My Best Boss and Holden Commodores
Without Prejudice
When I was in Purchasing the best Boss I ever had or could have had was my Big Boss at H.S.V. His name was Keith B. He hired me on spec and proceeded to mentor me in Indirect and Direct Purchasing. He gave no quarter for me being female of course.
I was expected to know everything about cars, specifically, Holden Commodores. And cars are to me just things that go. Now if it had been shoes, ..... But it was cars. So he taught me to understand what a B.O.M was and how a car is produced right down to the metal. The B.O.M. Being the bill of materials of course.
He broke it all down for me and then built it all the way back up again. And I loved it, thrived on it. That man and my Boss at G.M.H, George could rock a live spreadsheet, Excelled at Excel and I was their adoring acolyte. Never was I prouder than to work at the iconic G.M.H in Fishermen's Bend. The hallowed halls of car engineering.
I watched in awe as the covered up new prototype was wheeled down the wide hall of worn polished board by masked and gowned men. I wondered how many prototypes had been wheeled down that slippy hall.
Holden Special Vehicles was the absolute epitome of car heaven. The basic cars came in from South Australia ready to be transformed into every mans dream. We added the after market body kits, the paint, the added extras that turned the basic car into an SS. I purchased every thing in indirect. But I didn't have the knowledge then of direct purchasing.
But Keith taught me, guided me through the process of stripping a car back to bare metal and nuts and bolts. I loved working for him, he was fair, tough, decent, intelligent and made me laugh. I think at that time I was going through some personal stuff and it was a relief to get to work.
I met Keith Urban there who came in to buy a Maloo. Gorgeous, met Mark Scafe, arrogant, and managed to tread warily through the maze of Office Politics. And in that sort of blokey environment felt quite at home. I had come from a Manufacturing background.
It all made sense to me and I love a build. After H.S.V I went on to Bombardier where the Fast Train was being built.
I find it very exciting to see something being being manufactured. To get my head around the concept and see it come to fruition. I like trades men that know their stuff, engineers that live inside their brain and find it hard to turn off. My Big Boss at Bombardier Steele W said all engineers are fucked in the head and that included himself.
But Keith was the best, a man short on ego and arrogance and large on life. He treated me like a man, never like a delicate little flower. And unlike most of my other bosses didn't spend his time directing his comments to my chest. He was a mentor, a friend, and could make me laugh out loud.
It's great to have Bosses like that when you are female. Steele was good, Peter V at Maxicube, Stafford too. The very proper English Big Boss at Bombardier, Robert. G and Joseph A at Supagas. All decent men to work for. Fun, caring, smart and swore like troopers.
Only one ever fancied me and he was married and I had to crack him over the knuckles more than once. He knows who he is Old Blue Eyes, and when he found out I was going out with one of the drivers at work, became silly and jealous and sacked me. Ah, well you live and learn.
I refused to go out with any one I worked with after that.
If you are interested in a carrier in Purchasing, I can highly recommend it and here are some of the tips that were given to me by my beautiful male bosses.
1. C.Y.A. ( Cover your arse, always )
2. Everything comes back to Purchasing.
3. Write everything down, dates, People's names as Suppliers will conveniently forget what they said re price and availability.
4. Learn to negotiate, hard! And hold them to it.
5. Expedite hard too, as manufacturing is a hungry beast and your lack of expediting can halt production.
6. Expect to be on the phone all day. I used to come home and pull the phone out of the wall.
7. Always ask Price and availability. Let it be your mantra.
8. Learn that there are 3 terms, Urgent, Very Urgent and Very Very Urgent. Try and prioritise them. I have known many an urgent to be sitting on the stockroom floor months later.
9. Stock on the floor is costing the Company money and Just In Time is a lean, mean way of Purchasing but it works if you have mainly Australian Suppliers.
10. The devil is in the details, so double, triple your checking of everything.
11. Re read rule number One
Thanks to them all.
Love Janette
When I was in Purchasing the best Boss I ever had or could have had was my Big Boss at H.S.V. His name was Keith B. He hired me on spec and proceeded to mentor me in Indirect and Direct Purchasing. He gave no quarter for me being female of course.
I was expected to know everything about cars, specifically, Holden Commodores. And cars are to me just things that go. Now if it had been shoes, ..... But it was cars. So he taught me to understand what a B.O.M was and how a car is produced right down to the metal. The B.O.M. Being the bill of materials of course.
He broke it all down for me and then built it all the way back up again. And I loved it, thrived on it. That man and my Boss at G.M.H, George could rock a live spreadsheet, Excelled at Excel and I was their adoring acolyte. Never was I prouder than to work at the iconic G.M.H in Fishermen's Bend. The hallowed halls of car engineering.
I watched in awe as the covered up new prototype was wheeled down the wide hall of worn polished board by masked and gowned men. I wondered how many prototypes had been wheeled down that slippy hall.
Holden Special Vehicles was the absolute epitome of car heaven. The basic cars came in from South Australia ready to be transformed into every mans dream. We added the after market body kits, the paint, the added extras that turned the basic car into an SS. I purchased every thing in indirect. But I didn't have the knowledge then of direct purchasing.
But Keith taught me, guided me through the process of stripping a car back to bare metal and nuts and bolts. I loved working for him, he was fair, tough, decent, intelligent and made me laugh. I think at that time I was going through some personal stuff and it was a relief to get to work.
I met Keith Urban there who came in to buy a Maloo. Gorgeous, met Mark Scafe, arrogant, and managed to tread warily through the maze of Office Politics. And in that sort of blokey environment felt quite at home. I had come from a Manufacturing background.
It all made sense to me and I love a build. After H.S.V I went on to Bombardier where the Fast Train was being built.
I find it very exciting to see something being being manufactured. To get my head around the concept and see it come to fruition. I like trades men that know their stuff, engineers that live inside their brain and find it hard to turn off. My Big Boss at Bombardier Steele W said all engineers are fucked in the head and that included himself.
But Keith was the best, a man short on ego and arrogance and large on life. He treated me like a man, never like a delicate little flower. And unlike most of my other bosses didn't spend his time directing his comments to my chest. He was a mentor, a friend, and could make me laugh out loud.
It's great to have Bosses like that when you are female. Steele was good, Peter V at Maxicube, Stafford too. The very proper English Big Boss at Bombardier, Robert. G and Joseph A at Supagas. All decent men to work for. Fun, caring, smart and swore like troopers.
Only one ever fancied me and he was married and I had to crack him over the knuckles more than once. He knows who he is Old Blue Eyes, and when he found out I was going out with one of the drivers at work, became silly and jealous and sacked me. Ah, well you live and learn.
I refused to go out with any one I worked with after that.
If you are interested in a carrier in Purchasing, I can highly recommend it and here are some of the tips that were given to me by my beautiful male bosses.
1. C.Y.A. ( Cover your arse, always )
2. Everything comes back to Purchasing.
3. Write everything down, dates, People's names as Suppliers will conveniently forget what they said re price and availability.
4. Learn to negotiate, hard! And hold them to it.
5. Expedite hard too, as manufacturing is a hungry beast and your lack of expediting can halt production.
6. Expect to be on the phone all day. I used to come home and pull the phone out of the wall.
7. Always ask Price and availability. Let it be your mantra.
8. Learn that there are 3 terms, Urgent, Very Urgent and Very Very Urgent. Try and prioritise them. I have known many an urgent to be sitting on the stockroom floor months later.
9. Stock on the floor is costing the Company money and Just In Time is a lean, mean way of Purchasing but it works if you have mainly Australian Suppliers.
10. The devil is in the details, so double, triple your checking of everything.
11. Re read rule number One
Thanks to them all.
Love Janette
