After deciding to leave the automotive repair industry, Mike transitioned from repairing combustion motors to assembling and repairing electric ones. Mike joined SEW-EURODRIVE’s technical service team in 1998. SEW-EURODRIVE offers its employees a variety of advanced training programs, including industrial gear unit fundamentals, decentralized installation/servo technology and installation training. These specialized courses are offered locally and across Europe. Mike was able to take advantage of all of them.

Mike explains, “I appreciate learning about the products and what each does for our clients, and even though I enjoyed being a tech, I wanted another challenge.” The timing couldn’t have worked out better for Mike. Shortly thereafter, a plant supervisor job posting found its way to the bulletin board. Mike wondered whether a seasoned technician could have the required skill set to become a plant supervisor. Can technical skills be useful in a management role? SEW-EURODRIVE believed so.

On completion of the supervising and management training program, Mike became the Plant Supervisor in 2011. Mike was not handed the position because of his technical skills but those were a definite plus. It was his transferable skills – problem solving, leadership and creativity – that landed him the role. Transferable skills in the context of employment are more often classed as soft skills one possesses socially, acquires throughout one’s life, or are part of one’s natural makeup that can be utilized at work. Mike’s transferable skills were put into full use when he was challenged to solve an issue for a client in dire need of a specialized replacement part for one of their gear motors. Mike recalls the day clearly:

“SEW always carries a huge inventory of parts, yet we always recommend to our clients to order spare units, particularly if they are specialized units, solely to deal with situations like this. The reality is our suggestions sometimes get lost in our clients’ endless to-do lists and unfortunately this particular client had not yet ordered a spare.

One thing I learned growing up is to be resourceful and respect people’s time and money – essentially not to be wasteful whether it was mine or someone else’s. Despite the fact I could get a part shipped in the next day, I knew from my technical days the consequences of just one day of downtime could cost our client hundreds of thousands of dollars not to mention the never-ending stress.

I recalled a similar unit being in queue for production. I knew this unit wasn’t due for assembly for a couple of days which gave me a longer lead time to order the part. Bingo! The part was a match! What luck! So instead of checking our parts inventory system we were able to resolve the issue quickly and save our client a great deal of stress and money. A courier was called and we had the part packaged and shipped within minutes. “

Mike’s transferable skills – his innate problem-solving ability and passion for what he does is the perfect recipe for personal and professional success. We thank Mike for his continued commitment and appreciation for our company.

SEW-EURODRIVE Canada