Space constraint and high attrition of employees and were some of the major challenges of the Wood Craft Centre Limited (WCCL), according to the centre’s annual report.

The annual report 2017 states that during the year, proposal for expansion of WCCL at Tshaphu was initiated to address the issue of space constraint at the current location.

It stated that Druk Holding and Investments Limited consented to the proposal by providing six acres of land at Tshaphu, Khasadrupchu, Thimphu.

“However, the project was shelved since the project was not financially viable considering the low returns and long payback period. As a result, the Centre incurred an expense of Nu 6.78 million due to written off of cost of Detailed Project Report (DPR).”

The report further states that the shareholders than directed the centre to explore possibilities for establishment of finger joinery and lamination unit at Khasadrupchu, Thimphu.

Until today, WCCL was importing a large quantity of rubber panel boards from India, Malaysia, and Vietnam. The plan was to manufacture panel boards from local timber.

The idea was later dropped following discussion with the broad members. “The board decided not to pursue the finger joinery and lamination unit since the cost of production of laminated local timber was much higher than that of imported rubber wood and also because the substantial reduction in cost of the project was not admissible as all cost components were found unavoidable,” the report stated.

In order to address the issue, the company is reported to hire a showroom this year.

According to the report, the company faced attrition of employees in the past years, as the employees had left the company for better career opportunities or for overseas employment. “Therefore the company foresees difficulties in retaining the skilled and experienced employees.”

It states that to resolve the issue, the company would spend Nu 3,822,800 to provide trainings to the employees this year.

Last year the company sent employees for in and ex-country trainings in Thailand and India.

Lack of a trademark and threat to lose the brand’s credibility would also be addressed with the introduction of the trademark and implementation of logo this year.

Last year, WCCL generated revenue of Nu 93.51 million (M) marking a 12.32 percent growth against 2016. The company also saw increased sales revenue, training fund from labour ministry, and increased number of trainees. “The expenditure of the company shot up by 15.97 percent against 2016 due to preliminary expenses of Nu 6.78M incurred in developing DPR for the expansion project.”

The company also scored an overall point of 3.79 on 5 for customer satisfaction last year. The highest score of 4.19 out of 5 was scored in quality of service followed by customer care and reliability. It achieved a customer satisfaction index of 3.75 in 2016.

Phurpa Lhamo