The factory opening experience of immigrating to Australia

Let's talk about it after 20 13. After getting the Australian business immigrant visa (namely 188A visa), I simply took care of my domestic business, explained my family's arrangements, and set foot on my own road, went to South Australia, a distant southern hemisphere where I was a stranger, and started my immigration journey in South Australia. After a few weeks of focusing on the market and various businesses, I decided to enter the main aspect of my role without the four essential elements of life: food, clothing, housing and transportation.

Although it's delicious, I haven't opened a restaurant yet. I feel that lazy people in this industry can't do it, but I still feel that I am waiting for someone and can't accept it. In fact, it is a common problem for new immigrants, especially business immigrants. Later, this high value-added service industry was the most reliable.

Wearing clothes is the so-called opening a shop to engage in retail, but I am not sure about the preferences of the local people. The body shape here is developed and the body shape is worse by several forks. The fashion here is as big as children's clothes, and the local aunt's bra can hold two basketballs. Secondly, the store rent is not generally expensive, and no one can drag it in the street.

I have really seen several auto repair shops, but I have seen many cars, and I probably know a little, but I really don't know what's wrong under the car and lifting the machine, and a good mechanic is no worse than a famous doctor. You must know what the problem is when you hear the cough and wheezing of the engine. You can't ask me how to fix it I said wait for me, I'll ask next door.

Finally, I went to live, with a clear purpose, only doing business related to housing.

At that time, the merchants on sale did have this aspect, and one of the factories made me shine. The factory is specialized in customizing aluminum alloy doors and windows for the local area, and there are also many other processing businesses, such as screen windows, security doors, wall cabinets, glasses, mirrors, bathroom partitions, and even handrails.

It has a history of nearly 40 years. I remember running a factory in China. Although I'm not in this line, the management should be similar. Moreover, the domestic factories are all designed, supervised and accepted by myself, and I have helped some friends build them, which is considered to be some foundation. Determined to do it. It is estimated that there are not many China people who can set up factories in China today, and the hard journey of life is the beginning.

The process of spending money went smoothly. The price is not negotiable, as long as you sign the contract, pay the money, transfer the ownership, check the inventory and register the company, it will be almost a month.

At this time, I made a mistake and set the settlement time at two months after signing the contract. After coming back from the Chinese New Year, fortunately, the factory is still there, and the workers are still there, but the business is basically gone.

The original boss concentrated on the last two months, concentrated all the manpower and material resources, quickly and economically completed all the profitable work at hand, and stopped all quotations and receptions to customers. So when I took over, I was basically an empty shelf. There was no business in the first two months, and everything had to start from scratch.

My arrangement is to pay attention to both hands, while appeasing the workers and practicing internal strength; While strengthening sales, call the old customers one by one with the sales staff, actively quote and urge the results; At the same time, we invested a lot of money in publicity, advertised in many local newspapers and distributed leaflets; I designed a colorful leaflet myself to throw garbage leaflets at the homes of residents in several nearby communities.

2. After three months, the business gradually slowed down, from several thousand pieces of running water in the first month to more than 1 000 pieces of running water in the second month, and recovered to 60,000 to 70,000 pieces in July. There is hope when business comes up. I changed the working hours of part-time salespeople from four days a week to five days full-time, and extended the original five-day working hours of shop exhibition halls and workshops to six days a week. Although the cost rose a lot in a short time, it achieved results at that time, the reception capacity was expanded, the reception time was extended, and the business volume was also increasing.

At the same time, in order to meet the needs of the new lifestyle, I made a factory website and an online exhibition hall, so that customers can see the exhibits and previous architectural works for the first time at home without going to the store after receiving leaflets or information.

What I do in publicity is to print exquisite brochures, which fully reflects the quality of high-end doors and windows products we have made, and the harmony between adding luster to the house and the surrounding beautiful scenery.

I also found that local people's houses are centered on the kitchen, and the kitchen is centered on the refrigerator. Commonly used information is posted on the refrigerator door, so I customized beautifully designed refrigerator stickers and added them when mailing publicity pages to residents.

However, it was found that the running water came up and the profit did not improve. Instead, I wander between paying and not paying. My first feeling is the problem of people and production technology. The next step is to adjust the personnel and rearrange the production process.

The first is the adjustment of the workshop. I carefully calculated the time for workers to process each product, such as making a screen door for 30 minutes and a sliding window for 90 minutes. I printed out the timetable and hung it on the wall for everyone to see. When assigning work to workers, indicate the time to be used on the work list in advance. If saved, there will be a small reward. If it exceeds, be sure to tell me clearly.

In addition, the process from receiving orders to feeding is too complicated, and it needs to go through sales, office registration, placing orders, counting the number of workers receiving orders, feeding back the quantity to the office, and processing workers going to the office to get the bill of materials for processing. I simplified the process, re-made the form, and made the sales list into a carbon-free copy list, avoiding the mistakes that may be caused by speculation (in fact, in the past, information was often wrong and then the responsibility was shirked) and the waste of manpower.

Now, once the business continues, there is an identical receipt from the sales to the processing workshop. The customer's requirements are clear at a glance. When the raw materials arrive at the factory, the workers will immediately indicate the arrival on their processing orders, and there is no need to go to the office when processing. It's all on the list. In short, I redesigned almost all the forms in the original factory.

Three workshop workers have worked for at least five or six years, while others come and go like lanterns when the former boss runs away. I also gradually inspect and try out the workers who come to apply for jobs, and gradually accumulate my own talent pool, ready to find someone to replace them when necessary. However, we have also found many people's problems, some of which are slow and ineffective; Some people work very hard and are obedient at work, that is, they can't say when they will come to work, but they suddenly call on Monday and drink too much at the weekend! Some people are inexperienced, unwilling to learn, or unable to learn. There are long and short people who come to work in our factory, and the total number is almost 20.

Secondly, in office management, I noticed that although the office clerk is obedient and has worked in this place for a long time, he is not a very organized, clear-headed person who can handle things independently. He can do whatever you ask him to do, but he always needs someone in a management position to tell him what to do and how to do it. I need to arrange workshop production, receive suppliers to discuss prices, and help sales and marketing. I really don't have time to be his supervisor alone. I will be tied up by trivial figures and written records in the office. In addition, as a new immigrant who is conservative in the market, I will give customers the wrong first impression that the products are not made locally. And some people will take advantage of my language loopholes, at least there may be ambiguity. So I started the job of recruiting office director.

Ask someone, send it in the newspaper, receive 5 or 60 resumes, interview more than 20 people, and try 5 or 6. A man claimed to have started a business, but from the first day, the telephone greeting was incomplete and incorrect. I corrected her again and again. She told others that she practiced those two sentences in her dream for two consecutive nights, and the more she practiced, the more nervous she became. On the last day of leaving, I still couldn't make it clear in two short sentences 100%, without any mistakes.

Finally, the plan of inviting the person in charge of the office is completed, which can assist the clerk to manage the office and all the documents and records, and connect with the production workshop, contact the customer to arrange the installation time of doors and windows, and collect accounts. In this way, I not only have time to manage, but also have time to participate in workshop production, increase marketing and sales, find problems in business processes, and improve production efficiency and profit margin.

I participated in all the affairs of the factory. Every day, my main energy and working time is to supervise the workshop production and product quality monitoring, and stand behind in time when I need encouragement and supervision, or label the unqualified places and ask for rework; Use professional software to design doors and windows, calculate costs and quote, and check customer drawings and bill of materials on the computer; There are also receiving suppliers, comparing prices and services, helping sales managers to deal with difficult customers, and finally determining discounts when bargaining; Provide correct information and help when manual operation and guidance are needed at the installation site.

In order to understand the local rules in practice and abide by Australian laws and regulations, I have participated in many trainings, such as tax training, financial management, legal requirements of the construction industry, and training of business leaders.

In the process of business operation, I encountered many technical problems. The style of doors and windows in our country is different from here. The biggest difference is the installation method. China's doors and windows are mainly shaded. After being installed at the door and window openings left by the wall, it is completely fixed with cement and bricks. The advantage is that it won't leak water, and the disadvantage is that it's inconvenient for maintenance and replacement in the future. I use this hairstyle in factories and houses built for my friends in China.

The doors and windows here are all installed by drainage method, so enough drainage holes must be reserved, and all aluminum joints are also interconnected and drained. At the same time, screws and joints should be sealed internally and externally to prevent water leakage. When installing, the wooden frame should be played first, and the doors and windows should be fixed on the wooden frame. If necessary, the water stop should be installed at the gap between the surrounding doors and windows and the wooden frame. This structure is very suitable for light houses, and it is also very convenient for replacement and maintenance in the future. However, if the workmanship is not good, or there are problems with the design of doors and windows, it will also cause headaches such as seasonal water leakage and difficulty in pushing and pulling.

In order to understand the methods and problems in practical work, I went to the construction site again and again to see and do, and obtained the qualification of site safety work, which is a white card. With rich work experience, the recommendation of customers and qualified builders, and the recognition of various building products before, it took more than half a year to finally get my own builder's license and supervisor's certificate after two exams and an expert interview.

In order to fully control the production management office, I flew to the headquarters of aluminum suppliers in Australia for one-on-one training to learn how to use design software correctly, how to control working hours with this software, and understand the aluminum processing technology and product characteristics, their company's operation and logistics process. Also actively participate in the activities of various suppliers and industry groups and associations.

I expanded the right to use the design software from one to two, so that employees in the factory can use the software at the same time even if they have a meeting outside, or demonstrate products to customers on the spot, calculate prices, and even connect to the network at home to design and quote.

In cultivating staff morale, I not only give some people a raise and increase part-time working hours, but also update workers' tools and use the latest and most accurate laser measuring instrument and level to avoid measurement errors. Try to provide employees with opportunities for training and further study. From office clerks, workshop supervisors to workers, three or four of them have participated in the government's apprenticeship training program.

In order to establish the spirit of teamwork and hard work in the factory, I organized several activities, including dinner for everyone, including their families, twice a year at the end of June and before Christmas. Every Friday afternoon and important days, such as Melbourne Cup, I arrange beer and barbecue. I also organized training and meetings for all employees. We discussed the spirit and core of the enterprise and summed up three words that best reflect us. This is something the boss has never done. I also organized activities like Busy Bee Day, and everyone began to thoroughly clean the workshop and building appearance.

The original equipment in the factory is seriously aging. Many machines have been used for twenty or thirty years, and they often have problems. In particular, the most important processing tool, the single-head saw, was produced in Italy almost 30 years ago. In order to adapt to the increasing business volume, at the beginning of this year, I imported the most advanced digital double-headed saw from China, and the processing capacity was improved a lot at once.

Among the factory assets I took over was a very old Mazda pickup truck. Although it is dual-purpose oil and gas, it doesn't cost much oil, but aging parts often need maintenance, and the road always stops. I want to sell it, but it's not worth much; And without a car, delivery will definitely be affected. It's the only truck in the factory, and the others are van trucks. It will cost a lot of money to rent the big doors and windows in the future, but it will cost more to buy a new truck. Is there a way to deliver large goods and save purchasing costs and daily expenses?

I saw a small trailer in the factory. It's very nice and easy to use. Insurance and road maintenance fees are very low. Usually put in the workshop without burning oil or leakage. When the goods are delivered, which car arrives at the scene and hangs back. When the self-picked customer comes, he can take it away and send the trailer back after unloading the goods. Unfortunately, this is not available in China. But this trailer is a little small.

I was just thinking, can I exchange my old truck for a bigger trailer? I went to the trailer factory across the street and asked, they don't need an old truck, and that old truck is not worth buying a new trailer. But they provided a very useful message, that is, the trailer can be made by themselves, and as long as it passes their acceptance, you can get permission.

It happened that a subcontractor who can weld in the factory asked for this truck. People here basically want me to give it to him for free because they want to be cheap. I have thought about it, but I have to do some work for me in exchange. I carefully studied the small trailer now, and then drew a sketch for the people in the opposite factory to see, corrected some mistakes and improved it. Then I took this worker and spent two weekends welding a trailer by myself.

This trailer is specially designed for transporting flat goods such as glass, doors and windows. I have never seen a similar design in the street, so I think I can apply for a patent. The trailer has no bottom plate, only a bracket, so people can easily walk to the central axis of the trailer to load and unload goods; The bracket inclines to the middle to prevent the goods from falling over; The frame is very low, and there is no baffle around it, so it is not necessary to waste manpower to lift the overweight doors and windows very high and reinstall them, which reduces the possibility of workers being injured; Wood blocks are fixed on the huge A-frame on the surface and middle of the bottom plate to protect the product from being scratched.

After my rectification, the turnover has risen sharply. 14- 15 broke through the million mark in fiscal year, far exceeding the highest record of more than 700,000 in recent 38 years. Now the turnover is increasing by 10- 15% every year.

The factory is on the right track and I have an identity. But I will continue to be a factory, not only for immigration, but also for my new career.