The most important requirements in my job include appropriate communication, thinking and acting globally, technical knowledge and a willingness to take on responsibility.
Before starting at KHS, I trained as a winegrower. Back in the 1980s, this was pretty revolutionary for a woman without a business behind her. I first heard about the apprenticeship at KHS through contacts at my sports club. After finishing my training, I went off to Canada for half a year of work and travel and subsequently spent a further six months on a sailboat. I then began my degree course in viticulture and beverage technology. Beverage technology seemed more diverse to me, which is why I later majored in this subject. After successfully graduating as a beverage technologist, I decided to study food sciences in Gießen. During my studies, I was asked if I wanted to help supervise the setting up and commissioning of a sparkling wine bottling plant in Russia from an oenological perspective as a beverage engineer. This sounded so exciting that I postponed some of my exams in order to benefit from this practical experience! My job entailed providing technological advice in relation to the purchase of the wines and technological equipment as well as training my Russian colleagues on site. Switching from an apprenticeship at a winery to a fully automated industrial wine and sparkling wine bottling plant left a lasting impression on me that changed the path of my career.
You have to have a partner who goes along with and supports a job like this! Professionally speaking, thanks to my excellent network in the beverage industry I had good contacts who gave me plenty of assistance and advice as mentors throughout this entire period.
I’d always wanted to work in sales. This is why I aimed to gradually amass more in-depth knowledge of beverage technology. Before joining KHS I worked for various other companies in the beverage sector, both at the customer end at a mineral water bottling plant and at a mechanical engineering company for the beverage industry, broadening my relevant technical expertise. Chiefly working in technical sales at the mechanical engineering company proved to be an advantage as I was always sandwiched in between sales and technology.
With this experience under my belt, in 2008 I then started at KHS in the Eastern Europe Sales Department. When searching for a new job, it was important to me to look for work at an international company. The sector also had to be future-proof, challenging and offer chances for further development.
“The most important requirements in my job include appropriate communication, thinking and acting globally, technical knowledge and a willingness to take on responsibility.”
KHS’ international alignment and huge variety of products are what’s special about my job – we don’t sell a simple toaster with just five different features but highly complex filling systems for the beverage industry. Here, the sheer range of beverages and types of packaging are aspects that encourage creativity, offer future perspectives and call for the assumption of responsibility. The international aspect means that I encounter lots of different people on a cultural level in my everyday work whom I respond to with openness and respect.
I find it extremely important that I can have an impact on things by helping to develop and manage them – in other words, that I can bring about change.
In my function as head of Technical Sales, I have lots of tasks and responsibilities – as do my employees!
As far as my department in general goes, our main task is to prepare the technical side of all offers up to technical clarification entirely on our own responsibility and to discuss the various points with the customer. Here, our motto is “just enough is good enough”, always acting in the interests of KHS and the customer’s respective requirements. What’s more, we also develop joint, tailored solution concepts together with our clients.
My working day is otherwise dominated by various organizational and strategic topics. One big issue at the moment is OneKHS worldwide, where as an LCoC (Line Center of Competence) we’re also technically responsible for technical sales across the globe. We have to ensure that everyone has the same understanding of the offer process, their responsibilities and the available tools.
Intensive communication with our international subsidiaries outside Germany is needed here in order to repeatedly address these topics, get employees involved and create an understanding for this project.
My day is also interspersed with regular in-house meetings to coordinate PRIO lists, for example, and technical issues that have to be clarified with the different departments.
The rest of my time is devoted to major and minor challenges that need to be solved ad hoc. These are often topics at customer project level. My working day is extremely varied and hard to predict. About half the time it turns out to be quite different from what you’d expected!
One of the most important prerequisites is that you can think and act globally, also in the interests of the company, that you can communicate in an appropriate manner, have a sound knowledge and understanding of technology and are prepared to shoulder responsibility. In addition, it’s of an advantage if you’re ambitious and persistent – and that, first and foremost, you enjoy your work. Being able to motivate your employees is also a good strength to have, as is enjoyment of personnel management. My job demands strategic thinking in the interests of the company and that I have a helicopter view of everything so that I can anticipate, identify and keep track of interlinked processes and operations.
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“Building up my network and intensifying my cooperation with my colleagues in Sales is very important to me.”
“I want to provide my workforce with an environment in which they can personally develop with confidence and are free to indulge their passion for the job.”
“I’ve learned to master challenging tasks with lots of commitment and to combine my job with a functioning family life.”
“All in all, my job is a combination of safety shoes and high heels – quite literally!”
“We always try to find the distinctive characteristics of each specific client - this makes KHS unique!”
“I love my work at KHS, the products and the challenges these bring. We’re like a family and I’m very happy about that.”
“The fascinating products and the opportunity to work with colleagues coming from all over the world are the reasons why I chose KHS in the first place.”
“It’s a great feeling to have solved a complex technical problem – every single time.”
“Time and again I realize just how important personal contact is for the results of our work.”
“Being able to familiarize myself with production at our international plants proved extremely informative and is still of immeasurable value to me today.”
“Learning a technical occupation at KHS is useful for all those who wish to work on an international level.”
“As an electrical engineer you solve both technical and economic problems. That’s what I love doing!”
“I’m especially moved when local workers on international assignments come and thank me for my support.”
