Rolls -Royce - "a burning platform" - new Boss
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The place to me appeared to be full of managers and not workers.
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“Our intention throughout this process is to be as open and transparent with our people as we can be. Although it is regrettable someone has leaked details of Tufan’s message, we will continue to speak with our people first, whenever that is possible given our obligations as a publicly-listed company.”
The new boss of Rolls-Royce has likened the engineering group to a “burning platform” and described the company’s performance as “unsustainable”.
Tufan Erginbilgic, who took over as chief executive from Warren East at the start of the year, told staff “we do have a burning platform, not because I say so but because of what I am going to share with you”. The former BP executive said the company’s performance was “unsustainable”, adding that “it is at a level [at
which] it cannot continue. Rolls-Royce has not been performing for a long, long time.
.....
Tufan Erginbilgic, who took over as chief executive from Warren East at the start of the year, told staff “we do have a burning platform, not because I say so but because of what I am going to share with you”. The former BP executive said the company’s performance was “unsustainable”, adding that “it is at a level [at
which] it cannot continue. Rolls-Royce has not been performing for a long, long time.
.....
So many good companies have been destroyed by that leadership approach. And now we see another leader promoting this disastrous strategy.
Or so to say, a derivative of "Oh, by just thinking about it, I did declassify documents". Dreaming "leaders".
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Sounds like the Jack Welch “shareholder value” paradigm. That worked not very well at Boeing. Pouring profits into share buybacks rather than investing in the future. Outsourcing to the lowest bidder and getting to the point where no 787s were delivered for a year due to production quality issues, and the corporate reputation stained by the 737max fiasco.
Thread Starter
" Pouring profits into share buybacks "
profits and Rolls Royce are not synonymous -
profits and Rolls Royce are not synonymous -
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Agreed, but hard talking market friendly CEOs are the first step. To be fair all of the major jet engine OEMs have had problems with maturity/durability, but the Trent 1000 was the gift that kept on giving. Hopefully the Trent 7000 and XWB don’t go the same way.
Are we just too small a country with too small an industrial base to make complex high tec stuff like Aero engines profitably ? We have Airbus of course but bizzarely, as it so important to AI its not British owned . BAe systems deciding (another short term view) that there was more money in robbing the Government on Military equipment than being part of the worlds biggest civil aviation manufacturer. This coming in a week where it was revealed that UK car production has fallen by half since you know what and is now on a par with the strike ridden mid sixties , failure of the much hyped battery plant and failure of the space launcher test. Where now for UK engineering, desperately sad.
Widescreen and PP , I certainly share your views about the self inflicted disaster we currently face (tho it appears the City isnt as badlye ffected as 'proper' indesutries . My comment about size was that it is relaly ahrd for a small country in global terms despite qa moderate popualtion size will sruggle up agains t the USA and China and the Eu. Debatebly one could add india to this list as its military is probably bigger than the UK with Brasil and Indonesia soon to follow.
These kinds of CEOs are the commercial world equivalent of Trump (who of course has a foot in both camps) johnson , Putin, Erdogan , Bolsanaro .. They all play the same game adapted to the style and circumstance of their countries . it looks to me like he is just there to be a hatchet man. He is from outside aviation although he was senior figure at BP and the Chair has no knowledge of anyhting technically complex . Same ol' mantra, shareholder value, delivering, driving etc ... All comes down to one thing mass redundancies and scaling back investment to bump up the short term while another genuinely world scale UK entity slides into history.
These kinds of CEOs are the commercial world equivalent of Trump (who of course has a foot in both camps) johnson , Putin, Erdogan , Bolsanaro .. They all play the same game adapted to the style and circumstance of their countries . it looks to me like he is just there to be a hatchet man. He is from outside aviation although he was senior figure at BP and the Chair has no knowledge of anyhting technically complex . Same ol' mantra, shareholder value, delivering, driving etc ... All comes down to one thing mass redundancies and scaling back investment to bump up the short term while another genuinely world scale UK entity slides into history.
Disclaimer: I was working for Symbian and we had just been acquired by Nokia a couple of years before. I remember very well when that memo hit.
Widescreen and PP , I certainly share your views about the self inflicted disaster we currently face (tho it appears the City isnt as badlye ffected as 'proper' indesutries . My comment about size was that it is relaly ahrd for a small country in global terms despite qa moderate popualtion size will sruggle up agains t the USA and China and the Eu. Debatebly one could add india to this list as its military is probably bigger than the UK with Brasil and Indonesia soon to follow.
These kinds of CEOs are the commercial world equivalent of Trump (who of course has a foot in both camps) johnson , Putin, Erdogan , Bolsanaro .. They all play the same game adapted to the style and circumstance of their countries . it looks to me like he is just there to be a hatchet man. He is from outside aviation although he was senior figure at BP and the Chair has no knowledge of anyhting technically complex . Same ol' mantra, shareholder value, delivering, driving etc ... All comes down to one thing mass redundancies and scaling back investment to bump up the short term while another genuinely world scale UK entity slides into history.
These kinds of CEOs are the commercial world equivalent of Trump (who of course has a foot in both camps) johnson , Putin, Erdogan , Bolsanaro .. They all play the same game adapted to the style and circumstance of their countries . it looks to me like he is just there to be a hatchet man. He is from outside aviation although he was senior figure at BP and the Chair has no knowledge of anyhting technically complex . Same ol' mantra, shareholder value, delivering, driving etc ... All comes down to one thing mass redundancies and scaling back investment to bump up the short term while another genuinely world scale UK entity slides into history.
Indeed, Nokia's problems started long, long before Stephen Elop arrived. By then Nokia, like Kodak, was too far gone to survive.
Disclaimer: I was working for Symbian and we had just been acquired by Nokia a couple of years before. I remember very well when that memo hit.
And RR got on the the wrong side of Brexit that cost them £4.4bn with their GBP/USD exchange rate hedge
Disclaimer: I was working for Symbian and we had just been acquired by Nokia a couple of years before. I remember very well when that memo hit.
And RR got on the the wrong side of Brexit that cost them £4.4bn with their GBP/USD exchange rate hedge
RR is now permanently on the wrong side of Brexit. If you are not at the table you are on the menu. At this stage RR is poorly performing prey.
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How Wallstreetian. (Yes, I understand, any business intends to make a profit. No sheet, Sherlock, and all that)
I gather from the OP that this was an internal communication which leaked out.
I have had the opportunity to receive a variety of Corporate trickle down info of a similar character.
I guess that he has close personal experience with burning platforms.
I do hope he and the team are able to keep it all together. I'd rather not see RR go the way of the plains buffalo.
For DavidReidUK (I am guessing AE meas American Export, but that's a guess from seeing the C version depicted on a V-22)
I gather from the OP that this was an internal communication which leaked out.
I have had the opportunity to receive a variety of Corporate trickle down info of a similar character.
I guess that he has close personal experience with burning platforms.

I do hope he and the team are able to keep it all together. I'd rather not see RR go the way of the plains buffalo.
For DavidReidUK (I am guessing AE meas American Export, but that's a guess from seeing the C version depicted on a V-22)
That platform was a home grown disaster. BP picked up the tab due shall we say US legal practices. Interestingly when Piper Alfa went up somehow the settlement was less how shall we say large ! Interestingly with regards RR my wife employed one of their H&S managers as H&S Director and the comments which I just read hear re Derby centric sound about right. However she has since moved to another large defence contractor.
Cheers
Mr Mac
Last edited by Mr Mac; 29th Jan 2023 at 17:49.
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And then of course finished the job with the whole MS disaster deal.
Thread Starter
" do they have someone on the inside trying to facilitate this?"
probably a significant number of the investors?
probably a significant number of the investors?
Pratt (Raytheon) and GE are both part of massive US conglomerates. Would buying RR help them with Euro contracts but any take over would result in closing down projects RR has that comepte with the new owners product line , unless they ahve soemthign truly exceptional. So lots of job losses and another bit of UK Plc in foreign hands.Unlike the US companies with their immense Mil contracts thats not viable in UK in terms of supportign a global enterpise .The Amricans have 'Military Industrial Complex supporting a huge airforce and navy ours is more of the scale of a Saturday market , scale size of country relative size and sophistication of military .
Ways that might avoid mass reducndancies would included
Would a Chinese company be interested , they want to build airliners well the most complex bit is the engines and buying RR would give China Aviation inc a real leg up. Would it be allowed, we would probably have to ask the Cousins that one .
I dont think Airbus would buy it since OEMs have never really made engines
Tragedy if this goes further down the slippery slope
Ways that might avoid mass reducndancies would included
Would a Chinese company be interested , they want to build airliners well the most complex bit is the engines and buying RR would give China Aviation inc a real leg up. Would it be allowed, we would probably have to ask the Cousins that one .
I dont think Airbus would buy it since OEMs have never really made engines
Tragedy if this goes further down the slippery slope
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PB
I am pretty sure UK Govt would not allow a Chinese take over of RR. Airbus also I don’t think would be interested partly because of not what they do, but also I am sorry Brexit. One of the reasons for this is Brexit so why knowing this would you buy it?
Cheers
Mr Mac
I am pretty sure UK Govt would not allow a Chinese take over of RR. Airbus also I don’t think would be interested partly because of not what they do, but also I am sorry Brexit. One of the reasons for this is Brexit so why knowing this would you buy it?
Cheers
Mr Mac
In other news, the switch from .45 ACP to 9 MM under a NATO standard went to Beretta. (Has it been 40 years, really?)
Our Army recently bought a Eurocopter/Airbus helo for training at Fort Rucker.
Our Navy recently bought a Leonardo helicopter for basic helicopter training.
I could do on, but I think you are being selective in your outrage.
I sincerely hope RR does what it needs to in order to remain RR and produce excellent engines.
Take 'Digital' as an example - a large potential opportunity for data based revenues and services. Derby staff were literally giving it all away 'free with the engines' rather than treating it as a revenue stream for the future - because people in Derby only knew how to sell big spinning hunks of metal as they have done for decades. If you could have seen the Digital hub in Deby you would hav laughed. First, having a digital hub in Derby is like having a beach ball stand in the middle of the country. Few 'digital' experts will relocate to Derby - its not exactly a Silicon Glen or Valley. Then if you saw the building it was based in, your eyes would be out on stalks. I had the pleasure of a visit a few years ago and while the inside was very 'modern', the outside was literally a rotting brick building complete with leaking gutters and downpipes - and it HAD to be in Derny. Nobody would let it be in somewhere high tech, digital with a world class reputation - like Singapore !.
Defence makes money and can survive, as could the power business but it is repeated failures to break the Derby dead weight of civil that is at the heart of its issues. Make Derby competitive and RR have a chance. And it needs to start with the top 2 layers with the first line as they all need to go and no longer be shuffled around as 'its their turn'.
He'd worked a few projects on Deepwater Horizon, but was not on it when that went down.
He quit BP less than a year later, and he was dead serious when he shared his reasons with me: it was due to how the company reacted, internally, to that cock up.
He had intended before that to work for them until retirement. He chose to look elsewhere based on how their corporate culture manifested itself.
Your apologia does not sit well.
Granted, the overreaction by the sitting Administration was a mess, but that's a topic for elsewhere.
Last edited by Lonewolf_50; 7th Feb 2023 at 01:15.