Production is about relationships and quality
In the pre-covid era, many of us would book vacation time in the southern hemisphere to get a taste of the “good life”; however, in 1994 Tanesh Persaud decided to leave Guyana, and try to attain a “better life” in Canada. Possessing hands on experience in the automotive realm, servicing heavy equipment for many years, he wasn’t able to land a role in the automotive field at first.
Given he had an education in electronics, he was able to secure a role servicing photocopy machines, after the company he worked for folded, he started his own delivery company. In April of 2015, Andrew Singh finally convinced Tanesh to join Assured, as a Parts Co-ordinator at our Scarborough West facility. After a few short months, he was asked to help out the team at our Ajax location, where he still is today.
Gus Stavropoulos saw the potential in Tanesh, and convinced him to take interest in the Production Manager role, so his grooming began. With no experience in this role, he relied on coaching from his peers and Gus. Being a participant in an internal estimating course Assured ran at the time, gave him perspective on what his task was, and how it impacts the team. Timing of this couldn’t be more perfect, as the facility was getting busier, he was moving away from this dual responsibility of Parts Co-ordinator and Production Manager, and after about a year and a half – Tanesh just felt “ready” for the full transition.
Today, Tanesh is also tasked with trying to keep up with evolving technology, how it is applied to the vehicles, more importantly – how it impacts our repair plan and cycle time. “Touch Time is another key metric we need to be aware of, and there is a fine balance between this and quality of work – with experience you’ll know how to achieve this balance”. Assured Ajax has shown they can achieve this as they have won corporate awards for both Sales and Customer Service Excellence.
One area which Tanesh has mastered is working with the “evolving customer”. Today, being more demanding, having greater expectations and their knowledge of vehicle repair is better than it ever has been. Tanesh shares that “no longer do customers quickly walk around their cars and say “great job” – they take time to ask questions, inspect the work completed and ask what line items mean on their repair summary. People are finally looking at their cars.”
As a Production Manager, he motivates the team and reminds them that we work together. Success and failure falls on the team, not an individual. It’s everyone’s job to ensure we keep our commitment to all our customers; vehicle owners, insurance partners and our brand. For someone who is thinking of moving into this role, Tanesh feels that strong time management skills and attention to detail are traits one must have in their tool belt, and if you have experience in communications or dealing with people, in a face to face environment, this will also help your development and success in this role.
When asked how Assured has impacted his life, Tanesh shared,“Assured has helped me immensely, given the times we are currently in I feel lucky to be employed and able to provide for my family. Typically when my Market Manager – Jason Raposo or the regions Director, David Raposo comes by and asks if they can do anything for me, I ask that they support my team by addressing their needs. I feel good working for Assured, it’s a long term commitment between each other, with us being part of the Boyd Group, I do feel more secure”.
As for future goals, Tanesh is quite content with his career; however, given the opportunity to train others in this role, would be something he would consider, as he would like to help his peers attain ‘Production Perfection’.
