Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your background?
After finishing a traditional apprenticeship as industrial mechanic approx. 22 years ago, I decided to educate myself. In the first step I completed a degree as a state-certified engineer. With this background I have worked on a range of very different projects in the field of R&D. It was an exciting time and even today I benefit from this working experience. But I quickly realized that I wanted to work in sales and gained first experiences as a technical sales engineer. After further studies alongside my job in business management I held different roles within sales. Before I joined Axelent in March 2023 I was head of international sales for a company close to Stuttgart.
I am 42 years old and live with my wife and our 6- and 9-year-old daughters in the greater Stuttgart area. In our spare time we are often in our garden trying to turn a long-neglected vineyard into a place with our own fruits and vegetables (Tips and tricks how to protect young plants from invasive plants such as blackberries are always welcome!). Further, our girls are crazy about horses, which means that we are in the stable at least twice a week.
I like to go skiing with family and friends in winter and jogging on stunning running trails in forest in spring and summer.
How did you get in contact with Axelent?
As is often the case nowadays, I had the first contact with a headhunter who was tasked with finding potential candidates for the role as managing director in Germany. This was followed by several conversations with Andreas, initially online and then in person. After another meeting in the Axelent Germany office, I traveled to Hillerstorp and exchanged views with the entire management and was able to get an overview of the production, logistics and planned future projects.
What made you interested in working for Axelent Germany?
This is a multiple answer question... All in all, the personalities I encountered throughout the process of getting to know each other and their vision for Axelent convinced me.
The conversations with Andreas were open, honest and at eye level right from the start. We quickly realized that we have a similar view of sales and leadership and how we would like to approach customer relationship management and customer development in the future.
The exchange with the management and the company tour in Hillerstorp showed me that Axelents idea of market processing and development is not just manage customers, but that there is a vision and a clear plan of how we want to position ourselves for the future on the markets and how we want to work together.
Share your first impressions of this company and what your visions are for Axelent Germany forward?
The first impression confirmed what I just described. Whether it is an exchange with different departments with HQ, our team in Germany or with colleagues from other markets. There is a positive mood, willingness to work together and wanting to take the next steps together.
Of course, we have economic goals for the German market, and we want to be a mainstay in the group in the future. By the way, special greetings to Oscar and his team in the USA à challenge accepted!
Related to the vision, however, it is more important to me to focus on the customers and our employees. We want to do our part to ensure that our global vision of “creating the world safest workplaces by always putting people first” in Germany can be reached.
But how can we do that?
We need to work better and smarter than we did yesterday and better and smarter than our competitors.
This is one of my main tasks when it comes to our team in Germany. I would like to coach our team, support with necessary tools, and create the framework conditions for making possible that each individual works better and smarter today than yesterday.
What are you looking forward to the most in this position?
I look forward to developing a strategy with the entire team (Germany, HQ and Global) on how we can achieve our major goals as quickly as possible and to helping our team in Germany on the way there. Because I know one thing for sure and my experience has shown me: new challenges will certainly arise and these challenges can only be mastered together.
I'm also looking forward to actively working on a concept of how we can position ourselves even more attractively and up-to-date for employees in Germany in the future and how to promote independent and self-determined work. If we can do that, we get the best possible performance of our team.
Can you tell us a little bit more about the team in Axelent Germany?
I've been working for Axelent in Germany for 2 months and I can say that I took over a great team, with a top attitude and a strong identification with the company.
After a short time, we gave every colleague the opportunity to actively participate in analyzes and processes. The willingness and motivation to work on these tasks in addition to day-to-day business is outstanding and impressive.
I'm really looking forward to working with this team on the German market, setting new standards in the way we work together and to take the organization to the next level.
