On the
drive home on Monday, I noticed a large yellow cage carried on a carrier in the
bay – well, not so much noticed as staring me in the face! The thing is HUGE
and YELLOW – I wasn’t the only driver who’s head was turned left to try and
figure out what it’s supposed to be. It was still floating in what seemed like
the same spot yesterday, and I wondered if it was some sort of Scientific
Research Station. This morning it was visible from my window, so I took a few
photo’s.
Apparently
some people thought it might be a Spaceship – the cone-shaped stands do look a
bit like rocket boosters. Of course the newspaper had to find a tabloid-style
headline – does anyone really believe that somebody honestly called to ask
whether aliens had landed? Who are they trying to kid? Anyway, headline aside,
the article at least explains what it is: an ocean fish-breeding station built
in China, sold to Norway.
Due to
its size and awkward load, it has to be carrier-ed hopping from bay to bay – as
the risk of capsizing in the open sea is very high.
Another
interesting turn of events at work: We’ve had a mechanical engineering student
here for some weeks now. He’s due to fly back home on Friday, and isn’t
scheduled to come back – but the work still needs to be finished. So, guess
who’s got another task to learn? Oh, downside, though: Part of the task takes
me inside the plant, so I’ll have to wear my Safety Shoes in future. Never a
dull moment!
After
last week’s lull in workload, this week I’m enjoying this week’s work overload!
It’s always better to be busy, at least the day doesn’t drag endless like
chewing gum (translated from a German saying).
One
thing I totally fail to understand, though: What is it with the South African
companies complete indifference to delivery dates – and their attitude towards
a German client? On the one hand, they inflate their prices by an exorbitant
60% when the client is German. As a result, it is much cheaper to manufacture
and freight (Air or Sea Freight) it from Germany – so that entire business is
lost to South Africa! We’re talking BIG business, here! We’re building an
entire set of production lines here – and it is cheaper to import the tons of
fencing, cabling, cable-channels, steel-bases, hosing, etc from Germany than
any local company will sell it to a German company! As a result, we ONLY use
local manufacturers, when there are time-constraints, as in: we need it faster
than we can ship it here.
But
with the host of problems local manufacturers present, such as: an average
5-day late delivery, half the time the parts are not complete and the supplier
needs to re-work their parts, wrong material used, etc, etc – that business will
soon be lost to South Africa as well. You would think that with General Motors
recently pulling out of South Africa completely, local business would be eager
to court international clients to replace the loss of business? There are
exceptions, of course – but sadly, they truly are exceptions rather than the
rule. But evidently pride overrules sense – but pride doesn’t put food on the
table!
And
you can forget the so-called overnight couriers – they take longer than
standard air freight! And they will deliver to any company in the vicinity,
they let anyone sign their delivery note and that’s it as far as they are
concerned. Courier parcels addressed to Mr AB from company ABC can be received
by Mr YZ from company XYZ – and when you try to follow up, they’ll open a
‘ticket’ where they spend the whole first week telling you how they have proof
of delivery, so what’s my problem?
Add to
that the problem with even international service companies, such as AVIS, for
example, who are changing their business structure in such a way as to build an
impenetrable wall between the decision-makers and the client – a wall of
untrained, unsupported, unheard front-line and/or call-center staff leading to
unbelievable service experiences – I simply don’t know where that is supposed
to lead?
Ok, so
for a while it will work – loosing clients doesn’t matter, since there are
still plenty new clients out there, whom you haven’t fooled. And the ones lost
to one business, go to the next – who do exactly the same thing. So, nobody
needs to make any effort to keep customers since there is no competition.
Whether it’s Courier Service, Cellphone Service Providers, Rental Car Service
or even Restaurants.
I
sometimes think I’d like to open a shop, one these old ‘Tante Emma Laden’ – old
time corner shops, where you could not only get everything, but get individual
service as well. Like if you need only 150gr Sugar, it’s weighed and packed to
order; where the customer still decides what he needs – not the store deciding
what they’ll make available. Where you are still a person, rather than a
wallet. But then again, that can already be done online – with no human
interaction; which these days is preferred by most people.
As I
was leaving, the site manager said something that got me thinking. He said “Du
machst Dich richtig hier” meaning something along the lines of “You’re really
growing beyond the norm for your job title”. This is one of the reasons I love
this job – I have the potential to exceed expectations and on this site, for
the first time I have a chance to prove that. And since it’s unexpected – I get
appreciated for doing my best! I had another such reward this week. One of the
guys in head office shared his concern that nobody could possibly keep record
of those hundreds of design changes done for the past year. I took him through
the spreadsheet I designed, where I keep track of every single component for
each of the hundreds of changes. Now this guy has been working in
change-management for years … his response? “Wow! I’m speechless!” Those are
the happy-dance moments, the reason I love my life just as it is.
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