After working for years in the light engineering industry, my father established Ranju Lathe Mechanism in 1980. Due to his diligence and experience, the business swiftly gained traction and became highly popular among its clientele. And today, it stands as one of the leading workshops in the region, generating orders well beyond many of its rivals.
Growing up, I knew that one day I had to bear the responsibility of handling this prominent enterprise, and I planned my career aspirations accordingly. Readers may wonder whether I wanted to do something different with my life and regret my choice. I will tell them what I told my family back when I graduated from college; it is a blessing from the Lord that I got the privilege to handle a business my father had developed with his own hands.
Managing a workshop is tricky because, as an owner, you have to have extensive knowledge about every aspect of your business, from sourcing raw materials to customer management. This hands-on involvement may initially overwhelm any new entrant to the industry. However, I would advise them to hold on as, with time, they will learn the rope eventually. Even though I faced similar roadblocks starting, now I can effectively confront every issue that arises in our firm head-on.
Our business is solely involved in the service sub-sector of the industry. We mainly provide engine repairing services for various motor vehicles like buses, pickup trucks, and even microbus cars. We get repair orders from customers in all areas of Rangpur, who usually request to overhaul their vehicle engines or repair them. To complete the orders, we have to inspect every machine individually, make the required parts, and finally repair them. This procurement activity contributes significantly to our aggregate cost structure, the other contributors being rent and salaries. And so, you can imagine the cash flow trouble we went through during the economic crisis last year. Only for AlMighty’s Mercy, our firm has survived through the pandemic and is now on the road to recovery.
I plan to expand the business by building more workshops to handle our ever-increasing orders. However, to purchase just the additional CNC machines ( currently, I own about 13 of them), I need at least BDT 50 Lacs in investment, and even more is required to obtain the additional requirements. Therefore, to have a full-fledged workshop, I would require an investment of around BDT 1 core, which I hope to achieve with a blend of loans and my capital.
When LightCastle partners visited my factory with offers for business development and marketing support, my hopes for expansion were further reinforced. After participating in the B-SkillFUL training activities, I have seen tremendous improvements in business operations along with rising profit margins. Overall, I am optimistic that I will be much closer to making my vision a reality at the end of this project.