Abelardo Rivera Lechuga, Proyectos Peninsulares SA de CV
Release Date: 0000-00-00
We interviewed you for our series of reports on Mexico five years ago, how has the company evolved over the past 5 years ?Not much, we are focused on maintenance and we work together with Rockwell Automation who has a direct contract with PEMEX; Rockwell Automation as manufacturer for product technical support and Proyectos Peninsulares as experience solution provider, with engineers and technicians with instrumentation equipment to maintain Allen-Bradley controlled equipment. The past few years have been difficult and we were barely surviving due to the fact that it has taken PEMEX so long to sort out and issue new contracts. For example, once a contract expired, on average it took from 8 months to one year to issue a new one. Because our company is so heavily invested in ongoing learning and training it has been very difficult for me to keep my people when the delays between contracts are so long. However, we have been able to survive between contracts because we are diversified as a company across three branches: electronics, mechanical maintenance and electrical maintenance.
Are the delays in new contracts a function of corporate transformations within PEMEX itself?
No, I do not believe so. For my personal point of view delays are for the same facts: There are several study groups looking into the issue; the complexity of the contracts; political elections.
Despite the delays, is PEMEX your number one client up until today?
No. We do not participate in public biddings. For automation projects we go with Rockwell, but in many other opportunities we do not participate in PEMEX bidding because it has been very, very complicated. We have noticed that many contracts have a company specifically directed for it, much like a preference list. I do not advocate to PEMEX biddings, because you do not know which contracts have been pre-assigned and which not. It is very expensive to participate in a bidding to be disqualified for nonsense facts. A bidding process could cost 50,000 pesos or more which is extremely expensive for us. So we do our due diligence on contracts and on projects with private companies. To date we are going on five years without any PEMEX contract.Our annual contract with Rockwell used to be like rain in a desert. We have resources to invest and to grow as a company. But without our contract with Rockwell Automation we were barely able to survive. But over the past five years we have focused on new companies that have arrived, notably drilling companies, from other parts of the world. We are working with the Chinese for example for our electrics and our mechanics services. We have survived through new companies such as COSL or Nabors as opposed to relying solely on PEMEX.
How different is it for you to work with these new clients after working with PEMEX and how has it changed your company?
With international companies we fight to break the common stereotypes about Mexico that “Mexicans are lazy, untrustworthy, and have a poor work ethic.” The process can be very difficult, but once we break those stereotypes companies are much more open for business and collaboration. We now have many opportunities to work with those companies. With PEMEX you need a strong internal contact to win a contract, which can be an impossible task most of the time. I simply do not have those types of contacts which is one of the reasons why I stopped working with PEMEX. Additionally, our company has a strong focus on quality which I also emphasized in our last interview five years ago. I prefer to be contracted on the quality of our work rather than the strength of internal relationships. To me that is the main difference between PEMEX and private companies. In general and in the current Mexican context I think there are more opportunities to work for private companies than for PEMEX. Again, I do not compete on price or relationships; I compete on quality. A testament to that is our direct contract with Rockwell which is underpinned by the highest quality service that they receive from any partner. The relationship has been going strong for 10 years.However, there are some private companies that are very difficult to partner with. But for every difficult one there is a fruitful relationship such as ours with Crosco, a Croatian company. We had a very powerful relationship with them and they very much appreciate of all the work that we have done for them. Unfortunately Crosco finished its drilling contract and it was not able to get a new one.
What are the new challenges posed by working with a Chinese company?
Admittedly, it can be difficult because Chinese often ask for low prices, very good quality, and less time for projects to be executed. We do not work directly with COSL, but instead with its Chinese subcontractor. It has been a very good relationship for the past three years on the backs of preventative and corrective maintenance services that we have delivered for their offshore drilling platforms. The challenge is to give high quality at Chinese budget, not often easily to get.
Last time you were very interested in partnering with other companies to build certain synergies with Proyectos Peninsulares. Have you found such partners yet?
Yes. Rockwell with Allen-Bradley technology is one of them. But also we are working with FMC Technologies on offshore platforms for services in oil measurement with Smith Meter technology. The idea is to strengthen the relationship in oil and gas on projects in Veracruz, Tabasco, and Campeche. FMC are very interested because we have been consistently working with them on contracts without any problems and they have verified the quality in our services.
Earlier you referenced human capital and the ongoing priority to disabuse certain stereotypes and uphold standards. What has been your key to success for attracting and retaining the best talent in order to do this?
I was very fortunate to find a woman who has invaluably assisted on the human quality front. At the end of 2008 we began a project aimed at aligning and strengthening the personal values, morals, and ethics of our people. I found that we needed worthy people because prior to 2008 I was only evaluating employees based on technical skill. But now I am evaluating based on their humanity skills. The technical skills are easy to learn; not so much for the ethical and morals attributes. For that reason I have changed the way that we contract people. First we evaluate the human values and emotional intelligence and afterwards we look at their technical profile. Of course we will always continue with a strong technical training. We now have extremely good results as well as a good team environment and a staff that is happy with what they do and who take comfort and pride in our market-leading status.
Where does the idea for human values over technical skills come from?
As an entrepreneur you do not necessarily get the results you want. You are more so caught up in managing one crisis to the next. After working for 30 years in this area I was getting tired and there were times when I was thinking of closing the company. But I then found my human resources assistant and she presented me with a project. What she told me was very logical and it convinced me to change. Indeed the first change started with me. I had to change myself in order to be an example for my people. I had to be the first to be at work; the first to be healthy taking care of my body, my thoughts, my emissions and my spirituality; and the first to be happy. Those feelings ultimately needed to be translated to the rest of my staff.
You are continually investing in your people and technologies. But in the end this is a business and you have bills to pay. Ultimately, what keeps you in business?
The high quality work that we provide to the companies that we work with: Human quality and service quality. We look for companies that like quality and they pay for itWe are constantly searching for more opportunities because so many exist. For instance, we have visited companies, and we have invited companies to visit us to see our work and the tools that we have so that they understand our way of working.
Given local service content requirements for oil and gas projects do you think that foreign companies and Mexican companies are on a level footing?
I do not believe that PEMEX will substantially change or improve their model to work due to implementations of new procedures or new laws, because they still have many of the same people running operations, with the same human worth. To me there is no change with PEMEX and they will continue to take their time and their way on contracts.
When we were last here all the service providers gravitated towards PEMEX for major contracts. Now they prefer to work more with international companies from China or Norway, for example. Is this diversity indicative of general market trends?
Previously all the drilling platforms used to belong to PEMEX so there was no other choice but to contract with them. And you had to fight for it! But now there are many USA, Norway, Chinese companies present in the market with no complex bidding process as PEMEX has. Also, there are some Mexican private companies. For instance, we are increasingly working with Cotemar who has also changed their way of doing things. Cotemar used to have a Norwegian technical group working for them that was eventually replaced by Mexicans. Norwegians contracted only European and US services they did not relay on Mexicans. The Mexican group in Cotemar now first look for Mexicans companies before sending the work to foreigner. This fact has helped us to provide services that before was deny to us. And we know that we have to provide Cotemar with very high quality services to avoid work again go back to foreigner. It is our challenge.
In 2007 you referenced that company as “climbing a mountain” in order to achieve its goals. What are you expecting to see when you eventually arrive at the top of the mountain?
You never reach the top because the opportunities are infinite. You will always have another opportunity to improve or to reach a new goal. And each time you think you have reached the highest part you will always see a new mountain ahead. The secret to success is to be happy climbing the mountain no to reach the top.
What keeps you moving?
My people, the projects that we are working on, and the continuous pursuit to provide value. Most of my people are technicians, I talk to them about life, learn about the intelligence that created our universe, and the beauty in working together for a common worth. I invite them to work hard to be sensible human beings, sensible with any kind of life and with our planet Earth.
What is the final message that you would like to convey to our readers?
I want to emphasize the importance of working for the common profit and to abandon selfishness. For instance, PEMEX should think about the bigger picture of the people and the companies involved with their contracts and their need to work, and therefore expedite issuing contracts based on quality, no in price. If we all work for a common profit then we will be a better country, a better society, and better human beings.
| Company: | Proyectos Peninsulares SA de CV |
| Position: | General Director of Proyectos Peninsulares |
| Country: | 墨西哥 |