AHZ Advisors

      The world has changed post covid. That statement seems like a convenient excuse to refocus on old problems in a new light. The world has changed since covid, but the opportunities are still there and the same as prior. In a recent role with a bi-national airport facility, I was responsible for a large amount of capital expense projects. This facility experienced a significant downturn at the onset of COVID, like the rest of the world. What is interesting is that this facility was one of the top 5 rebounding businesses as COVID started to wane. As a reference, March 2020 was the pandemic. By December of 2020, this business was at 85% of pre-pandemic total and surpassed 100% of pre-pandemic business levels by March 2021. From March 2021-August 2023, they had record setting business volume. Brackets and ‘Iron Inclusion’ announcements in April began to affect airlines in August, and business started drastically declining. The company reactively determined that downsizing was the only option.

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     The irony of the situation was that business volume fluctuation was not a new concept, despite the negative news stories. And the reactive “cut, cut, cut” was too late and made little difference, except to set the evolution of the company back a decade. If the company was nimble, and focused on waste reduction, they would’ve been more prepared to weather the volume fluctuations without reactive decisions that have more detriment in the long term than benefit in the short term. The story remains the same, despite your industry. Reducing waste, eliminating redundancy that is non-value added for your customers, and focusing on continuous improvement despite the market conditions remain the most sustainable way for a company to be nimble. Contact us to learn more about improving your company’s flexibility.