100 Day Review by Sven Müller, Head of Product Division Materials
On January 1, 2023, Sven Müller started at PI Ceramic as Head of Product Division Materials with Daniel Völkel
1. How did you experience your first 100 days at PI?
The welcome I got here was friendlier and more open that in the other companies I have worked in. This started with ordinary things that can make a "newbie’s" life difficult. Where do I find things? Who has what responsibilities? How do I set the printer to A3 format? There are always diligent colleagues available who help me without me even having to ask. PI Ceramic has an exceptionally good and pleasant welcoming culture.
I was impressed by the depth of manufacturing and the great expertise in every individual process step, as well as the way of looking for solutions to problems as a team. Manufacturing extraordinary products also requires extraordinary processes and people. All employees have a high level of quality awareness for their products and are usually aware of the consequences of errors, even beyond the boundaries of the product divisions.
An open failure culture leads to acting quickly and rapidly developing innovative avoidance strategies. Even if implementation often takes a little longer due to the necessary step of sampling, as a matter of principle, there is high culture of innovation regarding the product characteristics.
2. What are your key findings so far?
The company's high speed of growth over the past few years is noticeable. Although the products are "top", the development of processes, of defined interfaces, and of manufacturing standards, has not always kept up with this development. There is a lot of searching, not only for physical things but mostly for information. It is extremely challenging to get the vast quantity of data and information that exists in the company to the right person and place at the right time.
3. What are your main areas of focus in the implementation?
In years to come, it will be an interesting challenge to manage the balancing act between a manufactory production with the minimum quantity of 1 piece which still exists and is desired, and a serial production with high quantities that should be pushed further in order to realize the planned growth of the company. On our way there, we will be accompanied by: The specification of standards in the process steps, the definition of interfaces, the increase in overall process capability, the IT-based recording of manufacturing data as a basis for the subsequent usage of automated planning tools, and the further necessary training and qualifying of our employees. This is where I see my role. Additionally, in doing this we should not forget the following: In the Product Division Materials, it is also necessary to push the boundaries of today's technology step-by-step, and to keep our eyes open for new procedures for manufacturing the piezoceramics of the future!
4. What drives you as a person?
Curiosity and enjoying dealing with people! Particularly in a technical environment, I am interested in how things work and what is takes to get them to work. This can affect both special technical equipment and also procedures and processes. As a manager, working together with different kinds of people cooperatively and fairly is always a great blessing but also forces me to think about myself. Even if we do not always agree, open discussions usually lead to both sides gaining knowledge. Personally, the combination of high technical and qualitative standards of the products and processes and the open and appreciative way of dealing with people across all hierarchical levels at PI Ceramic suits me very well.