ITS BEEN SAID BEFORE – BUT D.R.M.’s LEAD CONTINUES… OTC : FLKI
It’s a relatively small company, assuredly, but there is nothing little about this company’s leadership in industry practices. Much of its success of course lies in creativity and an uncanny ability to conceive and manufacture product concepts for markets simply ignored by its competitors – markets such as women; 92% of the market for auto care, and 57% of this company’s consumer product sales. The company, Falken Industries is traded on the OTC, is reporting and rated “Current Information” under symbol FLKI. Most on the street say it’s a great buy and some have rated Stong Buy – for what its worth !
This company whose fundamentals are beyond reproach, made its mark as an industry leader many years back and its acclaim was loudly sounded in the trade. It gave new meaning to the term “Supply Chain” management, expanding it beyond its traditional goal of low costs and efficiency. The company developed an uncanny ability to shape and respond to shifts in demand from its global distribution network, and pumped out innovative product conceptions. This started in 1997 and continues to this day. “For Falken, our performance in emphasizing distribution support translates to productivity and market share leadership” said Manuel Garcia, Communications Officer.
As a trade analyst, I have come to reflect on efficiency, profitability, and growth within our industry. I immediately question common current practices of squandering opportunities. A lack of alignment between assets creates disharmony, as each party in the chain operates under dissimilar definitions and contradictory hierarchies. But as demonstrated by Falken and its distribution methods, opportunities exist to create collective information management practices, which when implemented, lower dependency on labor-intensive, duplicative, and processes vulnerable to errors.
Implementation of course is the difference. The Automobile After-market industry is greatly fragmented with very small players controlling much of the mix of products offered in the market. Theories abound. For Falken it’s called Directed Records Management (D.R.M.) – what is it? It is an approach to business record keeping which standardizes cataloging and if applied correctly and with sufficient dedicated resources, helps to ensure clear and accurate views of the business and its performance. The absence of such processes increases business trials and decreases profitability and performance. The information so managed by Falken relates to its needs, for basic information on advertisers, brands, vendors, and other campaign details that need to be shared across its internal and global distribution system, ensuring coordination applications, and processes in order for data to be consistently and accurately reported – accounting for countless cultural differences which taint reporting.
Getting information of course is difficult. Falken with 380 distributors throughout the world and a leading global brand (Clean Plus® see www.cleanplus.com), is always in fear of asking for or letting go of information that some may consider confidential. But what Falken is asking for here, is NOT proprietary; it's basic descriptive information — media names, product names, commercial titles, and a few more descriptive values. The data is shared information, for the most part wholly disorganized and processed in methods that were invented decades ago, when there were far less complex supply chains.
There is always a concern that by identifying faults in its distributor’s processes, the company will diminish its prospects for greater sales. Realistically, this negligible however, the amount that may be lost will be gained in other areas. When Falken teams proceed to such ventures, they necessarily review all the components affecting the cost-benefit analysis. A small fundamental capital loss can cascade into a huge capital gain through its supply chain superiority.
Excellence is reached when partners have fulfilled their roles, adhered to industry best practices, and made way for the other members of the chain to focus on their own roles. Falken is noted for shifting responsibility to the right place in the chain, away from downstream parties who have no ownership or primary knowledge of the accuracy of the information. In fact, these downstream parties have been held responsible for errors. What we are witnessing, is Falken’s foundation of repeatable, documentable best practices.
Realistically, Falken has not avoided being overwhelmed by an explosion of new data to process and analyze. While not so long ago it dealt in megabytes the company is now dealing with terabytes. The expanded information now has more uses and affiliations, thereby rendering other’s current methods obsolete. The new data is organized by hundreds of segmentations. Falken is not limited by legacy technology systems leading to disparate data, conflicting hierarchies, and intended-to-be-temporary workouts, short-term fixes, and stop-gap solutions. Falken’s method does not bypass known problems in a system. It applies no temporary fixes that would imply that a proper solution to the problem is needed. Such heirloom practices have graduated in certain companies to permanent practices which have evolved into institutionalized bad habits which have in turn become a barrier to innovation and creativity.
“At Falken we apply operating procedures ranging from how to get information into order entry, asset management, workflow to measurement systems which lead to the emergence of innovative business models, and cost savings and additional revenue.” Said Garcia.
Falken’s D.R.M. excellence arises out of the company's ability to make decisions quickly and effectively. “It permits our management to make decisions based on what is best for the entire supply chain, rather than one specific organizational component.” Added Garcia
Falken Industries Ltd OTC : FLKI is a diversified industrial conglomerate that operates in Chemicals, Wet Wipe and Biodegradable Technology. Falken Industries Ltd is the concept behind more than 160 products distributed through a network of global platforms and the recipient of trade awards for innovations, biodegradability and environmental and health quality standards. As a reliable partner FLKI creates chemistry to help distributors and retailers in virtually all industries to be more successful. With its high-value products and intelligent solutions, FLKI plays an important role in finding answers to global challenges such as environmental protection, energy efficiency, and mobility.
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