VISIONTALK
VSG Monthly Newsletter
Monthly Motivation
The Power of Positive Attitude Can Change Your Life
By Remed Sasson
A Positive Attitude Leads to Success and Happiness. A positive attitude helps you cope more easily with the daily affairs of life. It brings optimism into your life, and makes it easier to avoid worries and negative thinking. If you adopt it as a way of life, it would bring constructive changes into your life, and makes them happier, brighter and more successful.
With a positive attitude you see the bright side of life, become optimistic, and expect the best to happen. It is certainly a state of mind that is well worth developing.
Positive attitude manifests in the following ways:
- Positive thinking.
- Constructive thinking.
- Creative thinking.
- Optimism.
- Motivation and energy to do things and accomplish goals.
- An attitude of happiness.
A positive frame of mind can help you in many ways, such as:
- Expecting success and not failure.
- Making you feel inspired.
- It gives you the strength not to give up, if you encounter obstacles on your way.
- It makes you look at failure and problems as blessings in disguise.
- Believing in yourself and in your abilities.
- Enables you to show self-esteem and confidence.
- You look for solutions, instead of dwelling on problems.
- You see and recognize opportunities.
A positive attitude leads to happiness and success and can change your whole life. If you look at the bright side of life, your whole life becomes filled with light. This light affects not only you and the way you look at the world, but it also affects your environment and the people around you.
If this attitude is strong enough, it becomes contagious. It's as if you radiate light around you.
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More Benefits of a Positive Attitude:
This might seem like a repetition of the above, but it helps to make this message clearer.
- It helps you achieve goals and attain success.
- It brings more happiness into your life.
- It produces more energy.
- Positive attitude increases your faith in your abilities, and brings hope for a brighter future.
- You become able to inspire and motivate yourself and others.
- You encounter fewer obstacles and difficulties in your daily life.
- You get more respect and love from people.
- Life smiles at you.
Negative attitude says: you cannot achieve success. Positive attitude says: You can achieve success.
If you have been exhibiting a negative attitude and expecting failure and difficulties, it is now the time to change the way you think. It is the time to get rid of negative thoughts and behavior, and start leading a happier and more successful life. If you tried to do so in the past and failed, it only means that you have not tried enough.
Simple Tips for Developing a Positive Attitude:
- Choose to be happy. Yes, it is a matter of choice. When negative thoughts enter your mind, just refuse to look at them, doing your best to substitute them with happy thoughts
- Look at the bright side of life. It's a matter of choice and repeated attempts.
- Choose to be optimistic.
- Find reasons to smile more often. You can find such reasons, if you search for them.
- Have faith in yourself, and believe that the Universe can help you.
- Associate yourself with happy people.
- Read inspiring stories.
- Read inspiring quotes.
- Repeat affirmations that inspire and motivate you.
- Visualize only what you want to happen, not what you don't want.
- Learn Learn to master your thoughts
Following even only one of the above suggestions, will bring more light into your life!
Hop on The Energy Bus!
The VSG Website
People
VSG HK Team
With almost 20 years working experience in Quality Assurance and Global Sourcing from multinational companies, Alan brings a wealth of knowledge to the VSG HK team. Alan is a very clear thinker and always willing to do whatever is necessary to meet the business objectives. He tirelessly strives for continued improvement and is often called upon to intervene on company behalf to resolve particularly sticky situations. Alan is extremely aligned with VSG strategy and execution.
Alans role as VP of Global Sourcing includes VSG Global Sourcing Management, VSG Hong Kong and VSG China Operations management, driving company YoY Cost-Out plan, executing sourcing terms strategy to maintain receivable and payable healthy company cash-flow and leading VSG Global Sourcing organizational growth to accommodate VSG business strategy and development.
LingLing has more than 10 years of experience working in purchasing/materials planning with multinational companies. She has a strong work ethic and is always striving to learn and continuously improve.
LingLing's role at VSG includes VSG Global Sourcing management, managing the VSGHK Quickbooks, placing PO's, managing the VSGHK receiving system, managing supplier invoicing, running supplier PO's and delivery on a weekly basis, tracking PO confirmation and reporting to VSGUS team as well as on time delivery pull ins and pull outs.
Roman has 4 years of sales experience and 4 years of experience in sourcing in the ODM/OEM Industrial Goods, Plastics and Hardware Industry. He is mastered in strategic sourcing, supplier quality management and supplier performance. He strives to continuously improve with relationship management and negotiating skills and has the ability to handle technical aspects of company products and supplier manufacturing process. Roman has a strong affinity and sense of responsibility and a strong team work spirit!
Sonia has more than 13 years experience in the industry and is highly efficient and responsible. Sonia works well under pressure and is results oriented! Her past experience includes working as a Purchasing Manager for Energy Recovery Products, Program Manager at ACW and Materials Specialist at Flextronics.
Relationships
Levolor - Metal Weights
The story of Chad's customer, Levolor, is a great example of how relationships play a huge part in the success of VSG.
In The Bag!
We all of have experienced the “easy” opportunity from a trusted relationship. ALL you must do is meet the pricing. Simple enough…..
We developed a relationship with Beau Hansen from when he was a Sourcing Manager with Acuity Brands Lighting. Beau took a job offer to join the Levolor team back in November 2016. Right out of the chute Beau presented us with an opportunity for Metal Weights. As relationships go, all we had to do was meet the pricing and we would be cut in immediately. This piece of business was currently being manufactured stateside in Ohio. Our thoughts were, this is almost too easy.
Right Factory Producing the Right Part
Excited about the opportunity and not to mention a new customer for VSG, we went about business as normal and quoted with our key suppliers. Pricing was coming back 3-4x current price paid before mark-ups! How could this possible be!? This should be in the bag. After 3-4 months of striking out on numerous occasions we re-focused ourselves.
We strategized together as a team. One of our philosophies has always been “If someone is currently doing it, then there is no reason we can’t do it and do it better.” After reviewing the opportunity, we came to realization we were not quoting the right suppliers. It goes back to sourcing the right part at the right factory. Time to utilize relationships and start thinking at a much higher level. Thanks to relationships, specifically Hector Luna, we identified a potential supplier in Guadalajara Mexico-Metinsa. We moved quickly and executed an NDA in order to get the quote package in their hands. Now it was time to be patient and wait.
It’s Not Over….
Metinsa came back immediately and was excited about the potential opportunity. They stated this was right up their alley. Pricing came back 2 days later and was again 3x current price paid! Wait, what!? Yes, pricing again was 3x the current price paid by Levolor. In this scenario, it is easy to give up and move on, but $1.2M dollar deals don’t fall on your lap daily. With Joe’s guidance, we set up a conference call with Metinsa to review pricing and begin negotiations. Joe was very direct and stayed on point throughout the call delivering the same message. It was simple—Here is the pricing we must have and if not,
unfortunately we will have to move on. You will never get what you don’t ask for, stay persistent and don’t waver.
Win!
After 2 more days of back and forth pricing came back and we were good on ¾ and real close on the last. The one part was $0.01 off, but not a deal breaker. Again, you can’t get what you don’t ask for. We went back to Metinsa and thanked them for their efforts put forth thus far, but being candid we needed them to lower the high runner by $0.01. We stated this was a deal breaker and if they met the pricing proposed we would cut tooling PO’s and kick things off immediately. $0.01 doesn’t sound like much, but when the conservative EAU is 4.5M pieces, you are talking about an additional 45K in GP.
Without working together as a team and strategizing together this deal would have never came to a close. With persistence, we now gained a $1M+ partner in Levolor that will aide in taking our company to the next level. Also, we now are building another relationship with a new supplier that could aide in winning future business.
"Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results." --Andrew Carnegie
Chad and his family!
Collaboration
Story time with the VSG Warehouse Team
Sit back, relax and welcome to a day in the life of the warehouse team.
Chapter 1: Thanks for Lunch Aaron
The warehouse team recently received a shipment in via freight. We did our QIP (Quality Inspection Process) and then did our counts. We noticed one part # was over one box quantity and another was under one box quantity. We then realized the supplier mislabeled one part. Therefore, we had to bring down all 60 boxes and open them up to verify which one was labeled wrong.
As you can see our dilemma was tedious and time consuming, but we all kept a good attitude and broke them all down. After about the 40th box was opened - TJ came up with a reverse bet.
“Who ever opens the box with the wrong parts gets to buy the team lunch”.
As soon as TJ was done saying that, he caught out of the corner of his eye the dismay on the face of Aaron Sandridge, who, at that very moment, opened the box with the wrong parts.
We were all hysterical. Except for Aaron.
And yes, Mr. Sandridge bought us lunch the next day.
Chapter 2: Carson vs. the Forklift
This past week we did a little forklift training.
TJ and Aaron are seasoned when it comes to driving a forklift. Carson on the other hand has never driven a forklift before.
After our written training was completed, it was time to do the actual test on the forklift.
Aaron started it off. He grabbed his pallet and placed it in the specified area. Brought the forklift back to where he began and put it in park.
TJ wanted to go last, so he rushed the new forklift operator(Carson) up next. He jumped up there looking very concerned.
He started pushing and pulling levers, and with every shift in the forklift he looked that much more nervous.
We watched this go on for about 3 minutes until TJ explained to the trainer he has never touched a forklift.
Once that was said Carson was able to get more guidance on how all the levers worked.
He still did not know the difference between the clutch break and the break itself.
So when he was trying to move he used the clutch break instead of the break causing the forklift to bounce back and forth as if he was stalling out a manual vehicle.
TJ and Aaron who were trying to be supportive while watching their teammate go through something they knew he was uncomfortable with, were laughing all the while.
Between his face looking like he was standing on the edge of a skyscraper while the forklift jerked back and forth like a bull in a rodeo, we could not help ourselves.
He eventually learned the breaking system and got the hang of it quickly. Job well done, Carson!
Get to know Angie.
Angie Leggett is the Inside Sales Manager at VSG and works remote in Tampa, Florida.
She brings 19 years of experience in the industry working as an accomplished and highly skilled Product Manager. She handled inside sales for focus accounts. Her experience was tailored toward display procurement, managing value-added business, and inventory programs for accounts which included Bloomberg, Trimble, Honeywell, Harris, Jabil, and Sequoia.
Outside of work, Angie enjoys spending time with her husband Rocky, of 19 years, and their two daughters’, Maloy and Haven. When they are not at a softball field or traveling for a tournament, they enjoy spending time together outdoors. One of their favorite vacation spots is the Florida Keys where they enjoy fishing and snorkeling. The Leggett family frequents the Smokey Mountains, where they hike, tube, ride ATV’s, zip line, and explore the spectacular waterfalls.
Innovative Global Supply Chain Solutions
Market Update from Dustin Ford
Current VSG product: We are successfully building supply for strategic customers, where we have excess capacity, pricing advantages and savings to offer. (Not limited to these MFGS, contact Dustin for help Qualifying)
Many factors can create opportunities, and they are NOT THE SAME with each customer.
How can VSG Help?
Adversity creates character and long-term wins for those tough enough to face their fears. By nature, VSG’s business is to design, manufacture, make products better, and tap into the vast network of supply channels feeding our factories and help become a liaison for our partners WE choose to engage. TOTAL SUPPLY CHAIN SOLUTIONS. By helping our partners by “sharing” in our special registered pricing for cost saving, we can also greatly help our partners during market shortages. By helping with their pain, we get access to more ‘LOOKS’ into their pricing and build TRUST to develop LONG-TERM sustainable business through cost saving models (VMI) and opportunities for PIVOT branded components.
Extreme market conditions are contributing to many line-down situations for industrial companies, which typically buy product when projects are won. The big problem is their business teams get excited, overpromise, and don’t communicate with the teams handling materials. They WIN the order, and need to buy and build right away (Drop-In Orders). Often their standard pricing and lead times are dated and laughable to distributors that have been waiting for months for the orders. “Sorry, no stock, lead time 40 weeks”.
Soon panic sets in. Begin making demands and blaming everyone but themselves. Who likes to go to a convenient store to buy standard goods like milk, eggs, bread, dreaming they could shop at Costco again?
Here’s a good idea of the GAME being played by distribution.
Most of our customers buy locally from Franchise, and are too low volume for MFG direct engagement. Add a layer of miscommunication in forecasting, coupled with Local Distys (I include Arrow/Avnet, local meaning market), to which only get fractions of granted global allocations for product by the MFG. If our customers aren’t “cutting edge future growth” for them, get in line. “Wait until next month, while only delivering 30% of their committed supply, and sell out the back door at 30X the standard to brokers”.
VSG PLAN for PASSIVES
Franchise does not want to honor past pricing, it leaves money on the table. I’ve sat in meetings with the brightest tech commodity managers, for companies that are ruthless when negotiating pricing. I sit and listen to them explain how they are not getting any product from distys like Arrow. Later, after leaving the meeting, call the same Arrow branch and they have stock and quote a price dictated by market conditions. The One sided “negotiators” that punish suppliers regularly, during allocations get punished in the ‘SELLERS’ market. Why leave money on the table? It’s business.
Now it is time for VSG to remind them, after you have anchored the new price, that you let it sink in…and then follow with line down urgency or “have I ever let you down”. Next, look at their forecast for the next three months. We can protect them against further price increases by closing the larger deal. Typically, entry level buyers of components start in the Passives department, buying the bottom of the BOM. Lacking experience, they fear buying too much or spending money, and only in the short term. Next week, they are buying again and price has doubled.
WHY play catch-up, double your workload, be bound by your last resell (a loss now). Do your homework, and tackle the opportunity once, and close the bigger deal. Even if they aren’t sure about VSG, ensure them we can pull allocations from our other factories globally and share inventory assuming we have use the same or like products.
Lead times often can vary up to 10-20 weeks at times, even more, if a Distributor has incoming inventory. Don’t forget to use better lead times to shift focus away from the price, but on to inventory turns and assurance of supply. Current lead times are extended on cheaper BOM products where even large markups ensuring supply, is like throwing a deck chair off the Titanic when it comes to real dollars vs. line down losses.
Line-downs are serious business, where 1 resistor can cost 1 million dollars in lost opportunity.
This doesn’t make for good Monday morning staff meetings. Put your customer at EASE, sleeping well without a worry. Let’s make them look good by knowing how to do the business. FIND OUT when your customers have their weekly meetings, and plan your visit/call around it. If they outsource their production to EMS companies, many are reliant on the EMS to procure this type of product. They need to step in and help support their lines through VSG. Long tail products (like passive products) are causing the most pain currently, and usually are the cheapest items across the BOM.
Passive product (Capacitors, Resistors, Inductors) - seeing lead times continuing to stretch. 40-50 weeks means NEXT SUMMER deliveries if they bought today. Some point to the Fire in Brazil Tantalum processing factory has spilled over into other components as capacities shift and opportunity to RAISE PRICES.
CAPACITORS
CERAMICS, FILM, ALUMINUM, TANTALUM 24-50 weeks
MLCC: Brands like TDK, Murata, AVX, Samsung, Panasonic
· More push-outs -Lead-times out over 40+ weeks on larger case sizes
· Caused by increased demand for the iPhone 8, IOT & Automotive
· MLCC Sizes: 0603/0805/1206/1210
TANT: Brands like AVX, Kemet, Vishay
· Standard Case Sizes like A, B, C, D 24-30 weeks
RESISTORS 10-62 weeks
Brands like Samsung, Vishay, Panasonic, KOA, Stackpole
Influenced by increased demand in all industries, may be a result of reaction to the tightening of other component lead-times. Standard bell curve for lead times, sizes and specialized product distribution seen across sizes.
INDUCTORS 16-20 weeks
Wurth is an area to target, VSG has the PIVOT line we can use to greatly save long term money on their Inductor spend. Get with Dustin/Sonia. It will take time, but worth it. We need their current Part Number, MFG, and Spec so we can get working. Spend is important…it must be promising for growth.