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Leadership under crisis Learning from the unexpected-Binding wire

Leadership under crisis: Learning from the unexpected

Published: 1/12/2011 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: Business

With the flood crisis continuing. Subhasakdi Krishnamra, the chairman of Deloitte Southeast Asia, recommends this simple checklist for business leaders to follow in recovering their operations:

- Perform a situation analysis including a full business-impact assessment.

- Study options and strategies for reassessing markets and financial positions.

- Communicate with relevant parties _ authorities, customers, employees and insurers _ regarding the repair and rebuilding of premises, operations, IT systems and equipment, followed by returning the employees to work.

- Update crisis-management plans.

Recently, I spoke with three executives about how they view and have responded to the crisis.

Moving forward with improvements

“After last year’s unrest, we formed an emergency committee comprising all the main executives. We’re most concerned about an uninterrupted electrical supply, so we obtained a power generator a month ago,” said Panita Tuchinda,gabion sacks, the managing director of Thai Insurance Plc.

“Taking care of our employees is a priority. We keep them updated on the situation, and we’re proud to have been able to keep serving our customers as usual. We’re preparing for a deluge of calls from customers inquiring about the readiness of our contracted garages and other issues. The next step in our business continuity plan is to review and revise what we may not have covered well enough such as system preparedness, staff availability during the crisis, turnaround time and productivity.”

Flexibility is crucial

“We have a special fact-finding committee that has been following the situation including by going out on personal inspections since our factory in Bangkok is on the bank of a canal close to the Bang Na-Trat intersection,” says Pramote Tiasuwan, the managing director for manufacturing at Pranda Jewelry Plc, a maker and exporter of gold, silver and costume jewellery.

“Of our three core values, human capital is always our first priority, followed by machinery. In this regard, we have a clear policy of providing support from the inside out. Staff are the first group to receive our support. We also help our direct contacts such as royal goldsmith instructors in the Salaya area of Nakhon Pathom and their families. Then there are donations to the general public as well.

“With so many small factories forced to close, the crisis has turned into an opportunity for us. Our customers have become even more confident in us since it is clear we can produce amid a difficult situation. The ability to switch production from one factory to another quickly is crucial. If necessary, we can move 500 employees from our Bang Na site to our Nakhon Ratchasima location in only 12 hours.”

Playing it by ear

“We help our employees first, letting them take the time to ensure the safety of their loved ones. Our human-resources team stays in close communication with those in need to provide moral support. Next, we do our best to protect our factories including all the machinery. We also call our customers to see if they need any help such as with moving their stocks. The communities surrounding our factories are the next group we take care of,” says Thaksa Busayapoka, the chief executive of Modernform Group Plc, a manufacturer,341,000 flood-hit workers re-employed-hesco, importer and distributor of knocked-down furniture.

“The effects of the flooding on our supply chain has forced us to adjust our business model. We’ve had to outsource and import more. It’s also an opportunity for us, as many factories have been affected by the floods.

“In this round of business planning, instead of taking a long-term approach, we’re working on a short-term ‘aftermath plan’ for the next 3-6 months first, as the situation is fluid. We’ll rethink our annual business plan again in next year’s first quarter.”

Military Barriers/Hesco Bastions

Information

The QIAOSHI’s Military Barriers or Hesco Bastions is a modern gabion used for flood control and military fortification. It is made of a collapsible steel wire mesh container and heavy duty fabric liner, and used as a temporary to semi-permanent dike or barrier against blast or small-arms. One of the less heralded life- and labor-saving devices of war, it is used on nearly every United States Military base in Iraq as well as on NATO bases in Afghanistan.

Originally designed for use on beaches and marshes for erosion and flood control, the Hesco Bastion quickly became a popular security device in the 1990s.

Assembly
Assembling the Hesco Bastion entails unfolding it and (if available) using a front end loader to fill it with sand, dirt or gravel. The placement of the barrier is generally very similar to the placement of a sandbag barrier or earth berm except that room must generally be allowed for the equipment used to fill the barrier. The main advantage of Military Barrier, strongly contributing to their popularity with troops and flood fighters, is the quick and easy setup. Previously, people had to fill sandbags,Binding wire,Joint Press Conference of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra with Mr.Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-Gen-hesc, a slow undertaking,Tunnelling toward a city with no more flood woes-Hesco barrier,field fences, with one worker filling about 20 sandbags per hour. Workers using Military Barrier and a front end loader can do ten times the work of those using sandbags.
The Hesco Barrier come in a variety of sizes. Most of the barriers can also be stacked, and they are shipped collapsed in compact sets. Example dimensions of typical configurations are 46″ x 36″ x 32 (1.4m x 1.1m x 9.8m) to 7 x 5 x 100 (2.1m x 1.5m x 30m).
A new system of Hesco Bastion developed specially for military use is deployed from a container, which is dragged along the line of ground where the barrier is to be formed, unfolding up to several hundred meters of barrier in minutes, ready for filling with soil by a backhoe.

Protection
Filled with sand, 60 centimetres (24 inches) of barrier thickness will stop rifle bullets and shell fragments. It takes 1.5 metres (five feet) of thickness to prevent penetration by a rocket propelled grenade round. Approximately 1.2 metres (four feet) of thickness provides protection against most car bombs.

Specification

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