When it comes time for your parent company to invest more capital in their facilities, make sure yours is on the list.

Companies tend to invest their capital in locations that deliver results, but how do they determine what facility to invest in?

I want to talk about how you can make sure that your department or your facility is investible from your parent company. Whether you’re a front line leader, plant manager, or a general manager, it’s important to help your production facility be positioned for additional capital investment.

Big companies, especially, have to make decisions over which production facilities to invest in. The winners can expect millions of dollars of new capital investment, expanded production capacity and product allocation. That additional investment is a vote of confidence in the capabilities of you and your team. It also helps create job security because most companies don’t invest more capital and then close the location.

So how do you help make your location investible?

Tip number one is to focus on safety. Safety is a high priority for a good reason. Companies know that caring for employees helps create a great culture, and that, in turn, helps drive business goals.

The second tip is to hit your numbers. The reality is that money talks and if your department or location can manage costs, reduce scrap and eliminate waste while maximizing productivity and quality, you’re more likely to receive additional capital investment.

The third and final tip is to have a high-performance culture. Consistent and capable leadership will create a strong sense of engagement, morale, and attitude. Having a great team makes it easy for your company to put more capital to work in your location.

All problems are leadership problems and all solutions are leadership solutions. Some factors are going to be beyond your control, like whether customers are buying what your plant produces or whether your plant is located close enough to customers to make sure freight costs aren’t excessive.

But it’s important to focus on what you can control: safety, hitting your numbers, and developing a winning culture.