PRT's - Comments and Questions from Employees

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Comments and Questions from Employees

“Our 2004 reorganization has been very disruptive to say the least. How does it fit in with this statement? We will provide… a stable platform for success within a safe working environment”

In a nutshell, we had to face some tough issues as a result of reduced seedling contract values for 2004. No one liked the forecasts we saw in our sales projections, but we had to face the brutal facts, or we would not be protecting our stable platform. We needed to act quickly, consider all the issues as best we could, and make decisions. Inaction would threaten the stable platform.

We had to dig deep to find out why we lost some business. Were there less seedlings being ordered? Were there quality or reliability issues? Were our costs out of line, and therefore our pricing? Then we had to determine what changes, if any, we could make. We had to ask ourselves how our people might be affected by each possible change. How might they respond to the changes? How will our customers feel about this? Then we needed the crystal ball to forecast how changes might affect our growth plans – our future. These were all key questions in our quest to protect and maintain the stable platform.

I live and work by a couple of sayings that work well for me: 1. “In every problem lies opportunity” - We have a problem, so get busy and find the underlying opportunity. 2. “The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, and the next best time is today.” - When something needs to be done, don’t waste time thinking that you could have or should have done it sooner - get on with it. Number 1 struck me pretty hard in this case. Was there an opportunity? Last fall, during the management reviews, I was more of an observer, because our regional managers are fully up to speed and very capable of handling these challenging meetings. I observed both managers and superintendents each trying to know everything about the nurseries – safety, marketing, operations, crop production, leadership, capital development, and community standing – and it was an awful lot for both people to have on their plates. All of us in the company have strengths and weaknesses. Could we rearrange things to build on our individual strengths? This struck me as the opportunity. Was there a way we could improve focus, provide better service to customers, work harder on our cost problems, (heating cost, productivity, maintenance, or whatever) and take a load off the people all at the same time. I sought advice from everywhere I could. At the end of the day, this overlap was the strongest motivating factor. Of course there were other factors… it’s more competitive now and we need to understand our customers’ needs better… and yes, we had to trim overhead costs. So we made the decision and planted our tree.

Back to the question… are we creating a stable platform for success for our people? I’ll agree with anyone that it’s too early to be completely certain, but I know each of you has seen some positive changes along the way. We landed a nice early contract due to many years of work, and recent customer communication was also a key aspect. I’ve seen two new proposals to cut heating costs which is our most difficult cost challenge right now. Three locations have told me that their payroll error level is down substantially. One customer told me that we should have done this a long time ago, and other customers I’ve talked to were very understanding and appreciative of our efforts to improve.

I know many of you are experiencing big challenges, and there’s challenges remaining. But at the end of the day, I am hearing a lot more positives than negatives, so I’m completely confident we’re on the right track. Creating that stable platform is not going to work for everyone. It will work for the whole of the company, and that’s what we’re committed to at PRT - a stable platform resulting from good decisions, including the tough ones.

Thank you sincerely to everyone for communicating your concerns in a forthright and productive manner as we’ve weaved our way through these changes. Without your input, our decisions would be flawed and the solutions temporary. We have a terrific bunch of people here at PRT. The absence of serious difficulties and the terrific seedling quality this year are testaments to our ability to adapt when we have to. Well done!

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