Every time I read an article about how Fuzzy is putting another challenge in front of Lynas I think how nice life would be without the hassles of doing business in Malaysia. In spite of best efforts to mitigate the issues presented by the changing political landscape, Fuzzy and company continue to dominate and spoil what should be good times...
Bottom line, Fuzzy will continue to rant and rave about the Lynas invasion and how radiation will create 36 headed babies; God help us getting a decision from a 36 headed Yeo...
That said, Amanda recently put forth a couple of comments that largely went ignored and probably have some relevance...
The first is the way Amanda continues to praise, congratulate and value her staff at every opportunity. Successful management includes developing a management team that can compliment each other in the execution of a task. Having visited LAMP and spending a little time with some of the senior staff, I found them individually dynamic and as a group it was clear that they were all on the same page with no apparent ego issues...
A team like this is developed from the top and it is obvious that Amanda values her senior staff and the rest of the team above almost anything else. It was refreshing to hear jokes being tossed around and people enjoying themselves at work, even though my visit was shortly after the recent election. The competence and integrity of the staff and employees will be critical going forward as future plans are pursued...
The second thing I took away was from the recent Lynas "clarification" phone call. One comment stood out to me and I think it has gone largely unnoticed. Amanda kept referring to "better, faster, cheaper" almost to the point of being a catch-phrase. I hope better, faster, cheaper is becoming somewhat of a battle cry for Lynas; I'm pretty sure Amanda is referring to expansion plans and leveraging the tremendous lead Lynas holds in the RE industry...
IP and experience will define the direction of Lynas in the future. As Amanda indicated better, faster, cheaper is the new wave at Lynas and I don't really see how it applies to anywhere other than WA...
Oh yeah, with regards to the LAMP, it is a great facility in the wrong place. As I said it makes a great prototype but the chances of unhindered operation and even growth at the LAMP are minimal. I guess in my mind if things turn out in Malaysia, great but an expansion elsewhere is not a bad option and might be a better long term growth strategy...
I'm sure Amanda is well ahead of the curve and is working on all of these issues. With a strong balance sheet and proven credit I think better, faster, cheaper is not a threat rather a motto of sorts and a look beyond Malaysia to the future. I am personally hoping for an announcement soon highlighting these points and how they apply to future plans hopefully leaving Malaysia far behind ... JMHO...
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