I have learned so
much during my tenure at GCTR. I feel like I have become a better person, a
better leader and a better friend. I
have learned so much about people and what it means to be honest. I have learned so much about myself. I have learned what my negative
predisposition is and I have made progress toward addressing it when it
reappears
I am so proud of the many obstacles we have overcome. The financial difficulty that faced us in
2010 seemed almost insurmountable, yet here we are in 2013 seeing signs of
actual trust from our vendors and hearing positive reports from our employee’s
concerning vendors. This has been a big
deal. We faced our employees when they
were irritated with our inability to pay our vendors in a timely manner and we
explained things to them in such a way that kept them from jumping ship from
fear of financial instability. We made
tough phone calls to our vendors and explained our situation and let them down
and worked to re-establish relationships with them. We have stood our ground and made tough calls
concerning many things, accepted responsibility for those calls and worked hard
to repair relationships after tough calls were made.
We have struggled and fought to establish cost analysis and
business case evaluations. When I look
at the Gross Profit numbers for Pressure Technology and Repair, I am reminded
of the battles and frustration we faced as we fought to make GCTR
profitable. No longer do we chase every
business idea that presents; now we analyze the opportunity and make sound
business decisions based on fact. Only
three or four people realize what a difficult transition that has been.
We developed a culture for GCTR. We developed a Vision for GCTR and we
developed core values for GCTR. In 2010,
decisions were being made on a whim and our identity was very loosely
defined. After building an incredible
reputation thru word of mouth based on superior customer service, it was time
to define who GCTR really was. We
struggled mightily in the beginning to define ourselves but now, in the end, we
are confident in whom we are and we have managed to make that confidence a part
of every one of our employees. We know that employees, customers and vendors
have a choice and we are committed to being that choice.
We developed an identity for GCTR. In 2010, we were a small rental company
without much presence. Today we have an
identity. An identity that is stable and
professional. We have placed branding
where it needs to be. This was a huge
job. Create Branding and then apply that
Brand to everything that is GCTR. We are
now recognizable and our presence is professional, clean and easily
recognizable. All of our documents are
branded, our vehicles are branded, and our buildings are branded.
GCTR always cared for their employees and wanted them to be
taken care of. No one could ever accuse
the shareholders of being greedy but we were able to create a benefit package,
a review package and a pay scale that is commensurate with the industry. We were able to give our employees a reason
to be proud to work for GCTR.
Retirement, improved Health Care coverage, employee manual, loan
program, employee assistance, consolidated payroll and reporting, Christmas
bonus program, employee luncheons, all employee meetings and significant
training have all played a role in obtaining and retaining some of the best
employees in the industry. GCTR was
always Loyal to their employees but now that loyalty is definable.
This makes
me begin to think about the employees we had in 2010 and compare them to the
employees we have now:
We had drivers in 2010.
We had to determine how to create a better presence in front of our
customers without the added cost of a salesman.
We got rid of the drivers that were incapable of representing and now we
have Customer Service Reps who drive…big difference.
We promoted Lalo to Repair Manager. It was a good decision. We worked very hard to train and assist Benny
and eventually we replaced him. It was a
good decision. We worked hard to train
Jason Bearce and eventually replaced him.
This was an upgrade. I think of
Blake, a young kid with very little direction.
I look at him now; shows up for work on time, has promoted twice and has
developed two levels in his current position.
I think about Sarah, Cheryl, Cynthia, Mike, Heron, Will, Erick; all
employees who have experienced significant growth because of the opportunities
afforded and the environment created. This takes time and significant
effort. All of the foundation that must
be developed to determine the “correct seats on the bus, develop a plan for
those seats and then fill them with the right people has been significant”.
I think about cleaning up the mess that was Rental. We were able to remove a guy who was not
working, stealing from us and not taking care of his business. I remember the pile of paperwork that he left
and I think about what our Rental Division looks like now. We have established Processes and Procedures
that work, Workflow and forms that work, employees that are happy and we hired
a manager that no one wanted and he has proven to be invaluable to us. We now
make wise purchasing decisions in our Rental Division, we have opened our
retail area and it looks amazing. Our
Rental Division has been upgraded at every position; we went from a Manager and
a Driver to a Manager, Inside Sales Rep, Warehouseman, Rental Repair Technician
and a Driver. It took time to remove the
employees that were not willing to catch our Vision but I am so proud to say,
we accomplished it. It took time to evaluate who we are and develop an
identity. We now know who we are, we go
out and sell our identity with confidence and we have the personnel to back
that confidence. We had a huge amount of
paperwork and invoicing that was not managed correctly. We had inventory all over the place and no
idea where many of our tools were. We
were purchasing tools for inventory with no consideration of business
case. We have cleaned that up. We have witnessed a loss in revenue and
worked hard to replace the loss and exceed it.
Purchasing was a mess and while it is not compete yet, we
have made significant strides in making it better than it was in 2010. People were buying at will and there was no
collaborative effort to review pricing and/or value. We have changed that. We have struggled with our extremely complex
supplier situation and although we are not happy with where we are, the truth
is that we have made significant strides toward excellence. We are currently researching what parts we
use the most and setting up blanket orders and min/max arrangements for those
parts. In 2010, we couldn’t even define where
to get the parts from. We are in the
process of creating Repair software that will automate our entire Repair
division including Purchasing. We have
determined that 90% of our parts come from 8-10 sources and we are in the
middle of defining the correct vendor to purchase these items from. In addition, we have established a manual
min/max program
Accounting had no direction and reporting was basically
non-existent. Invoicing was relatively
accurate but Payables and Receivables were in serious need of direction. Accounts Payable was a complete mess with no
structure whatsoever, expense reporting had to be created, taxes were not being
paid properly and confusion prevailed as to who was responsible and accountable
for decisions and tasks. We continued to find things that were not being
handled as they should be. We spent
time, effort and money to train our Controller and bring him up to speed on
what GCTR needed. In the end, we made
the necessary changes there even though it involved lifelong friendships. We developed a plan and created a mental
image of what our Accounting department should look like. Darren took charge in this area with the
intention of carrying out the plan we had devised. At this point, we are very
close to having our accounting department performing exactly as it should be.
The Repair division had no direction. So many assumptions were being made; most of
them were in the 2nd circle.
All the discussions we had around electrical tools and their
significance to our Vision. I recall so
many discussions around Hoist repair and all the opinions about suppliers and
the correct way to run a repair division.
Hours and hours spent discussing technicians and purchasing and tool
tracking and cost and profit. Those
discussions and that work have produced a definition of the role our Repair
Division plays in the overall Vision of GCTR.
We now know that electrical tools may be required to gain access to the
more profitable repairs. We know that
software is necessary to track tools, parts and productivity and we have
developed a plan to accomplish this. We
have determined what the pricing structure should be for Hoist repair. We have promoted a manager in this division
and while he is not finished learning, he is completely on board with our
Vision and he is eager to learn every day.
We recognized a problem with parts and developed a plan to fix it. A new secure parts room, a dedicated parts
employee, work orders to track parts and tools, an acknowledgement system to
make sure customers know we have their tools and follow-up system to let them
know when to expect tools. A completely
revised tool workflow system that allows us to be much more efficient in
turnaround time. Most of all, a pricing
structure that allows our Repair division to be profitable.
Fluid technology was losing money every time it sold a
pump. We have developed the ability to
more accurately track actual cost and we have increased prices (which was very
difficult). We have worked to make this
division accountable for parts and workflow.
We have struggled to develop processes and procedures that would assist
in under promising and over delivering to our customers. We have established a process for quoting to
our customers. We discussed, planned and
completed the Hertz filter/regulator program.
We designed and produced literature and a website for this
division. We struggled to remove the
motorcycle shop from our facility so that some employees would concentrate on
GCTR business and not be distracted.
We had numerous contracts that were entered into without
proper due diligence and we have worked to clean those up and reduce expenses
in the company. Reviewing these
contracts and exploring new opportunities takes time. We had to replace an existing I/T Support
provider that was a personal friend.
This was difficult and it took time to develop I/T support that would
work properly for a company our size. We
have accomplished that while upgrading our entire network. Upgrading the network requires time and
finances. Our I/T network is working
great and the support system established is excellent.
There were many loose ends with International Tool. We have cleaned them up. We were paying rent on a warehouse full of
stuff that we were not using. We cleaned
that up. We had contracts that were
still assigned to IT and we went thru the tedious process of cleaning that
up. This included combining accounting
from the two entities.
Our facilities have been upgraded, organized and cleaned to
a point of pride. We have organized the
warehouse and developed a mentality of “everything has a place and everything
in its place”. We have completed the
Rental Center, built a parts room, upgraded air and electrical, reorganized the
warehouse, added parking, built an additional building, organized our parking
areas and storage areas, developed and executed plans to handle new business
(such as Bechtel containers)
As part of the Vision created, we expanded to Beaumont by
purchasing an existing company there.
The negotiations, the structure of the agreement and the transition have
been monumental. In addition, we were
very surprised, after closing, to learn that everything had not been
disclosed. We have developed a plan for
this, made some very difficult decisions and we are now set-up for success in
this new area. We have also targeted the
Corpus Christi area for expansion. Just
recently we have made inroads into being able to open a facility there.
Working with our current Quickbooks issues has been
daunting. Balancing the issue of
arriving at the correct solution (while being concerned with cost) and trying
to keep frustrated employees motivated to continue working with a system that
is less than satisfactory is a difficult task.
It looks like we may have finally found the correct solution.
When we started in 2010, corporate documents were not being
filed correctly, there was no buy/sale agreement, there was no insurance
coverage for partners or executives. We
set-up structure and legal documents, secured Corporate representation and
started following the correct procedures for corporations.
