Our industry is about to enter the toughest 5 year period of the last 20. We are about to have legislation stuff down our throats until it makes some of us sick.
We have the police increasingly targeting the motorist for revenue, the government doing the same, the insurance companies only wanting premiums from companies with proven track records and these are reaching the astronomical stage, bodies such as CORGI wanting their pound of flesh along with directives from the EU to cover every facet of the way we can do business. The waste directive will have a massive effect on us all and probably lead to an increase in fly tipping etc and the raising of your council tax to pay for the clean up.
These forums reach every example of the whitewoods business in the UK. From the single operator to small business with say less than 20 staff and of course to those who would set themselves up as the mandarins”¦the Manufacturers. Many of the mega businesses are coming unstuck, they are too big, and they compete in the same market with the other companies they have acquired, their once domination of the spares market is being eroded by the “non genuine” supplier. The real truth here is that the Manufacturer is not always the maker of the individual component and in turn the component makers are turning to supplying a “real” spare in a different box. Its all good competition but the knock on is that our industry is now too cheap across the board”¦.and service levels among the big boys are chronic. How are we to turn the tide and can we as individuals make a difference? Are we all able to look inward at our own businesses and be satisfied that we do a good job? We can offer levels of service that most manufacturers can these days only dream of, we can offer equal and often more impressive engineering ability (that’s why they try to entice our engineers with 24K, or more, packages), we can respond to our area needs more quickly and because we are hands on with our staff, we know what’s going on around us.
Well if you want to survive the next few years you will need a combination of luck and sound decision making, those of you who do contract work have to team up with the best companies and form meaningful partnerships with them. You will need to make the most of the opportunities that come your way (free directories listings on UKW for example), join Dasa if they can drag themselves out of the mire they’re in, take more interest in this website and spread the word. The real power in this industry is in our own hands and this is recognised by few at the moment, but that few will grow, as the networks we belong to are asked to increase their workload and offer the lifeline the largest manufacturers need to drag their service levels out of the depths. Sooner or later the skills we have within our workforce will be called upon and we have to be ready to help if the price is right. That then is the stumbling block and we are back to the reason the industry is in decline”¦”¦its too cheap.
Service costs a packet, the going rate for a service call will have to rise to between £40.00 and £45.00 per call within 12 months. WHY? Well consider your own availability to work, whether its 10 a day or 200 are you going to work for the worst or the best contracts? Are you going to do 20 calls at £33.00 or are you going to look for the £45.00 work? Money is not the only factor, of course you need to be paid and on time, there are plenty of other factors to consider too, but PROFIT is the key word and we will all have to improve our own standards to achieve a good living out of this line of work. I hope that UKW will continue to receive your support and that you will all continue to input to the forums and make us all more aware and indeed stronger.
This is some of the reasons why the UK Whitegoods meeting is of such importance and some of the topics that will be discussed.
Regards
Kevin Heath