40 Years at ZF-Group

Here is a little about my journey

#apprenticeship at ZF 集团

During my apprenticeship I polished many of the skills I already had, the ZF logo in the picture is something I made back then based on the Original ZF logo. Also was fortunate to start to express my creativity too, developed the practical exam test piece (at the end of the apprentice one also has a practical test to make something in a defined amount of hours to show skills learned), submitted my design and documents to the chamber of commerce, this was accepted and the year after my finals, it was used.

I chose the path of an apprenticeship as I am more of a practical person so sitting and studying at a university was not my thing. Even the year of college in England was a mix of theory and practical. Funny note: All in the class had to disassemble and assemble a mechanical car gearbox. I was the only one who did not get it together right away (Never happened again). Thus my classmates fond it fitting I move to Germany and work for a gearbox company!

Start in Customer Service as a Technician

Started out as a technician in service dept. and in a few months went on my first business trip, not normal at all, typically must have 5 years’ experience. Oddly enough it was to ZF Service in North America, where after many years I eventually landed and some of the colleagues and friends from the 80s were still here in 2014!

Proved my flexibility and skills working in many extreme conditions, extreme heat, extreme cold, monsoon rain, minimal tooling in a team or on my own in the middle of nowhere. Special tools are nice but e.g. in Kenya I repaired an automatic transmission for busses without such “essential” special tools and yes no test bench. It had to work once it was to be installed, was installed a year later and no issue.

Chosen to be part of the initial ZF Truck Race team traveling to all the race tracks all over Europe. Many long hours over the weekend, so many interesting and unique experiences.

Expat assignments

Was then asked to open a service location which was a pretty big and new challenge considering I was only 26. My manager immediately saw I know what I was doing and gained the respect of the customers. Here is were I also took on the responsibility for ALL processes and positions for service/aftermarket. Repair, training new mechanics and customers, logistics, purchasing, aftermarket sales, OE support and prototype installation as well as managing all of this. Was given a bunch of paper cards to manage my inventory, my manager also gave me a computer so I tough myself to use it and made my own inventory management tool as could not imagine working with paper. My first step to #digital .

In Korea I also created their website, back then only ZF in the US and Germany had one. Also worked with IT so I could connect remotely to the servers in ZF. This is before VPN, so my password was computer generated and super long. Have pioneered many things since then.

Whilst in Korea also set up the service for the new location in Hong Kong. Well the test bench was delivered but its bed did not fit through the door. Not issue, cut it and weld it back together. Nothing is impossible.

Over time, worked more and more with research and development, not only on trucks and busses but also passenger car division.

Move to Research and Development

Eventually asked to join research and development and support a joint venture in the US. A great honor considering I have no engineering diploma. Such education is very important and have great respect for the engineers, hence I appreciate them embracing me. It showed though having a diverse team, made things better as there was a mix of theory and hands on experience. Felt proud when and engineer would call me because they were stuck. We worked hard and had fun. Especially thankful to Ty Sayman who encouraged my idea and said I should patent that. Hence the first of many.

Return to aftermarket and eventually transferring from ZF Friedrichshafen to ZF Services LLC

Then asked to come back to Service, Aftermarket and ended up hiring one of the techs from the engineering lab with whom I had worked with closely before. Keith Woods was going to finish a military tour and was looking for a new opportunity. Could not have found anyone better and great fit for the team and great friend.

Saw we needed to some processes with customers and service, warranty and move to a connected digital process. Lead the adaptation and implementation of one tool for the Vernon Hills location. Later lead a much more expanded and sophisticated project internationally. Really achieved a great result due to the diverse perspectives to create best practice and a process working across multiple product lines, divisions and local legal requirement keeping the customer needs in the forefront. Some metrics out of this was a reduction in warranty claim processing by 25%, greater transparency internally as well as for the customer. Hence eliminating non value added communications.

With this got to work very closely with Corporate CRM process, ZF IT, ORBIS SE and sometimes a little with Microsoft. Wonderful to work with such an open minded and innovative team for end to end connected digital process.

This is where I rediscovered my passion for systems and was soon permitted to customize #D365 and become and admin too. Not typical unless one is in IT and I was in the business. With the understanding of the system and business, could liaison between the two as well as suggest improvements to the business they did not know where possible. Also did not accept no as an answer from IT as we always found a way. We have an inside joke “its easy”. Well sometime the solution was right there, obviously some things take a bit more. Really enjoy working with this international team.

After taking part in a training “app in a day” for #powerapps , found this is a continuation of my digital passion, digitalizing and connecting processes and some automation. Who said old people do not adapt and change, take on new technology! Always have and always will drive change and embrace new tech. Actually the autonomous shuttles ZF has interested me greatly, regrettably nothing in this region yet I could get involved in.

One of the many power platform projects I have or are working on is a Canvas app for the North American Diversity team. Diversity is important, it enriches the team, and have been fortunate to have had managers who looked at what I can do, gave me the opportunity to prove it.

2020 like for many was a difficult year and some unfortunate things happened. It was amazing how many colleagues supported me during that time and just in time moved to a new position.

?Reflection and next

Over the years, yes there were offers, opportunities to work for other companies, however I really enjoyed what I was doing and had continuously been asked to take on other positions and challenges in ZF. Also had the fortune of working for some great managers and some leaders. Did not need to move to another company to have a different position and for the most part, at least eventually be recognized accordingly.

So what is next? Well in theory, if ZF still wants me and utilize my skills, experience, passion and other factors are good, well I could reach my 45 or who knows possibly even 50 years, maybe pushing it though. However maybe there is a different path. Right now I am not really in the correct position with the applicable recognition as I am leading, designing and implementing solutions for much broader areas with greater responsibility, a relatively small adjustment might correct the situation.

Thus what is next, something will change soon, and we shall see if there is a small or large change in direction. As in all my career so far, I never give up, there is always a solution.

For now, if I had to do it again, I would not change a thing. The people and friends I have met, the experiences, challenges, extraordinary moments I have had, have been very fulfilling.?

Thank you all who have been part my my journey.