By Hamid Yusof
"Whatever that is rightly done..."
Sir Henry Royce, one of the two founders of Rolls-Royce, had this Latin inscription engraved on his fireplace: "Quidvis Recte Factum Quamvis Humile Praeclarum". It means - "Whatever that is rightly done, however humble, is noble". It was Sir Henry's engineering philosophy - the pursuit of excellence. This pursuit of excellence was what made Rolls-Royce cars, and since 1915, its aero engines, products par excellence.
This motto should be remembered by heart by all of us and we should try to live by this philosophy in whatever we do.
If one is a bricklayer, one should strive to be the best bricklayer and not cheat on the materials, and to follow the best practice a bricklayer should follow. The same thing goes to the government servants who are there to serve the public. Be sincere and don't hesitate to walk the extra mile to help those in need of help even if it is out of your sphere of responsibility. Use your vast network to good use. Point to the right person who really can help and not treat the uninformed with contempt or try to get rid of him by giving him a runaround like what I get sometimes in department stores.
Sometimes when I ask a sales person where I might find such and such a thing, he or she would just point in a direction just to get rid of me. In the end I would have to keep on asking or do what I should have done in the first place - to go to the enquiry/information counter to ask.
We have seen newspaper reports of huge government projects worth millions of dollars that literally come tumbling down due to shoddy workmanship and poor supervision, causing taxpayers to lose millions of ringgit. It's happening everywhere not only in third-world countries but in developed nations as well.
Cutting corners bring in lots of profit for the unscrupulous but the consequences can be very drastic. Take the case of adding melamine in milk formula that came from China not too long ago, can that action be condoned? No, of course not! But it had been done for who knows how long. The list goes on and is too long to be included in this article.
The important point I am trying to make is that we as a member of the human race should strive to put pride back into whatever we do and not peg it to the monetary gain we hope to derive from such an endeavour. Sure, making a profit is the name of the game in every business, but if a product is well made it may cost more to make but it would certainly be worth more to the purchaser who would be willing to pay more for it.
In a competitive world like now, for instance, the old adage that says that "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," can't be used any more for the simple reason that there may be a better way of making it more efficient, more reliable, or even cheaper if we only look; I'd say don't be afraid of breaking it if you have to. Find out if you can make it better and perhaps cheaper against your competitors.
I remember the time when Ralph Nader made the proclamation that cars made in America were unsafe at any speed. He really opened up Pandora's Box, didn't he? There was a lot of hoo-ha at that time, but in the end Detroit did make better cars, and they were much safer.
So what is the point I am trying to make? It is just this:
Don't be too complacent - shake things up a bit, who knows what will fall off! Find out why they do and get the problem fixed and see if you can make it function and even look better than what it was before.
And don't be afraid that things get done cheaply offshore than in the United States because the key is to find better and more efficient ways of making your products coupled with higher productivity, thus making them cheaper.
Do a makeover job on your factories; modernise with better machines, use robots as much as possible and train those displaced by the robots to be more productive elsewhere in your organisation. Instill the philosophy that had worked so well for Sir Henry Royce in the making of cars that still bear his name today.
'Made in USA' still conjures up images of things that are well-made, useful and lasting. Capitalise on that name and don't stop trumpeting that message across the globe. In the same way as companies like Wal-Mart, Carrefour, IKEA, Tesco and others have set up buying offices in China, India, and in many other countries, you and like-minded companies should set up selling offices in these places and from there you launch your selling blitzes to all corners of the countries you're in and beyond.
Will these activities place your companies at loggerheads with the anti-trust laws? I am not sure; you have to check this out and if it is, it should be looked at seriously and patriotically in order to have the appropriate legislation done if it has to be done.
What is most important is still this: Put yourself in your buyers' skin, find out exactly what they want and how much they are willing to pay for, and finally make the best products you will ever make. Don't hold back anything because you think you're coming up with another model soon and you want to keep something up your sleeve for later - that would be a mistake!
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