Midrand
Load-shed Midrand
When stage 4 hit again, NeonGo Signs in Midrand needed a way to keep jobs moving without the usual scramble or lost rands.
Meet NeonGo Signs, Midrand
NeonGo Signs is a 10-person team run by Sizwe Maseko, supplying custom LED and neon shopfront signs in Midrand’s busy warehouse districts. They handle everything on site, from cutting and wiring to final installation. Their busiest weeks are always around the third week of the month, with urgent orders for things like Menlyn barbers and Khayelitsha salons prepping for holiday peaks. Before we stepped in, they’d lost at least R18,000 in missed installations and rework over just two power cut months.
Situation Before: When the Lights Went Out
NeonGo Signs relied on two ancient backup batteries and WhatsApp voice notes to coordinate jobs. In February alone, out of 23 workdays, they lost productive hours on 11 days. Stage 6 hit hard. The team had three missed courier deadlines for a R3,200 sign job each, and their only technician licensed for working at heights was stuck rescheduling every time the power dropped. No clear checklist, no supplier contact sheet for urgent materials, and, honestly, alot of finger-pointing as tempers ran thin.
Our Step-by-step Reset
We tackled the mess with a practical Chaos Reset kit and a custom workflow for Sizwe’s crew. Here’s what rolled out:
- Day 1: Quick site audit and mapped the breaker board, tagging all essential plug points for backup only.
- Day 2: Issued a shared printed power-off protocol, with technician Sipho as the ops leader for each shift.
- Day 4: Built a laminated supplier shortlist, including inverter rental contacts in Halfway House and a petrol drop-off driver from Supplier Notes.
- Day 5: Set up a R750 petty cash float controlled by the floor manager for emergency fuel buys, tracked with a simple paper log.
- Day 7: Plugged in a weekly Monday-morning ops ritual to review upcoming load-shedding stages and reroute jobs accordingly.
- Day 10: Added a printed project delivery calendar for peak period orders, visible next to the kettle, because that’s where everyone stands when the power’s out.
- Day 12: Shared the updated chaos checklist and contact sheet with the Midrand team, plus one copy via email for Sizwe to access offsite.
Results: Measurable Calm in the Chaos
Within the first month, NeonGo Signs dropped missed installs from four down to one, and only lost R2,500 to a single courier mix-up (the driver left early for Sandton to dodge the 3pm black-out). Their petty cash log actually matched receipts for the first time. The team reported 50% fewer last-minute supplier runs, and Sipho told us ‘now everyone knows who to call for what when the lights go.’ Orders for a Kempton Park basket shop and Rosebank optician both landed on time, with no missed install slots.
Three Months Later: Keeping Rituals Alive
NeonGo kept their Monday morning review from the ops ritual, and Sizwe still prints the project delivery calendar every Friday without fail. The backup float stayed topped up, and even when a Highveld storm knocked out the grid for three hours in May, nobody panicked or called twice. Sizwe’s now eyeing our starter kits for a new quoting routine, and the crew just added their best month-end yet. You can see more real-world stories like this over at our project collection.
