From Yahoo Board - Trimble Inefficiencies
TRMB_
Aug 16 1998
9:45AM EDTAs I previously stated, Trimble surely makes good products at fair prices, however, unless they can increase profitability, its all over!
There are many examples of inefficeincy to be had at Trimble:
I challenge anyone here to actually try to purchase a product! I have had many potential customers inform me that it took 30 days or longer to actually be referred to a local reseller! The customer sometimes talks to six or more trimble employees, cost, cost, cost!!!!
<<Arun: Anybody else experienced this?>>
The cost of sales is totally out of hand! Look at the number of corporate offices, just in the US! More than IBM (not really just seems like it)! An example is the Miami area, two seperate facilities within miles of one another! Have these people ever hears the concept of shared resources!
Trimble has relationships with some very resspectable resellers, yet rather than pass the cost of end-user sales down-stream where they are more cost effective, they have an out of control sales bueracracy(?). Is anyone aware that the majority of the Sales Management team is not even formally educated in Sales and Marketing, they are either brother in law positions or technical people promoted for longevity?
<< Arun: Any comments?.>>
This one would make Henry Ford roll over in his grave! A VP of Trimble actually made a statement "we have found assembling systems one at a time proves more cost effective"!!! If I were Mr. Trimble and heard that, I would put the guy on the street!
<< Arun: Remember my Designer Boutique Analogy. It may work for the current mix of products. But anything that is manufactured in some volume, forget about it.>>
Take a look at the real estate occupied by Trimble, the most expensive they could find! Having a maufacturing facility in Sunnyvale CA makes no sense at all, especially since they have a half used facility in Austin TX, where the costs would be dramatically lower, everything from wage base to taxes.
>>Arun: Would need to take a big one-time charge to do this. Management may not have the courage.>>
There are far too many variations in the product offerings, one basic product, $10k range, has at least twelve variations. Anyone with manufacturing experience realizes that it costs more to manage the variations than can be gained in a complicated price/stocking/ordering structure.
>>Arun: Need a focus on few products that sell well. Like Iomega did to Zip. US Robotics did to Sportster.>>
So, fellow investors, it is not a technology problem, sales price, etc... It is 90% managment problems.
>>Arun: There definitely is a problem in management. I don't know the percentage. I would say the priority for improvement should be sales, manufacturing, and development. If moving one manager from US to Europe can make so much difference in European sales, then they should be hiring new managers like him. Or fire managers who can't meet their sales targets. If the sales team can't sell against practically no serious competition, what will they do when competition increases.>>
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Arun |
