4pManagement Ltd

Welcome to this quarter’s blog… not sure why this is called a blog, but my media advisor says it is!

To me, it’s an update newsletter, bringing you up to speed on my first quarter’s trading of 4pManagment Ltd.

In my LinkedIn post in December, I said one door closed and another opened, this referred to leaving Nestle Purina EMENA after 34 years. The 31^st December 2020 was a sad day, I had made so many friends, had so many challenging assignments, and played a part in the business transformation Nestle Purina went through taking it to the number 1 in Europe. Whilst it was transformational time for the business it was also transformational for me. Starting as a Design Engineer back in 1986, through to leading the capital investment plans of the business, Purina helped to develop me and I will always be grateful for the opportunities I had. It was my choice to leave, and it shows the class of the people I worked with, that I was also given the opportunity to continue to support the business, via 4pManagement. 

The door opening has been starting my own business. I have had a great start to this year with an initial 3-month contract in Poland to complete some major investments and handover to my successor.

This allowed me to get straight into ‘consulting’ on the 4th January 2021. Initially from my home office due to travel restrictions into Poland and on the 1^st February flying out to Poland for an initial 18 days, coming back to the UK for 14 days, then spending most of March in Poland. With the restrictions on travel, I’ve complied fully with either Poland’s Covid protocols, a negative PCR test up to 72 hours before arrival, then the more complex testing regime of coming back into the UK. A negative PCR test the day before leaving Poland, then additional tests on day 2, 5 and 8. I opted for the 5^th day test to allow for early release from home quarantine.

Wroclaw is a vibrant city, but as with all places during lockdown not much to do. Although I did take the opportunity on my time off in Poland to binge watch all of Line of Duty….well worth the effort when the latest series was aired… but like most of us, I did not suspect Buckells to the be mastermind “H”.

I’m pleased to report that my time in Poland was successful for the business, my client was launching an innovative product into the petfood market and I was able to steer the team towards successfully completing line qualification.

I have also been awarded a second contract to complete all the closure steps on two projects in Poland. One moved into verification at the end of November last year, with the other now starting verification. My role is to complete the closure reports, complete the project defect analysis that is used in future project improvements but also to coach a group of senior project managers who will be managing significant investment over the next 4 years for my client.

I’m also helping my client design a road map for business integration of a manufacturing execution system, helping to identify the correct steering and implementation structure using my experience of implementing this type of MES in a new greenfield.

So far, I have not needed to actively market my business. I have had some enquires mainly from ex Nestle colleagues (via LinkedIn) who have moved onto other food companies and I’m hopeful these initial discussions can turn into contracts of engagement.

When I set up 4pManagement, I built my business plan on the basis that the first 6 months would be marketing my business, meeting key stakeholders in the food industry, and contributing to webinars via PMI network to help to spread my knowledge and build up a credible work base. I have not needed to do this, but as my second contract comes to an end it’s where I will be putting my efforts.

As a closure to this blog I also want to point out how different it is, moving from a big blue chip to sole employee. You do miss the back-office functions!

• My travel office is me – Avis lost out on my lucrative contract due to their web site not excepting bookings for Poland when I wanted to book a car in Poland. But good on Hertz for still managing to run a business during Covid.
• IT maestro is Mrs C – Although HP drove me nuts, when my laptop had overheating messages although it was fixed by them, they still left me without a laptop for 5 days!
• Setting up a company in the UK is relatively easy, companies house, engaging an accountant, setting up for VAT, even getting a tax certificate was all relatively pain free.
• Setting up to invoice my client….. thank goodness for an angel in the project team who managed the myriad of documents that both the UK and Poland needed…. But now I’m set up with a vendor number it’s all ok, and payment is prompt.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this, as much as I’ve enjoyed writing. Let’s see how the next quarter goes.