Employees sent in dozens of questions for the management team prior to the last quarterly meeting. Several of the questions were answered in the meeting and shared via video. Here are a few more.
What will MFA Oil look like in ten years?
Mark Fenner, president and CEO – The company will likely be much larger and more profitable with a broader geography. Additionally, decision making will be much more data driven, as we’ll have better information about our business. However our genuine care for our customers will not change no matter what, it’s what sets us apart from our competitors.
What will be done to gain back customers that were lost this past season due to difficulties with the E1 system?
Mark Fenner – We’ve worked hard through our RAD team to provide our customers with things that were missing. One example is having an invoice upon delivery at the tank. Other improvements include correcting our suggested order system, upgrading our phone systems at the plant level and providing our CSRs with an easier system to manage.
After the rough winter season and system issues, is the company still prospering?
Mark Fenner – Yes, we are definitely still prospering. While we did have some difficulties this winter, we’ve made a concerted effort to improve. Additionally, the company has had a very profitable year and we expect to pay profit sharing this fall.
Why do my requests for help from the IT department go unaddressed?
Robert Condron, chief financial officer – Without knowing the nature of the request submitted, it’s hard to address any specific issue. We try to respond to critical requests and incidents within the same day if possible. Other issues are handled by priority based on urgency and severity. So far this month we’ve had 120 requests and 954 incidents reported. On average, it took eight hours to resolve each request and 16 hours to deal with each incident.
Why don’t delivery invoices reflect a customer’s contract? They still say “Detach and return with payment” even though the customer already prepaid. Also, why are the monthly statements generated with a “due date” of the same day as the day it was generated?
Robert Condron – We are currently focused on the five system enhancements that have been assigned to the RAD team. There is a list of other enhancements that have been prioritized and are being addressed as time permits, but the RAD projects are our primary focus at the moment. In regards to the specific issues being asked about our invoices and statements, we are looking at adjustments that can be made to better communicate with our members and customers.
How can we share ideas with the RAD team? Is there an email address?
Robert Condron – The RAD team has five major focuses and each has been assigned subject matter experts who are getting a lot of input and feedback from the appropriate areas. We do not have an email address for the RAD team, however, you can share feedback with Matt Boyce, who is leading the overall RAD effort.
Are there any plans to expand the service department?
Kenny Steeves, vice president of bulk and propane plant operations – At this time there are no plans to add staff to the service team.
Could you please explain why it was necessary to do away with the annual CSR meeting?
Kenny Steeves – This year’s CSR meeting was cancelled to allow time for additional CSR training at the Moberly Business Support Campus.
Are you working on better communication between the Home Office/Moberly and the field offices?
Jon Ihler, vice president of sales and marketing – We are always looking at ways to improve communications throughout the company. We’ve made great strides in keeping our employees, members and customers informed through a number of communication vehicles in recent years. In fact, we’re sending out more information than ever before. We have Momentum, our quarterly magazine, which covers a number of topics related to our business. We share internal company news through The Bottom Line, The Insider and The Insider Podcast. We’ve also began addressing employee questions through quarterly meetings and gathering feedback through the FaceTime with Fenner meetings. We know there is always room for improvement, so we will continue to look for new ways to communicate with all MFA Oil stakeholders.
Is the parts warehouse going to be expanded soon? Unless I am calling for regulators, they never seem to have any propane parts so I end up ordering them myself, which I think defeats the point of having a warehouse to get better rates.
Larry Ehrman, vice president of logistics – Yes, we are in the middle of a process to increase the scope of what the warehouse does for our plants. This includes increasing the items we handle, standardizing item numbers and getting everyone using the same SKUs. A key part of the process is ensuring the inventory at the plant level is correct in E1 so that we can get to the point where the warehouse will fill orders based on system suggested orders and the CSR or managers will only have to receive orders when they show up. Many of the items will be direct shipped to the plant and won’t even have to go through the warehouse. It is a large task. We have added one position and are getting help from one of our interns who is working hard on cleaning up the data. You should see improvement soon.