Sunseeker - securing the future
Sunseeker exports the majority of its production and manages a network of over 900 suppliers
The role of finance director at Sunseeker is the one of the most formidable in the European leisure marine industry, says Matt Johnson. With an annual turnover around £300m and 2400 employees it’s a major enterprise.
In a recent interview with Boating Business the affable Sunny Thakrar, who was appointed to the post at the end of last year, gave every appearance of relishing the challenges ahead and satisfaction with the results of the initiatives that he has introduced so far.
Certainly the size of the business doesn’t daunt Mr Thakrar with 10 years at VT Group plc in a range of senior management roles under his belt. And he freely admits that he doesn’t fit the general stereotype of finance directors.
For a start, he takes a very close interest in every aspect of the business. The key to success, as he sees it, is to “understand the inputs”, by which he means everything that comes into or interacts with the company. Get those right, he reckons, and the finances will end up in good health.
Sunseeker is definitely in good shape, Mr Thakrar asserts. When he joined he was immediately impressed by the loyalty and passion of the workforce, the focus on quality, and the supportiveness of the shareholders, but that didn’t mean there weren’t aspects that could be improved.
One area that he started on almost immediately was to work with the management team to develop the commercial and strategic outlook of the company, which he felt didn’t reflect the true strength of the brand.
Back office
Another was the back office. From an operations point of view, Mr Thakrar realised immediately that the support functions of the business had failed to keep pace with the growth of the company in recent years. In particular, he set about upgrading the reporting and monitoring functions to ensure that real time information is continuously available on all aspects of production.
This enables managers to be continuously aware of the resources they have deployed and spot potential constraints before they become an issue. It also gives the managers directly involved in the production process a better awareness of the costs involved at every stage.
Hand in hand with that went a process to formalise internal procedures and the creation of written guidelines detailing decision making responsibilities at all levels of management. This is to ensure that any issues that arise can be resolved at the lowest possible level and without involving a lengthy chain of individuals.
Not only does this save time, but by devolving responsibility it increases the sense of ownership at the shop floor level and encourages everyone to participate in seeking efficiencies and quality enhancements.
As an extension of this commitment to the free flow of knowledge, communications between Sunseeker and its distributors have also been substantially improved over the last 12 months.
Track timings
Systems are now in place that allow both sides to track timings of payments and progress of the builds of boats on order, along with higher levels of support in terms of marketing and sales resources, in return for regular updates from each distributor. Similar arrangements are currently being developed with suppliers.
Asked about longer term changes in the way Sunseeker operates, Mr Thakrar spoke at length on the advantages of moving from a production line to a project management approach.
This he believes can have benefits throughout the production process through its emphasis on accountability and rapid decision-making. Introducing greater cost centre accountability for individual managers was another theme. But overall, he sees his longer term goal to be moving the company culture from one based on loyalty to one weighed more heavily towards performance.
The long term success of the company depends on outperforming its competitors in every possible aspect of the business, and this can only be achieved by a consistent focus on continuous improvement, backed by a remuneration system to encourage that.
Yet despite the uncertainty in the global economy and the relentless rise in the cost of raw materials that may yet have a negative impact on costs, Mr Thakrar exudes confidence and optimism from every pore. He sees Sunseeker as being in a very good place at the moment with the order book to prove it.
The company celebrated its 50th anniversary last year and as far as he is concerned his job is to ensure that it has the tools and the structure to enable it face a future as successful as its past.
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