Bridge to Communication
Šarūnas Petrulevičius, a member of the Oetiker Lithuania team, joined the Oetiker Employee Exchange Program just in time to support the start of production of a new product at the Oetiker production facility in Tianjin, China. The ten weeks he spent in China was a first for him. ‘China is a big country with a big history and unique culture. I was curious how they run daily business, what differences or similarities to compare with Oetiker Lithuania. Also was wondering how Chinese daily life looks like. The life is different enough that you need to adapt to it. At the same time, it’s fun and challenging.’ says Šarūnas.
His work at Oetiker China revolved around sharing experience and knowledge to support the setup of all machinery, documentation and trainings before the start of production for the new product. Per Šarūnas, ‘My target was to educate and introduce the local Oetiker China team to process guidelines, process work instructions, P-FMEA, control plans and manufacturing and tooling drawings. I delivered trainings about tooling set up and also helped to validate the tooling and machinery.’
Šarūnas notes, ‘the Oetiker Employee Exchange Program is like a bridge to sustain communications and relationships with other locations. During the localization of the new product, there were a lot of challenges. But during my stay in China, we worked as one team by understanding each other’s expectations while being in the midst of a real situation. By working closely face-to-face, open issues were more easily solved and we could find mutual compromises to work as “One Oetiker”.’
Šarūnas appreciates the benefits of working in an international company like Oetiker. Being offered a program like the Employee Exchange Program offers ‘a way to understand what kind of challenges our colleagues meet in their daily business. To be involved in their daily activities, you become a part of it. As a result, you can better understand each other and by working as one unit, it becomes easier to find the right solutions in every situation.’