Get to know our employees and their WALTER story!

Apostolos, Customer Care Manager

"I started my apprenticeship as an electronics installer at WALTER at age 19. When my training was done, I switched in 1995 from electronics to the machine tools department, where I worked on the production of the first generation of HELITRONIC POWER. One year later I became a service technician and have traveled around the world. Four years later, I once again turned the page and handed in technician's overalls for jeans and a button-down shirt: As a service coordinator, I dispatched Tübingen's service technicians to locations in Europe, Asia and the US where help was needed. In 2003 and 2004 I went to Japan for two months to help establish the service team there. Four years later, my role field expanded and I became Area Service Manager and then Customer Care Manager in 2013. In this position, I continue to support other countries, even those that now have their own service technicians and coordinators. And: I am still often on the go – I spent almost two months a year traveling around the world for WALTER. What I like best is being on-site with the customer and showing them tips and tricks for their machines. And I particularly love how varied my work is."

Renata Žbánková, Head of SCM

I started working at Walter s.r.o. in Kuřim in 1998, so I've been here for more than 25 years now. I would divide my entire career at Walter s.r.o. into two parts. I started as an accountant and assistant to the management, which was the first part of my career in the company. At that time, the company was still quite small. When I went on maternity leave in 2004, there were around 80 employees here. It was a time when everyone knew each other. After six years on maternity leave, I wanted to return to the company. My original position had already been filled, so I was faced with the question: what now? But there was a new job, Coordinator Order Center, which was a big unknown for me, but also an attractive offer and a chance to learn something new and develop myself further. After thinking everything through and discussing it with my family, I decided to accept the challenge and join the company straight away. So in 2010 I started working as an Order Coordinator (now Internal Sales), which was actually the beginning of the second part of my career at Walter s.r.o. At that time, the site in Kuřim already had around 200 employees and was part of a global group of companies. It felt like I had joined a completely new company. Today, I feel quite like a fish in water in my job. I am Head of Internal Sales and our department works with many others, so we are always in the middle of the business. Our tasks are divided into two areas: Support and Production Planning. Our department not only initiates production orders, but also repair orders and orders for the machine workshop. As part of production support, we are involved in a wide range of activities, from creating protocols before the machine is started on the production line to checking that the machine is complete once it is finished. Looking back, I would say that I made the right decision at the time because I enjoy my work and find it fulfilling.

Jaroslav Kubinec, Team Lead Internal Sales

After graduating from the Czech Technical University in Prague in 2010, I started working at Walter s.r.o. as a production planner in the Order Center department (now Internal Sales). My daily task was to plan and place orders for production. That was actually my first work experience. Among other things, the company gave me the opportunity to constantly learn new things and develop myself further as a result. In 2016, I was offered a position as team leader for internal sales. A challenge that I gladly accepted and where I still work today. What I currently enjoy most is dealing with customers and sales staff. This gives me a much deeper insight into the entire process in our company: From actual sales to final assembly on the production line. To summarize, in my previous position I worked more in contact with production and now I am a little closer to our customers. For my work, daily communication in German is a matter of course, but I also use other skills that I have acquired over the years in our company. At the beginning of my time at the company, I only had what I had learned during my studies, but as I became more interested in "building" our machines over time, I acquired knowledge that I still use today.  Thanks to my experience and knowledge, in my work I don't just imagine certain machines as a few numbers in SAP, but I can visualize what the machine looks like and what the customer wants from us. I also see a big advantage for my work in the fact that my office is just a few steps away from our production facility. So I'm right at the source of the information, which means I can get it much more easily and quickly than colleagues who don't have that option.

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