Being Brave

The initiative that Rudolf Kellermann took is shown by many of our employees every single day at every location. Whether it’s individuals like Junhua Ni, who built-up Technology in Wujin practically on his own, individual departments like the HR team in Turnov, which found many creative ways to bring employees together despite the pandemic, or the many colleagues from the Alsfeld plant who – despite the background of the plant’s closure – reduced the production backlog and moved the first machines during the PPA project. All of the above did not just rely on others, but took the initiative and did something, that cannot be taken for granted.

Our operations in the USA and Mexico have even anchored this philosophy in their regional strategy. One of the central goals is to give all employees more responsibility. “It must be ingrained in everyone’s understanding that every employee can and should take the initiative to solve problems and create improvement ideas for their work environment”, says Nicholas Langlois, strategy integration manager at Lapeer (USA). Just one positive example of this is Tiffany Dlugosz, whose performance in the renewal of the heat treatment system in the US plant caught the eye of our supplier “Can-Eng Furnaces International”. The latter nominated her in the trade press for an award and now Tiffany Dlugosz is regarded as one of the best talents in the American heat treatment industry – the “Top 40 under 40”.

Kevin Boettcher – machine operator at Cold Forming in Osterode – is another example of how anyone, regardless of position, can contribute to tangible improvements with their own initiative. Many processes in day-to-day production can be better assessed by shopfloor workers than managers, as they are on site for many hours every day and have to cope with the conditions. This know-how is ultimately the key to maintaining and developing a good production environment.

The fact that today at the different plants and in their area of activity, our employees can take any initiative is ultimately also due to the courage of Rudolf Kellermann, who despite all setbacks, remained optimistic. With his persistent commitment, he paved the way for now more than 3,300 employees worldwide. “We as the management want to encourage all employees to take on responsibility and make decisions,” emphasizes Jörg Steins, CEO of the KAMAX Group.