Chapter 67: Round Table

On Thursday William arrived at 9.30 with his son. They went to the board room. At 9.45 Helena, Suzanne and Fred arrived. Cathy looked after reception whilst everyone else attended the meeting.

Introductions were made all round by Fred. In attendance were Helena, Suzanne, William, Joe, Lisa, Tim, Trudy, Danielle, Bill, Ben and Paul. Fred chaired the meeting, Suzanne took notes.

Helena started. “We currently have 4 operations under way here in Australia. They are 25 seater planes, 10 seater planes, air cargo, and land cargo. In Vanuatu we have three, 25 seater, 10 seaters and now air cargo and between both the Wedding plane. I have ask you here to look at a way to ensure smooth operations between all 8 divisions. Just for reference the land cargo is Bill’s business with the limo’s. Here in Australia it is important to understand, for you Paul, traffic problems. His main role is to get passengers to the aircraft on time, secondary deliver urgent and secure cargo.

Tim has a great business but is ready to retire and he sold the business to us. We have asked him here for his final input before he retires. Now finance is my concern so that is off the agenda. The main reason is integration, people, systems, management.

Fred replied “Well that has set the way forward. I’m going to ask for finding and reports first, then I will ask for ideas, so please write notes and questions but lets get the reports out of the way first. Starting with Joe.

Joe started “Well thanks Fred, um, Well, talking with my wife, I will cover the passenger business first. With the additional planes and now pilots from Tim’s business we have sufficient capacity to certainly meet current needs. Bill role with the pickup’s, returns and constant contact has made the passenger business smoother. Both 25’s and 10’s are around 60 to 90% utilised. We can certainly add cargo to some of our routes and be available for urgent/secure cargo in need. I would like Engineer to come over and check out Tim’s planes for his knowledge.” William took notes and nodded yes.

Fred asked “Trudy you are next, just an overview please.”

Trudy started, in a very professional manner for her age. “Well I have been in the cargo shed as we call it for the last three days. One problem is finalised. The office system is old but works fine. The accounts will be transferred to this office within the next two weeks. 4 new computers will be installed next week, all on our server. Tim has a beautiful smooth business, staff well trained and Suzanne and/or Helena have met them all. Their passenger business will be incorporated into ours. We are making the transition smoothly without any clients fully aware of our joining. We have not or will not say it a takeover but a merger. With the passenger business either in this or the 10 ‘s shed we will have some more room in the cargo area for sorting and dispatch. Tim has been very helpful with the current handling systems. If Vanuatu comes over we will need a customs area.” Tim looked astonished. “That about covers it for me at present.

Fred asked “Danielle.”

Danielle mentioned “I do not have much to add to Trudy’s report. In the office here we are setting up the accounts to transfer over. All the current staff do seem to enjoy their job and are willing to continue. That’s about it for me.”

“Lisa please “Asked Fred.

“Well I do not have anything much to add for reports. The girls have made sure they greet all of Tim’s employees and answer any questions. They all seem happy to continue. Tim you have a good crew working for you.” replied Lisa.

Fred asked “William how is your business going with reference to the Australian side?”

William started “Well as soon as we can get this side working, I am having problems with delivery into Australia. The current BNE and SYD contracts are due shortly and I do not want to renew them. I would like Tim to advise if he covers the whole of NSW and Qld. They blame customs but I have talked with them and they advise it’s the client delivery system not customs. They will be willing for Gold Coast to take over and they are running at 110% capacity in Sydney. In coming cargo to us does not seem to have the same problem. That’s about it for me.”

Fred asked Bill for his report.

Bill started “Well thank you for the invite. I have done an independent examination of the logistics. It seem the old system which was good, has been tampered with and some adjustment needed. There has been some business loss and with a few calls, it was over either late delivery or late pickup with some people that seem, how shall I say, not looking trustworthy. This has been discussed with Tim and he agreed for me to bring it up in this reports. A review of the couriers will be needed to get some agreed time frames. They have been a bit loose. On another side I did speak to my drivers and asked them about the role of being a courier for special/security packages. They are all happy to attend if they are not needed for the passenger side. You will need to have a logistics person on board to help with delivery/receipts. William what volume are you talking about to Australia mate?”

William replied “Anywhere from 1,000 to 10,000 packages weekly”

“Well” continued Bill “That will impact operations here Fred. That’s about it for me”

Helena asked “Danielle coffee time. We can digest the reports over coffee so NO business talk, if that’s OK with you Fred?” Everyone laughed except Tim who looked worried. Suzanne filled in Tim about Helena coffee. He smiled.

Danielle and Cathy made the fresh coffee and had some cakes and biscuits available in the foyer. After some 10 minutes they returned to the board room. Danielle made an extra cup of coffee for Helena.

Fred recommenced. “Well Tim you now have our overview. I am now asking for your thoughts, comments and where necessary replies to questions. I must state and the other’s here are aware, anything said in here remains in here please. Private and confidential.”

Tim started “Well Fred you certainly run a well communicated operation and the staff from here are great. I am now very happy with the sale to you, Joe and Helena. Yes the business did expand quite quickly and yes I did need help. My floor staff and pilots were very good. I did have a bad apple in the office but that has now been dealt with. That same person also adjusted the transport route. With Bill help we will make it smooth. William you must be the new owner of VatAirCo. Congratulation on taking it over. With your business coming here it will increase the flow and I feel we could handle it dependent on customs. Talk to customs as they have a bypass system but it will take some funds to implement. I agree with all of the reports. The staff are good and my staff turnover is very low. I had minimal insurance claims because once goods are in house it’s tracked until it’s sent elsewhere or delivered. The office system is mainly manual with the exception of on line banking. I have, at the bank, removed all signatures except mine and added Lisa, Trudy Suzanne, Fred, Ben and Danielle.

I have told all of the staff what has occurred and that it was me selling and the need for retirement. They have all mentioned without exception the friendliness of your staff and the ability to answer questions especially about their employment after Tuesday incidence. They were shocked but all are happy to stay on. I always made time to see my staff daily or at last weekly. It’s good to see you do the same. They know there is new management here. My pilots are looking forward to having a change in flights and willing to assist. Some would like to have more hours some less. I’ll leave that side to you. I had been meaning to follow up with some clients who left me but I seem to be picking up more business so I was busy. I did allow Bill to fully investigate and to contact old clients. I am happy he did so, but not so happy with some of the results. All I can say is Thank You for taking over my old business and keeping it going. Yes I do fly all over Qld, country NSW and sometimes into Victoria. I will retire happy.”

Fred spoke “Well you have heard the reports, is there any outstanding questions?” No one spoke. “Well lets get on to some future planning. Now anything talked about will not necessarily get approved but it on the table for the future. Do Not be worried it your idea sounds silly, stupid or not correct. We need to examine all with an open mind, do not disregard any comments. Think how can this idea work. I am saying this so the older ones do not keep to the current system sometime youth will have a different system that would solve two or three older problems. Yes girls speak freely, we need your input. Now the first to speak is Paul.”

Paul looked at Fred then his dad. “What do you want me to say?”

Fred replied “Your mind at present, any ideas you have had during the reports, things we do different here to what you do at home please?”

Paul replied. “Well the first thing I needed to do at home was bring Dad into the computer age. Communicate via computers, tablets, phone, emails etc. Try and reduce paper and double handling as much as possible. I got Engineer to use scanner’s for goods/parts in and out. Once onto it, he could track everything and see where the part got used, he was my greatest supporter of the changes. I can certainly help out in that area. Every plane service is recorded and tracked. Any pilot with suggestions/problems report online and that goes straight to Engineer. He can then look at the history of the plane and any recent updates on line. I believe I can say our service time has reduced from say 12 hours to 8 hours and Engineer is happy.” All who know Engineer laughed.