During his more than two decades at the helm of Distribution Transformer Business Unit at Wilson Transformer Company, Jon Retford has had a profound influence on the company's growth.
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He has also made an impact in the Border community too.
Jon announced his retirement this year, bringing to an end to nearly 21 years of service. Since taking over in October 1998, Jon has enjoyed a long and successful career, navigating the company through a number of challenges, including the global financial crisis, increased competition from overseas and the privatisation of much of the industry.
When Jon joined WTC, annual sales were $32 million and the company had 120 employees. Unfortunately, the company lost some major contracts, causing revenue to drop to $28 million in Jon's first year. One of his defining moments came when he was asked to manage an employee redundancy program, which saw 28 per cent of staff let go in May 1999.
"We had a habit of winning new contracts and work, then for whatever reason those tenders would come back to market and we would lose them," Jon said.
Realising how widespread the fear of redundancy was, and how it was affecting the business as a whole, Jon made a promise that if his staff helped the company improve, he would guarantee their employment. The company honours that commitment to this day. Jon's courage paid off. WTC's annual revenue grew to $123 million last financial year, now employing more than 300 Australians in the region.
But keeping his promise was not always easy. In 2009, just as the GFC was hitting, Jon had 40 more people than they had contracts for. This led to a conversation with the managing director at the time Robert Wilson, where he was told he had too many people for the level of work.
Jon replied: "Robert, with enormous respect, you've got it wrong. We don't have enough work for the level of people we've got." And he set out to find more. Realising that while their core business was transformers, they had the supplier network and skilled staff to make anything, Jon started asking customers what else they needed. This resulted in a whole range of other products and a manufacturing line selling $6 million worth of products per year. Jon's flexible approach has been instrumental to WTC's success in staying ahead.
"I believe there's only two sorts of forecasts: A lucky one and a wrong one. And if your business depends on a forecast you're pretty well stuffed," he said.
"The alternative is you close your eyes and imagine you don't know what you're going to make tomorrow but when you do, you'll be able to make it. This sets your business up with critical capacity and capability that gives you agility."