Second
part of the article on the development of the concept of external services as advice and support for a company in the paints and coatings sector.
By M.Sc. Ph.D. Julián A. Restrepo R.*
This article explains the importance of having outsourcing services, especially because of the scope and ease that companies have is to allocate certain tasks in the sector to experts with extensive experience. In the first part, historical and current concepts were addressed to delve into the topic of consulting services.
Lionel Messi's style of play: In the case of Lionel Messi we know that he is an exceptional player, in fact, perhaps we are fortunate to see the best player of all time, so he can afford not to worry about the rules and violate the status quo of the football world: Do not seek or fake a foul, not to be the most well-versed or eloquent to give interviews... and what else gives, is a genius of football that always guarantees a beautiful show.
To make the parallel with the paint industry, we must bear in mind that Messi is a bad model to talk about, since he is an exceptional player and in fact only one team has him, FC Barcelona. But the fact is that Messi is not afraid to break the rules, he is a footballer who still has fun on the field, perhaps as did the legendary Mané Garrincha (Manuel Francisco dos Santos), who was upset when he finished the final of one of the World Cups he played and won with Brazil, as I wanted to keep playing. "We have only won one champion, worthless... poor. Notice that he doesn't even have a second round." His interest was focused on dribbling his rivals... [11].
From my point of view, this equivalent spirit has been lost in the world of paintings, perhaps because of the influence of TV and television networks in presenting us again and again "Reality Shows", many of them lacking in creativity, which would explain why similar situations arise in our industry: The issue is that some colleagues have indicated to me that in some current painting companies they feel, in some cases, equal to: i) which "Big Brother", with various electronic surveillance cameras, which more than guaranteeing the security of assets and personnel, are used as a method of coercion and to guarantee the execution of the work; ii) in other cases, because the role of the technician in paintings has already been blurred so much that the technical is set aside, in favor of vanity, social relations, balance and emotional intelligence. Many technicians are forced to develop other personal skills, to the detriment of their technical ability, since they must invest more time in acquiring these skills, which in many cases cost them more than merely technical skills; iii) in some cases, not so talented technicians do not have to play this role properly to adequately justify the results, appealing in some cases to the "makeup of reality". Which in the end, leads only to bad results and does not guarantee the sustainability of companies over time. Messi is not an integral player, perhaps he has great problems to relate, to speak in public and he loves himself, to lie, but he is a footballer as Garrincha himself once was: They had a passion for the game itself and not for the result.
Outsourcing: An Alternative to Consider
Even considering the current demands of the market, the need to innovate and offer differentiating products, the pressure to reduce costs, and the desire to obtain results in less time and at lower costs, among others, technicians should not be "toderos", nor pretend that they perform multiple tasks in various fields, and I do not only mean that, for example, R&D personnel end up carrying out activities of Marketing, Finance, Marketing and Sales, Logistics, Purchasing, etc., but even in the R&D area itself can be subjected to various activities that take time from the research activity: Quality Assurance (audits, documentation, completion of formats, generation of documents, implementation of programs, etc.), participation in projects with multidisciplinary teams (for example, to improve the delivery of a product to the customer, for the expansion of the plant, for the purchase of a warehouse, etc.), activities associated with EHS (support to programs and campaigns, audits and documentation, etc.), Customer Service support (technical talks and preparation of related documentation, visits with Commercials), in short. And although all these activities have been taken as their own, it is recognized that they take time from the researcher and technician, so that each time, strictly speaking, he has less time to devote to the work for which he is best prepared: Research, innovation and Development.
At this point we can make a deeper reflection, to remember the concept of "Murphy's Law", remembering Mafalda: "As always: the urgent does not leave time for the important" [12]. And it is known that, in any case, we could understand that the current "overload of activities" of the technicians in paintings, is based on the fact that little by little they have been commissioned of additional activities and have assumed them as their own. Perhaps to understand it better, we must appeal to the popular adage: "Where they eat two, they eat three." The problem is that in this case, where they ate two, they are already eating up to six or more! And this point allows me to connect with a topic (perhaps from a future publication), related to the so-called "Butterfly Effect" [13], which can be better understood through a small paragraph extracted from Jacula Prudentum (published in 1651), a compilation of ancient proverbs [14]. The paragraph deals with how a nail caused the loss of a kingdom, implying that even the seemingly most insignificant thing can mean a lot:
"For lack of a nail was that the horseshoe was lost.
Due to the lack of a horseshoe, the horse was lost.
For lack of a horse was that the knight was lost.
For lack of a knight was that the battle was lost.
And just like the battle, it was that a kingdom was lost.
And all because it was a nail that was missing."
On the other hand, unfortunately, in turn, today our technicians are more concerned with the forms, relationships, aesthetics of their presentations, than with the "romantic study of materials", but all this motivated by the aggressive dynamics of the companies, which we have just mentioned, so you have little time for reflection, deep and careful research and perhaps, without being able to carry out an adequate programming of the different activities.
Perhaps it is a very strong and romantic criticism, from the point of view of knowledge, and the most paradoxical thing is that little can be done to change it, since I cannot, for example, suggest an increase in personnel costs, to favor the specialization of key personnel, or other similar alternatives.
My suggestion, to get more out of the R&D area and the productive area, goes towards the consideration of the use of the figure of the "Outsourcing of knowledge processes" (EPC) (in English, Knowledge Process Outsourcing, KPO), or simply Outsourcing (in English, Outsourcing), also called subcontracting, outsourcing and in some cases, relocation [15].
Outsourcing is defined as the process in which a company transfers resources and responsibilities related to the fulfillment of certain tasks to a person, subcontractor, external company, management company or external supplier, which is precisely dedicated to the provision of different specialized services. To do this, the latter can hire only the staff, in which case the resources will be provided by the client (facilities, hardware and software), or hire both the staff and the resources. The subcontracting company must transfer part of the administrative and operational control to the subcontracted company, so that it can carry out its work outside the normal relationship of the subcontracting company and its customers. Outsourcing also involves a considerable degree of two-way exchange of information, coordination and trust [15].
This is how today we see how many companies hire companies specialized in subcontracting to commission the administration of various areas of their company, such as IT, Human Resources, Asset and Real Estate Management and Accounting, Finance, Logistics, Manufacturing and Engineering. Many companies also outsource technical support to the user, phone call management and Customer Service area. In short, subcontracting is characterized by specialization not intrinsic to the core of the contracting organization.
But outsourcing not only makes it possible to lower operating costs, but also to reduce product costs and improve the quality of manufactured products. This has been indicated by the studies of the UN in its Economic Commission for Latin America (ECLAC) [15]. Also, in many cases, it allows to guarantee in a more reliable way the achievement of results and goals, and deadlines of fulfillment, and to have highly qualified personnel, which otherwise would be very expensive for the company which has extensive experience in the sector (since it provides Advisory and Consulting services to many other companies). These staff can train the internal staff and allow an environment to refresh dynamize and promote the generation of new ideas. It also allows, in an important way, the streamlining of the document management process, through the reduction of printing and document generation costs, use of best practices and continuous improvement, thanks to the experience of the outsourced service provider and high flexibility with consequent improvement of business productivity [16].
Final comments
Paint companies must lose their fear of using Outsourcing services and rather, identify the advantages that are obtained by using this type of services. Surely the main fear lies in the possible exchange of technical information, when R&D services are outsourced, but this can be saved through contracts and in any case, our products will always be under a scheme of continuous improvement, so we do not intend to leave static a formulation of a product over time.
You can also have important advantages in the Outsourcing of process improvement services (Continuous Improvement and Process Control), since many companies do not have departments like these, and an advisor of this type can make important contributions to the organization, especially that, depending on the approach, even expenses will not necessarily be incurred, since many times you can identify opportunities for improvement that, when valued, they more than pay the advisor's fees and provide economic and competitive advantages for the company in the future.
Finally, I want to recover some of the phrases throughout this writing: "not always wins the best, but the one who understands the game best", "you can be good at everything a little, but not the best at a specific one", "Coca-Cola's mistake was to have focused on beating the competition, without really taking into account what consumers wanted", and what better way to understand clients than to turn to experts through Outsourcing services. Which football teams would not want to have Messi?, but they know that if he were hired his cost would be too high, but what if those teams had the option of having Messi in one or another key game? This occurs when you have the option of resorting to key and highly qualified personnel through Outsourcing services.
* Julian. A. Restrepo R. Consultant of the Paint industry. [email protected] Medellin, Colombia
References
[10] http://www.curiosidadsq.com/2013/11/Receta-secreta-Coca-Cola.html
[11] http://www.marca.com/2013/10/31/futbol/futbol_internacional/resto_de_america/1383213386.html
[12] a) Restrepo, J.A:, "Murphy's Law, Part I". Inpralatina, Vol. 18, No. 6, Nov/Dec 2013, pp. 12-15; b) Restrepo, J.A:, "Murphy's Law, part II". Inpralatina, Vol. 19, No. 1, Jan/Feb 2014 pp. 16-21.
[13] https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Efecto_mariposa
[14] https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/LJA:_El_clavo
[15] (a) https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subcontrataci%C3%B3n; (b) http://economy.blogs.ie.edu/archives/2009/03/%C2%BFque-es-el-outsourcing-externalizacion.php; c) http://www.asesoriza.com/ventajas-e-inconspondents-de-la-externalizacion-lan/?utm_source=blog&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=cdp218
[16] "Documentary Outsourcing / Outsourcing Services, a competitive advantage". Service Point (in Spanish): http://www.servicepoint.es/category/white-papers/
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