Strip away the hockey-stick like growth, the 25 years of manufacturing experience and the productivity problems bested and still, the story of Son Nguyen is an amazing one.
Nguyen came to Calgary as a refugee from Vietnam in 1979 and graduated from SAIT’s electrical engineering technology program in the ‘80s. He immediately went to work and has paid his dues when it comes to manufacturing in Alberta. He remembers being ecstatic to receive a $2 an hour raise to $9 an hour when switching companies.
Now Nguyen is in charge of one of the fastest-growing manufacturers in Alberta. Panelflex, which makes custom electronic control panels, went from zero to more than $2 million worth of sales in its first year of productive operations. In addition to the explosive growth in revenues, the company also increased its asset base by 848 per cent and quadrupled its workforce in its most recent fiscal year.
Nguyen’s clients mostly consist of large oil and gas clients like Encana, Cenovus, Husky and Devon who need high quality, reliable control panels for their operations. Think of electrical control panels like the controls in your car. Under the hood there are complex mechanical and electrical things happening but you’re in the driver’s seat and you just want the heat to turn on when you flick the switch. Electrical control panels ensure that what you want to happen, happens.
Clients come to Nguyen with their own engineered designs so quality control is hyper-important. And with an anecdote that would make Robert Porter Lynch proud he improved his productivity by learning from his suppliers.
Nguyen visited a supplier recently, an enclosure manufacturer that was part of his supply chain. He noticed and learned from their waste reduction and lean thinking initiatives and implemented his own waste reduction initiatives.
A big expense for Nguyen’s company is wiring, both in the labour it takes to wire a panel and the materials used. In the past Nguyen’s employees used to measure the longest length in the panel and cut dozens of wires to that longest length. Then they would shorten them as they went along and wired up the panel. By stopping that process and measuring and cutting as they went, the time taken to wire a panel went down as did the cost of materials.
Nguyen was another manufacturer who was able to take advantage of the economic downturn to secure low-cost equipment and space. The shop he was working in closed down and laid everyone off in early December of 2009. By the 21st of December, 2009 he had negotiated a deal to assume control of the shop that he had worked at along with all of the machinery.
“Manufacturing these electrical control panels is what I’m good at. I needed to start slow and I suffered the first three or four months, just like any company,” says Nguyen. And it was a stretch as there was barely enough work Nguyen and one other employee for the first six months.
However the economy turned around and growing so fast has brought a host of challenges. The biggest one being a common refrain amongst Alberta business people.
“It’s hard to find the right people. We get a lot of resumes but it’s a challenge to get good people.”
Panelflex currently has eight different positions that they are looking to fill.
Not only is labour a challenge in a bustling shop but so is keeping track of productivity. He currently keeps track of projects via manual time sheets. He’s used more complicated tracking systems at other jobs but he’s sticking with the basics for now
“When we grow we need to put something into place. But we grew so fast that we are just getting used to being so busy,” says Nguyen.
