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ProMinent
Quality and delivery
Nick and his team continue with regular supplier meetings , now every two weeks , to maintain ProMinent ’ s excellent delivery schedules , as well as continue to monitor areas such as quality , price , and on-time performance . “ We manage our supply chain tightly and value working with the right partners . If someone stumbles , we investigate the root cause . We must understand what is driving their issues , as we might be able to help fix them .
“ That ’ s being a strategic partner , not just a customer , and we extend that approach to our own customers as well . We want to know how to become a strategic supplier and help them meet their goals and objectives .”
Another central part of this growth journey has been creating a strategic plan and sticking to it . “ We stay consistent and build upon the plan . We ’ re now looking at the next three years , while reviewing the last three – did we do what we said we would ? Did the market or technology change ? Is that still a good initiative or shall we not waste time on it ? We have business analysts diving into market trends , looking at what competitors are doing and customer needs – all this helps drive us forward .
“ Our strength is we don ’ t wildly change our strategic plans year on year . They are directionally sound . While we may need to adapt along the way , and will look at opportunities as they arise , we make quick decisions and either act or move on . That flexibility and speed is what makes a difference to our success .”
Nick keeps the team heavily involved in this planning process , which he admits took some initial encouragement . “ I explained the first draft doesn ’ t have to be perfect . We will work on it and improve as we go . Now the individual teams ask to build their part of the strategic plan and bring it to me ! That ’ s how I knew we were on the right path and that ’ s what is going to enable this company to continue to grow .”
It can be demonstrated that the new approach has directly contributed to new business , as Nick reveals : “ We quoted a job with an engineering company on a US computer chip manufacturing facility , but we lost out on price . However , our Regional Sales Manager continuously followed up with the engineering company , and after some time
the cheaper supplier had gone way off on delivery times . The client asked if we could deliver sooner and what would be the cost ? We negotiated and ended up winning a piece of the contract on quality and delivery – not on price .
Customer satisfaction
“ Ultimately , we won the rest of the job , and that turned into an enormous opportunity . This was all down to our attention to detail , and our determination to deliver on our promises – if we say it , we do it . We set up and held weekly meetings . We made sure that we were constantly in touch , and we were giving good , concise answers , the right documentation , along with site visits to our facility and to the construction site .
“ That ’ s what we bring to the table , and thanks to this , we now have these phenomenal enclosures and skid systems going through our business . The engineering company is extremely happy and satisfied . It has also opened other opportunities with
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