April 2006 - Read An Action Plan Proposal Prepared For Resuscitation Of A Catfish Farm

Note: Click HERE to fill/submit a request form for your FREE copies of the Action Plan Document - complete with a mind map , and of the article: Catfish Farmers Beware Of Uncontrolled Variable Costs!!
 

Web www.spontaneousdevelopment.com

Some time in July 2004, I was engaged by a group of young men who had pooled resources together to startup a catfish farm joint venture.

As you will find from reading the About Us section for this mini site, I have a vision to setup and successfully operate what I call an Integrated Tropical & Cat Fish Farm which will function as a Farmers' Extension Advisory Services Centre - using practical knowledge gained from researching cost-effective alternative and best practice methods of producing farm fish profitably.

In this area of interest I function therefore as a Best Operating Practice Process Management Specialist.

These "absentee owners" (who worked during week days as paid employees, and struggled to find time to visit the farm to see what was going on) wanted me to help narrow down to the reason why they had been unable to successfully raise over 50,000 hatched catfish fingerlings to adulthood despite having trained staff on site, and spending over N2.5m setting up the facilities being used.

I was then expected to produce a detailed proposal/action plan towards correcting the problem and getting them back on track.

Note that in future I will write in detail about what you can do to stay on top of what's happening in a process-based business venture like Fish Farming, while you remain in paid employment. Some of what you can do is actually highlighted in the document you will be reading about further down on this page.

It has to do with setting up sustainable, best practice systems that puts knowledge and power in the hands of even a novice owner while at the same time enhancing the ability of process operatives employed by THAT owner to do their jobs better and deliver desired results more consistently.

On the May 2006 page you will be able to download a copy of the actual document(including a mind map) showing the action plan prepared to address the problems identified.

We never got to fully put the action plan into use for reasons I will not bother to state here. However, the document does not become any less valuable as a reference tool.

That's why, on this page, I offer you a reproduction of parts of the ACTION PLAN SUMMARY document (which includes a mind map showing pictorially, the intended workflow) produced for this project with the following title):

GOAL: To make N80,000 minimum by 5th September 2004 from sale of 8,000 - 10,000 fingerlings.

I am a strong advocate of setting up process management systems that are self-sustaining. Despite the unpredictable nature of process operatives available in our society, this may appear difficult to implement, but there are ways to get it don.

The document I share here talks about some of the key considerations needed to successfully setup the systems I refer to. In it I highlighted THREE(3) major tasks that would have to be progressively implemented to achieve the set goals as follows:

Task 1: Set up Best Operating Process Management System (BOPMS™)

START: Thursday 15th July 2004(Job Design, Process Benchmarking etc to be done).

END: Sun 25th July 2004(Could be earlier)

INTENDED OUTPUT (What will be produced)

1). Process Records Formats (feeding records, pond records, materials usage/stocks monitoring records etc) - to facilitate reliable Process Control.

2). Derivation of Key Performance Indicators and Process Control Standards for your fish farm (upper/lower control limits, feed conversion ratios per pond, materials usage rates, average cost/fish, average turnaround time per pond, vat etc).

THE BENEFITS/USES

1. and 2. above will be the "instruments" that you will be shown how use in order to intelligently follow the progress of the farm operation towards the desired goal. They would also be very useful for pro-actively investigating/correcting any process problems that may be "brewing".

To put it simply, having these instruments will put you on a near-equal footing with your technical process operatives. Using them, you would be able to deduce what has happened and what is likely to - within minutes.

WHAT YOU WILL BE ABLE TO DO

1). MICRO INCOME-EXPENDITURE EVALUATION. Ability to estimate accurately + capture, collate and analyse your expenses in materials, cash and other resources in comparison to your earnings via fish and other farm product sales. An automated spreadsheet report application will be supplied to generate relevant figures with input of raw process data and costs.

2). PROCESS PERFORMANCE EVALUATION. Ability to assess how your farm is doing over shorter time intervals using performance measures that will be derived specifically for your farm. This way, you will be able to tell when something is not right e.g. stocks of feed, working capital etc. The result: More process predictability. Less surprises. Fewer arguments. Better Results.

3). VARIABLE COSTS REDUCTION. Initiatives to get the farm to make more revenue while keeping costs fixed. Over a short time, (8 weeks for instance) you would have enough date/information to enable you sit back and project/plan for strategic changes in your process to achieve reduced operating expenses so as to increase profit margins at fixed(or even lower) fish selling prices.

Barring any severe unforeseeable occurrences, and with support and cooperation from the business owners/operatives, the system proposed (which implementation I have personally successfully championed in a more complex process) will yield the highlighted benefits.

Task 2: Marketing Outlets Survey/Networking Visits to other catfish farms

OBJECTIVES

a). Investigate current fish farming techniques/practices in use elsewhere for possible learnings.

b). Explore possible market/sales outlets for our intended fingerlings/grow out stocks.

c). Ascertain possible courses of action to be taken regarding disposal of stunted fish stocks.

d). Establish collaborative links with competent practitioners + obtain advice/guidance regarding current situation in fish farming industry/market as it affects small operations like ours(e.g. Current prices for fish, materials; reliable/cost-effective sources for farm materials like feeds etc)

Task 3: Startup Hatchery and Progress to Fingerlings Sales + Grow out(using BOPMS™)

START: Sunday 25th July 2004(Hatched fries will be in vats by this time)
Plan:  

1). Hatch 20,500 fries(500 on top to cover possible initial losses)

2). Sell off 8 - 10,000 fingerlings at 6 weeks and transfer 10,000 others to grow out ponds.

3). Target disposal of grow out stocks for 5 months maximum(End Nov. 04)

4). New batch of 20k fries hatched in vats in 3 days post-fingerlings sales to restart cycle.

5). Review of process management data from first cycle to improve 2nd cycle performance.