Services Equal Opportunity

"What are you doing to attach services to a product that are really going to help you in the market," Waite challenges. "Are you going to pack out the customer's product so it has fewer suppliers? I think those are the things that companies need to look at, and part of that involves partnering with other companies to see how you can expand geographic breadth." Expanding geographically is a key for Waite, because, he says, "If you are just a local entity with one plant in a small market, it's going to be tougher and tougher to compete in the future unless you have something truly unique."