The usual suspects are a cash crunch, a
customer complaint or even an unexpected demand from a statutory
agency. We have had our share of these “big waves” over the
years. Each wave taught us a lesson and strengthened the Company.
History does repeat itself. One thing is clear, had we being paying
attention to the environment, had we been reading between the lines
we could have seen it coming. Unfortunately we get so bogged down by
day to day fire fighting that we fail to look up and survey the
horizon.
We had to face a bouncer even before we
started production. The factory was ready, the machinery was in place
but there was no power. It took three month and some follow up to get
the power department to stretch their line 200 odd meters. The next
next memorable bouncer came after five years. I returned from the US
to find the factory shut as we produced to order and there were no
orders. Our main competitors had slashed prices 33% and the trade
expected us to follow suit.
Today, once again we are staring at a
“power” wave. We had imported a CNC machine which requires good
quality power to run. A private power supplier had just started
operations. Despite the rate being higher by 25% we opted for it.
Subsequently, out of sheer laziness we continued using private power
despite a consumer unfriendly attitude and rising cost (approx 4 X
higher than Government power). Lazy because we should have actually
been working on looking at alternative ways to use the cheaper
government power.
All of a sudden the private power
supplier decided to stop or curtail production of power. This move
has left not just us but a large number of companies in a lurch. Had
each of these companies been aware and paying attention to the
situation, none would have been caught unprepared. This is where the
theory at B school comes to mind, scan the horizon for possible
pitfalls, changes in policy etc. Had we paid attention to the “Power
Purchase Agreement” between the supplier and the Government of Goa,
we would have known or seen this coming years ago. The Government is
committed to buy this expensive power because of the agreement, once
the agreement ends no Government would ever be able to justify buying
at that exorbitant rate, since the Government was buying approx 50%
of the power the company survived. With the agreement ending on 14th
August 2014, it would have been pretty clear the supplier would wish
to shut down once his 50% customer exited. As a consolation, a few of
us had got together to a few days before the supplier decided to
unilaterally stop the plant citing technical reasons.
Now, we have to work overtime, organise
funds to be able to handle cheaper government in lieu of high cost
quality power. It is now a pressure situation where our customers are
effected because our production is effected. If only we had kept a
better watch on the horizon.... we would have seen this storm coming
and taken action earlier.
Moral of the story: scan the horizon,
keep your eyes open and ears tuned to sights and sounds beyond your
Company.
