When the recession hits your market as hard it has many industries, there isn’t much left to do other than prepare for the market’s eventual recovery. Much like the oil and gas industry, the automotive industry was hit particularly hard. But instead of sitting back and waiting for the market to recover, Spartan Motors is making radical long-term plans for growth that are essentially all-or-nothing strategies.
John Sztykiel, director and CEO of Charlotte, Mich.-based Spartan Motors in has placed his company on a path to economic recovery that will either make or break the organization in the long haul. As Sztykiel puts it, there’s no reason not to take the chance.
“If you have what you have and defend and extend that line, you just ride the cycle of the economy,” Sztykiel says. “But if you change the structure, you might go out of business. The right blend allows you to be evolutionary and revolutionary with reasonable price structure.”
Spartan Motors – a designer, engineer and manufacturer of custom chassis and vehicles for the emergency rescue, recreational vehicle and specialty vehicle markets – took a major blow when two of its top business sectors went cold. As the economy placed a stranglehold on the recreational vehicle and defense markets, Spartan Motors felt the loss of business.
Looking Down the Road
In an effort to sidestep a big slump, Sztykiel has created a series of strategies to delve into the delivery market. This involves its Advance Market Development team, which is a group of individuals that is working on new product offerings.
“What’s unique about these individuals is that they are working on projects that could come out into market three to five years from now,” Sztykiel says. “One of the things we’ve found is great companies have a variety of product development initiatives. Ours is defend and extend, which is to gain market share in a revolutionary way.”
Sharing the Expertise
While Spartan Motors is made up of four business units, not all experience the same level of profitability at the same time. In response, Sztykiel formed a shared services team that will streamline the operations across the units.
“We’re looking at information systems and processes [so we can] have the same operating format across all four business units,” he says. “This way, an individual can go from our South Dakota facility to Charlotte, Mich., and the equipment inside would be the same, as would the information system.”
Directing the Troops
As a final piece to the program, Sztykiel gave his employees 10 directives to think about every day during their shift. Even if business is slow, everything an employee is doing should follow these directives, which include customer-centric services, elimination of waste, ensuring brand leadership, value maximization, social responsibility and financial stewardship.
To ensure that these directives are maintained throughout the recession, Spartan Motors meets as frequently as monthly to discuss that year’s business strategy and holds operational meetings once a week. “What this does is bring alignment to the staff,” Sztykiel says. “When you have a group of people working together, whether for a profit or a nonprofit, it is imperative that communication is clear and consistent to make sure everybody is aligned on the same objective in the same timetable. It’s not so much about increasing the meeting times, but ensuring the consistency that brings out alignment, or any issues or concerns.”
Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites
