Monday, July 14, 2008
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Happy (belated) 4th
Hope everbody enjoyed the fireworks and barbecue over the long holiday weekend. I didn't do much in the way of raucous celebrating (with explosives or otherwise) because I spent the better part of the weekend feeding my laptop with a condensed version of piles of paperwork for our software implementation. I'll spare you the gory details, but I'll just say this: anything even remotely related to accounting is, for me, profoundly challenging and just thinking about cost accounting, manufacturing burden, work-in-process and suspense accounts give me a stellar migraine. I now have the utmost respect for the people who do can magically produce income statements from a pile or receipts, those who can use their superherolike inborn ability to translate the hieroglyphs we call a tax code, and the ladies and gentlemen who, without any trace of condescension, kindly answer my hideously simplistic questions with a smile and the patience of Job. I could sooner be a brain surgeon on Mars than be an accountant. Connie, I raise my hat to you. As difficult this has been for me (and it has -- by design, my graduate degree is in something that has nothing to do with numbers), I have been learning a lot about how this end of the business works.
For you, the customer, this means we will ultimately have a beautiful system that drips with transparency and efficiency. This exercise is forcing all of our key people to effectively dump their combined knowledge into this software so that we can all immediately benefit from the experience of others. As a customer, that means we'll know exactly where your order is, be it in the third stage of production, on our shipping dock waiting for the carrier to pick it up, or if it's on the delivery truck en route to you. We will have improved management of our inventory, so we'll know if the part you are ordering is on the shelf and ready to go, or if we have to build it from scratch -- and we'll know if all of the raw materials are here to be made into your parts. In about 6 weeks all of this will be coming to fruition. I better quit typing and get to work.
For you, the customer, this means we will ultimately have a beautiful system that drips with transparency and efficiency. This exercise is forcing all of our key people to effectively dump their combined knowledge into this software so that we can all immediately benefit from the experience of others. As a customer, that means we'll know exactly where your order is, be it in the third stage of production, on our shipping dock waiting for the carrier to pick it up, or if it's on the delivery truck en route to you. We will have improved management of our inventory, so we'll know if the part you are ordering is on the shelf and ready to go, or if we have to build it from scratch -- and we'll know if all of the raw materials are here to be made into your parts. In about 6 weeks all of this will be coming to fruition. I better quit typing and get to work.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Best. Pizza. Ever. (If you're into the thin stuff, that is.)
If you're a fan of St. Louis style pizza, you MUST go to Pirrone's next time you're in town. For those of you who have not had the joy of partaking in this local fare, St. Louis style pizza is one that just about eliminates the crust altogether. By forgoing the thick and doughy crusts of cities to the north, we were way ahead of the low-carb craze by slapping piles of toppings on top of a cracker-thin, crispy, crunchy crust. 
Usually loaded with high-blood-pressure-inducing, sodium-laden provel cheese and as much meat and veggies as possible, we in St. Louis have produced a pie that would make Dr. Atkins proud. Every once in awhile Bill Sr. pops up to Florissant to pick up this delectable treat, and today he indulged us with this delicacy. He was definitely the hero in the office.
Usually loaded with high-blood-pressure-inducing, sodium-laden provel cheese and as much meat and veggies as possible, we in St. Louis have produced a pie that would make Dr. Atkins proud. Every once in awhile Bill Sr. pops up to Florissant to pick up this delectable treat, and today he indulged us with this delicacy. He was definitely the hero in the office.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Welcome to the Sturgis House of Hose
Seriously? A blog for a company that makes -- arguably the finest -- gas hoses, gas outlets and quick disconnects? Absolutely. Over the last several months we've been working on some exciting new products while advocating diligently on behalf of consumers in the wonderful world of standards. We are also in the process of implementing a king-kong software package that will tie together all of our business processes to that we can run more efficiently, which will ultimately provide you, the consumer, with improved customer service and (hopefully) shorter lead times. A blog is the perfect place to share our activities (some serious, some not) and opinions (some serious, some not) with our customers and we hope you find the information we post helpful.
As you may already be aware, MB Sturgis is located in the 'burbs just outside of St. Louis. In recent weeks, our fair city has been the epicenter of the possible takeover of the venerable hometown brew, Anheuser Busch, by Belgian beer conglomerate, InBev. News of the negotiations between the respective boards of directors created the sober realization that A-B -- a name that, for locals, is synonymous with St. Louis -- could very well join the exodus of world-class companies that either abandon our modest midwestern city for more cosmopolitan digs, or are devoured by not-so-much larger corporations. Even then, the members of the board aren't really the true owners, they are just the designated representatives of the true owners: the stockholders. Ownership is no longer concentrated in the landmark brick and mortar altar to beer on Pestalozzi Street, but it is, in fact, spread across the globe from the amber waves of grain in Omaha to the fog of Londontown. Not to disparage the capitalist system (my apologies to Mill, Ricardo, et al), but I feel a degree of empathy for the men and women -- those who make the beer, load the trucks, pay the bills, and do all the other specialized jobs a huge company like that has on its payroll -- when the decision to close or move the plant isn't made by people who are there every day, and it is left to those who never set foot in St. Louis, let alone the brewery itself. This is one of the less-desirable side effects of such a complex system.
Needless to say, I am fortunate that I work well outside that sort of system. The owners of Sturgis are in the office every day, and I feel reasonably confident that I can get an audience when necessary. Never before have I worked for a company that, when a brilliant idea strikes, I can immediately ask for permission to do it. As long as it doesn't involve fire, a kegger in the parking lot, or an obscene amount of money, I usually get an affirmative nod. Sturgis is a true family-owned business in the traditional sense. After many years of service, Rosemary worked her way up the ladder, and she now runs the place with her two sons, Brian and Bill. Bill Sr also comes in to help homeowners with their sordid tales of grills and gas troubles. I am a humble employee, taking care of most of the general office functions in addition to software implementation. We employ a small but excellent staff of office personnel who have learned to operate in a reasonably casual but hardworking environment. No, we don't have a stable of perfectly-primped clydesdales, but we do have a trash-can-raiding dog. It's a fun place to work and I'm glad I'm here during this exciting period in Sturgis's growth and development.
As you may already be aware, MB Sturgis is located in the 'burbs just outside of St. Louis. In recent weeks, our fair city has been the epicenter of the possible takeover of the venerable hometown brew, Anheuser Busch, by Belgian beer conglomerate, InBev. News of the negotiations between the respective boards of directors created the sober realization that A-B -- a name that, for locals, is synonymous with St. Louis -- could very well join the exodus of world-class companies that either abandon our modest midwestern city for more cosmopolitan digs, or are devoured by not-so-much larger corporations. Even then, the members of the board aren't really the true owners, they are just the designated representatives of the true owners: the stockholders. Ownership is no longer concentrated in the landmark brick and mortar altar to beer on Pestalozzi Street, but it is, in fact, spread across the globe from the amber waves of grain in Omaha to the fog of Londontown. Not to disparage the capitalist system (my apologies to Mill, Ricardo, et al), but I feel a degree of empathy for the men and women -- those who make the beer, load the trucks, pay the bills, and do all the other specialized jobs a huge company like that has on its payroll -- when the decision to close or move the plant isn't made by people who are there every day, and it is left to those who never set foot in St. Louis, let alone the brewery itself. This is one of the less-desirable side effects of such a complex system.
Needless to say, I am fortunate that I work well outside that sort of system. The owners of Sturgis are in the office every day, and I feel reasonably confident that I can get an audience when necessary. Never before have I worked for a company that, when a brilliant idea strikes, I can immediately ask for permission to do it. As long as it doesn't involve fire, a kegger in the parking lot, or an obscene amount of money, I usually get an affirmative nod. Sturgis is a true family-owned business in the traditional sense. After many years of service, Rosemary worked her way up the ladder, and she now runs the place with her two sons, Brian and Bill. Bill Sr also comes in to help homeowners with their sordid tales of grills and gas troubles. I am a humble employee, taking care of most of the general office functions in addition to software implementation. We employ a small but excellent staff of office personnel who have learned to operate in a reasonably casual but hardworking environment. No, we don't have a stable of perfectly-primped clydesdales, but we do have a trash-can-raiding dog. It's a fun place to work and I'm glad I'm here during this exciting period in Sturgis's growth and development.
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