5 Ways to Protect Product Quality While Cutting Costs
- Charlotte Walter
- Nov 4
- 5 min read
Inflation is holding steady around 2.9%, while holiday retail sales are expected to grow at a similar rate. In other words, business growth is barely keeping pace with rising costs, leaving many of us with tighter budgets, smaller margins, and less room to reinvest in 2026.
So the question becomes: how do we make every dollar work harder without cutting corners on quality? Here are five practical ways to strengthen your financials, both in the short and long term.
1) Optimize Processes
It might sound simple, but one of the most powerful ways to strengthen your business is to truly understand how your products move through production. Even small delays, a missing step, a waiting queue, a pause between tasks, can quietly add up, increasing labor hours, energy use, and stress on your team.
Whether you make everything in-house or partner with a co-packer, understanding your flow helps you see what’s really happening day to day. Start small.
Grab a pen and sketch your process from start to finish. Seeing it on paper often reveals the hidden steps that slow you down or waste materials. Try this simple exercise to map your production line. The exact shape used for your flow is not critical. But be consistent with what the shapes represent.
From here, you can build the manufacturing flow diagram like the one below.
Review the process with your team. Everyone experiences the process a little differently, and that collective view helps uncover what’s really creating friction.
Once your flow is mapped out, begin asking the simple, but important questions: why, what, where, when, and how. Those five words may sound basic, but they’re often the key to finding the real cause of your production delays.
Optimization doesn’t require perfection; it just requires curiosity and consistency.
2) Tighten Production Efficiency
Review scrap rate:
Once you’ve built your flowchart, patterns start to appear, especially around where your rejects happen. These are your best clues. Most issues show up during inspection, and that’s the time to pause and regroup as a team.
Ask together
Do we all agree on what counts as a “bad” product?
If not, how should we define it, and why?
Can any of these rejects be recovered or reworked?
Getting clear on definitions and expectations is often half the battle.
Review batch size:
Another way to increase efficiency is by reviewing your batch sizes. A “batch” is simply the number of products made in one run, and adjusting this number can make a surprising difference.
For example, imagine Joe’s cookie company. His mixer can make dough for 30 cookies, but his oven can bake 60 at once. That mismatch means the oven’s running below capacity. Once Joe realized this, he started making two batches before baking. Just like that, he doubled output without adding labor or time.
The same principle applies to your operation. Reviewing how your team works, from mixing to packaging, often reveals quick wins that reduce waste, smooth out bottlenecks, and make production feel a little lighter for everyone involved.
3) Reinforce Quality Controls
Quality is what protects your brand, but it’s also one of the easiest areas to lose track of when things get busy.
Take another look at your process map and any data you’ve collected from quality checks. If you haven’t started tracking yet, it’s okay; even a basic log can help you see where issues tend to repeat.
If you already have data, identify which steps lead to the most rejects. Then work with your team to discover why. Sometimes, the issue isn’t a broken system, it’s a misunderstanding. Maybe “bad parts” mean different things to different people. Or maybe a step in the process just isn’t clearly explained.
Use this as a chance to review your written instructions and training materials. Processes evolve, but documentation doesn’t always keep up. A few simple updates or clearer visuals can make a world of difference, reducing confusion and giving your team more confidence in their work.
Quality control isn’t about perfection; it’s about communication and alignment.
4) Renegotiate Supplier Contracts
Renegotiating with suppliers can feel intimidating, but it’s one of the most effective ways to manage material costs without sacrificing quality. The secret is going into those conversations prepared.
Start by creating a Master Material List, a single document that captures every material you use across all your products. This doesn’t have to be fancy. It’s simply a clear list that gives you visibility into what you’re buying, how often, and from whom.
If you don’t have one yet, here’s how to build it:
List your main product categories (for example: earrings, necklaces, or chocolate bonbons, bars, and sticks).
Add each product SKU under those categories, including seasonal or limited-edition items.
Write down all materials and packaging needed for each SKU.
Include the quantity and unit of measure for each
Sample master ingredient list.
This list helps you project what you’ll need based on sales forecasts, the bridge between what you plan to sell and what you need to make it happen. For instance, if you expect to sell 1,000 units each of dark chocolate bonbons, Vietnamese coffee bonbons, and dark chocolate bars, you can quickly calculate how much chocolate, cream, and butter you’ll need, plus a small buffer for normal variation.
Once you have your list, review supplier lead times and minimum order quantities (MOQs). This preparation gives you leverage in negotiations, and may reveal opportunities for bulk discounts, better payment terms, or even new suppliers that fit your needs more closely.
Negotiating from clarity, not pressure, always leads to better outcomes.
5. Review Shipping Costs
Shipping costs often sneak up on small businesses. They may seem fixed, but with a bit of planning, there’s room to optimize. It helps to look at shipping in more detail.
Shipping for Products
Next, review how your products reach your customers. Shipping cost is based on 2 factors: distance and weight. Since you can’t change distance, focus on weight. Lighter packaging materials will minimize the shipping cost. Review your packaging process with a fresh eye. Sometimes, in trying to protect our products, we overbuild our shipping, adding layers that increase weight and cost.
Test new designs before rolling them out, and ask: Can we ship lighter while still keeping our products safe and beautifully presented? Even small adjustments here can make a real difference in overall cost. If you ship temperature-sensitive items, consider developing two shipping protocols: one for warmer months and another for cooler seasons. Small seasonal adjustments can help balance quality with cost.
Finding the Best Rates
Shipping prices change often, especially during holidays. Try running a few test shipments across different carriers and discount platforms like ShipStation, Shippo, or Pirate Ship, and compare those with the rates offered through your e-commerce platform (Shopify, for example, often has built-in discounts). Managing shipping more intentionally may not be the most exciting part of running a business, but these small choices add up, creating real breathing room in your margins.
In Summary
Improving profitability doesn’t always mean big leaps or sweeping changes. More often, it’s built on small, thoughtful adjustments, the kind that reduce waste, save time, and protect your team’s energy. Growth takes patience. It’s shaped by steady, intentional decisions that help your business feel stronger, run smoother, and stay true to what makes it special.
Helpful Resources
At 37 Oaks, we help small business owners make decisions with clarity. Check out these helpful resources to guide your next move.
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You may find our 37 Oaks University Value Stream Mapping on-demand course valuable when outlining your Manufacturing Flow Diagram.
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