The New GM and The Contractors!

[Michael Alexander]

As I stated earlier, this is gossip...I heard this last night around the braaifire.....

There has been a bad habit creeping into this mine over the last 10 years or so...whereby company employees in certain positions would resign from the company and then come back to do the same work they were doing, but as contractors..... This caused a lot of disharmony amongst their ex fellow workers who were still working for the company...here was this "contractor" doing the same job he always did, but now earning double the pay.... the company also took to "outsourcing" certain aspects of the mining process on the mine, to various other company's...

Anyhow, it seems like the new GM has seen through this mockery and believes that the company should be doing the mining with their "own" workforce, the right way, and in an economical way...why pay somebody else to do the job....after all DeBeers are the diamond miners....

Once again..... it was a wise move by Debeers to bring in a young talented chap to shake up the establishment.......

[Bertie Horak]

Well done!  Keep the pride of a job well done in the Oranjemund family.  Looks like you've got a winner in the helm of business.  Spells success.  I'm sure not everybody will agree with his way of doing things, but it seems he's looking after Oranjemund's own interests and keeping the big picture in mind.

[Paul Alexander]

Quite right Mikey... (need I remind you that he's older than you?). I've never quite understood the principle of outsourcing at Namdeb, so the following apply...

1. Oursourcing for cost reasons is an indication that you were unable to effectively adapt and change internally, after all, if you were doing it as efficiently and effectively as possibible internally , then you'd have to be cheaper than a vendor (who would add a markup to his cost). The only exception to this is where you do not require a full time resource on staff, in which case it makes sense to contract in work on demand

2. Given the above, why on earth would you want to outsource the same people who were originally your employees back into the company at a premium, they've already demonstrated that they are unable to effectively change the way they work during the period they were employees

3. Outsourcing is also a dated trend which (with the exception of off-shore outsourcing of non-physical services to India and the like) has proven itself to be quite ineffective over the long term. At an IT conference 2 years ago this was a hot topic... Not one of the companies presenting had outsourced to reduce costs, all had done it to focus on key activities and could afford to incurr the extra costs (most had negotiated an increase cap as part of their SLA's)

4. What should Namded really be doing ?(given the fairly small ROI window for any initiative)... Well if it were my company I'd be taking a long hard look at all those dated and over complex and inefficient processes that we've introduced that are no longer fit for purpose and would overhaul them... Oh and finally hold manager entirely accountable for failure to deliver on objectives and targets they committed themselves to.

[Michele Alexander (Voden)]

 

It is very encouraging for those of us still living here to be hearing such positive reports about the gm. Lets just hope he gets the support he needs to turn this mine around.

[barb (Fry)]

Does the GM still get to live in the big house with lots of domestic help.  Does he still have a swimming pool and tortoises in the yard ?

I remember the assistant GM wife at one time doing her shopping with a man walking behind her carrying her basket - glad to hear the new guy is slightly more modern and upbeat.

[SandyB]

Paul .. true comments on  " outsourcing "  it should only be used to fill the gaps .... strangely  our ex holding company decided that its workshop  was a "luxury " duh !! ?? to keep a factory running you need a skilled  and dedicated technical team , anyw they in theor wisdom took this route .. my  report from the guys that  resigned and outsorced themselves .. they were creaming it financially and were not as accountable as part of a  production team .. in our  instance we all have to interact and be accountable each morning  when the results of the previous day are put on the table ...   When you have a team of  employees its one thing  , you fire the inefficient ,  when you have this team of  "outsourced "  what the hell do you  do  ? fire the lot and then ??  you have to  start from scratch ....  and good artisans are like hens teeth nowadays  true fact ..  I have horror moments with some of what we hire ... I get this gut feeling of " no confidence " ...

[Michael Alexander]

Update: So towards the end of last year, the contract company B&E came to work on a Monday morning, to find that all their mining equipment had been removed from the mine overnight and dumped outside the mining area, this side of the fence..... This company had been contracted to do certain parts of the mining on behalf of Namdeb..... the new GM was not impressed, as DeBeers are meant to be diamond miners...not these chaps..... So they were turfed out.... One must note that quite often one would hear of a B&E employee involved in Diamond theft cases...

Anyhow, this morning I popped down to the PCC to get these snaps of the remaining equipment..... on the way I passed the petrol station and saw another lowbed removing the equipment..... it seems over the weekends, a few pieces of machinery are taken out of the town....

Interesting times....

[Michael Alexander]

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[Michael Alexander]

Talk on the shop floor .... that the above mentioned company is coming back... heard this at bowls also last night, any truthg in this or just another vicious rumour?

[Clive Symes]

Mike, its a big wheel and turns continoously. I like the sound of the New GM, after all De Beers had all the expertees & equipment in the past.
It may however cost an arm and a leg to get back on track since the outsourcing episode.

[Michael Alexander]

Sources close to the above mentioned company, reckon they should be up and running by January 2010

[Michael Alexander]

Seems, a few years down and the contracting company is making a comeback....

Clever Union just exposed themselves as unproductive and when they went on strike the contractors filled in for them doing a more productive job with less people.... Company saw this..... less hassle.....

Just my 2 cents...

[Bradley Eugene]

Whilst I appreciate the "new broom" concept, it is always difficult to remember that the said contracting company was stopped just over 3 years ago if memory serves me correctly. A huge amount of work was done in and around by all conerned to work smarter not necessarily harder for doing the same job! Lest us not forget that alot of the previous "team" had the hands and legs cut due to severe political pressure, so might not have been able to follow through to the end the desired results. I applaud the new team and their efforts, and hopefully lessons from the past can help in this new term and can be used in the positive too. 

[Michael Alexander]

Had the opportunity last night to share a beer or two with one of the knobs from the "big" contracting company.... reckons their business with the mine has tripled in the space of a single year......