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Symbiot Business Group announced last week plans to consolidate its Erie, Pa. operations group, which includes its snow removal business, to its Utah headquarters at the conclusion of the current snow season.
The move, according to an official statement from the Draper, Utah-based property management company, increases efficiencies and operational capabilities in three key areas for Symbiot. The reorganization allows Symbiot to meet spiked needs from customers that can occur at certain times of the year, certain points in the business cycle, or during certain types of weather events. The move also gives Symbiot greater cost controls and will allow it to grow, as well as provides greater operation integration and execution, increasing its ability to meet customer requirements.
“It is part of our planned effort to leverage and grow our snow services as part of our greater national contract management platform,” says Mike Edwards, Symbiot CEO. “Consolidation is a proven post-acquisition strategy to gain efficiencies and improve operational synergies.”
Symbiot has offered relocation options to as many as six of its 25 Erie employees.
The option to consolidate the Erie operations had been on the table prior to Edwards hiring in July, says Jared Glover, Symbiot’s director of network development.
Consolidation came down to a locality issue, Glover says.
“There had been quite a few efforts to get Erie and Salt Lake on the same page,” Glover says. “It came down to simplifying the process. It’s easier to work together when your 15 feet from each other than thousands of miles apart.”
Erie wasn’t the only office to consolidate, Glover says. Symbiot brought its Kentucky business development operations to Salt Lake during the second half of 2005.
In November 2004, John Allin sold his Snow Management Group, one of the nation’s largest snow-removal firms at the time, to Symbiot. Until recently, Allin remained as Symbiot’s corporate vice president of operations.
Allin and Symbiot agreed to a “mutual separation” in mid-December, Glover says.
“It was what was best for both parties,” Glover says, adding he couldn’t comment on Allin’s performance but there were concerns within Symbiot that the snow operations had not meet revenue expectations. However, Glover adds Symbiot did grow the snow operations.
Allin could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
The 2004 merger caused quite a stir in the snow removal community, Many former SMG subcontractors, unhappy with Symbiot’s terms for payment of snow removal services still owed to them, threatened legal action.
To his knowledge, only a “handful” of disgruntled subcontractors threatened or pursued legal action, says Glover.
There were initial cash-flow problems, Glover says, and Symbiot still owes money to some subcontractors on their SMG contracts. Glover could not comment on the number of subcontractors or the dollar amount still owed, but added Symbiot hopes to clear up any outstanding billing matters during the first half of 2006.
Symbiot has spent the last year creating new partnerships with its subcontractors and strengthening its business systems, Glover says.
“We’re on the right path,” he says. “But (2005) has been a transition year and we feel we’re heading in the right direction. We’ve worked on a lot of new processes to improve billing and paying in 2006.”
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