Returning to the topic of the industry's latest car crash at Alden HenDi, I've been thinking about the events that precipitated the group's downfall and note that said happenings included Alden's move two years ago to a brand spanking new facility at a cost (supposedly) of £4.3m.
Perhaps I'm being overly cynical, but when any company starts talking about moving to a new supersite I immediately add them to my watch list. It is the exception, rather than the rule, for such moves to proceed as planned and on budget. More often than not things won't go according to plan and in due course we start hearing from management about how "the move was more disruptive and costly than we initially anticipated", cue overruns and lost contracts. I speak as someone who still has vivid memories of the £50m fiasco that was the Ferry Pickering supersite under Wace.
Alden seemed to do all right out of the deal for its old Oxford site, but was it really in a position of such financial and organisational strength that it could expand in Malaysia and then in short order execute a big factory move here in the UK? The evidence says not. In fact, I've just noticed that Alden's venture went from being a £4.3m factory to a £6m factory within the space of six months.
An industry contact recently told me that he has dubious feelings when he goes into a company's reception area and they have thick carpets and an aquarium. I have a similar aversion to Queen's Awards for Industry.
With credit insurance increasingly impossible to find, maybe an esoteric "alert" scorecard is the way forward. All suggestions for additional pointers gratefully received.
- Move to big new factory
- Shag pile in reception
- Two metre long fish tank in reception
- Queen's Award for Industry
- ????
