Lack of planning on your part doesn't constitute an emergency on mine.

Words to live by. My mentor/bodd while managing a logistics company didn't just teach me this, he made me live by it. Over plan, have contingencies for everything.

I now do outside sales/operation manager for a commercial building supplies company. All of our products are from vendors, some of it completely custom. Lead times are the difference between breaking even and profit do to labor for the contractors.

Thursday the project manager called me for a big corporate job, and they under ordered for accessories on a custom build. That's on the estimator. I'm the straight shooter type and told him July first at best. International custom accessory. That was too late for him, so he says they'll fabricate on the fly...not my call or business, but I let him know he had 24 hours to change his mind or "he was f***ed", only way to convey how serious you are.

He just texted me half an hour ago and asked for it asap and wanted a lead time. That few thousand dollars and a week and a half he thought he'd save just cost him the job possibly.

For anyone who has dealt with production plants, holidays exponentially add to lead times. This job has a hard opening. Bless his heart, he should have listened to me.

a reply to: CriticalStinker

I didn't hear that quote from a wise sage, just remember seeing it on family guy when someone wanted stewie to switch seats on a plane.

Still has the same impact though.



Seth just being some chuckle head aside, he's on the ball with most things.

a reply to: CriticalStinker

Good luck getting any help near holidays..
Doubly so between Christmas and New Years.

Contractors don't like to purchase anything any farther ahead of time than they have too.
It might get broke.
It might get stolen.
You have to figure out where to store it.

And the big one,,, they don't want to spend their down payment money until absolutely necessary.

a reply to: MisterSpock

Seth just being some chuckle head aside, he's on the ball with most things.

Except, lack of planning saved Seth's life 2,824 days ago. What a day to miss a flight 😉. Exception to every rule. Love me some nuance.

In the business/company sense, you have the Japanese to blame for this. JIT always baffled me in that way that it works great as long as everything goes according to plan.

a reply to: Bluntone22

Good luck getting any help near holidays..
Doubly so between Christmas and New Years.

I used to work ungodly hours in that season, so happy to be out of that business.

Contractors don't like to purchase anything any farther ahead of time than they have too.
It might get broke.
It might get stolen.
You have to figure out where to store it.

We empathize there with them. We'll store it, and they have a credit line. Same guy who taught me the thread title in my young twenties said plan for everything so you can take excuses away from employees and clients. Underpromise, over deliver, unless you have to shoot straight and be overly explicit on such.

originally posted by: BrianFlanders
In the business/company sense, you have the Japanese to blame for this. JIT always baffled me in that way that it works great as long as everything goes according to plan.

Japan has a crazy work structure that expects you to over plan and over work. I agree with the former. Germany doesn't allow email or phone calls from work on leisure time, who knows how well that flies.

Ill do everything I can to help them out, even if it means I find a third party vendor who has an equal product (which I doubt for a proprietary custom system).

But sales to me is being an impromptu employee for your client. That means being honest, using your knowledge to help them, and sometimes taking a hit to help them. We'll see if that mentality can help them tomorrow, I doubt it.

Happens on every job I do. You have so much alotted time to get a job done that they have bidded.Always, something is missed or missing , and a whole lot of finger pointing happens, mean time I am sitting on a bucket because the factory, sales and management dept. are blaming each other, then they try to blame me for the the job going under, but I document everything.

Freaking ridiculous !!!!!!

a reply to: Groot

mean time I am sitting on a bucket because the factory, sales and management dept. are blaming each other, then they try to blame me for the the job going under, but I document everything.

Freaking ridiculous !!!!!!

Do everything you can, but take the excuses away from everyone. 😉

Keeping a record and correspondence to all involved is always a good call. Texts and emails are better than phone calls.

originally posted by: CriticalStinker
a reply to: Groot

mean time I am sitting on a bucket because the factory, sales and management dept. are blaming each other, then they try to blame me for the the job going under, but I document everything.

Freaking ridiculous !!!!!!

Do everything you can, but take the excuses away from everyone. 😉

Keeping a record and correspondence to all involved is always a good call. Texts and emails are better than phone calls.

Oh,every communication is through email. I got my ass covered.

Working in retail, I just wanna tell customers this and point them to the door.

Showing up 15 minutes before closing and expecting a rush job on photo orders because 'It's a gift and the party is tomorrow' just makes me want to hurt an idiot. You've known about this holiday for months and haven't bothered getting a gift together and now you're gonna make me bust my ass because of your poor planning? Pfffffttttt.

a reply to: CriticalStinker

I agree, I am an over-planner, contingency based, over-deliverer as well. However, I think it's also important to recognize emergencies do happen, and sometimes rising to the occasion can mean a tidal wave of repeat business and new referrals.

We work with government almost exclusively, and governments (City, State, Federal and International) are notorious for failure to plan, and worse failure to act when someone did plan accordingly. Saving their bacon sometimes (not habitually) can really put you at the head of the line. Plus, S# happens, in aviation. Things that others can't control. Demonstrating you can repeatedly establish control, in an out of control situation, will put you at the front of the no-bid list.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

I've already started reaching out to every rep and their moms. I'm guessing I'll be able to make something happen, but it's going to be a lot more expensive than if we had worked within the 24 hour window I emphasized.

I suppose the other moral of the story is if you mess up on a time sensitive project, eat the cost to fix is as soon as possible. Things only exponentially get worse.

a reply to: CriticalStinker
7 Ps of production: proper pre preparation prevents piss poor performance.