or improve existing space. Explain future equipment needs and indicate the cost and timing of such acquisitions.
- Describe the process involved in production of your product or service. Also present a plan that shows cost-volume information at various sales levels of operation with a breakdown of material, labor, purchased components, and overhead. Manufacturers should briefly describe their approach to quality control, production control, and inventory control. Explain the quality control and inspection procedures the company will use to minimize service problems and ensure customer satisfaction.
- Exclusive of management functions, does the local labor force have the necessary skills, in sufficient quantity and quality, to produce the product? If their skills are inadequate, describe the training that you would use to upgrade them.
