Friday, January 30, 2009

Restructuring Sales

Tom Hennings came into Phoenix Building Solutions in early 2007 determined to change the way not only the company formally known as Benchmark Homes did business, but also how the modular construction industry did business. Tom believed he was setting out to restructure, add personnel, and create a forward thinking approach to sales at Phoenix. Unfortunately for Phoenix and its personnel, all Tom Hennings did was pull the pin on the grenade and forget to throw it.

Tom Hennings began his assault in March of 2007 by adding two sale associates, but by July 2007 the two sales associates had been terminated by Tom. The sales team at this time currently consisted of one full-time sales person, who was bringing 99% of all of Phoenix Building Solution’s orders. The other 1% of the sales was brought in by a part-time sales/Executive Director, Tom Hennings, Ed Fanning, or Nick Jevic, but in reality these sales were mostly either sales by friends or themselves.

By late 2007, Phoenix had failed to honor any of their financial commitments with the lone Sales Person, who was keeping the capital coming into the company. When confronted by the sales person, Tom Hennings, rejected their claim, and had convenient Corporate President memory by stating that he had no recollection of any and all conversation about financial commitments. Tom Hennings continued his lie about not knowing anything about, or having ever said Phoenix would honor the commitments for months.

 By November 2007, the altercation between the two came to what Tom Hennings thought was a close, when he abruptly terminated the companies one and only Sales Person over the disagreement. To make matters worse Tom Hennings could not even face the Sales Person to their face to fire them, instead choosing to cower behind an email. To make matters worse this sales person had just recently had child, and was only after what was rightfully theirs. Monetary Compensation for their employment. Unfortunately for Tom Hennings, this story had another chapter waiting to written.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

A Multi-Family Code of Ethics

Tom Hennings, the preverbal God of all Knowledge, instructed his employees to start production on a Multi-Family residence that violates Indiana State Building and Fire Protection Codes. In December 2008, Phoenix Building Solutions and Tom Hennings were informed by the State of Indiana Building Code Enforcement Agency that the plans submitted and approved by the state were not compliant with fire protection codes as intended to be constructed by Phoenix Building Solutions. The Multi-Family residence for Lawrenceburg, Indiana would have to be altered to meet residential code or be submitted under Indiana Commercial Code for approval.

Tom Hennings and Pheonix’s plan was to construct the six unit complex as total of four modular units. Each modular would contain ¼ of three living units. The model plan was however approved by Indiana to be constructed as six living units for a total of twelve modular units. Tom Hennings choose to ignore the State of Indiana, citing that he believed the state was incorrect and Phoenix’s plans were acceptable per code. No, contact was made with any state agency to attempt to adhere to Indiana State Building Codes, nor did Tom Hennings have any written confirmation that Phoenix was compliant with state codes. Tom Hennings never told the client that the product being produce was a potential liability due to lack fire protection and violation of state codes.

The production began on the product and Phoenix accepted two installment payments from the client before production. On December, 21 2008, production of the client’s multi-family projected halted to produce a home for the Chairman of Phoenix Building Solutions, Ed Fanning.  On January 5, 2009, Phoenix Building Solutions ceased and suspended all operations. The partially completed and partially paid for Multi-family product sets dormant on the production line inside the locked and abandoned factory. This was another shining example of deceit, betrayal and theft committed by Tom Hennings and Phoenix Building Solutions against their clients and employees.   

A Cabin in the Woods

In August 2008, Phoenix Buildings Solutions accepted and signed an order to produce a custom designed cabin to be built in Ohio. The order was processed, the contract was signed between the client and Phoenix, and the deposit was accepted. Engineering completed plan schematics and received approval from the State of Ohio Building Department in early September. The original plan was to start production in late September, but production did not start until mid-November. Why? Tom Hennings simply did not want to produce the product and had no intentions of producing the product. This was simply a scheme by Tom Hennings to inject capital into the company. At the contract signing, a customer is required to make deposit of at least 10%. By signing contracts with clients, the company is making quick cash.

Over the next two months, the client was lied to repeatedly by Tom Hennings about the status of the model plans. The client was told that the plans were still at the State of Ohio, and had not had been approval yet. The story then changed after client found the plans were approved. The new story became “engineering needed more time to produce production drawings”. This went on for two months, while Tom Hennings tried to decide if he wanted to build this product. Other orders placed after the cabin were placed ahead of it and produced. When the production began in November the home rolled through the production line quickly and by mid-December was delivered. The site of this project was at the top of heavy forested hill with a steep grade. By December the weather had turned ugly and rain, snow, and ice were a constant reminder that homes are not usually delivered in the winter.

Every attempt for a week to ascend to the top the hill failed due to adverse weather conditions. Tom Hennings, informed the client that they would be financially responsible for each day the team was unable to deliver the product to the top of hill. The client refused the invoice over the delayed delivery due to faults committed by Phoenix. If the product would have been produced in reasonable time after the contract was signed, the product would not have delivered in such adverse conditions. By refusing to pay the invoice, Tom Hennings and Phoenix have withheld materials that failed to ship with product. Those materials are currently held hostage in their now closed and locked production plant. 

Committed to Quality and Marketing

In April 2007, Phoenix Building Solutions issued a press release announcing their acquisition of Benchmark Homes.  In the press release Tom Hennings was announced as the President and COO of the newly acquired corporation and outlined the company’s goals. Mr. Hennings was quoted as saying “We plan to create awareness with increased marketing and promotion and with a larger focused and dedicated sales team. With continued emphasis on customer service and quality, and increased marketing and promotion, Phoenix Building Solutions will be the leading company in the industry in this market." (Read the full press release)

A little less than two years after the acquisition of Phoenix (aka Benchmark), the experiment exploded with catastrophic implications. During his tenure as President, Tom Hennings, did not deliver any of the goals or even attempt to maintain current corporate strategies. The sales team at Phoenix Building Solutions was disassembled and in December of 2008 the company only had one (1) sales person. The marketing strategy was non-existent as the company never pursued any attempts to create brand awareness, and adjust to the changing economic environment. Instead of attempting to pursue sales and marketing, Tom Hennings elected to direct funds at upgrading software, computer systems, and remodeling the corporate headquarters including his personal office.

When the company finally realized they were reaching the brink of financial disaster in August 2008, Tom Hennings decided to stop the hemorrhaging by accelerating the production schedule to increase the capital. His theory, the quicker the product is produced the faster Phoenix will receive payment. Tom instructed the employees to produce a house in seven days regardless of size and complexity. This accelerated schedule lead to production, engineering, sales and purchasing errors and defects due inadequate preparation and construction time. Tom Hennings, himself who acted and sold products to customers was not immune to errors. In august 2008, Tom sold a flawed custom ranch home to customer in Kentucky with excessive drywall cracking and the wrong color siding. The drywall cracking was form inadequate cure time for the drywall before painting and had ivory (white) colored siding installed, instead of Ivy (Green) color.

As the accelerated schedule continued, homes were being produced and shipped every 7-10 days. The backlog of orders depleted quickly and there was no sign by the Lone Ranger of Sales, Tom Hennings, to attempt to bring orders or more capital into the corporation through outside sales. By November, the backlog was extinct and judgment day was facing Tom. In a move of desperation Tom Hennings and Phoenix accepted an order for a custom built cabin and a 6-plex apartment building with no intentions of producing a quality product or possibly producing a product at all. This was simply a scheme to inject capital into the company to maintain life support. On December 19, 2008 the company ran out of money but Tom and his two amigos (Ed Fanning and Nick Jevic) decided to continue the company through the holidays. This was merely a tactic to complete a home for a company known as Apex Strategic Holdings. The owner of  Apex Strategic Holdings is Edward J. Fanning, Chairman of Phoenix Building Solutions. The employees worked through the holiday to complete this Home, only to find out on January 5, 2009 their services were no longer needed and they would not receive pay for previous two weeks worked. The experiment was officially over.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Sasquatch found at Phoenix Building Solutions, Inc.


On January 5, 2009 the once thought to be mythical creature known as Sasquatch was found at Phoenix Building Solutions in Brookville, Ohio at approximately 10:00 AM EST. Tom Hennings the President and CEO of Phoenix removed the exterior human rubber-like mask to reveal his true personality to the employees, clients, and associates of the corporation. Tom Hennings revealed he is the prized trophy of cryptozoology known as the Sasquatch.

The highly illusive Sasquatch, aka Tom Hennings, decided to instruct his management team on January 5, 2009 to tell all of the employees that they would not receive their final paycheck for the previous pay period from December 21, 2008-January 5, 2009, and that the company was suspending all operations. Tom Hennings, aka Sasquatch cowered in his fortress of solitude known as his office too frightened and disillusioned by his own ego and power to face his subordinates. Soon after management told the employees to get lost and that the company may be in touch if funding is ever found (which was highly unlikely). Tom Hennings like the Sasquatch disappeared into the unknown without any future human contact with the employees.  If anyone has the known where abouts of the Sasquatch known as Tom Hennings, contact us so we can capture him for the reward and the money that is us, the employees of Phoenix. Do not try to capture him on your own as he is verbally aggressive, a habitual liar, and compulsive embezzler. He will steal your money! 

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Case Study #2 - Phoenix Building Solutions

After Tom Hennings’ demise at PMC in 2002, he spent the next few years jumping around from plastic companies trying to find someone to accept him. Sadly as it seems, no corporation would accept a man who has a pompous attitude and a thirst for the ultimate power. Tom decided the best course of action would be to start his own consulting company, TH Consulting Group. This was truly was the best decision he could made since no company with any prior knowledge or a halfway decent Human Resources department would ever consider giving this man the reigns to a company again.

In 2006, however Tom Hennings discovered he had two allies that were just as ethically challenged, pompous, and corrupt as he, Edward J. Fanning and Nick Jevic. Edward Fanning and Nick Jevic made their money in banking for Provident Bank, other various banks, and owned their own Investment firm FNJ Group. Together the three of them with more money than brains decided to buy a Residential and Multi-Family Modular Building company, known at the time as Benchmark Homes.

The deal was completed with Benchmark Homes in early 2007, and name was changed to Phoenix Building Solutions. If you had had guessed yet who was entrusted with the responsibility to make this building company successful and profitable, that’s right, Mr. Thomas Charles Hennings.  In a press release by Phoenix on April 19, 2007, Tom Hennings is quoted as saying “We are very excited about our prospects. We plan to create awareness with increased marketing and promotion and with a larger focused and dedicated sales team. With continued emphasis on customer service and quality, and increased marketing and promotion, Phoenix Building Solutions will be the leading company in the industry in this market."

After Tom Hennings settled into his role as President and COO of Phoenix, awareness and changes started to take place. The over the next two years the company which at one time had a five (5) person sales team, was replaced with one part-time sales person. The receptionist, marketing, controller, engineering director, one designer, and approximately half the manufacturing positions were abolished. A company of nearly 70 employees was now down to just 30. Many of these positions such as sales, marketing, engineering director, and the controller were absorbed by Tom Hennings himself. Tom had a rather predictable work schedule as well mostly working once a week only on Mondays or Tuesdays but never both. How can a man that is running a company and has absorbed four positions work one day a week and be successful? The reality is he can’t and he didn’t, on January 5, 2009, Phoenix Building Solutions suspended all operations, and did not pay employees their final pay for the weeks of December 21, 2008-January 5, 2009. I believe for Tom Hennings or any President/COO this maybe a record for destroying a company in less than two years after its inception.

 

Friday, January 16, 2009

Case Study #1 - Plastic Moldings Corp.

Case Number #1: Plastics Molding Corporation (PMC)

From article taken from Plastics News dated April 5, 1999, "Tom Hennings was named president of the Cincinnati-based molder. PMC serves the automotive, wireless telecommunications and information technologies industries."

In September of 2000 under Mr. Hennings watch at PMC, the company expanded from its base in Ohio and Indiana to Tucson, Arizona with the construction of a new plant. The total investment of facility was an estimated $15 million USD over the next three years.

Now just less than three years after Tom Hennings took on the role as President on February 4, 2002, Mr. Hennings and the PMC are mulling over the decision to abandon their new production facility in Tucson, AZ.  Mr. Hennings is quoted in February 4, 2002 edition of Plastics News as saying “``We are sitting on hold right now and will wait to see what happens.  We are just going through and exploring the options, including possible sale of the facility with or without the equipment.”

 As of today PMC does not have facility in Tucson, AZ. The facility has been closed and sold off. Was it poor management decisions by Mr. Hennings that caused a company with estimated sales of $50 million to waste $15 million on the construction of a plant it never used? What happened to Tom Hennings after the loss of $15 million? Well trust me, Mr. Hennings showed up at another company as President and CEO, and did what does best, assassinate a corporation.

Tom Hennings - The Plastic King

Tom Hennings over past decade has been a staple of the Plastics Industry in Ohio. Mr. Hennings has been the CEO/President of several plastic corporations servicing the automotive and telephone industries. This sounds like a man who has been successful in his craft and is knowledgeable, but is there is a dark side to Tom Hennings' that only previous employers, coworkers, and friends know of. 

Tom Hennings has a habit to take control of businesses he has been employed with as the President or CEO with reckless intent and selfish motivation for his own self worth. This is evident with several companies that have run into financial problems or have ceased projects under direction of Tom Hennings, costing the companies millions of dollars, and ultimately Mr. Hennings job. 

Over the course of the next couple post we will examine a few Case Studies of these corporations that Mr. Hennings has been in control of. 


Thursday, January 15, 2009

How many companies has he taken down?

With his pompous attitude, and lack of concern for anyone else be they employee or customer, I would be amazed if this man is ever given a position of power again. I believe the saying is, absolute power corrupts absolutely. This man is a master of twisting what has been said into something else altogether. Not only that, but he makes up information as he goes, changing rules, deadlines, and even contract language to suit his needs. Amazingly, according to the changes in rules etc...he never makes a mistake. Now that's impressive, it is always the customer, or the employee, or the weather or something else, never him. That certainly fosters a cohesive atmosphere within a company, and certainly would make customers want to come back for more unfair treatment.




I am amazed that he has been left alone on his perch for this long, with those whose money has been invested having nothing to say or do but believe the lies billowing from this windbag's mouth.




For a good read, check out the servicemagic profile of this company, as well as the blog with regards to they home built in Cincinnati and the mystery principle of the building company waxing poetic about the great deal on a horribly overpriced home...it does have a one car garage though.