Now the latest and greatest from the Mensa minds of 3M Engineering....the Q1 travel budget has been cut by 50%. We now need VP approval to do our jobs.
To quote Tommy Boy.....Holy Schnikes! Hey Tireman.....how are we supposed to make the 60 yr old equipment safe if we don't know what we are looking at? Most...if any....of the known info on these lines is non-existant or in some random 2D format.
Come on folks.....stop with the knee-je-k reactions. Is the latest earnings call that bad? We now have hired 8 new Lg Proj Engineer managers, for a total of 16....but nobody else can perform their jobs the way it should be done. Unbelievable! Hey...but come back into the office to "collaborate". Jeesh....
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3M Engineering is undergoing intentional destruction. It is led by the Peter Puffing SVP whose greatest hits include:
"Stick your finger in a cup of water and pull it out. That's what your 3M career is."
"You can accelerate schedule without cost impact."
"Capitalization of engineering time is not a primary metric."
Speaking of Tireman and old equipment and safety, did we ever get the full report of what happened at PDC where the employee was ki-led in an accident?
Tireman had a petty meltdown at his townhall when people tried to bring up cost cutting and its impact on safety.
On 5 more hours till you can break into that new bottle of Scotch, eh Peter?
Joe Harlan (remember him?) was steadfast in his belief that the LAST thing to get cut is customer-related travel. In an Austin townhall almost 20 years ago now he answered an audience question about cutbacks and travel. This was during the start of the Great Recession when EVERYONE was cutting. His message was no matter what you do, do NOT stop going to your customers in order to solve a problem, make a sale, or just to remind them that 3M was always there for them. "Other companies will back off because they can't afford it. We'll find the money somewhere, and your customer will never forget you or 3M for being there."
He probably made that same speech 100 times at GE, 3M, Dow, etc. But he was right. Taking yourself out of the customer's field of vision just gives them the excuse to look elsewhere.
Looks like next weeks earning call is gonna be a grilling session by wall street