First 100 Days Review with Klaus-Dieter Häfele, Head of Production Technology

Extremely varied, and I came across an open, friendly culture, which I feel a part of, and keeps me company along the way. Many of the new colleagues who I spoke to also confirmed this. A warm thank you to everybody who patiently answered my (partially the same or reoccurring) questions. Considering the change process the company is currently going through, I also sometimes come across people who need more orientation. In my opinion, this shows that we must speak more about the positive aspects of the change process and PI's long-term goals. To summarize, after 100 days, my feeling of having made the right decision, and of being able to concentrate more on what makes me an engineer: Technology.

Everyday life at PI is shaped by a large variety of products, a high level of competency regarding the products, as well as a passion for this in the form of constant new technical solutions true to our motto "Pushing the boundaries of what is possible".  This is opposed by my approach to, wherever possible use standardized solutions for processes, technologies and procedures to position our products even more successfully on the market. I consider the move from a very successful and very pronounced customer orientation to a new, standardized and configurable product portfolio to be the greatest challenge combined with the task of promoting innovations.

I had already mentioned standardization several times. A further focus is clearly in describing the process organization, meaning integrating the division "Production Technology" into DPG's processes, and of course defining the processes between our groups "Measuring Technology"; "Automation and Equipment Manufacturing"; "Process Technology" and "Factory Planning". Derived from this, there will be requirements for our skills and capacities, which currently we would like to cover with seven open job advertisements. We have already included these three focuses "standardization", "process organization" and "organizational structure" in our strategy and in the roadmaps. We should not neglect leadership, which there sometimes isn't time for during these busy times. My clear goal is to make space for the employees' concerns; however, this is not always possible when calendars are so full. However, I try to become a little better every day.

The motto 'Everybody has said that isn't possible. Then, somebody came along and did it' is not just a marketing joke, which I use in the social networks. I am very happy to deal with (technical) topics or questions, and try to picture these for myself. This can be exhausting for the people involved, but in most cases helps to change the paradigms. However, do not be afraid, I know when it is enough and can (if there are technical reasons) accept long-established solutions or approaches.